A Tale Of Two Controversies, Getting Noticed
Today I want to address two controversies from the campaign trail and why, according to the left-wing media, only one matters.
At a rally yesterday in North Carolina, Donald Trump said this: "Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment." A number of reporters and PolitiFact jumped on that remark. In rating Trump's statement as "false," PolitiFact said, ". . .we found no evidence of Clinton ever saying she wants to abolish the Second Amendment."
But we all know the game the left is playing here. Hillary doesn't have to say anything about the Second Amendment. It all comes down to the left-wing judges she will appoint.
Based on their votes in the McDonald case, there are three justices on the Supreme Court right now who do not believe the Second Amendment includes a personal right to own a handgun for self-defense.
Justice Elena Kagan, Obama's second appointment to the Supreme Court, did not participate in that case. But , I think it is safe to assume that she is a reliable left-wing anti-Second Amendment vote.
That means we are just one vote away -- the vacant Scalia seat -- from the Supreme Court essentially abolishing the Second Amendment. And that led to Trump's main point.
He then said, "By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks. Though the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know."
It is clear to most people that Trump was suggesting that supporters of the Second Amendment need to vote this year in order to defend our constitutional rights. But even if she were elected, it is possible that the NRA might be able to stop a terrible court appointment.
To suggest Trump's comment was a call to violence is ridiculous.
The Left's Deliberate Distortion
Nevertheless, the left-wing media had a completely different interpretation of Trump's remarks. Reporters rushed to accuse Trump of suggesting that Hillary Clinton should be assassinated.
What is the number one rule of journalism when a candidate says something ambiguous or confusing? You don't rush to the most extreme assumption, you seek a clarification. And they got one.
Jason Miller, a senior aide, said "It's called the power of unification -- 2nd Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power. And this year, they will be voting in record numbers, and it won't be for Hillary Clinton, it will be for Donald Trump."
That should have been the end of the story.
Why do I know that should be the end of the story? In 2008, then-candidate Obama urged his supporters to "argue with neighbors, get in their faces," and the media yawned. Obama also said, "If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun." When conservatives suggested such rhetoric might encourage violence, Obama and the media laughed it off. End of story.
Now here's a far more interesting comparison. In May of 2008, at a time when Hillary was losing the Democrat primary to Obama and facing increasing calls to bow out of the race, she was asked why she insisted on staying in. She said, "We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it."
Was she suggesting that she might benefit from Barack Obama's assassination? Of course not, and the media moved on.
But when it comes to conservatives, the media immediately assume the worst and afford them zero benefit of the doubt. Remember when Sarah Palin put up a website "targeting" certain Democrats for defeat? The entire left-wing smear machine accused her of encouraging political assassinations.
This playbook has been used over and over again, and the left will use it and anything else it has to in order to avoid discussing legitimate issues in this campaign -- like the fate of the Second Amendment and the future of the Supreme Court.
Left-wing Violence
By the way, if anyone is actually worried about violence in this campaign, it is not coming from the right.
Many on the left, and sadly even some on the right, have used rhetoric like "fascist," "tyrant," even "Hitler" to describe Donald Trump. At least one left-wing columnist has actually defended the use of violence against Trump supporters, who have been physically assaulted at rallies, beaten with crowbars and even shot.
In fact, Trump has been the target of one known assassination attempt. A British citizen drove hours to attend Trump rally and tried to steal a police officer's gun in order kill Trump. No one in the media even bothered to ask if the overheated rhetoric on the left was at all responsible.
The second controversy: Hillary's Islamic Supremacist Supporter
As I noted yesterday, the father of a mass murdering jihadist attended a Clinton rally earlier this week. He had a prime seat right behind Mrs. Clinton. When it was discovered that he was there and is a huge Hillary fan, the campaign shrugged off media questions and guess what? End of story. Nothing more to see here.
But there are plenty of follow-up questions that should be asked. For example:
- Why is the gay-hating father of a jihadist murderer so over-the-top in his support for Hillary Clinton?
- Why does polling show that Muslims generally are in the tank for Clinton and the Democrats?
- Is it because she almost never utters the words "radical Islamic terrorism"?
- Is it because they know the Democratic Party is committed to decreasing the defense budget?
Maybe they noticed that Hillary's emails are filled with messages from Israel-bashing advisors whom she praises.
But you won't hear any of this from the left-wing media, which is little more than the propaganda arm of the Democrat Party. In fact, the media have devoted four times more coverage to Trump's so-called "Second Amendment controversy" than to Clinton's Taliban-sympathizing supporter.
Getting Noticed
We are so much in the thick of things, there isn't time to report it all. Media opportunities are going through the roof and consume much of my day. For example, last week I flew to New York to tape a show with Fox Business host John Stossel. We will let you know when it airs. I also did Laura Ingraham's radio show.
I was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal regarding the state of the 2016 campaign. I told the Journal, "Both the candidate [Trump] and the party leaders need to remind themselves that millions of people who voted for Trump are expecting them to work together to prevent the continuation of Barack Obama's policies for four more years. The score settling has to stop."
Yesterday I taped an interview with CBN, and this morning, I did long interviews with Bloomberg and McClatchy.
Meanwhile, the web video produced by American Values Action exposing Hillary Clinton's pro-abortion extremism has been viewed tens of thousands of times. If you haven't seen it yet, watch it and be certain to share it with friends and family.
Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families
Tags: Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families, Tale Of Two Controversies, The Left's Deliberate Distortion, Left-wing Violence, Hillary's Islamic Supremacist Supporter, Getting Noticed To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
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