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Self-inflicted wound: The NRA targets the president with a repugnant ad
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No one can accuse the National Rifle Association of subtlety. Even before Barack Obama unveiled his gun reform package, the NRA had rolled out one of the most offensive attack ads on a sitting president ever.
Over driving music and black-and-white images, a narrator asks, "Are the president's kids more important than yours? Then why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools when his kids are protected by armed guards at their school?"
After dragging Mr. Obama's two daughters into a contentious national debate, the NRA insinuates that there is something un-American about their being protected by the Secret Service when most American school children don't enjoy that level of security.
"Mr. Obama demands the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes, but he's just another elitist hypocrite when it comes to a fair share of security," the deep-voiced narrator says. The ad is startling in its contempt.
With its popularity sinking, the NRA has unleashed the kind of propaganda that Goebbels would have spurned. The ad has been roundly condemned as morally and politically tone deaf, and it reveals a shocking disregard for the president's family. This is a new low of desperation, and it doesn't bode well for the future of the NRA on Capitol Hill.
First Published January 20, 2013 12:00 am
