Did you ever think that the National Rifle Association or any of its mouthpieces would speak in support of background checks after Wayne LaPierre did his about-face in the 2000s? Until NRA News published a video in April 2016 that completely obliterates the NRA’s stance on background checks neither did I.
According to Media Matters, Loesch begins with a clip of Sec. Clinton promising to fight the NRA and the “gun lobby” when she goes off on a four-minute tirade – a failed attempt to skewer former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) – punctuates with a big “oops” that could have both Loesch and the NRA in the hot seat the next time gun control makes the rounds in a legislative session.
From Bribery Accusations…
Loesch attempts to depict Sec. Clinton as an anti-choice, woman-hating, human rights-violating, bribe-taking criminal who will take away Americans’ guns in her video, titled “Standing up to Hillary,” which is Episode 7 from Season 6 of the NRA News’ Commentators series.
A conservative pundit from TheBlazeTv, Loesch made her way to the NRA in November of 2015. Since then, she’s regularly gone on fact–lite liberal-bashing tirades, all sponsored by Kimber, and hosted on various NRA affiliated sites.
Loesch details how Sec. Clinton and her family took “bribes” from the Saudi Arabian government in the form of jewelry, which is untrue, and she then moves on to ranting about the Clinton Foundation while quoting an International Business Times article.
…To Background Checks
Loesch’s rant sounds like the conspiracy theory of a lifetime that could easily rival an award-winning Sci-Fi fantasy novel. She says that several Middle Eastern governments donated heavily to the Clinton Foundation in exchange for the former secretary’s approval on huge arms deals during her State Department tenure. Still quoting the article, Loesch says,
“Hillary Clinton approved $165 billion worth of commercial arms sales to 20 countries whose governments gave money to the Clinton Foundation. Do you think that they underwent background checks?”
Whoa… Did Loesch just imply that Sec. Clinton bypassed international law to approve those arms deals, asking for background checks on them in the process?
Misleading Statements And Half Truths
Loesch’s slip up managed to obliterate the NRA’s argument against Universal Background Check legislation. Democrats might want to note that the question on background checks comes at 2:32 in the video below nonetheless.
Not to worry – the NRA and Loesch both still very much believe every Americans’ Second Amendment right to bear arms trumps your and your children’s rights to live without getting shot. At the same time, they also believe non-Americans with guns don’t have the same rights. Hypocrite much?
Loesch must have forgotten to read the U.S. law in her haste to pin a crime on Sec. Clinton. The donations to the Clinton Foundation might look bad, but Loesch leaves out a few important facts. According to the International Business Times, federal law states it is illegal for foreign governments to make campaign contributions, but that,
“Nothing prevents them from contributing to a philanthropic foundation controlled by policymakers.”
In other words, the foreign governments’ donations to the Clinton Foundation were legal. Besides, the Clinton Foundation stopped accepting foreign government donations during Sec. Clinton’s State Department tenure, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Blue Lantern program would have attached to any arms deal Sec. Clinton made, and monitored the recipient to ensure those weapons didn’t get into the hands of terrorists or otherwise hostile governments. Blue Lantern is directly responsible for the decrease in number of U.S. weapons making it into the hands of terrorists.
Ultimately, Loesch failed her mission to skewer Sec. Clinton when she questioned her integrity. At the same time, Loesch put her own integrity and that of the NRA in the spotlight and on the line. How spectacularly hilarious. Democrats might want to think of pocketing this slip up for future use.
View the Commentators video in full here, with the slip up at 2:32.
Featured Image: Screenshot Of YouTube.com Video.
