Talk About A Manufactured “Gotcha”
HCDL over at Wake Up America has a post up about a "gotcha" moment at CNN that is so freaking phony, it should be presented an Oscar for best documentary (hey, it worked for Al Gore).
I stopped watching CNN after they showed one of our soldiers being taken out by an enemy sniper. Through the years, they have done little more than piss me off anyway, so it was no big loss for my news hunting to do without the Caliphate News Network.
Now they're trying to call into question Fred Thompson's NRA and gun support because he doesn't have a current hunting license. Well big deal, I don't either, and haven't for several years. It's not that I don't like hunting, don't advocate it, and don't wish that I had the TIME for it, I simply DON'T have the time with my work schedule or I would be out there as much as I could doing the hunting and fishing I love to do and look forward to doing one of these days when I retire.
Here's the CNN story. Which is, of course a complete strawman. I don't own a hunting license. Furthermore, I have never owned a hunting license. The only thing I "hunt" is paper targets or clay pigeons. But I also own, collect, shoot and am legally licensed to carry firearms (and I do). Gun owners are not all hunters - but all gun owners will recognize this for what it is - an attempted hit piece on Thompson by an inept reporter trying to cover a subject he obviously knows little or nothing about.
Stupidest media "gotcha" so far this season.
By Snooper, Thursday, 6 December , 2007 @ 9:55 pm
HCDL cracks me up.
By Mwalimu Daudi, Thursday, 6 December , 2007 @ 10:45 pm
I don’t own a gun, and never have (probably never will). I have not even shot a gun since I was at teenager. I have no interest in hunting. In other words, I don’t have a dog in this fight.
But I do have a stake in the Constitution and in liberty. The Second Amendment says, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Why are civil liberties so hard for CNN to comprehend?
By Gaius, Thursday, 6 December , 2007 @ 10:56 pm
Respectfully, I’d beg to differ, Mwalimu. You, and all free people, very much have a dog in this fight. The amendment is there for a specific reason.
By freetime, Friday, 7 December , 2007 @ 8:22 am
The left, when they are against a proposition that is supported by a majority of Americans, have a fall-back position described by Thomas Pynchon in Gravitiy’s Rainbow: “If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about answers”.
In this case, they don’t believe anyone should have a gun. Therefore, they attempt to reduce the liberty incrementally by attempting to focus the discussion only on the guns-for-hunting portion of the debate, thus taking the real freedom in the second amendment off the table. That is, we will allow the hunting prescription (which is regulated by the state) as the only valid purpose of gun ownership———for the time being.
Since retirement, I spend a lot of time hiking in the woods with my dog. Early this fall I met another guy on the trail and he, noticing the revolver on my hip, asked why I carried it. “Because I can”, I told him. That is the real essence of the right.
Like many, I don’t hunt much anymore, or at least I don’t hunt very aggressively. I do shoot in competition and for the simple pleasure of continually perfecting a skill. I like reloading; I collect guns; I enjoy the basic aesthetic beauty of guns (an epitome of the machinist’s art combined in a functional and highly refined piece of precision equipment). I don’t need to defend any of that to anyone
By martian, Friday, 7 December , 2007 @ 9:52 am
I am not a Fred Thompson supporter. For my personal beliefs he’s a little too conservative for me (I like to think of myself as a moderate Republican or Conservative). However, I base that on his real stands on specific issues. To make up something as foolish as claiming the man doesn’t support weapons ownership because he dosn’t have a hunting license is assinine! C’mon people, if you’re going to oppose a candidate for president or any other office, do so because of his/her stands on real issues, not some made up BS!
That’s like claiming someone who chooses not to fly (for whatever reason) doesn’t support aviation. Or, to put it in a constitutional light, since I’ve never been arrested and faced with the court system, that I don’t support the right of defendants to a fair trial and to representation of their choice. How stupid do these attack dogs think people are?
I haven’t had a hunting license since 1973. Does that mean I don’t support the Second Amendment? Not just no, but HELL NO! I am still a gun owner. Even if I chose not to be a gun owner, I would support the right of every American to own a weapon of his/her choice.
By Spree, Friday, 7 December , 2007 @ 12:11 pm
Thanks for the link and sometimes I find CNN can still amaze me with their ridiculousness.
It shouldn’t. I shouldn’t be surprised anymore, but nevertheless, they do on a consistent basis.