Anyone in the mood for an Open Thread? Most of us are deep into Christmas preparations and celebrations, but if you are touching base with us here, let us know what interests you this weekend. Since it is the Holiday Season here, you can expect posting to be light by the Editors here who are scattered to the four corners of the earth this week. Here are a couple of things that caught my eye while I’m waiting for the cocktail hour:
Wayne LaPierre was on MTP today, where by multiple accounts, David Gregory roused himself to grill LaPierre fairly rigorously. (I didn’t see it, did you?) LaPierre was well into his Up Is Down rhetoric this morning if this clip is representative:
And it didn’t help that the man was literally frothing at the mouth. LaPierre has been getting quite the pushback on his The Cure for Guns Is More Guns bullshit. But be on the lookout for when the media is tired of not being able to budge LaPierre and this becomes the newly laundered wingnut solution. Even the conservative New York Post thought LaPierre was nuts:
Oh, and how about this for responsible gun stewardship by a leader of the NRA — NRA Leader’s Son Fired at Another Motorist During a Road Rage Incident. Clearly this motorist would not have had a problem if he had an armed guard riding shotgun. Oops!
Alex Pareene over at Salon has been working on his 2012 Political Hack List and aguess who is Number 1? Politico!
When you see a joint Allen-VandeHei byline, you can safely expect the worst. When fellow Politico big shots John Harris and Jonathan Martin write a piece, they report on politics. When Allen and VandeHei write, they craft narrative. If the narrative bears no little relation to reality, or is simply self-serving spin from a professional political operative, no matter: Now the narrative is “out there,” because Politico is proud of its ability to create its own buzz and then report on that buzz.
Allen and VandeHei’s 2012 campaign was a wild roller-coaster ride of shifting narratives, starring campaign heroes and goats who occasionally switched from one role to the other in the space of a few weeks.
Just go read the whole thing — it is the PERFECT summary of everything that is wrong with that kind of reporting. PERFECT. More of this year’s Hack List can be found here, and includes the WaPo, Newsweek, The Drudge Report, HuffPo, MSNBC and CNN among others.
Let’s close out with one more responsible gun owner: Retired police officer shoots and kills his son, mistaking him for a burglar.
And I almost forgot! Today is Festivus, and we always have alot of problems with you people. So feel free to use this Open Thread to air your grievances, but save your feats of strength for the head of your own households.