Under their new leadership, the Brady Campaign has basically conceded that they aren’t planning to be serious players in the public policy space when it comes to actually lobbying for change to gun laws. They put their entire faith of any relevancy whatsoever in public policy in relying on the media since they hired an advertising executive to take over the struggling group. He was put to the test in his focus on getting a gun control question asked at tonight’s presidential debate in Colorado.
First, let’s say outright that not a single question was asked about gun control. In a swing state that was the site of the last major press event for the Brady Campaign, they put everything they have into getting a question inserted into this debate by the mainstream press moderator. It didn’t pay off.
Second, the rather interesting thing was to watch the meltdown on Twitter via the direct tweets from Brady and their retweets. Let’s watch how it unfolded…
Can’t believe Lehrer is asking the same Q re: economy 5x but won’t ask about #guncontrol as they sit a stone’s throw from Aurora.
— Jennifer RiceEpstein (@jriceepstein) October 4, 2012
.enough talk now about economy- get to talk about preventing gun violence #debate2012#wearebetterthanthis
— Joan Peterson (@commongunsense) October 4, 2012
RT @bmalte32 Numbers, numbers. How about these: 48K Americans will die in next 4 yrs from guns unless our leaders act #wearebetterthanthis
— Brady Campaign (@bradybuzz) October 4, 2012
@mittromney @barackobama #debate2012 #wabtt Shame on both of you! Not to discuss gun violence IN DENVER @uofdenver! #auroratheatershooting
— Sandy Phillips (@MamaRedfield) October 4, 2012
RT @mreifler Enuf of politics standing in the way of safety. Candidates r 10 mi from Aurora. What will they DO about lax gun laws? #wabtt
— Brady Campaign (@bradybuzz) October 4, 2012
20 mins left in #debate2012. Candidates are in DENVER, a stone’s throw from Aurora & Columbine. #AskAboutGuns! #wearebetterthanthis
— Brady Campaign (@bradybuzz) October 4, 2012
Shocked gun control isn’t an issue brought up based on the proximity of the debate thanks @bradybuzz for the reminder #debate2012
— Elissa Nauful (@elissan) October 4, 2012
Finally, the Brady Campaign staff must have been watching MSNBC after the debate. From what I’ve read tonight, the MSNBC talking point is that Obama’s failed performance was all the fault of Jim Lehrer. The Brady folks jumped on board with that blame game.
Jim Lehrer missed an opportunity to move our national conversation forward but we know the conversation has only just begun. #wabtt
— Brady Campaign (@bradybuzz) October 4, 2012
Clearly, their message is so relevant that not even a Chicago politician who has previously supported bans on handguns wants to touch their topic in a presidential campaign.
UPDATE: While they might have had a meltdown on Twitter, the Brady Campaign posted outright lies and fabrications on Facebook tonight. In fact, they made up their own alternate reality debate where gun control was the main focus of the debate.
really enjoying watching the lib media outlets lose their minds after the debate. chris matthews was pretty entertaining.
You smell that? Do you smell that? Schadenfreude, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of schadenfreude in the morning. You know, one time we watched the “great communicator” liberal president bomb, on live tv. Read the transcript. We didn’t find one of ’em, not one stinkin’ anti-gun talking point. When it was all over I walked up to the podium. The smell, you know that patchouli and tears smell? The whole hill. Smells like … victory.
I am happy too. Don’t get me wrong…but
Don’t get cocky! This is not over yet.
I’m not getting too cocky with this – at least I don’t think so.
On the issue of too cocky about the race, I never said anything about Romney’s win in the debate meaning that he will win the election.
If you mean I’m too cocky about a gun control question not being asked, there was a reason I focused on the fact that the Brady Campaign put a special focus on tonight’s debate. They weren’t targeting the other moderators on social networks. They put all of their eggs in one basket – talking about the relevancy of Colorado when it come to gun control and getting Jim Lehrer to ask a question. That didn’t happen.
I do recognize that they may now switch tactics and try to target the vice presidential debate or the next domestic policy debate, but I’ll report on that if/when it happens. Up until now, they were solely focused on the single debate.
Joan Peterson’s total irrelevancy revealed in the Alternate Universe of the Brady Campaign.