U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- Townhall’s Beth Baumann posted proof Saturday that Senator and Democrat presidential nomination contestant Kirsten Gillibrand knowingly lied to CNN’s Alisyn Camerota on “New Day” when she dismissed her 180-degree shift on guns as “a simple mistake” because she wasn’t “thoughtful.” True to deceptive form, Gillibrand now portrays her reversal as a sign of “humility to know when you’re wrong,” and as supposed validation that she’s now ready to “govern all of America.”
The smoking gun in question is a letter Gillibrand wrote to NRA-ILA Director Chris Cox in 2008 when she was pandering for the Association’s endorsement. In addition to professing to believe in “the correct interpretation of the Second Amendment” and bragging of “pro-gun” measures she had supported, Gillibrand’s letter provides proof positive that she outright lied trying to dismiss her past policy endorsements as merely being remiss:
“On the question of outright banning certain firearms for cosmetic features, bullets of random size, or banning magazines holding an arbitrary number of cartridges, I am adamantly opposed and do not believe that laws should be based on random limits just for the sake of limiting gun ownership or usage. Furthermore, the attempt to limit the purchase of firearms to arbitrary time periods – such as ‘one-gun-a-month’ – will not solve any crimes and will only curtain the Constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. I share your concerns about these and other attempts to that could contribute to the slippery slope of government confiscation of people’s firearms based on the arbitrary whims of politics and public opinion.”
Compare that to what Gillibrand told reporter Sharyn Alfonsi of “60 Minutes” — and all that program’s viewers — when she pulled the same routine in 2016 and represented her past rating as merely trying to appeal to upstate New York hunters.
The fact is, Gillibrand was calculating back when she was capitalizing on her “A” rating from NRA and bragging about being “an ardent opponent of legislation that will curb the Second Amendment for responsible gun owners [who] currently has a 100% voting record with the National Rifle Association.” A mere four months after her letter to Cox, she was sending out an olive branch to Carolyn McCarthy on background checks while she and Barack Obama were singing each other’s praises. A mere month later I documented how:
- Claims that she kept two rifles under the bed to protect her children turned into the guns weren’t loaded and then turned into the guns had been removed.
- She was “evolving” under Chuck Schumer’s leadership.
- She pledged gun legislation with Michael Bloomberg to “take guns off the street” and took a swipe at “laxer gun laws” in the South.
- She reversed herself on a bill she’d sponsored less than a year earlier.
It’s interesting to go back through some of those links and see some of the main people attacking the reports (and me) were supposedly “pragmatic” gun rights activists. Not to belabor the point, but I see this still going on with excuse-makers today rather than admit they’ve been betrayed, and note we’ll never find freedom listening to those who would rather kill the messenger than admit there’s a pig behind the lipstick. It’s also interesting to note that even after those reversals, NRA was still claiming it was “too early to discuss whether her approval rating would drop.”
By allowing Gillibrand to mask the extent of her deception without challenge, Sharyn Alfonsi, Alisyn Camerota, “60 Minutes,” “New Day,” CBS and CNN and the rest of the DSM are deliberately allowing their viewers and readers to be lied to. They cannot claim ignorance here, and they cannot claim this is merely a difference of opinion. Either they get her back on camera and pose some tough, unequivocal questions, including why she deceived them, or they will be her willing accomplices in treating their audiences, and the truth, with contempt.
Not that Gillibrand is capable of anything different. Her serial prevarications evoke nothing so much as a powerful courtroom scene from the classic ”Witness for the Prosecution”:
“The question is … were you lying then or are you lying now. Or are you not, in fact, a chronic and habitual LIAR? My Lord, may I also remind my learned friend that his witness, by her own admission, has violated so many oaths that I am surprised the testament did not leap from her hands when she was sworn here today.”
“Oaths”? “Sworn”?
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.