Opinion
NRA: Hands Off Malia and Sasha Obama
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J
ust when you think leaders of
the National Rifle Association
can’t stoop any lower, they
keep managing to plunge even
deeper. This time, they have
strayed way over the line of
respectability by using Malia and
Sasha’s enrollment in Sidwell
Friends, a private Quaker school,
to malign President Obama over
his proposal to place limits on the
sale of assault rifles and expand
background checks.
“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? Mr. Obama
demands the wealthy pay their fair
share of taxes. But he’s just anoth-
er elitist hypocrite when it comes
to a fair share of security. Protec-
tion for their kids. And gun-free
zones for ours.”
White House Press Secretary Jay
Carney was correct when he said
in a statement: “Most Americans
agree that a president’s children
should not be used as pawns in a
political fight. But to go so far as
to make the safety of the presi-
dent’s children the subject of an
attack ad is repugnant and coward-
ly.”
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie,
a Republican, said: “To talk about
the president’s children or any
public officer’s children who have
– not by their own choice, but by
requirement – to have protection
and use that somehow to make a
political point I think is reprehen-
sible.”
I am tempted to call NRA Exec-
utive Vice President Wayne
LaPierre and his comrades scum.
But I’m going to resist the tempta-
tion. Not because they don’t fit
that description. I’m restraining
World Wide Web site:
referring to Secret Service agents,
the longer version makes it clear
T HE C URRY that NRA is referencing security
R EPORT
guards at the school, which has a
lower school campus in Bethesda,
Md. and middle and upper schools
George E.
in northwest Washington, D.C.
Curry
The Washington Post’s Fact
Checker column awarded the
NRA ad four Pinocchios, repre-
senting a “whopper” of a lie. The
myself because to call them scum newspaper noted, “…the online
directory for Sidwell Friends lists
would be an insult to scum.
A second NRA ad, running four- 11 people as working in the Secu-
and-a-half-minutes, tossed in an rity Department. Five are listed as
‘To talk about the president’s children
or any public officer’s children who
have – not by their own choice, but
by requirement – to have protection
and use that somehow to make a
political point I think is reprehensible.’
—New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie
image of NBC newsman David
Gregory – whose children also
attend Sidwell Friends School –
for good measure. The narrator in
the ad says “Armed Guards —
Good enough for the David Gre-
gory’s kids’ school, not for the rest
of us. …[The] school Obama’s
daughters attend has 11 armed
guards.”
Not surprisingly, the ad conve-
niently ignores the fact that the
Secret Service is required to pro-
tect the president’s children. They
protected Chelsea Clinton and
Julie Nixon when they attended
the school, known as “the Harvard
of Washington’s private schools.”
Although the original NRA ad
leaves the impression that it is
‘special police officer,’ while two
are listed as ‘on call special police
officer,’ which presumably means
they do not work full-time. The
directory also lists two weekend
shift supervisors, one security offi-
cer and the chief of security.“
“… But we spoke to parents who
said they had never seen a guard
on campus with a weapon. And
Ellis Turner, associate head of Sid-
well Friends, told us emphatically:
‘Sidwell Friends security officers
do not carry guns.’”
The NRA’s ad claiming that
President Obama is “skeptical
about putting armed security in
our schools” misrepresents his
position. The clip was taken out of
context from this exchange
between the president and David
Gregory on NBC’s “Meet the
Press.”
GREGORY: Should we have an
armed guard at every school in the
country? That’s what the NRA
believes. They told me last week
that that could work.
OBAMA: I’m not going to pre-
judge the recommendations that
are given to me. I am skeptical that
the only answer is putting more
guns in schools. And I think the
vast majority of the American peo-
ple are skeptical that that
somehow is going to solve our
problem.
Clearly, the president did not
say he was skeptical about placing
armed security guards in schools.
Instead, he said that is not “the
only answer.”
Even more insane, at a press
conference, Wayne LaPierre of the
NRA asserted that the answer to
preventing future incidents like
the one at Sandy Hook Elementary
School in Newtown, Conn. is the
placement of armed guards in
every school.
Among the proposals presented
by President Obama is providing
federal funds to place more offi-
cers in schools, if the school
requests them.
After acting on a specific pro-
posal made by NRA, the gun
lobbying organization denounced
Obama yet again. After coming
under attack by even some conser-
vatives, NRA spokesman Andrew
Arulanandam said: “If anyone
thinks we’re talking specifically
about someone’s children, they’re
missing the point completely…”
No, that’s exactly the point.
Leave those beautiful Obama girls
out of your degenerate ad cam-
paigns.
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Page 4 The Portland Skanner January 23, 2013
States of America.
The 2010 census showed that the medi-
an wealth owned by White families was
$110,000, yet an average Black family
owns less than $5,000.
Black unemployment is generally twice
that of Whites. In fact, racial disparities,
rooted in America’s shameful history of
slavery and discrimination, affect every
major economic indicator, as well as
health and education outcomes.
America has failed to live up to its
promise of equal opportunities for all.
This wrong must be put right.
After WWII, the Marshall Plan rebuilt
Europe. We call on President Obama to
create “A Marshall Plan for Black Amer-
ica.”
We ask the president to fund a grass-
roots economic development plan that
will create true equality for all.