It’s clear from this Mother Jones post that the NRA, faced with that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will allocate $12 million through a PAC to help attain some form of gun control in Congress, plans to — you guessed it, this is 21st century politics, right? — turn Bloomberg into the issue. You may as well not turn on conservative talk shows, or watch Fox news, or go to some conservative websites if you’re interested in arguments for and against gun control when this takes place since it’ll be one massive attack on Bloomberg. Do you need more then this to see what’s about to happen?
Bloomberg has scored a handful of recent gun-related victories. He pumped nearly $10 million into Independence USA in the 2012 elections; the super-PAC went on to spend $3 million to defeat Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif.), a pro-gun rights congressman. Independence USA also spent millions last month in the Democratic primary for Illinois’ 2nd congressional district to defeat Debbie Halvorson, who had an “A” rating from the NRA. Democrat Robin Kelly, whom Bloomberg supported, ultimately cruised to victory.
The NRA has said it plans to fire back at Bloomberg with an advertising campaign of its own. And an NRA lobbyist told the Times that it’s confident that many Americans won’t buy into Bloomberg’s message. “What he is going to find out is that Americans don’t want to be told by some elitist billionaire what they can eat, drink and they damn well don’t want to be told how, when and where they can protect their families,” Chris Cox, the NRA’s top lobbyist, said.
So let me get this straight: they can’t debate the issue of gun control and whether gun deaths should be a determining factor in enacting laws and make a strong affirmative argument using the constitution. It’s all going to be about Bloomberg’s sugar drinks ban and his money?
So I guess the NRA rejects any contributions or help from donations connected to the Koch Brothers? Or perhaps there have been none, and NRA donations only come in $5 and $10 checks?
This is so typical of American politics. There are issues that can be hotly, passionately debated on their merits. But it always comes down to trying to personally discredit someone and push hot button.
Bloomberg is a big boy.
You know he knows this is coming. You know he’s ready for it.
Are voters?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.