The quote of the night didn’t come from any of the candidates. Nor is the quote of the night CNN’s false promise of a right to keep and bear arms question (and subsequent failure to deliver). It came from Wyatt on Twitter:
Why am I picturing Rick Perry riding the A-bomb to campaign destruction a la Slim Pickens?
On Sunday last I spoke to prominent Las Vegas Gun expert, writer, trainer (and the owner of The Gun Store-a now world famous destination to shoot all things full auto) Bob Irwin, who had tickets to the debate and submitted a proposed “gun question†to be posed to the candidates. He did not seem at all shocked as he informed me that CNN declined to present his question. At that time I did not know CNN had “teased†a firearms question as part of the nights festivities, but I’m not surprised they skirted that issue. I’m also unconvinced that any of the likely “ultimate candidates†is actually pro-gun. Time will tell.
That’s a lot of ass-kissing just to say, “I talked to a guy named Bob.”
Regardless, your buddy Bob is not the only one who submitted a question on gun issues. A quick survey of Twitter found at least 25 others who asked related questions. They covered everything from whether the Second Amendment should be considered in SCOTUS nominations to Fast & Furious to open carry to campus carry.
And, I wouldn’t expect that you would have known on Sunday that they would tease a Second Amendment question on Tuesday. If you did, then I think everyone would want to know just how you know and what on earth the question was going to be. In fact, CNN indicated that they would be watching for questions up until showtime, so it’s unlikely they had their entire list drawn up before you chatted with Bob. The teaser for the question ran during the debate just before a commercial break.
Well, I suppose so. Or, it could have been a misguided effort to suggest that a well respected and knowledgeable member of the pro-Second Amendment community who is a resident of the host city AND would be in attendance submitted a proposed question as opposed to some unknown person with a Twitter account.
As to prognostication, I make no such claim. I did not follow the pre-debate hype and was otherwise engaged when it aired and, therefore, did not know when (or even if) the teaser mentioned in the original post happened. I was simply saying given the moderator and channel running the event I was not surprised.
My snark was simply trying to illustrate that you went through an awful lot of adjectives to describe Bob’s business services rather than expertise on political or legal analysis on the issue. When I first started reading your comment, I thought it was a spam comment that made it through the filter.
It also isn’t hugely relevant that he owns a business related to guns insofar as submitting questions. CNN made clear in the days up to the event that they would consider questions submitted to their Facebook page, those made with the Twitter hashtag of #CNNDebate, and some from the audience. So, hate to tell ya, but unknown Twitter account had just as good a shot at getting his/her question asked as Bob.
An interesting position and reaction. I’ll keep that in mind for future reference as I read your blog.