We haven’t really been covering it in depth, but Barack Obama announced a new candidate for Surgeon General a while back and every day it seems we learn something new about him. Dr. Vivek H. Murthy seems like a suitable candidate, until you realize that the good doctor believes that extremely strict gun control is a matter of public health and was planning to use his position to advocate for that. The revelations sparked outrage from gun rights groups, and word comes today from the New York Times that the outcry of gun rights advocates seems to have been loud enough to pull the plug on the nomination.
From the New York Times . . .
Facing a possible defeat in the Senate, the White House is considering delaying a vote on President Obama’s choice for surgeon general or withdrawing the nomination altogether, an acknowledgment of its fraying relationship with Senate Democrats.
[…]
Senate aides said Friday that as many as 10 Democrats are believed to be considering a vote against Dr. Murthy, who has voiced support for various gun control measures like an assault weapons ban, mandatory safety training and ammunition sales limits.
The overall tone of the NYT piece is more of the same “evil NRA” propaganda that tries to paint the efforts of an organization with more than five million members as “radical” and “out of touch.” This from the same newspaper that lauds the “popular” efforts of Moms Demand Action and their couple thousand “likes” on Facebook. So it makes sense that the Times places the blame for the failure of this nomination squarely on the NRA’s shoulders, and no doubt the NRA is happy to oblige.
The real story here is one of the ascendance of gun rights advocates. Instead of playing a defensive game, gun rights people are finally being pro-active and going after any action in Washington that has even a hint of an anti-gun aroma. Four years ago we would have been content to sit back and complain about these machinations to our buddies, but now we’re taking a more active role and actually influencing politics.
With the midterm election coming up, I’m getting my popcorn ready. The media narrative may be that this coming election is a referendum on Obamacare, but my money is on gun rights being more important. We’ve seen what happens when we let “reasonable” people be elected and then turn around and try to infringe on our constitutional rights, and I’m looking forward to the crop of politicians that are about to be voted in. It’s gunna be a fun election cycle.
In the meantime, the Surgeon General nomination is on the ropes — but not quite down for the count. There’s still a possibility that Obama’s minions can save the day and make the needed votes appear. But if things are so bad that even the Gray Lady is starting to point fingers, we might just see victory after all.