Posted on 01/11/2013 2:42:50 PM PST by RoosterRedux
Forgive me for choosing a colleague and friend, but I've been waiting for exactly this kind of media appearance from someone -- anyone! -- on our side to make this point with, and it just so happens that last night it was Breitbart editor-at-large Ben Shapiro who delivered as perfect an example as one could ever hope for. This is a must-watch for the rest of this column to make any sense whatsoever.
As one of our Founding Fathers once said, "Facts are stubborn things," and when faced with facts, calm logic, and someone fully prepared for the encounter, after a fifteen minute appearance last night with our own Ben Shapiro, CNN's Morton Downey Jr. Piers Morgan was left gasping for air. This was Morgan's worst nightmare realized and, for a whole host of reasons, something we need to see happen more often all across the media landscape.
What made Shapiro's appearance last night especially worthy of note had nothing to do with the fact that a left-wing media demagogue had his head handed to him. It's not enough anymore to simply win the media moment. For example…
Throughout the presidential election, we saw John Sununu regularly kick all kinds of butt on MSNBC. But how many minds did he change? How many votes were swayed? Calling Andrea Mitchell out as an Obama partisan might make the choir cheer (it did me), but this is a hearts and minds campaign.
*snip*
When it comes to Piers Morgan and his gun control mania, we've seen more than a few Sununu moments created by our side that might have made the choir cheer but did little to change many minds. In the end, it's all noise; it's all flash; it's all a meaningless game of checkers.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
I wish someone would ask these talking heads how many armed guards they have around them at all times and how many armed guards there are in the studio. And ask them if it’s easy to get into their gated neighborhood or appartment.
Why do they always gather around Gabrielle Gifford? Have they forgotten the conservative judge and CHILD who were actually murdered?
It’s unfortunate the author at Breitbart engages in gratuitous Todd Akin bashing.
Oh they trot out the child all the time. Judge Roll doesn’t count in their eyes because he was male, Caucasian, Christian, and conservative. They’re probably pleased because 0bama gets to appoint a life term leftist psychopath in his place.
Some of Morgan's energy has been spent and Shapiro has had a chance to study all the faux arguments.
In other words...timing helps.
SOME OBSERVATIONS REGARDING BEN SHAPIRO, PIERS MORGAN AND MORGAN’s PREVIOUS GUEST — ALEX JONES....
Shapiro states correctly that the Second Amendment is written specifically for the American people to be well armed. They are to form a militia in times of crisis and will be used to protect the people of these united States. Folks this is about your property rights. It is also to have the effect of a counterweight; a deterrent to a government that becomes tyrannical.
It is not to be infringed.
Piers Morgan weaves a familiar script where he insisted on Shapiro to answer his question. If you noticed, the trap is set when Morgan doesn’t allow the guest to answer. He will intentionally interrupt the guest with another question or allegation. He will continue stacking the questions and allegations.
Indeed, Piers Morgan’s strategy is to paint a tapestry of the guest being “insensitive and absurd”.
In legal circles, such tactics would be a form of “leading the witness”, which would not be allowed in a court of law. Granted, the Piers Morgan show is not a court of law. Nevertheless, in any public debate there are rules of engagement. Each side is allowed to respond without constant interruption. Piers Morgan has an annoying habit of not letting his guest finish his point.
Alex Jones was adept in recognizing that the Piers Morgan Show is not a stage for a “fair” debate. Jones did not allow Piers Morgan to weave a web of questions and allegations. Each time Alex Jones fired back with a library of published statistics and facts.
In this regard, Alex Jones took Piers Morgan to the wood shed.
Unfortunately, Jones came off as a ranting, raving loon and his insistence that the US government had something to do with the destruction of the NY twin towers did him no favors.
It is also important noting that Piers Morgan and other anti-gun pundits ask repeatedly:
“Why does anyone need a military assault rifle like that of a AR-15?”
How many times was this question answered by the guests in those interviews?
Ben Shapiro answered it TWICE. It is to have the effect of a counterweight; a deterrent to a government that becomes tyrannical. Our government might not be tyrannical like Stalin or the Nazis now, but there is no guarantee that it won’t slowly evolve that way. THAT is why we need a means of protecting ourselves and DETERRING Tyranny.
Shapiro, being a Jew, effectively informs Piers of how his ancestors were affected in Europe under the Nazis because they had no means of protecting themselves.
Piers Morgan was given this answer and never responded to it.
If the author said that, I'm with him.
It's like the old schoolchild's joke:
The "need" for assault rifles is in its presence.
