Political Correctness Sinks to New Lows
By Gummi Bear, Jr.
WASHINGTON DC, October 24 -- If there
ever were a moment when the NRA perhaps could be viewed by a cynic as an organization
one small halting step out of sync
with the Capitol mood, it occurred yesterday, in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Monday night, the NRA kicked into gear the 'Chuck's Last Photo Op' portion
of its election campaign,
a journey that will take Charles Heston to tight races in several states
through the Saturday before Election Day.
In his final term as the NRA's posterboy leader, Charlton Heston,
the very same person who parted the waters of the Red Sea, appeared at a
Republican rally in New Hampshire and deftly raised his flintlock, in a one-armed gesture
reminiscent of the antics of one Saddam Hussein, and reaffirmed to the roaring crowd
his wow that the NRA's left-wing enemies will have to pry the rifle "from my cold dead hands."
The image of Mr. Heston, and the polished antique flintlock he carries with him as a prop,
displayed in his signature pose, gun raised over his head, have by now
merged into a single icon which through its repeated media exposure has
been singed into the nation's conscience, so it is fair to assume that his purpose has been attained.
The
Concord (NH) Monitor trumpeted the news that the adoring crowds simply couldn't get enough of Chuck.
Meanwhile, in the nation's capital, all eyes were on another gun, this one
concealed from public view, but equally singed into the consciousness
of a public which would have preferred otherwise. An entire regional population of some 27 million souls,
most of them going about their daily affairs in mortal fear of a gunman on the loose.
As we go to press with this story, three days after the NRA rally in New Hampshire,
the Washington DC area is breathing a collective sign of relief - the sniper has been caught, and the public can again
attend to daily chores like gassing up the family car, mowing the lawn,
and shopping at the Home Depot - without fear of being felled by the assassin's single bullets.
What we would have liked to see, but regretfully did not, was a week of silence, or a month of lying low,
on the part of the NRA. With 25% of all newspaper and television coverage devoted to
the sniper and his butchery driven by an outrage the origin of which we could only guess,
it would have been real decent of the NRA to not only lie low,
but to offer help and assistance. One would think that the leadership
of the organization would consider the publicity given to the sniper
somewhat adverse to the cause for which the NRA stands, and that,
therefore, it would make sense to lower the NRA's profile.
But no - that didn't happen. The NRA, on its website, dismissed
the sniper as a loner, without friends, and wrote off his rampage
with a 'too bad, but we have a life, too' attitude.
I caught a snippet relating to
"Latest Victim of the Sniper" and clicked on it - believing the
NRA at least had the decency to honor the victims of the sniper's
gun rampage.
Again, I was mistaken in my belief that the NRA would observe an appropriate decorum in light
of the national tragedy. The 'Victim' the NRA website referred to, the latest casualty of the Washington sniper,
was nothing less that a gun-friendly piece of legislation, awaiting
approval in Congress, but which now appeared dead.
The NRA, apparently, mourns the "death" of legislation which their contributions
had propped in place for congressional approval, but feels no remorse
for human victims of a killer equipped with a military style semiautomatic assault weapon.
[Note: this story has since been removed from the NRA website - but it was there - believe me]
One wonders how the families of the 13 victims, ten of whom died, feel about
their loved ones being kept on a parity level with the other 'victim' - namely
the threatend pro-gun legislation. I saw very few tears on the NRA website shed over the human loss in the Beltway area,
but quite a torrent of self pity that the sniper did such an un-fraternal thing by his
choice of location: Couldn't he have exercised his Second Amendment right to
bear and use arms at a more convenient outpost that the nation's capital,
and away from those pesky members of Congress who are just apt to kill a
perfectly good piece of pro-gun legislation, all because of the antics
of some raving madman and his rifle. Of some zealot with a rifle.
That reminds me .... a zealot with a rifle .....hmmmmmmmmm......isn't that the
very icon which brings the NRA
membership at large into such a frenzy?
It's time to tone it down, Chuck.
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