The National Rifle Association, the powerful lobbying group that has been a longtime nemesis of liberals, is facing mounting criticism from influential allies on the right and even from its own board over a series of recent moves they say are selfish, short-sighted and ultimately harmful to the conservative movement.
Critics cite a list of transgressions, from considering an endorsement of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), to endorsing moderate Republicans — and even Democrats — rather than their more-conservative challengers, to taking a cautious approach to Second Amendment court cases and President Barack Obama’s judicial nominees.
And they are especially angry about the group’s willingness to play ball with Democratic leaders on campaign finance legislation vigorously opposed by congressional Republicans, powerful business groups and nearly the entire conservative movement.
Republican congressional leaders have privately conveyed their unhappiness to NRA officials, but online conservative activists linked to the tea party movement have been vociferous in their criticism.
“The NRA is all about the NRA — helping their organization and not necessarily the cause,” said influential conservative blogger Erick Erickson, who has repeatedly taken to his blog RedState in recent weeks to urge conservatives to turn their backs on the NRA…
Har! Rightwingers believe that single issue organizations should kneel to all of their ideology.
Chris Cox, the NRA’s chief lobbyist, said the criticism ignores the reason the NRA is such a powerful brand: that it focuses on its core mission of advancing gun owners’ rights, rather than on trying to advance the goals of the conservative movement, writ large…
Technically, the NRA — a $300 million organization with unrivaled lobbying power, a massive member-services operation and an active political-action committee — is nonpartisan. It derives significant clout from its ties to conservative, pro-gun Democrats and in recent years has increased its contributions to Democrats as they retook Congress and then the White House.
Absolutely hilarious. These lockstep demagogues believe that anyone who agrees with one portion of their religion must obey all the other precepts in the rightwing catechism.
Refreshing to see the NRA find a touch of dedication to what was – after all – their original mandate.
It looks like the right-wingers are organizing themselves into a circular firing squad.
Liberals are getting nervous, aren’t you?
“The NRA is all about the NRA — helping their organization and not necessarily the cause,”
The NRA cause it what we members of the NRA pay the NRA to help.
Unfortunately we are all in the middle of the circle. No one wins when misinformed people go off the handle at all of the wrong targets. Well, except the true masters of the human race.
Hand it to Phydeau to be the shill. Obviously didn’t read the article.
“Chris Cox, the NRA’s chief lobbyist, said the criticism ignores the reason the NRA is such a powerful brand: that it focuses on its core mission of advancing gun owners’ rights, rather than on trying to advance the goals of the conservative movement … It derives significant clout from its ties to conservative, pro-gun Democrats…”
Let’s face it. It’s smart policy of the NRA to broaden it’s second amendment stance beyond the GOP, to take their pro-second amendment stance mainstream.
Anti-gunners beware! A PRO-NRA Democrat is coming to a voting booth near you!
And thank Dog that the NRA has broadened its support to an occasional non-Republican!
As a now 20 odd year member of the NRA, it always pissed me off that they never seemed to endorse anything but Republicans. There are people running for office from other parties who support the 2nd Amendment.
And, the NRA IS a one issue group. If they started in lobbying for homophobic, warmongering, racist, fundamentalist religious causes, I’d cancel my membership.
Bye the way, since when do the Tea Baggers have an agreed upon agenda? Besides perhaps lower taxes, they seem to be all over the place. And, particularly goofy.
I still don’t get the fear of registering guns with the state governments.
You register your house and lands, businesses, cars, boats, planes and incomes in many of them.
A legal gun owner probably has at least one record out there if not more where someone knows he has a gun or more.
If the feds want to send troops into the streets and get your guns they will go house to house, search and seize no matter if there is a list or not. Because the feds at that point won’t trust their database to know if you have 1, 5, 10 or 100 guns. They will assume you have something and search anyway.
And what IF they take your guns? They will have also take away all the manuals and brains of people that know how to make improvised weapons. Not likely to happen. Especially seeing how most people know how to make a Molotov.
They wouldn’t get anywhere, we’d just make zip guns, IEDs and poisons to get rid of the feds standing in the way. Not to mention there would be plenty of illegal runs to Mexico and Canada for more weapons.
Trust me they would take away your winchester and two days later you’d have an AK.
It is hogwash.
Cursor_
Eideard, dick-head,
Referring to the Tea Party as “nutballs” shows exactly where you stand. You are the same brand of asshole that referred to the founding fathers as inconsequential malcontents. Well, fucking-know-it-all-who-doesn’t-even-live-in-this-country, go pound sand, and watch what happens in November.
I know we tend to stereotype the people we disagree with, so it might surprise you: I’m a liberal, but I’m not against the NRA or in favor of banning guns. As GigG said in #3, the NRA is doing what it is chartered to do. The Tea Partiers are kinda fanatical about their stuff, and are battling with the NRA because the NRA isn’t “pure” enough for them. Even though in general, they’re on the same page. Quibbling over “purity” and ignoring general agreement is a sign of the circular firing squad. And liberal groups do it too.
Berlin, 1930.
I still don’t get the fear of registering guns with the state governments.
Charles T. Morgan, then director of the Washington, D.C. branch office of the ACLU stated in testimony before the House in 1975 that a registration bill sponsored by Congressman Robert McClory (Illinois 13th District), well, let him say it:
“I have not one doubt, even if I am in agreement with the National Rifle Association, that that kind of a record-keeping procedure is the first step to eventual confiscation under one administration or another.”
