What The NRA's "All In" Failure Means For The Media--Media Matters
Links are at the Media Matters blog
by MATT GERTZ
The National Rifle Association said they were "all in" on the 2012 election. They lost. Now it's the media's responsibility to stop portraying them as an invincible electoral juggernaut.
The media has warned for years that strengthening gun violence prevention laws is impossible because of the political power of the gun lobby. This claim was always flawed; studies show that the NRA and its allies do not wield outsized power, and common sense gun policies are favored by large majorities of Americans and even, in some cases, NRA members.
But yesterday's election results provide incontrovertible evidence that the media's portrayal of the politics surrounding the gun issue has been inaccurate.
The NRA's mantra throughout the election season was that they were "all in" to defeat President Obama. In his cover story for the election issue of the NRA magazine America's First Freedom, executive vice president Wayne LaPierre urged readers to "send President Obama his walking papers," writing, "This is it. We're down to the wire. It's now or never, victory or defeat. The time for talking is over. On Election Day, Nov. 6 -- only a month from now -- Americans will vote either to defend or surrender freedom in the most consequential national decision in U.S. history."
The NRA backed up LaPierre's words with more than $11 million in often misleading television, radio, and digital ads, direct mail, and other election spending attacking Obama and supporting Mitt Romney, with much of the spending earmarked for swing states.
On Election Day, President Obama was re-elected, winning at least 303 electoral votes and a majority of the popular vote.
The presidential election was not the only race where the NRA failed to elect their candidate.
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http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/11/07/what-the-nras-all-in-failure-means-for-the-medi/191205
= new reply since forum marked as read
"I need my Precious to protect myself from those raging hordes of n-----s, I mean thugs, who want free stuff! Just like Fox told me!"
change from within will be an uphill battle and I am not too optimistic. My hope is Obama remains basically neutral on guns, putting proof to the lies NRA propaganda. The moderates will hopefully get sick of the doom predictions that are not happening and decide to make the change.
On the good side Tea Party candidates got their elephant asses handed to them (though we are stuck with Bachmann still). Hopefully it take the wind out of their sails and they all can crawl back into whatever moldy holes them came from. 
