guns | Messaging Matters

Republican Senator Marco Rubio, the gun violence goat

Written on February 19, 2018 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Republican Messaging

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida

After the Parkland, Florida school shootings last Wednesday that left 17 dead, most of them schoolchildren, one of the people who comes off looking the worst is Florida’s Republican U.S. Senator, Marco Rubio. Let’s look at Rubio’s responses to the Parkland shooting:

First, Rubio offered prayers, as Republicans typically do. However, Rubio’s version was to admit that his previous prayers did not work:

Just spoke to Broward School Superintendent. Today is that terrible day you pray never comes.

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 14, 2018

The great Republican hoodwink

Written on October 20, 2017 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Republican Messaging

Donald Trump on the golf course, again

Donald Trump‘s approval numbers — as low as 32 percent — are the worst ever for a president at this point in his term. Likewise, Trump’s handling of the hurricanes this season dropped 20 points to just 44 percent after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico and, instead of focusing on helping the people there (who are Americans), Trump took to the golf course and then criticized them. What’s amazing, though, is that Trump’s approval among Republicans is quite high. Why the disconnect?

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Tags: 401(IK), Affordable Care Act, birther, climate change, Donald Trump, gun control, guns, healthcare, House of Representatives, Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico, racism, Republican Party, taxes

Instead of getting distracted, drive the narrative

Written on October 12, 2017 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Media Watch, Messaging Maxims, Republican Messaging

Puerto Rico devastation from Hurricane Maria

Back in February 2011, we published Messaging Maxim #1: Go On Offense. Perhaps some folks need a refresher course. In that post, we wrote, “If you’re fighting a political battle on the other side’s rhetorical turf, you’ve already lost.” At the time, such advice was referring to phony cultural issues like “Ground Zero Mosque” and “is President Obama a Muslim?” that Republicans had ginned up and repeated everywhere they could (see Messaging Maxim #2: Rinse and Repeat). With their herd mentality, the mainstream media then picked up these issues and focused their broadcasts, cablecasts and column space on them.

Fast forward to today. Donald Trump and the Republicans are doing the same thing again, and it’s working. Currently, the phony cultural issues are: “Kneeling NFL Players” and “Harvey Weinstein.” To those, you can add, “NBC and CNN Licenses.” By next week, expect different cultural issues.

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Tags: California fires, climate change, CNN, Colin Kaepernick, culture war, Donald Trump, election, Facebook, gun control, guns, Harvey Weinstein, healthcare, Hillary Clinton, Hurricane Maria, Instagram, jobs, Las Vegas, NBC, NFL, NRA, President Obama, Puerto Rico, Republican Party, Russia, social media, Twitter

Now is not too soon to talk about gun violence

Written on October 3, 2017 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Republican Messaging

The Knotted Gun

The shootings by Stephen Paddock in Las Vegas on Sunday night were the deadliest in modern U.S. history. 59 people are now dead, with over 500 injured. And yet, on Monday, Trump White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders, asked if Donald Trump was now discussing whether new gun laws are needed, replied that “it would be premature for us to discuss policy” so soon after the killings. Sanders’ reply is similar to what many conservatives and the National Rifle Association say when confronted with mass shootings of civilians involving semiautomatic or, in this case, automatic, weapons. They are wrong for a couple of major reasons:

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Tags: assault weapons, Congress, Democrats, Donald Trump, gun control, guns, Las Vegas, National Rifle Association, Nevada., NRA, Republicans, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Second Amendment, Stephen Paddock

Democratic revolution in U.S. House

Written on June 23, 2016 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Good Government, Media Watch

U.S. House Democrats stage anti-gun violence sit-in on House floor

Yesterday, the type of “political revolution” that Bernie Sanders called for but did not deliver during the 2016 Democratic Party primaries was launched instead by the Democrats in the House of Representatives. In a stunning, unprecedented move, Democratic Representatives protested the Republican majority and the National Rifle Association by staging a “sit-in” on the House floor after the Republicans refused to vote on gun violence legislation in the wake of the June 12 Orlando, Florida nightclub shootings in which 49 people were killed by a man using a semi-automatic assault-type rifle and a semi-automatic pistol.

