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 ...
Yeah, that was brilliant. I'd have gone all Obama at that point [even had I maintained Shapiro's composure] and Morgan would have zoomed in for the kill.
I watched the interview. While being interrupted, he was attempting to interject the qualifier "If there is a mentally disturbed family member" into that particular condition. It, of course, got talked over by the odious Redcoat Morgan.
That said, Shapiro was calm (almost) and collected in his response. He didn't concede so much as refuse to argue points which were extraneous to HIS argument (i.e. he didn't let Morgan drag him off target and fog his message).
Shapiro pounded home one point...and I believe it worked (Morgan was deflated)...
Shapiro's point was that the 2nd Amendment is our defense against tyranny (uh oh, new tag line alert;-)). It worked against King George (in that we refused to disarm)...and will work against Obama and his successors.
As a follow-on point, Obama took an oath to defend the Constitution...not to destroy it.
He is tyranny personified.
Same here...I would have jumped up and punched Morgan (numerous times) screaming "are you daft...can't you see we are presently under attack!!!!!"
New tag line alert.;-)
If a person has a mentally unstable person in the house...for God's sake, lock up your weapons.
How hard is that, Ms Lanza? Put them in a frikken safe or find yourself shot in the face in the morning.
Have an Windham Weaponry AR-15 (MPC) on order from a good friend who owns a local gun shop/hardware store combo...but may never see that thang (if the Dem's get their way).
“The beauty of the 2nd amendment is that you won’t need it until they come to take it away” Thomas Jefferson
Her lack of responsibility bordered on insanity.
Check out “The Battle of Athens, TN”
http://voxvocispublicus.homestead.com/Battle-of-Athens.html
Reality is a rapidly moving target...none of us is rational in our interpretation of it.
This is why those who society defines as insane are often, in clinical terms, the sanest.
And those who conform to society are those who are the most insane.
Hey, I like that.
;-)
I think I just pronounce myself "sane."
Conservatives didn't bash Todd Akin for his pro-life beliefs.
Akin was deservedly bashed for his inability to coherently defend them.
The best response is a question-to-a-question:
"Why does anyone need a .22 rifle?"
That is, after all, what an AR-15 is.
I would add that the 2nd Amendment is our defense against both tyranny and anarchy (criminals).
Thanks RoosterRedux.
G26 is the best handgun I have ever owned. I have a G17 too, but the 26 beas everything.
Mr Laz,
You are correct: He did attempt to insert that qualification.
Nonetheless, that is hardly reassuring. From requiring those with mental patients in their home to lock up their weapons, to requiring ALL of us to lock up our weapons... is a very short reach indeed.
Shapiro made me very uneasy when he said (more than once), “we need to calibrate our laws....” Remember: Shapiro is a Harvard-trained l-a-w-y-e-r.
So, I respectfully disagree with you. No more laws. We have more than enough laws on the books already. Actually, we need LESS laws on the books, with genuine enforcement of laws against murder, theft, etc (not against inanimate objects).
Going further (logically), as I have said elsewhere: No more “defending” the Second Amendment. To borrow a phrase used by our Chief Justice (about the odious Roe v Wade decision), it is “settled law.” It needs not to be defended. We need to demand of its detractors that they respect it or risk of being called subversive traitors, enemies (whether foreign or domestic).
I agree we need to calibrate our laws. We need to roll every gun law back except the background check and we need to get crazy people listed on the database.
The problem I have with this is the simple fact that if someone wants to find an idiot in any group consisting of thousands they will find that idiot.
There is no way we could possibly train every Conservative to preform as perfectly as Ben Shapiro did. This is true for the same reason we can’t all play professional football. Talent, knowledge, skill, and interest in any given area are by no means uniform charcherist in any given population.
Ben Shapiro did an excellent job of studying his target and coming prepared to address its particular form of attack. (Something I think many if not most of us are capable of doing.) Indeed if every conservative was so well organized and prepared I think you would find the left never interviewing them, and that in itself is the problem.
They don’t try to pick people capable of defending their point of view, they try to arrange confrontations in favorable conditions against favorably weaker opponents. This is the art of war, and they have a decisive advantage with control over the microphone.
What Ben Shapiro successfully did was make them think he was weak when he was really quite strong, thus bring the fight to a field he was prepared for. A field they would have avoided had they known.
Who is to decide who is “sane” enough to be armed?
There are perhaps many standards that we might agree upon but there are also many others that we most certantly don’t agree upon.
I could never trust this “judgement” to Washington. Do you not recall the way Federal authorities were trying to frame Tea partiers just a few years ago?
Your comments are correct, but the caveat for every conservative is “in my view”. We already agree on the imporatance of liberty and the 2nd Amendment. It is the mushy middle that needs to be corralled.
Sadly, the mushy middle consists of white women who would otherwise side with us, but voted Obama in. It is in their view that our arguments make sense.
The call for “common sense gun laws” are a fight for the mushy middle. We won’t win it without arguments that convince them. Then as the heat turns down simple legislative manuvering kills the rest off.
Our error is in responding to direclty. Better to get back to Benghazi, Fast and Furious, and the ongoing corruption of the Obama Admin. Stop fighting on their terms, turn their flanks and attack.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.