Posted on 12/21/2012 11:14:46 AM PST by billorites
When National Rifle Association leader Wayne LaPierre took the stage on Friday to address the media about last week’s elementary school massacre, he made it clear multiple times that the organization has issues with how the press reports on guns.
At one point, LaPierre said “the media demonize lawful gun owners, amplify their cries for more laws and fill the national debate with misinformation and dishonest thinking.”
If the NRA doesn’t like reporters, the feeling is apparently mutual.
As Jeffrey Goldberg, a national correspondent for The Atlantic, put it:
Reporters on my Twitter feed seem to hate the NRA more than anything else, ever.
— Jeffrey Goldberg (@JeffreyGoldberg) December 21, 2012
Here are some of the views expressed by reporters and editors — from news outlets including Talking Points Memo, Politico, The New York Times and The Huffington Post – on Twitter during LaPierre’s speech:
LaPierre as delusional as any dictator. His speech against music videos, hurricanes has the feel of a Castro rant or Mugabe tirade.
— The Huffington Post’s Jason Cherkis (@jasoncherkis) December 21, 2012
In Wayne LaPierre’s defense, tone-deafness is a serious condition that afflicts hundreds of thousands of Americans.
— New York Daily News’ Josh Greenman (@joshgreenman) December 21, 2012
Wayne LaPierre should have just given this speech to an empty chair on a stage
— The Nation’s Jeremy Scahill (@jeremyscahill) December 21, 2012
No two ways about: This is gross, awful, dishonest.
— Talking Points Memo’s Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) December 21, 2012
What is this NRA guy talking about? Blame hurricanes. Blame media. It’s so strange.
— Politico’s Ben White (@morningmoneyben) December 21, 2012
This is nuts.
— Talking Points Memo’s Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) December 21, 2012
If it wasn’t for all the dead children, the #NRA press conference might have been amusing.
— The New York Times’ Jonathan Weisman (@jonathanweisman) December 21, 2012
Stallone movie meets Fidel Castro speech
— Politico’s Alex Burns (@aburnspolitico) December 21, 2012
Many of the same reporters were infuriated that the NRA wouldn’t take questions.
It’s amazing how much damage LaPierre is doing to the NRA without even allowing questions.
— The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) December 21, 2012
Reporters should walk out of this press conference right now, if he’s not taking questions. Otherwise, its just a propaganda event. #Newtown
— The Nation’s David Corn (@DavidCornDC) December 21, 2012
I read the transcript and I agree with you. Both sides are way overreacting to the shootings in Connecticut we don’t need to take away guns from law abiding people and we do not need to make schools armed camps indistinguishable from maximum security prisons.
Terrible people do terrible things and I hate when it happens. But why didn’t the school follow its own policies about campus access (or did they?)? Why did it take the police so long to respond? If it is broken fix it but don’t go into full tilt panic mode and respond without thinking.
Our rights are being challenged. They had a week to prepare. They needed to step up.
David Corn-hole can bl*w me.
I would also point out, regarding the police, that at Columbine the police encircled the school and waited while the two cowards inside continued to murder people.
The police were absolutely useless and gutless at Columbine.
Putting an armed guard in every school and relying on the police will not work.
Allow adults who actually care about the children to carry.
Victoria Soto bravely exposed herself to that little worm's gunfire to shield her children from him, even though she was unarmed.
If that courageous woman had a weapon, fewer families would be in mourning right now.
Seriously, it would be a waste of resources to put police in every school.
If you took all those police, and put them all in Chicago, you’d save more kids than you’d save putting them in schools.
It’s a matter of finite resources and return for investment.
That sucks when we just had 20 kids killed. But you know, for a parent, the kid that matters is their own. If one kid is killed, that parent feels just as bad as the 20 parents of the 20 kids killed in this shooting.
And that is the real loss. Each parent losing a kid. And it should make no difference whether 20 parents lose 20 children in 20 separate incidents, or 20 parents lose 20 children in a single incident.
But it does, because we are irrational. If we put police officers in every school, it will be because it makes us FEEL BETTER to “do something”, even something that makes no sense.
Frankly, this answer would also apply to every place we need guns. Instead of letting citizens have guns in their homes, let’s put police on every street. Let’s put police in every store, on every street corner, in every restaurant.
See, then we don’t need normal people to carry guns.
So frankly, I think this is a cop-out by the NRA. If the answer is guns in schools, then the answer is to allow trained school employees to carry their weapons into school, not to hire special police officers for the task.
That’s right. You get YOUR point out, NO QUESTIONs, NO OPPORTUNITIES for the ‘reporters’ to ask their silly ass questions and put forth their insane positions.
There is no point in having a national ‘discussion’ with these people or any Democrats. Let them try to push their laws on us and we give it all we’ve got in forcing our representatives and lobbyists in stopping them. I don’t care if Cuomo thinks my guns should be confiscated; I think he should be in jail, so there.
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