State or Federal, gun registration is useless as a crime prevention measure. Ask Canada. Ask Great Britain. But it’s an absolute necessity if you want to confiscate guns from the law-abiding.
Ask Great Britain. Ask Australia.
What a bunch of dope thinking guns do ANYTHING to protect yourself from the government.
PAY ATTENTION: the power to tax overwhelms any defense by guns. Absent a total break down of civilization, you owning guns will only get you shot==by a SWAT Team of 12 guys with guns, or a SNIPER with a gun, or a TANK with a gun, or the local Militia with Guns, or the National Guard with guns. Guns don’t protect you from anything except in your fantasy world. In the real world, they kill and maim more innocent people than the guilty.
You gun nuts are just that.
Guns don’t kill people.
Idiots with guns do.
All guns should be registered. All gun owners should be tested, licensed and insured. Just like cars. It’s just common sense.
Unless you’re an idiot, you have nothing to worry about.
>> sargasso_c said, on July 12th, 2010 at 12:24 pm
>> Berlin, 1930.
Dallas, 1963.
Columbine, 1999.
Virginia Tech, 2007.
America, every damn day.
>> bobbo, telling shit from shinola said, on July 12th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
>> You gun nuts are just that.
They’re suckers too. Dupes of the gun and ammo industry.
–> Guns SUCK for self defense. <–
The gun and ammo industry don't want this little truth told because it hurts sales.
Unless you're locked, loaded and aiming, the criminal will always get the draw on you.
But this truth doesn't sell guns and ammo.
Hi Greg!!! Love your postings!
We were born from the Great Western Migration, cowboys, Indians, and such. Have to rely on our weapons for self defense don’t you know!
Well know fact: more settlers were killed by their own guns than by Indians. And the tradition goes forward.
Hard to get past our roots? Root, root, Root!!
Stoopid Hoomans. To a gun nut the problem of too many mosquitoes in the swamp is to add more mosquitoes. Thats just how stupid they all are.
The only way to settle this is with a good old fashion gun fight.
However, I’m sure they won’t because they’re all pussies inside.
Liberal douchebags. Mocking Jesus Christ with that picture, you bigoted, racist, fascist pigs. Lets see you put up a picture of Mohammad you cowards. I can’t wait when we throw the lot of you out in november.
picture of Mohammad ? maybe he’s to insecure to take a joke
i wonder if all those folks who bought up all the guns and ammo when Obama was elected feel as silly as those who bought generators for Y2K.
Y2K was as hard on the computer networks as the obama administration was been on gun ownership
the NRA and the gun and ammo industry keep trying to bluster sales and membership for a non issue
Some people see Jebus everywhere. Toast, clouds, the crotch of trees. Any near vision will do, anybody in a robe? anywone with a beard?
That being the case, I wonder why it is so hard to hitch a ride????
Conservatives: more afraid of hitchhikers than a friend of Jebus.
Ha, ha.
Right Bobbo!
And more Indians were killed by flu than guns.
That’s part of how these myths keep going. The left wants evil Europeans killing the natives and the right wants guns, in the hands of superior Christian culture, defending there women from brown people gang rape. Between the 2, the truth almost never comes out.
Thanks Milo–I am to the left of Obama meaning I am a leftie. I can only tell my story: No Way do I want Europeans to kill the natives. It would be swell if the Natives would just give up their tribal ways and live/integrate with our society and live just like we do. But, if they disagree and want to keep 100,000 square miles undeveloped because of the sacred dear, living with the sacred trees, downslope from the sacred mountains, then there isn’t room for both cultures to live in the same space. Then, yes, the guns do come out.
As it was with the Indians and the white man, so will it be with the White man and the Muslims. We should look to our own history and attitudes and take lessons from it.
Myth vs Reality===always a good tangent.
#18, touchy much?
Here you go:
*8^)
Gregallen, In my mind Columbine and Virginia tech do is reinforce my belief that everyone should have a gun. If any of the teachers or students would have been armed it could have saved dozens of lives.
1) the NRA exists exclusively to call me every few days and a) ask for money or b)ask me to join when I’m already a member
2) the anti-gun nuts are morons. It’s conclusively proved that armed societies are much safer than not. See crime rates in Chicago and DC.
DC’s dropped almost immediately once the SCOTUS struck down the gun ban. See criminals are less likely to rob and kill you if there’s a chanceyou may kill them. Simple logic.
SINGLE issue group
GUNS down any opposition.
Pyrrhic victory.
[Fail! 5-8-5 – ed.]
I am not anti-gun. I believe if you can afford it have as many as you like.
I do believe they should all be registered just as you are registered to vote, go abroad with your Visa or Passport, own vehicles, land and real property.
None of these registrations stop people from owning. Neither would a registration of guns.
The camel’s nose argument is valueless when you consider all the more expensive things we must register.
Cursor_
REGISTER your rights?
Not in the land of the free.
RIGHTS vs privilege.
[Fail! 5-7-6 – ed.]
These trollfests are getting repetious. 1) All the guns in Texas aren’t going to defeat the US military. Not even likely to defeat the National Guard. Dream on if you think your firearms protect you from “the government.” 2) Putting the party of plutocracy back in charge ain’t gonna make anything better (unless you are in the top 1% wealthwise – and if you read this blog, you aren’t). The current crop disappoints, no doubt about it. Basically, we can’t get good government in America anymore. We can either bad, or worse. 3) No one’s coming to take your gun away. Quit being scared little babies thinking your gun makes you manly. Be unafraid whether you have a big rod or not.
I like to think this image explains it all
http://img.lulz.net:8080/src/share.jpg