The National Rifle Association, the powerful lobbying group that has been a longtime nemesis of liberals, is facing mounting criticism from influential allies on the right and even from its own board over a series of recent moves they say are selfish, short-sighted and ultimately harmful to the conservative movement.
Critics cite a list of transgressions, from considering an endorsement of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), to endorsing moderate Republicans — and even Democrats — rather than their more-conservative challengers, to taking a cautious approach to Second Amendment court cases and President Barack Obama’s judicial nominees.
And they are especially angry about the group’s willingness to play ball with Democratic leaders on campaign finance legislation vigorously opposed by congressional Republicans, powerful business groups and nearly the entire conservative movement.
Republican congressional leaders have privately conveyed their unhappiness to NRA officials, but online conservative activists linked to the tea party movement have been vociferous in their criticism.
“The NRA is all about the NRA — helping their organization and not necessarily the cause,” said influential conservative blogger Erick Erickson, who has repeatedly taken to his blog RedState in recent weeks to urge conservatives to turn their backs on the NRA…
Har! Rightwingers believe that single issue organizations should kneel to all of their ideology.
Chris Cox, the NRA’s chief lobbyist, said the criticism ignores the reason the NRA is such a powerful brand: that it focuses on its core mission of advancing gun owners’ rights, rather than on trying to advance the goals of the conservative movement, writ large…
Technically, the NRA — a $300 million organization with unrivaled lobbying power, a massive member-services operation and an active political-action committee — is nonpartisan. It derives significant clout from its ties to conservative, pro-gun Democrats and in recent years has increased its contributions to Democrats as they retook Congress and then the White House.
Absolutely hilarious. These lockstep demagogues believe that anyone who agrees with one portion of their religion must obey all the other precepts in the rightwing catechism.
Refreshing to see the NRA find a touch of dedication to what was – after all – their original mandate.
As is usually the case, the gun rights folks have the better facts and the logic and the controllers have the emotions and the insults. Both groups always have abundant hypothetical’s which shade from hysterical to plausible.
Like the NRA, the gun rights folks usually run a tighter ship because this issue is really important to them and the controllers are sloppy because it’s just another one of the dozens of things they wish to control.
It’s the National RIFLE Association, not the National REPUBLICAN Association. 4 words explain most of the situation. “Majority leader chucky schumer”. Most rabid anti-gun in Congress. Reid has kept anti-gun bills out of the process and gotten others put into law. Some people are trying to hijack the Tea Partys to adopt their religious superstition clauses of this or that. And they are the ones on TV News or blogs. But Tea Partiers want a balanced budget, lower taxes, an end to ridiculous porkbarrel spending and GOVERNMENT OUT OF OUR LIVES!