When BOTH Murdoch-based papers put your face on the front page and call you variations of "insane", you've definitely touched a nerve. National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre did all that and more on Friday, in a press-enabled, vitriol-fueled screed that makes anything John McCain's said in the last four years seem almost genteel. More on Phase Two of the NRA Press Offensive (emphasis on "offensive") after the Socialist tangerine beignet.
LaPierre will take his first question from the press this Sunday when he faces David Gregory on Meet The Press. He would have taken questions from the 200-plus reporters at his "press conference" on Friday, but he was too busy bolting out the door and into a black SUV with tinted windows. (Semi-OT: Any bets on whether that SUV was armored up?)
So David Gregory will -- theoretically, anyway -- be asking him questions... or, if we follow past performance, he'll be throwing LaPierre rhetorical alley-oop passes that LaPierre can slam-dunk. I'd prefer Gregory ask his questions while repeatedly hitting LaPierre over the head with a steel chair, but given some of the nightmarish things LaPierre spouted over the course of that half-hour love poem to his flock, I think all that would come out of that would be a steel chair that's as hopelessly bent as LaPierre's soul.
Anyway, what I'd like to do is posit a few questions Gregory should ask LaPierre, and then offer up some questions he'll probably ask LaPierre -- and since this is the home version of "What's Your Point", you get to play, too! For every question you think Gregory should ask, please give me at least one question Gregory will probably ask. Here we go:
QUESTIONS DAVID GREGORY SHOULD ASK WAYNE LAPIERRE: 1) In 25 words or less (none of which include the phrase "violent video games"), please explain why the United States has ten times more gun deaths than countries that have strict gun control. 2) Since Virginia Tech already had its own police force in place when Sueng-Hui Cho began shooting people in 2007, do you believe they should also have had their own SWAT Team? 3) Are you aware that there was an armed guard at Columbine High School on April 20th, 1999? 4) You refused to take part in a discussion about preventing future mass shootings after Jared Lee Loughner shot Rep. Gabby Giffords, and your reason was, "Why should I or the N.R.A. go sit down with a group of people that have spent a lifetime trying to destroy the Second Amendment in the United States?" Following that logic, does the Second Amendment protect anyone who wants to kill multiple numbers of people? 5) The judge who sentenced Jared Lee Loughner just wrote an op-ed column calling for an assault-weapons ban that's much tougher than the one Dianne Feinstein is trying to revive. This judge was appointed by President George W. Bush, and is a gun-owner himself. Please explain why he (and other gun-owners and NRA members) are calling for stricter gun laws and banning assault weapons. 6) Are you on mood elevators, and are you aware that some mood elevators have side effects that include fits of rage? 7) You started your statement by saying the NRA has 4 million members. Given that the population of this country is around 400 million, why are we still listening to you?
QUESTIONS DAVID GREGORY WILL PROBABLY ASK WAYNE LAPIERRE:
1) Would you like a Ricola? 2) How are you holding up under all this criticism from the Left? 3) How soon do you think toddlers should start carrying their own guns, and what would be their best weapon-of-choice? 4) Why does Michael Moore hate America? And, as a follow-up, why is Dianne Feinstein such a big meanie? 5) Please detail all the horrible things you're going to do to any quisling-uhh, member of Congress who tries to take even one gun off the street. 6) Does that SUV you left your press conference in yesterday have TV in the back? Is it just video, or do you get cable and wi-fi? 7) Would it be okay if I reached into my pocket... slowly?
Your turn. 3... 2... 1... GO!