Saturday, 17 May 2008

NRA's Celebration Of American Values Leadership Forum Part 2

One of the few speeches I took notes during was Sen McConnell's speech. I have always found McConnell to not only be an outspoken defender of the second amendment but also worth a couple of good quotes. I wasn't disappointed.

He started by saying that "More guns equals less crime". A true statement. Everywhere that has a high level of personal gun ownership has the lowest crime rates in the country. I doubt that is a coincidence. Because of the propensity for NRA members to carry guns McConnell quipped "I will sleep well tonight knowing that the NRA is in town"

He then turned to the left's hatred for the second amendment and attempts to subvert it. "For some reason they have a greater fear of their fellow citizens than their government." That the left seems to think that "people need the government more than the government needs the people". That what we heard from Obama in San Francisco about bitter people clinging to their guns is what they actually believe. "When 9 out of 10 NRA voters vote it is not because they are bitter, but because freedom is alive"

McConnell believes the left has begun to understand that "gun control isn't as popular in Springfield KY as it is in San Francisco" so they try to hide from the issue. Obama is latest in a line of national Democratic figures who have tried to hide from it. But one thing is sure "Obama won't appoint judges who would by keynote speakers at an NRA event".

That is the real crux of this years presidential election. It is a race between two people with different views of the second amendment. On one side, McCain will staunchly defend it while an Obama presidency will mean renewed attacks on the second amendment. Whether it be appointments to the supreme court or retaining the right to carry in national parks, Obama's administration will stand against the second amendment. McCain's won't.

Posted by brians at 10:32 AM in Political Issues
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NRA's Celebration Of American Values Leadership Forum Part 1

NRA’s Celebration of American Values Leadership Forum was the big event on day 1 of the NRA conference. I sat in the press room and watched many of the speeches. It is much easier than actually going into the hall(especially since the secret service wouldn't allow anyone to carry). Many speakers took to the floor to extol the virtues of the second amendment. If you have been around politics long enough, these speeches become a bit boring after a while. Not because the content is bad, but because politicians have a sanitized way of talking at events. Therefore I spent time walking in the exhibitor hall rather than listening to all of the speakers.

But one speaker stood out from them all. Former Navy Seal Marcus Luttrell. He came out on stage wearing casual clothes which was strikingly different from all of the other speakers. He started out by apologizing for what he was wearing and then went on to tell why he had on the casual clothes. The night before he was at a local bar getting a drink and had on something with a Texas flag. Another patron of the bar with fancy tight clothes, a pencil lined beard, and a heavy foreign accent came over and asked him about the Texas flag and then went into a profanity laced rant about President Bush and America.

It turns out that Mr Luttrell took offense to the fellows words and took him out back and slapped him around a bit. "I didn't want to use my closed fist because he was just too pretty hit". Anyway, the cops came and he spent the night in jail. Which is why he was wearing the same clothes he wore the night before.

He went on to talk about his experience in Operation Red Wing and how he talked about his will and his pride in country which propelled him to keep going. It allowed him to crawl seven miles to a local Afghan tribe where he was rescued.

He said that his job is to bring "hell to the enemies until they no longer want to attack us." He talked about how politics intruded upon them and kept them from doing their job. He talked about how during one of his missions they set fire to some vehicles that had IED residue on them. Clearly the people that owned them were bad guys. Al Jazera came along and filmed the event as a sob story, and his team was grounded for two months because of it.

He also criticized the U.S. media for its coverage of the war. He claimed that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is what he gets not from the war, but from watching the news. What you see on TV over here... remember there’s so much more going on behind it,”

It was obvious that he wasn't a politician and wasn't involved in politics. His speech was not polished. In fact it was a speech by a good ole boy. One who did his job for his country and was proud of it. His performance was electric and so anti-political that it was the shining moment at the forum.

Posted by brians at 10:23 AM in Political Issues
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