"Why are you waving your arms like that?""To keep the elephants away!"
"I don't seen any elephants."
"Then it's working!"
The simple fact that people keep and bear them is enough to keep the government from descending into tyranny.
It's a red-herring to suggest that we don't need them because the government has never turned on us in 236 years. The truth is that the government has been successfully deterred from turning on us all this time because we are armed.
-PJ
How fetching that Mr Nolte extols the performance of his boss(!) on the P. Morgan show!
Nolte is a fine guy, but this article on Shapiro is parallel to MSM puff pieces on leftists.
First, Shapiro was very weak from a Second Amendment point of view, as he was ceding ground left and right, to wit:
1. He is fine with banning the private sale of weapons without an intrusive Government background check. (Where is that in the Second Amendment?)
2. He wants laws requiring people to lock up their own weapons in their own homes. (Where is that in the Second Amendment?)
3. He is in favor of a Federal Government gun registry, provided it is not made public. (That would be a secret gun registry, Harvard Law Grad Shapiro.) (Where is that in the Second Amendment.)
4. He appears to fail to understand the definition of an “assault rifle.”
5. He favors stronger background checks and mental-health screening. (This guy is supposed to be on our side?)
6. He indicated that he is comfortable with a military veteran friend of his owning an AR-15. Obvious implication: He is not comfortable with the current 1Million-item backlog on ARs.
7. He says he lost relatives in the Holocaust, and he is this willing to cave and make concessions? Mind boggling.
Resolved: The time for being defensive about the Second Amendment (and what it REALLY means) is over. We need to go on offense in the public square. No more “fig leaves.” No more “reasonable concessions.” No more flirting with gun registries, background checks, or “Mother may I buy a gun.” The Left never makes concessions — only hudna (temporary concession pending preparation for the next round of battle). Ask Liberals, “Just WHOSE Second Amendment is it that you are attacking and despising?” Answer: It is MY Second Amendment. Get the hell off my founding-documentary lawn!
And precise how would you have responded to Morgan on national TV on Morgan’s show?
Someone needs to take that idiot Brit to where the US Internment camps for Japanese where located. Then ask him if he still thinks that it is absurd to assume that the US government could turn against its own law abiding citizens.
I am not sure if Mr. Shapiro just needs some more seasoning or if he really holds these unacceptable concessions as acceptable. I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that he just needs some additional stage practice, but if he really does support what he says, then I’m off the Shapiro bandwagon.
Absolutely NO registry of any kind, under any circumstances!
You make some good points. I thought the praise a bit over the top, too. But, in all fairness, I found Shapiro's defense of gun rights to be one of the more eloquent that I've heard from anyone under fire from a lefty TV personality.
He didn't relent and, by bringing up the resistance-to-tyranny argument, he let a big cat out of the bag. When we stop talking about hunting and self-defense and stress that, the left will go absolutely ballistic [is that a pun?].
Shapiro was great.
He did indeed...and then tossed in a head fake (the 40 or 50 years point) before any on the Left could raise the issue of whether or not the Conservatives believe it is Obama himself who is trying to tyrannically overthrow the U.S.
Obama is the point man of the CPUSA and CPWorld...he is leading this effort to overthrow our Constitution and Government. But Shapiro slip loose from that accusation with lawyerly if not poetic aplomb.
Did it seem disingenuous to those of us on the Right? Well, yes.
But did it work as a debate tactic.
Yes!
But that was not a concession...it was a stratagem to expose the illogical, even hypocritical, nature of the Left's position.
After all, you can buy a 30 round clip for a Glock 26.
Nothing was ceded in this debate. Confusion was sown among the Left.
Even the usually pushy Piers Morgan looked sheepish.
He will not sleep well tonight.
It has been said that the modern reason why Switzerland has not been invaded is not the Alps...but the weapons owned and loved by the citizenry.
That is what Shapiro was trying to say...we are trying to defend our freedom, our independence from those who would take it away.
And Obama definitely wants to take it away!
Good question. To be honest, I don’t know. However, I hope that I would at least start by not ceding ground as he did.
You think giving concessions is helpful? You give them an inch, they will gladly take a mile.
In my view, Alex Jones did better. After watching Shapiro, I think I better understand why Jones never shut op. (With Shapiro, Morgan never shut up.)
I think the answer needs to be along these lines: This is my Second Amendment. Stay the hell away from it.
No more “defending” the Second Amendment. Time to go on offense. Get in their faces for wanting to subvert/overturn it.
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