At first I thought I might have misunderstood. Lester Holt surely didn't mean to imply that befriending the NRA jeopardizes a politician's reputation for being tough on crime, did he?Posted on 09/22/2007 5:28:59 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
At first I thought I might have misunderstood. Lester Holt surely didn't mean to imply that befriending the NRA jeopardizes a politician's reputation for being tough on crime, did he?
Oh yes he did.
On this morning's "Today," weekend co-anchor Holt introduced a segment on Rudy Giuliani's Friday speech to the NRA, in which Rudy tried to take some of the sharp edges off his prior anti-NRA positions.
LESTER HOLT: Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giulani remains the apparent GOP front-runner of his party for the White House, but his long record of being tough on crime was put to the test on Friday as he addressed one of his party's biggest supporters, the NRA. NBC's John Yang has the story.
Yang perpetutated the notion that crime-fighting and supporting the NRA are intrinsically at odds.
JOHN YANG: As a crime-fighting NYC Mayor, Rudy Giuliani called the NRA "right-wing extremists." As a presidental candidate he's asking for their votes.
A bit later, Holt began his conversation with NBC political analyst Craig Crawford by choosing an unflattering metaphor for Guliani's softening of his anti-Second Amendment stance.
HOLT: It was almost as if you could hear the sound like from a garbage truck backing up "beep, beep, beep" as Giulani tried to explain to the NRA campaign what he said then and what he's saying now.Later, Lester left no doubt that as far as he's concerned, being strong on law and order requires opposing the NRA and Second Amendment rights.
HOLT: Is there a bigger message [he's] sending to social conservatives, at least coming back a little bit from his [ant-NRA stance]. I mean he's got to keep his strong law-and-order stance but obviously he has to take care of groups like this to some extent, doesn't he?
So there it is. As far as Holt's concerned, the NRA is just a bunch of "social conservatives" who Rudy needs to pacify, or "take care of" as Lester put it. And that's a problem because opposing the NRA is what's required "to keep his strong law-and-order stance."
Oh, and would people please alert me the next time anyone in the MSM analogizes Hillary Clinton to a garbage truck?
Thanks, really. You keep complimentin’, I’ll keep postin’ ;-)
More proof that gun-grabbers are froot-loops.
My point exactly and I’m sure that’s what the TV commentator thinks of when he thinks of law and order.
Thanks GLGB, I start the day with NewsBusters.
Thompson/Hunter = the most pro-2nd Amendment ticket the GOP could put up next year.
Stories like this make me believe that liberals have taken an evolutionary path more on track with chimpanzees and jackasses.
The National Rifle Association, NRA, is America's largest gun control organization.
What about disarming the criminals? Shouldn't that be the first priority rather than the general public?
Actually, it's called phenotype reversion.
It’s much easier to disarm law abiding citizens.
Correct, but that doesn’t strengthen “law and order.”
You obviously aren’t getting my drift.
I get your drift, just not your logic.
It doesn’t matter what Lester Holt believes about the NRA — it’s a fact that Giuliani’s “tough on crime” credentials are interwoven with his support of measures the NRA opposed. It is Giuliani, not Holt, who as mayor supported gun control as an anti-crime measure, and it’s Giuliani who’s backpedalling now.
I think it’s reading too much into the anchor’s comments to say he’s making the claim that “tough on crime” is universally tied to opposing the NRA — but Giuliani’s brand of it certainly is.
By the reasoning offered, it would also mean strict curfews for everyone everyday. To oppose such curfews would be pro-crime.
What if we changed the candidate to a democrat and switched the NRA to black voters? Would the fearless news readers report this story?
“Thompson/Hunter = the most pro-2nd Amendment ticket the GOP could put up next year.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
IIRC Hunter Thompson was actually a strong believer in the Second Amendment also. ;)
That pic, I just noticed that the weapon is on semi.
Lester Holt is a big time jerk!
Without calling anyone names, Rudy has shown tendencies toward autocracy already.
Any firearm owner who has been paying attention isn't buying what he's selling.
Understandable, I guess when so many of them would send a one-eyed willie up the one-way street. Maybe they just have a problem with the whole 'pipe' thing...
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