Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWhy Newtown Wasn’t Enough - By John Dickerson
Gun control advocates wont win until senators fear them as much as they fear the NRA.
Posted Thursday, Apr 18, 2013, at 12:05 AM ET
In the final days before gun control legislation collapsed in the Senate, supporters of the effort were making a grim argument: It's going to happen again. There's going to be another Newtown shooting and those who blocked the bill will face an even greater public outcry. On a call arranged by the Democratic National Committee on Tuesday, pollster Geoff Garin offered a corollary to this point. "If Republicans are betting that people don't care, they're betting that we have a placid situation in perpetuity and that sadly is not the case."
Newtown was not enough. On Wednesday, Democrats could not round up enough votes to overcome a Republican filibuster of a proposed compromise on background checks, which was the centerpiece of their legislation. The tragedy last December at Sandy Hook Elementary was supposed to tip conventional wisdom, which held that supporters of gun rights were more passionate and likely to hold their lawmakers accountable than supporters of gun control. In the end, the conventional wisdom held. Now gun control advocates like Michael Bloomberg will have a chance to make good on their threats to hold these legislators accountable in the next election. It may be even more difficult than getting a bill passed.
President Obama, speaking in the Rose Garden after the vote, was visibly angry, saying that the gun lobby and its allies "willfully lied" about what was in the bill. He charged that a minority said it wasn't worth it to protect children ...
To continue reading, click here.
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
2 replies, 1193 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (3)
ReplyReply to this post
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Why Newtown Wasn’t Enough - By John Dickerson (Original Post)
DonViejo
Apr 2013
OP
tularetom
(23,664 posts)1. Sadly it will take a massacre that affects them personally
Like republicans who oppose gay rights until it becomes publicly known that they have a gay child, these republicans will oppose any type of gun control until members of their family lose their lives in a mass shooting incident.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)2. I hope you are happy Harry...
You could have fixed the filibuster thing, but then you wouldn't be able to blame your lack of effectiveness on republicans. You are either incredibly stupid or incredibly complicit.