Some Republicans Think the NRA Has Jumped the Shark

[brooklynite]

Source: Roll Call

The immediate reaction from Republican staffers on Capitol Hill suggests the National Rifle Association might have jumped the shark Friday.

After Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president of the NRA, blamed mass school shootings on “gun-free school zones,” suggested there should be a national mental health registry, blamed the media’s coverage of violence, pointed fingers at video games and old films and introduced the “National School Shield Program,” wherein the NRA would train armed school personnel and volunteers, it was just too much for some Republicans.

“100 percent true,” one GOP staffer said when asked if the NRA had jumped the shark Friday.

“True,” replied another. “But only after they set themselves on fire first. That was BRUTAL.”


Read more: http://hoh.rollcall.com/some-republicans-think-the-nra-has-jumped-the-shark/

[NICO9000]

1. Gee, ya think?

[pscot]

2. Is it time to throw old Wayne under the bus?

[AAO]

18. The man is obviously suffers from severe senility.

[valerief]

25. Lead poisoning from handling all those bullets. nt

[LongTomH]

27. Under the bus, back up and do donuts on his miserable carcass!

[BainsBane]

3. I hope this is the beginning of their demise

Long overdo. Lawrence O'Donnell said LaPierre avoided the draft. I suppose he got deferments. Typical for chicken hawks.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

10. He got his DR. to state he had a nervous condition. eom

[Marie Marie]

11. Then let us place his name at the very top of his

"mental health registry". What an arrogant dick.

[BainsBane]

12. Wouldn't he then ban guns from himself?

A nervous condition that keeps your from serving in the military qualifies as mental illness.
Considering he wants a database of psychiatric patients, he should be on it too.
What a hypocrite.

[hatrack]

20. So nervous that he's only calm when sitting on a stack of AR-15s . . .

And only if that stack is constantly growing.

Kind of like the Winchester House out in California (pun intended).

[Skittles]

4. NEWSFLASH, REPUBLICANS

YOU ARE ON THE WRONG SIDE OF *EVERYTHING*

[jillan]

5. [phone]

[Berlum]

19. + 1,00000000000000

At least they are consistent in their anti-American FAIL

[calimary]

34. +1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000!

Totally, completely, absolutely, and undeniably! Beyond any doubt.

[jimlup]

6. Republican "staffers"

Might only be underlings. Their bosses will follow the NRA while genuflecting.

[OneMoreDemocrat]

7. I thought that too until I watched the press conference later after it aired...

and I gotta say, it wasn't just the craziness LaPierre was actually saying, but the way he was saying it.

I think an awful lot of Americans, even folks who were NRA supporters feel that he was really over the top; angry, judgmental, defensive.

Those same supporters are the ones that have to do the voting to keep the Congress in office and this performance may very well be difficult to shine up come election time...I'm not sure that proudly boasting of being an NRA supporter will be a great move.

In fact I wouldn't be surprised if LaPierre was looking for a new job soon.

[Cha]

14. Like his very job was hanging in the balance.. how dare

America insinuate NRA had anything to do with death by guns, guns, guns, and more guns.. all kinds of guns.

[awoke_in_2003]

16. I was thinking of another word...

That one dies on their knees.

[oldhippydude]

8. if the NRA is truly on the ropes

can't we do something about the flow of guns into Mexico..... not only is it a national disgrace, Darrel Issa has used the fast and furious for over a year as whipping boy...

[George II]

22. "Fast and Furious" ended in January 2011, about 2 years ago!

[Control-Z]

9. Some? Just some? (nt)

[Squinch]

30. Well, yes. The rest can't read and just watch Fox. Or live under rocks and know nothing about this

[Cha]

13. They insulted the sweet

innocent victims of killer, Adam Lanza, and America, with a big FU.

[Posteritatis]

15. They brought megalodon back from the dead because there wasn't enough shark to jump here. (nt)

[davidpdx]

17. How many days will that last for?

The Republicans are schizophrenic and will change their mind once some of these groups start threatening to jerk their purse strings for their campaigns.

[valerief]

21. So who will be the new disguised KKK group? nt

[Bluenorthwest]

23. I knew from the title that there would be no actual Republican on record saying any such thing.

One GOP 'staffer'. Then another staffer! The 'staffers' do not so much as name their office or title much less give their names or the names of the Republicans they serve who have said nothing against the NRA.
No, the Republicans and other right leaning people are still silent and still supporting the NRA and guns for all. Claiming otherwise using unnamed underlings seems to shine rosy light on the Republicans which is fully undeserved.

[Ikonoklast]

28. Staffers are someimes used to gauge how a message is received by both friend and foe alike.

It is a way to gauge which way the political winds and public opinion on a touchy matter are blowing without having to commit one way or another.

Right now, the NRA is political poison, and LaPierre wannts the GOP to line up and drink a shit-ton more of it.

Anyone running on a strict NRA approved platform from here on out will now have to do so with also having to apologize for mass murderers in order to justify themselves.

[Bluenorthwest]

35. Wow, really? Do tell!

My point, and I don't much care if you don't like it, is that as a Democrat, I do not count unnamed staff at unnamed offices as 'Republicans against the NRA' . I think the headline serves the right, Republicans and their Third Way allies.
No matter how you slice it, all the 'name' Republicans still support and take money from the NRA. As a Democrat, I'd like to shout that fact from the roof tops, not attempt to craft a false 'balance' with 'both sides doing it' and all. It is bull puckey.
So sure. Some Republican somewhere probably does think that. But to imply it is elected Republicans in DC only serves them. Not one of them has said NRA 'jumped the shark' or any other critical statement. Not one of them.

