First it was assault rifles.
Then it was high capacity magazines.
Now it’s universal background checks.
If only we could have our way with these! Then all of our problems are solved.
The problem is, all are symbolic and useless gestures. None of them would have prevented any of the terrible recent events but that deters a liberal not.
Crises and tragedies are fungible in the liberal world. These can easily be converted into the currency of politics and they have done exactly that with both Newtown and Boston.
Sen. Kelly Ayotte voted against the Manchin-Toomey Amendment and in so doing immediately became a lightning rod for the left:
Kelly Ayotte’s big mistake on background checks
screams The Daily Kos
Ayotte was held up to ridicule by both the Washington Post and Huffington Post.
WaPo:
WARREN, N.H. — The contentious political fight over gun control moved into the White Mountains of New Hampshire on Tuesday as gun-control activists began to focus on Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) as a prime target in their effort to revive their push for stricter gun laws.
Ayotte was a key, high-profile vote against the bipartisan plan to expand the national gun background-check program, which failed in the Senate two weeks ago despite overwhelming public support and extensive efforts by the White House. The failure was widely seen as a triumph for the National Rifle Association.
Back home this week for a series of town hall meetings, Ayotte is facing new constituent anger and a coordinated effort by gun-control groups to turn her vote into a political liability. These organizations include Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the group founded by New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (I), and the liberal think tank the Center for American Progress. Other groups are deploying organizers to New Hampshire, Arizona, Arkansas, Nevada and North Dakota in hopes of shaming moderate senators of both parties who voted against the background-check plan.
Much of the debate from both sides of the issue over the past week has centered around Ayotte’s vote. Pro-gun groups such as the National Rifle Association and the National Shooting Sports Foundation ran radio ads commending her for protecting the rights of gun owners, while Americans for Responsible Solutions, the super PAC founded by Tucson shooting survivor and former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), ran its own radio ads criticizing her for voting against a measure that had the support of 90 percent of Americans. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s group Mayors Against Illegal Guns has also announced its plans to go after Ayotte over her vote.
You should see the comments over at HuffPo, e.g.
“Republicans are cowards who lack the courage of their convictions!!!” and
“Such a meeting would represent a breach of her contract with the gun lobby.”
Erica Lafferty, the daughter of Newtown victim Dawn Hochsprung, was ferried up from CT to embarass Ayotte:
Erica Lafferty, the daughter of slain Sandy Hook Elementary School principal Dawn Hochsprung, confronted Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) Tuesday over her vote against expanding background checks for firearm purchases.
“You had mentioned that day you voted, owners of gun stores that the expanded background checks would harm,” Lafferty said, during a town hall in Warren, N.H. “I am just wondering why the burden of my mother being gunned down in the halls of her elementary school isn’t more important than that.”
Never mind that Lafferty’s emotional plea defies logic. Expanded background checks would not have prevented Newtown. It would not have stopped Adam Lanza from gunning her mother down.
Nancy Lanza passed a background check. So did Jared Loughner. So did James Holmes. So did Seung Hui-Cho.
Liberals want action, but not solutions. Just action. Any action.
The bullying of Ayotte has gotten so bad that the New Hampshire Union-Leader has had enough:
“It’s disappointing and disgusting that she can pretty much look me in the eye and try to justify my mother’s murder and the murder of five other educators and the murders of 6- and 7-year-olds,” Lafferty told Politico afterwards. “It’s disgusting.”
No, what is disgusting is deliberately mischaracterizing someone’s position for the purpose of portraying that person as a willing accomplice to murder. That has been the left’s strategy since Newtown. It is a testament to the Senate that a majority of its members, including Ayotte, did not cave to such bullying.
Carolyn Maloney (Idiot-NY) wanted us not to forget that she has been swimming in the stupid pool as well:
Stronger gun control laws would have prevented the accused Boston bombers from getting firearms and could prevent future terror attacks, according to a New York Democratic lawmaker.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney said on Monday that tighter background checks and increased penalties for straw purchasers would help thwart terrorism, citing Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, who waged a late-night firefight with police and are accused of shooting and killing an MIT security guard.
As if she and only she knows how the Tsarnaev brothers got their guns.
There is something that makes crystal clear what this is about. Five democrat Senators- count ’em- voted against this amendment.
Baucus, Begich, Heitkamp. Pryor and Reid all voted just as Ayotte did.
There is no assault on them. No bullying. NO “big mistake.” No victims’ wives, no children of victims try to intimidate them. It’s ONLY the Republican who is subject to the vendetta.
It’s disgusting.
The left has forfeited its moral authority on this issue entirely.
This is not about gun control. It’s not about safety. It’s not about background checks.
It’s pure, crass, bald-faced partisan politics on the bodies of the dead children of Newtown and the families of the victims.
Selective umbrage doesn’t cut it. This is straight out of Alinsky:
* RULE 5: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions. (Pretty crude, rude and mean, huh? They want to create anger and fear.)
* RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.)
Ineffective legislation based on pure emotion is a really bad idea from the get go. Capitalizing on death and grief for pure politics is beyond despicable.
I dare not enter into this post the words which convey my true feelings about liberals.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.