Politico reporter Alex Isenstadt went hard after Gabby Giffords this morning, running a story about the drama behind the “Stalker Gap” ad her PAC, Americans for Responsible Solutions, is currently running in the CD2 race.
Gabby Giffords, irreproachable figure of sympathy, has fashioned an improbable new role for herself this election year: ruthless attack dog.
The former Democratic congresswoman, whose recovery from a gunshot wound to the head captivated the country, has unleashed some of the nastiest ads of the campaign season, going after GOP candidates in Arizona and New Hampshire with attacks even some left-leaning commentators say go too far. And Republicans on the receiving end are largely helpless to hit back, knowing a fight with the much-admired survivor is not one they’re likely to win.
Some of the toughest spots from Giffords’ newly formed pro-gun-control super PAC, Americans for Responsible Solutions, hammer Republican Martha McSally, a retired Air Force pilot who is running for the Arizona seat Giffords once held.
Apparently, the reason Giffords is going after McSally has something to do with some sort of jealousy or protection of her image?
It’s no accident that Giffords is singling out McSally, people close to the former congresswoman say.
During her unsuccessful 2012 campaign, McSally ran TV commercials comparing herself to Giffords. The Giffords team fumed, and her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, released a terse statement declaring, “Martha McSally is no Gabby Giffords.”
To be fair, Isenstadt isn’t the only one clutching his pearls over this ad, since the Arizona Republic ran an editorial calling the ad “vile”, “a nasty piece of work” and “demagoguery in heart-rending tones.”
Here’s the thing that this faux-outrage seems to ignore. Giffords, who had a worst-case scenario experience with guns, believes people shouldn’t have as much access as they do to guns, especially the sort of person who killed Kara and Daniel Walker.
Keep in mind that Daniel Renwick, Kara Walker’s ex-boyfriend and the man who murdered her and her father, had been arrested on suspicion of assault and child endangerment. That he told Walker “If you call the police, they’ll find your body in the desert and I will kill all your family.”
Apparently, the great crime of this campaign ad is to remind people that Martha McSally, despite her own personal experience with stalking (which is terrible and nothing she deserves to have dealt with) believes existing laws are enough.
And let’s be absolutely clear: Martha McSally said in a 2012 debate that “any restrictions on that, at gun shows or other places, is just absolutely unconstitutional.” On this year’s campaign trail, she bragged about an endorsement and support from the NRA, saying that she’s a “ten” on a scale of one to ten on supporting the Second Amendment.
[Interestingly, in the video linked above, McSally points out that the NRA is sitting out strong public campaigning on her behalf in CD2 because of “the sensitivities of the circumstances.” Oh right, those.]
If it’s “vile” or “nasty” to point this out using a real-world example of the consequences of her opinions, sorry, I guess? Gabrielle Giffords isn’t above criticism, especially when she’s choosing to wade into heated political arguments, but the idea that the ad is “mean” or as McSally claims “degrading to all women and victims who have experienced this pain,” is absurd.
You know what I happen to find “vile”? That a mother and grandfather were murdered in front of a 14-month-old child by someone who openly said they would do it. And all the hurt feelings in the world aren’t ever going to be a tragedy worse than that.
We, as a nation, have made concessions with our safety to preserve the rights of gun owners. And Martha McSally, like anyone else, has the right to believe that’s the right decision to be made.
However, when people die at the hands of gun-owners (especially gun-owners who have had trouble with the law or who purchased their guns where background checks weren’t needed), those who support those loopholes, like McSally, don’t get to shrug their shoulders and avoid criticism. It doesn’t work that way—or at least it shouldn’t.
This article appears in Sep 18-24, 2014.
I am so sick of all the political campaign messages, period.
Gun violence is direct, violent and often fatal. That said, CD2 Issues include avoiding the creeping destruction of the fiscal, healthcare and basic values that make Arizona and the USA unique, free and strong. Obama and Pelosi/Reid Policies have failed. Modern mega data and message Politics have destroyed balance and discourse. The number of “Strategists and Sons and Daughters of Goebbels–Politicians that feed of the Tens of Billions of our funds spent on political campaigns, including Unions and Lobbyists will only be reigned in after it is nearly too late. This is where our zeal for controls should focus soonest.
I served on the Pima County Grand Jury for four months. Dozens of people who were arrested with firearms were prohibited possesers. Not one of them bought their guns from a show. They were all stolen or bought from other criminals.
Dan, How about this: Before you can publish an article, call yourself a journalist, write an opinion piece or op-ed, in electronic, voice or print form, you must complete an approved federal government form, submit it to a government approved representative, allow yourself to be subject to a background check and if approved, then and only then, may your article, opinion or op-ed may be published.
Of course you will be subject to hundreds of pages of regulations which if you do not follow, you can be prosecuted and if convicted, spend up to 10-years in jail.
There is NO gun show loophole.
There is NO internet sales loophole.
This may surprise you Dan, but at one point in time in America, the right to private property was cherished.
When the Congress wrote the law, they specifically exempted private sales, you know, those sales of property (a firearm) between two private individuals, also commonly referred to as private, person-to-person sale.
Now, if you want to relinquish another right, too bad. That right belongs to every individual and you have neither the Power nor the Authority to steal it from me.
Why didn’t you include the pics of gabby with HER AK47?
Change of heart?
