MICHIGAN GOVERNOR ENDS HIS POLITICAL CAREER

Republican Rick Snyder, who just won reelection as governor of Michigan, did the right thing today:

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) bucked the National Rifle Association on Thursday and vetoed a concealed carry gun bill that would have allowed some people with restraining orders issued against them for domestic violence to carry a concealed pistol....

The bill would have revised current Michigan law to state that if an individual with a temporary personal protective order issued against him for domestic violence is not explicitly prohibited by a judge from having a gun, that person can legally obtain a concealed pistol license. Current law states that anyone with a PPO issued against him is prohibited from carrying a gun concealed....

The National Rifle Association had tried to neutralize the opposition to the bill that was related to domestic violence and pressure Snyder to sign it....

Ian Millhiser of Think Progress responded to to this by tweeting:

BREAKING: MI gov disqualifies himself from winning another GOP primary by siding w/ domestic abuse victims over NRA. http://t.co/UfrXuZ6wGE

— Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) January 15, 2015

Millhiser is right, but Snyder hasn't just guaranteed himself a loss in any future primaries -- as the twice-elected Republican governor of an electoral-vote-rich blue state, Snyder had been mentioned as a possible dark-horse presidential candidate, which means he stands a good chance of being on pundit short lists for the #2 spot on the GOP ticket. But don't listen to any pundit in 2016 who beings up his name for VP -- this veto closes the door on any possibility that he'll be on the ticket, especially given the fact that Republican base voters will almost certainly believe that their presidential nominee is a weak-willed RINO (as they always do, no matter who it is), and will want a fire-breather to balance him out (again, as they always do).

So thanks for the veto, governor. Best of your luck in your final term of elected office.