[julian09]

29. Staffer crap means nothing, don't even mention which staffs.

The NRA has 4 million members against at least 160 million voters; you would think that the 160 million voters, carry more weight and
fear if they organized themselves against the NRA extreem candidates, not NRA members. Overwhelming numbers of their members favor reasonable laws. The NRA is for the gun industry not its' members.
It is time for the majority to push the mere 4 million NRA threath aside and give them the fear of 160 million voters instead.

Same goes for the tax cut on rich and Grover Norquist threath to primary.

[rucky]

24. I'm sure Wayne's replacement will be way better

after his resignation

[hughee99]

26. Well, this happened just weeks after an election.

Repukes, like all politicians, don't need to give a shit what their interest groups think for at least another year.

[samsingh]

31. by not allowing guns at this event, the nra does not support the 2nd amendment.

[valerief]

32. The Republican Party IS the shark. nt

[angstlessk]

33. "wherein the NRA would train armed school personnel and volunteers" FOR FREE?

Or do they stand to make some big bucks off this proposal? Wow educational dollars going directly into the coffers of the NRA. A wet dream cum true!

[Cherchez la Femme]

36. They *think* he's jumped the shark?!

To quote a good friend of mine, and of good children whose parents happen to have expendable money this year:

"Hohohohohoho!"

[nineteen50]

37. and just what is the

connection between NRA and military armaments industry? Why send NRA to U.N. to argue against international gun running regulations.

[Steele1762]

38. NRA

The NRA is being ridiculous

[spicegal]

39. That's one way to put it.

[undeterred]

40. How can you tell someone else has Jumped the Shark when you've done the same?

[Resonance_Chamber]

41. The NRA is not radical enough for the RW, GOA is

the preferred mouth piece for the nutters now....


Gun Owners of America (GOA) is a non-profit lobbying organization formed in 1975 to preserve and defend the Second Amendment rights of gun owners. GOA sees firearms ownership as a freedom issue.

GOA was founded in 1975 by Sen. H.L. (Bill) Richardson (now retired). Richardson continues to serve as the Chairman of Gun Owners of America, bringing his many years of political experience to the leadership of GOA. Richardson is also an avid hunter and outdoorsman.

The GOA Board of Directors brings over 100 years of combined knowledge and experience on guns, legislation and politics. GOA's Board is not satisfied with the "status quo." Americans have lost some of our precious gun rights and WE WANT THEM BACK! This is why GOA is considered the "no compromise" gun lobby.

From state legislatures and city councils to the United States Congress and the White House, GOA represents the views of gun owners whenever their rights are threatened.

GOA has never wavered from its mission to defend the Second Amendment -- liberty's freedom teeth, as George Washington called it.

Over the last 30 years, GOA has built a nationwide network of attorneys to help fight court battles in almost every state in the nation to protect gun owner rights. GOA staff and attorneys have also worked with members of Congress, state legislators and local citizens to protect gun ranges and local gun clubs from closure by overzealous government anti-gun bureaucrats.


http://gunowners.org/protect.htm

http://gunowners.org/

[jqanderson1]

42. Jump the shark.

The GOP should know because they have jumped the shark too. They are now irrelevant.

[patrice]

43. Some of those Republicans need to help their NRA Fascists understand the rational difference

between inductive and deductive reasoning, that is, if any of them care about the truth at all, instead of making psychosis the goal of ALL Republican efforts, their highest priority over ANY other issue, including national defense.

[Crackinrocket]

44. "Fascists"

I don't think that word means what you think it means.

[patrice]

45. The objective of all forms of fascism is to acquire power, for power's sake alone. Does this not

describe the NRA (amongst others, e.g. the Tea Party), especially in as much as their means of power acquisition is the ultimate violence possible, or at least the threat thereof?

What do you think the purpose of fascism is?

[Crackinrocket]

46. Fascism is an authoritarian political ideology.

What does an organization that lobbies for the gun industry and gun owners have to do with the unique brand of authoritarianism that fascism implies? Just wanting power doesn't necessarily equate to being a fascist. Almost every politician seeks to acquire power through violence ( supporting military industrial complex, war, police state etc). Are the majority of our politicians fascist?

[patrice]

48. That would depend upon their purposes for power, how they use it, exclusively or inclusively, for

a single objective, e.g. the propagation of as many guns of every kind as possible to as many people as possible, with no other criteria than more, always more, unceasingly more and, in the case of guns, more = more power over others, whether that power is latent or manifest, more guns = more of it.

[patrice]

49. The purpose of which "authoritarian political ideology" is unity & how else is unity acquired except

by means of the power it takes to suppress/oppress differences?

The turbulence of the time created in people the hunger for the one of things that fascism offers foremost, unity.

- snip -

Fascism became popular because it could do what liberalism and socialism could not. People have the need to belong something greater than themselves. In weakness, the craving for unity and purpose in turn causes them to seek strength and guidance. Fascism provided that.

http://www.enscriptchun.net/words/sa/ps4.html

The opposite of weakness is the power that makes strength possible.

Guns are an ultimate form of power and, hence, the strength to make others do what you want them to do.

[patrice]

50. Q. What is the purpose of "authority"? A. Power.

[patrice]

47. Whether the description of Fascism is from the Right or from the Left, the common trait between both

perspectives is a drive toward power, by any means possible, under any guise/any label available, for power's sake alone.

[BanTheGOP]

51. Obama and the democrats should go for the throat on this one

There is NO WAY that the organization should be allowed to financially exist. Every donor of this organization should be outed just like the gun owners in Westchester Country, their employers and neighbors notified, and the school officials notified so they can put out notices to city child services. No child should have to live in a household with a weapon other than law enforcement, and no child should ever touch a gun until he or she is an adult in an approved government training course.

Above all, the NRA needs to be DEMONIZED for the racist, republicanist organization that it entails. Period.

[AldoLeopold]

52. Excellent

[link:|