While interviewing House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) on CNN's New Day Thursday morning, co-host Alisyn Camerota brought up a new ad released by the National Rifle Association. After Hoyer said that the ad "sounded like a threat", Camerota played a clip of a father who lost his daughter in the Parkland shooting effectively comparing the NRA to a terrorist organization.
The ad featured Dana Loesch, the NRA spokeswoman who became a dartboard of the left following the Parkland shooting, standing in front of an hour glass; telling “those who stain honest reporting with partisanship” and “those who bring bias and propaganda to CNN, The Washington Post, and The New York Times" that “your time is running out.” In an interview on Tucker Carlson Tonight, Loesch explained that “time’s up”, the title of the ad was designed as a play on the “time’s up” movement in Hollywood that has engulfed post-Weinstein America.
Camerota did not see much humor in the ad, introducing it as “a new video out that strikes many as a threat.” Hoyer responded by saying “it sounds to me like a threat” and criticizing Loesch for talking about how the elites are “undermining the voters’ will.” He implied that the “voters’ will” favored taking steps on background checks and banning assault weapons.
Camerota then played a clip of Fred Guttenberg, who lost his daughter in last month’s school shooting in Parkland, Florida, reacting to the NRA ad. During a visit with Democratic members of the Senate, Guttenberg argued that “If this was put out by a terrorist organization, we would be raising the terror threat level in this country.” He then asked “Why are we letting this lobby have anything to do in D.C?” When Camerota asked Hoyer to answer his question, Hoyer said that he understood his frustration but acknowledged “I don’t think the NRA is a terrorist group.”
Comparisons to a terrorist organization would probably cripple most people but Loesch has developed quite a tough skin. She has had to endure several similar insults over the past few weeks, including comparisons to a “child murderer.”
The left’s comparison to the NRA as a terrorist organization presents hardly the first time they have attached that label to right-of-center individuals and organizations. “Comedian” Russell Brand once described Fox News as a “fanatical terrorist propagandist organisation.”
The left and its media allies will continue to smear Second Amendment advocates and gun owners for the foreseeable future; but all indications show that these individuals will not be intimidated into silence.
CNN New Day
03/08/18
08:31 AM
ALISYN CAMEROTA: The NRA has a new video out that strikes many as a threat. So let me play this for you.
DANA LOESCH: We’ve had enough of the lies, the sanctimony, the arrogance, the hatred, the pettiness, the fake news. We are done with your agenda to undermine voters’ will and individual liberty in America. To those who stain honest reporting with partisanship, to those who bring bias and propaganda to CNN, The Washington Post and The New York Times, your time is running out. The clock starts now.
CAMEROTA: Your time is running out. What does that mean?
REP. STENY HOYER: Well, it sounds to me like a threat. But the irony is that in that ad, they say undermining the voters’ will. The voters’ will is overwhelmingly for taking steps, particularly on the background checks, but also the majority of Americans believe that these rifles that can shoot a lot of bullets very fast and kill a lot of people very fast should not be on the market, should not be available. So the only one, the only thing that one can conclude is the ARA, the NRA, and that threat that you point to is intimidating the Republicans and that’s, therefore, they don’t act because it’s certainly not reflecting the view of the American people who want to see action.
CAMEROTA: The father of one of the victims from Stoneman Douglas, Fred Guttenberg, who we spoke to several times when we were down there. His daughter was Jaime. He was on Capitol Hill yesterday, speaking to many of your Democratic Senate colleagues and here’s how he hears that video of the NRA. Let me play this for you.
FRED GUTTENBERG: I ask you a question. If this was put out by a terrorist organization, we would be raising the terror threat level in this country. Why are we letting this lobby have anything to do in D.C? I don’t understand it!
CAMEROTA: What’s the answer to that?
HOYER: Well, I understand his frustration. Now, I don’t think the NRA is a terrorist group and we have the First Amendment. And I think we honor the First Amendment. They’re free to say what they want. However, as I said, the irony is they said something about the voters’ will. The voters’ will is in fact being thwarted. The voters’ will overwhelmingly reflected in polls is that they think we ought to take meaningful action, certainly on the background checks, overwhelming. But also on assault weapons, the bump stocks. The mental health clearly is a criteria which ought to be used in terms of background checks. There ought to be a waiting period to buy guns. I think the Florida legislation has that, I think that’s a step forward.
CAMEROTA: Yeah.
HOYER: But very frankly, the Republican leaders in the Congress of the United States ought to have the courage to respond to the people’s will and at least put it on the floor, at least give the representatives of the American people the right to vote on legislation which will help protect them and their children.
