Wednesday, January 16, 2013

NRA Sinks To A New Low...Draws President's Children Into Gun Debate

We apologize for our obsession with the whole gun control debate; but every time we think that the conversation could not get any more obscene the NRA lowers the bar.
The NRA just released a new television ad that draws the president’s children into the gun violence debate.  The ad calls the president an “elitist hypocrite” for sending his children to a school that employs armed security while he opposes placing armed guards in every school in the country.
The narrator poses this question:  “Are the president’s kids more important than yours?  Then why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools, when his kids are protected by armed security in his? Mr. Obama demands the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes.  But he is just another elitist hypocrite when it comes to a fair share of security.  Protection for their kids and gun-free zones for ours.”
This ad is vile!  Bringing the president’s children into an ideological debate is the lowest of lows.
When a man or woman agrees to serve as President they bring upon themselves and their families a host of physiological and psychological pressures, the full weight of which must be experienced to be fully understood.  Chief among those is the knowledge that in this violent society in which we live…you are placing a target on the backs of your children.  For the NRA to so callously place the president’s children in the middle of that jackpot is reprehensible.
The NRA leadership is living in an echo chamber.  They are completely tone deaf to the will of the people.  They are listening to the same out of touch right wing pundits and slanted pollsters that predicted Mitt Romney would win the presidency.  And while they listen to the lunatic fringe the historically accurate polls show moderates in Middle America oppose their cause by 20-40 points.  Paraphrasing Joe Scarborough’s column in POLITICO; the NRA’s enemies could not have done a better job of inflicting damage on the organization than they have inflicted upon themselves.
Today, the president is expected to reveal his plans for reducing gun violence in the country.  He is expected to go “big” by including a ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines as well as the institution of universal background checks for all gun purchases.  We support him in this effort.
But an orchestrated speech is not enough.  Today’s unveiling must be merely the beginning of a comprehensive campaign to rid our society of this violent epidemic.  The president needs to travel the country, taking his message to the people.  He must have a one on one conversation with every member of congress; a task that he has been loath to do in the past.  And he must unleash the massive and incredibly effective Obama for America Campaign apparatus that swept him to two terms in office. 
The president has admitted that his primary failing in the past was to believe that all that mattered was getting the policy right.  He has come to realize that he needs to tell the story…he needs to sell it to the American people so that they will put pressure on congress.
We hope that the president has truly learned that lesson. 
The American people are behind him.
Now is the time to strip away the reckless power of the gun lobby and put an end to the senseless violence that has become common place in our society.          

  

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