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Tags: Congress, Democratic Party, gun control, guns, House of Representatives, John Lewis, Republican Party

Barack Obama, the anti-lame duck president

Written on January 8, 2016 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Good Government, Media Watch

President Obama at the COP 21 climate conference in France

President Barack Obama this week signaled that he would have a robust final year in office as he announced executive actions on the registration of gun purchases, especially narrowing the “gun show loophole.” Obama also held a town hall meeting aired by CNN on Thursday to talk about his anti-gun violence actions. Moreover, just a week ago, President Obama appeared on an epic, hilarious episode of Jerry Seinfeld‘s web series “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.” Obama was not only very funny and relaxed, he also managed to plug his Affordable Care Act, which has covered an estimated 17.6 million more people in the past two years, causing the percentage of Americans without health insurance to drop to the lowest level ever measured. In short, President Obama is exploding the stereotype of the lame duck president.

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Tags: Affordable Care Act, Barack Obama, climate change, CNN, economy, EPA, gun control, gun violence, guns, ISIS, jobs, Keystone XL, Obamacare, Second Amendment, State of the Union, TPP, Trans-Pacific Partnership

Guns versus terror

Written on December 21, 2015 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Media Watch, Republican Messaging

Statue of Liberty with gun

In the ongoing war between the political right and left to control the national dialogue, the latest battle involves conservatives talking about terror and liberals talking about guns. We saw this on display during last Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate, as the news headlines reported that “Terror takes center stage during Republican debate.” Likewise, terrorism but also gun safety law solutions took center stage at last Saturday night’s Democratic presidential debate, as the ABC News moderators asked questions seemingly ripped from the Republican book of talking points.

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Tags: 2016 election, assault weapons, Democrats, guns, No Fly list, Republican debate, Republicans, terror, terror gap, terrorism

Winning the gun violence argument

Written on December 3, 2015 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Popular Political Phrases, Republican Messaging

America’s intersection of children and guns

After yet another mass shooting in America, this time in San Bernardino, California, the debate over what to do about gun violence has been rekindled. However, when both sides simply fall back into their standard arguments, there’s no reason to believe that a different result will occur. To achieve a different outcome, we need some new thinking and new language. Here’s how the majority of Americans can win the argument to reduce gun violence:

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Tags: Affordable Care Act, Constitution, gun control, gun violence, guns, mass shooting, NRA, San Bernardino, Second Amendment, terrorism

The real American terrorists

Written on November 30, 2015 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Fox "News" Watch, Media Watch, Republican Messaging

Anti-NRA protest

We have a terrorism problem in America, and it isn’t Syrian refugees. The FBI defines “domestic terrorism” as actions that:

Involve acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law;
Appear intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping; and
Occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S.

Right wing domestic terrorist acts, such as the recent shootings at the Colorado Springs, Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic, as well as four arsons in 74 days at other Planned Parenthood clinics, meet the definition. The same can be said about previous politically-motivated killings and attacks, such as the shooting of peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters in Minneapolis, bombings, arson and attacks on abortion clinics, the attacks on black churches and their members, the shootings at the Sikkh temple in Wisconsin, attacks on mosques and Islamic centers, and attacks on LBGT Americans.

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Tags: 2016 Electionss, Barack Obama, Black Lives Matter, FBI, Fox News, guns, NRA, Planned Parenthood, Republicans, terrorism

CNN blows it again on Obama Kenya trip

Written on July 27, 2015 by Messaging Matters in Fox "News" Watch, Media Watch, Republican Messaging

Kenyan ambassador Amina Mohamed, July 24, 2015

Fresh off its “dildo flag” fiasco, CNN once again has lost its journalistic marbles. Once again, the subject is terrorism, and once again CNN has made a wild, unfounded claim on air, this time regarding President Barack Obama‘s trip to Kenya. And once again, CNN’s terrorism frenzy involves anchor Suzanne (pronounced SuzONNE) Malveaux.

This time, as President Obama was embarking on his historical trip to Kenya, CNN went with hysterical rather than historical, calling Kenya “a hotbed of terror.” CNN even had former Obama Secret Service agent Jonathan Wackrow on to state:

People have been anticipating this trip since the day that he [Obama] was first elected. So the people that want to hurt the president, you know, have been planning for the last seven years for this trip.

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Tags: Barack Obama, cable news, CNN, Fox News, guns, Kenya, media, social media, television, terrorism, TV, Twitter

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