What the hell’s happened to the Associated Press? The news service was once the model of journalistic propriety and restraint, inverted pyramid and all. These days they’re sounding more like, well, a blog. Case in point: PROMISES, PROMISES: Obama yet to Act on Gun Safety. You’re kidding, right? An all-caps upbraid of the President of the United States for NOT infringing on Americans’ right to keep and bear arms? As you’d expect from the header, the AP’s diet-tribe [sic] reads like a press release from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Legal Gun Owners from Being Left Alone. The rest of the “story” pretty much writes itself. Even so I’d like to point out one important nay transcendent error . . .
Outspoken earlier in his political career in favor of tougher gun measures, he’s treaded carefully since becoming president, almost never raising the topic except when asked and offering, at most, tepid support for legislation he once embraced, such as re-enacting a ban on assault weapons.
As far as I can tell there’s no such word as “treaded.” It’s “trod.” Back in the day, the AP had a verb conjugation specialist on staff. Now, Erica Werner’s mangling of the English language gets reprinted over a thousand times without ONE editor catching the gaffe.
With that in mind, do we really trust that Ms. Wener isn’t simply making shit up? We do not.
A government official involved in the talks [held months ago] said that suggestions under consideration include ways to improve the background check system dealers use to avoid selling guns to criminals, which activists say is ineffective and riddled with loopholes. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private deliberations.
Would it be impolite for me to suggest that this entire story—including the non-quote above—is a plant from the aforementioned Brady Campaign? It might be (impolite), but that’s the way I’m going here . . .
“We’re coming on the six-month mark since the shooting and still nothing from the administration,” said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign. “It’s time for some action.”
Action like . . . getting a national journo to pimp for you. Thankfully, Ms. Werner feels obliged to throw in a quote from the NSSF telling the gun grabbers to fuck off and die. And then points out, wistfully . . .
With that kind of opposition from gun-rights groups, an election year approaching and attention focused on the economy, prospects for congressional action are dim. And the Obama administration, in turn, appears unlikely even to try to do anything more than make modest changes that don’t fundamentally alter the nation’s gun policies.
And that’s a problem because . . . ? And here’s the kicker:
EDITOR’S NOTE _ An occasional look at government promises and how well they are kept.
German translation, or just another death rattle from the media gatekeepers who helped usher in the gun control years, and wishes they’d come back. With a vengeance.
I just love “unbiased” journalism. Are you sure Katie Couric didn’t co-author this bit?
I worked for a publishing group for many years some time back. I remember how funny the publishers thought it whenever someone would call something unbiased. For a very long time now, there has been no attempt to be unbiased. Instead the bias – or the spin – is determined by the politics of the head publisher.
I really prefer it that way. Better an enemy I know. Besides, I don’t believe that anyone really communicates without a bias.
So he’s damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t. This is the stuff that makes politics FUN! The gun control dilemma Obama finds himself in is just a small part of the larger dilemma he created for himself as a candidate. By running to the far left of a moderate president he has to choose between keeping his promises and the goodwill of most Americans.
I would love to see Obama jump into the gun control fray right now and push for an “assault” rifle ban or some such thing. I think he’s too smart to do that, but it would be fun to watch.
Unfortunately for Erica Wener and those like her the real support for gun control just isn’t there. Obama knows this, otherwise he would have endorsed a ban long ago.
Mark Levin calls them the Associated Depressed and with good reason. Imagine getting your wish from the genie in the lamp – the President of your dreams: black, young, articulate, ultra-Liberal, and an unbending ideologue to boot. WE’LL show those heathen Tea Baggers! Screw the Conservatives! We won, and now we’ll show them how superior OUR ideas are. Now imagine how disappointed they are, that Obama’s turned out to be such a disappointment to them. It reminds me of my one time with a press pass on the sidelines for a Dallas Cowboys game. They were losing 40 – 0 against what would be the World Champion Chicago Bears team. I looked at one of the cheerleaders (and looked and looked), and asked her, “Is it difficult to cheer, when they are losing so badly?” She smiled a bittersweet smile and said, “We have to be happy and ‘up’ no matter what. But yeah. It’s hard when it’s this bad.”
I almost feel sorry for the AP. Almost.
Every hour of every day, the MSM proves that everything we say about it is true. Dontcha just love it!
One of the reasons I never engaged in the prolonged gnashing-of-teeth and rending-of-garments that so many other conservatives indulged in when Obama was elected is that despite the rhetoric, I never believed Obama was a hardcore lefty, or socialist, or gun grabber. In fact, I don’t believe Obama is a hard core anything, other than a power-seeking politician.
During the election, Obama was the perfect Tabula Rasa – the blank slate upon which his supporters projected whatever they wanted to see. His anti-war supporters saw him as an anti-war guy. His anti-gun supporters saw him as an anti-gun guy. Obama himself was pretty tepid on most of these issues but avoided denying them so his supporters continued to believe.
And now that Obama’s got ahold of that brass ring, he’s not going to risk losing it just to placate his erstwhile supporters. For one thing, where else are they going to go? Nader? For another thing, to quote the only memorable line from an otherwise forgettable movie (“Clear and Present Danger” based on the Clancy book), Obama “…wants what every first term administration wants: A second term.”
Call him what you want, but don’t call him dumb, at least not when it comes to getting and keeping his hands on the levers of power. Obama is smart enough to know you don’t pick a fight with gun owners in a country where the politics are split 48/48 if you want to keep your cushy job. Gun control is a losing issue, which is to say, it’s an issue that only losers push. Obama wants to be a winner which is why he will run, not walk, away from any new gun control legislation.