And so, neighbors, what I hear you saying, along with McSally, is that you reserve the right to settle your personal differences by personally murdering people you don’t agree with, thereby saving the state money and making the police/judicial branch of government unnecessary. And that if I don’t buy a gun to protect myself from you, my neighbors, then it is my own fault if I get murdered. I want to reflect back what I am hearing just to be sure. I’m thinking about getting a restraining order against Tucson…
Being charged with a crime doesn’t make anyone a prohibited possessor. Now he would have become a prohibited possessor if Mrs. Walker had called the police that day when Mr. Renwick showed up on her doorstep since he had a restraining order in effect. But he still wasn’t a criminal possessor. And there is a possibility this crime would not have occurred if Mrs. Walker had called the police immediately after she told Mr. Renwick where her daughter had gone with her Father and her child….but she didn’t. OOf course none of this is in the commercial because Ms. Giffords has chosen the route of ALL PACs which is to raise untold sums of money in an effort to influence the local politics she is not a part of.
That is ridiculous cascabel. You have simply allowed yourself to overhype an issue to a point that is not recognizable. Why not start with the USC and work your way towards the right to self defense?
I think the reflection has caused you blindness.
I agree with you, Dan. I thought the Arizona Republic editorial was way over the top and absurd the moment I read it.
Harold: I applaud the eloquence in which you blame the victim for being murdered.
Contrary to J. Kelly’s post above, I sat on a Federal jury which convicted a person of being a straw buyer at two different Tucson area gun shows from several different sellers. As much as some want to bury their heads in the sand in denial, guns are most definitely being bought at these shows and make their way to the criminal element.
Dan, would you feel the same way if this commercial had provided the same facts I have? I’m not blaming the victim, she is dead. She went to her death making every effort to get on with her life and her mother, the sobbing woman in the commercial pointed the killer in her direction. You can try to spin this any other way but those are the facts. The Giffords PAC is going all around the country spewing various convenient lies in districts where they do not reside for the purpose of influencing local politics. Yes, other PACs do the very same thing including the GOP right here in the CD2 race but this commercial is a lie for what it intentionally omits. Personally, I share the same curse as Martha McSally because neither of us is a Gabrielle Giffords.
Let’s face it. Today’s political ads have very little to do with truth. That is a real disappointment.
Voters get fooled every election.
Thanks, Dan! You’ve obviously hit some sensitive nerves. If only the sensitivity were directed against the obsession so many Americans have with the God-given right to turn the nation into the arsenal of anarchy that is a society in which everyone is free to take the law into his weapon-bearing hands. I’d really raise their blood pressure by advocating repeal of the 2nd amendment.
Harold: My mistake…you’re not blaming the victim, you’re blaming her mother. My bad.
This has nothing to do with whether or not you’re Giffords…if she wants to wade into the political realm, she needs to be willing to accept criticism and I think she’s likely tougher than either you or I…just that you believe this particular murderer had a right to a gun. I disagree.
Well, Dan, you’re entitled to your opinion but do you have proof this man was a convicted criminal before he pulled the trigger and truly became one? If the man had a prior felony conviction then I will accept what you say but it does not change the fact that the mother TOLD this man where her daughter was.
And do you actually know which law this commercial is addressing?
Just to make sure that I am on focused like a laser on the right subject, we are talking about politicians making untrue claims.
Can anybody name the politician that said, “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor?” And we would save “$2500 per year on health insurance premiums.”
Many voters don’t mind being lied to. In fact they look forward to it.
Harold: State laws vary on whether someone with an order of protection against them can own a gun. In the State of Arizona, that provision can be placed into an order, but it’s not automatic (in California, for example, it is). McSally has on numerous occasions stated that she believes any additional laws keeping people from their guns would be unconstitutional (links above). Shame he didn’t have a felony conviction prior (or that pesky mother wouldn’t have answered the phone, in your bizarre world of logic), then I guess everything would have been fine.
Dan; therein lie the pesky differences. I strongly favor the gun laws we currently have in Az because it makes ME, not the gov’t responsible for my own conduct; in all things not just gun ownership.
I also fervently believe the penalties for crimes with ANY weapon should be more severe than they are because anyone acting with a weapon only prompts legislation that effects me and all other law abiding citizens.
The current efforts to register guns is shortsighted and an example of the sort of political knee jerks I mentioned above. What I would favor is the style of background checks necessary when someone applies for a concealed carry permit {CCW}. That process requires not only the background checks but also classes on gun laws and time on the gun range. Not only would this work better but it also would be a renewable requirement.
One last thing, this man was bent on murder so whether the mother did what she did or he chose to wait down the street for the daughter to return the crime was going to be committed. Whether he was a legal gun owner or not this man was going to destroy the life of the person he felt was responsible for destroying HIS relationship. The point of my postings about the lies of this ad is that the mother could have contacted the police at any time once this guy showed up on the doorstep. I’m not judging her and I feel the ad should tell the complete truth or not air the ad. This woman was the Congresswoman for CD2 and now she is conducting the sort of smear campaign she opposed when she was in office.
I do not trust any candidate who brags to be a “10” with the NRA.
I don’t trust any politician that claims to be a uniter….from Chicago, of all places.
As always, Republicans can dish it out, but they sure can’t take it. All political ads warp reality on occasion, but the GOP and its greed head backers are preeminent in their ability to create advertising campaigns that are obscenely propagandistic.