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Lawrence O'Donnell took NRA lobbyist Wayne LaPierre apart last year after the shooting of Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords. On this Monday evening's show, he did it again in the wake of the Aurora massacre.

O`DONNELL: In the Rewrite tonight, another huge win for the Grover Norquist of gun control, Wayne LaPierre. Wayne is the blood-drenched lobbyist who makes sure anyone in America, anyone can get 6,000 bullets, even people who want to use those bullets to shoot babies in movie theaters.

Wayne LaPierre is not a credit hog like Grover Norquist. Grover loves flexing his anti-tax lobbying muscles publicly. He loves calling senators idiots. He loves taking credit for preventing any consideration of sensible tax policy in this country.

Wayne is old school. Wayne LaPierre follows the old lobbyist playbook of never publicly taking credit for anything. Every time an American mass murderer uses the right that Wayne has preserved for any one in this country, including al Qaeda and homicidal maniacs, to buy insane amounts of ammunition, and then that mass murderer gets huge headlines, wall-to-wall cable news coverage, and comments from the president, Wayne LaPierre never takes credit for any of that. Never.

Wayne always does a kind of, aw shucks modesty thing and says, if I hadn`t made sure that that mass murderer could get thousands of bullets, he would have used something else to kill all those people. Talk about modesty, huh. Maybe some of our mass murderers would have found another way to kill a lot of people, but we`ll never know, will we? Because Wayne has just made it so easy, so very easy to kill babies with bullets, to kill fathers and mothers with bullets, to kill sons and daughters with bullets, to kill sisters and brothers with bullets.

Bullets are the American mass murderer`s first choice. And what we`ll never know is how many of them would be successful mass murderers today if Wayne LaPierre didn`t make sure they could easily get bullets, unlimited supplies of bullets. How many of our mass murderers would switch to making bombs if they couldn`t get bullets?

And how many of them would blow themselves up by mistake while making bombs and never hurt anyone else? Surely a few of them. Just how determined are American mass murderers? We`ll never know, because Wayne LaPierre makes it so, so easy for mass murderers.

Wayne has not said a word about our most recent mass murder. On Friday, he had his press secretary put out this statement: "our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and the community. NRA will not have any further comment until all the facts are known."

See how modest Wayne is? He`s the head of the National Rifle Association, and he wouldn`t even put his name on yet another high-profile NRA press release about a mass murder. Wayne presumably spent the weekend enjoying the summer with family and friends, none of whom were shot by a mass murderer this weekend.

Wayne`s unlimited ammo-for-all policy has never negatively affected Wayne`s life in any way. I invited Wayne to come on this program tonight, but you know Wayne. Even when he deserves 24-hour media attention, Wayne LaPierre is the perfect picture of modesty, blood-drenched modesty.

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I don't watch Piers Morgan's show too often since it's generally just a bunch of celebrity gossip that makes his predecessor, Larry King, look like he practiced serious journalism in comparison, but I caught some of his show following the tragic shooting in Aurora, Colorado this weekend. And I have to admit I'm really glad I heard someone say what Morgan did this Friday evening about when it's acceptable to talk about gun control.

If we don't talk about gun control after a tragedy like this one, it won't get talked about at all... period. And even if we do have a discussion now, both political parties are so beholden to or scared to death of the NRA, that neither of them are going to act unless there's finally enough pressure from enough voters that siding with the NRA is finally a losing proposition and is going to cost some politicians their seats. Given their huge war chest, that's a big hurdle to overcome. I'm not sure how many more people have to die by gun violence for that to finally become a reality.

Anyway, as I said, I'm no big fan of Piers Morgan, but it was nice to see for once the hypocrisy of not being allowed to talk about the root causes of this many deaths when we don't treat any other issue that way. People die and we want to know why and how to prevent it from happening. Sadly it seems even a Democratic member of Congress being shot wasn't enough to wake these people up that the laws need to be changed. Makes me wonder how many nut jobs out there have to be killing one of their own before enough is enough and Congress is willing to act. Apparently just one wasn't, which still just astounds me.

Transcript of Morgan going after the Cato hack below the fold.

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A Republican candidate and law enforcement officer in California is promising to "take Linda Sanchez out" in a campaign ad against the incumbent Democratic representative that features an animated machine gun.

In the 5-minute commercial posted to YouTube on Monday, a machine is seen blasting away at a wall to reveal the message, "Jorge Robles for Congress: Take Linda Sanchez Out of Office."

The ad goes on to declare that Rep. Linda Sanchez is a "hot mess" because she has not paid off her student loans and "has problems budgeting her lifestyle."

It concludes with the animation of a machine gun again firing at a wall with Sanchez's name on it.

Robles campaign manager Robert Davis pointed to the candidate's job as a state parole agent as an explanation for the violent imagery.

"Mr. Robles is in law enforcement, if you’re not aware of that, so I think it’s his way of just kind of sending our message," Davis told Politicker. "We’re going after Linda Sanchez, not in the way that portrays it to be if you’re thinking like that."

Sanchez is in a three-way race with Robles and Republican accountant Benjamin Campos in the heavily-Democratic 38th District. The primary is being held on Tuesday, but because of the top-two primary format, Sanchez will almost certainly face one of the Republicans again in November.

Last year, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was shot in Arizona after former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) put her on a "target list" that included an image of crosshairs over the congresswoman's district.

Robles did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

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In an emotional 35 minutes in the House of Representatives today, Gabby Giffords' colleagues on both sides of the aisle bid her goodbye as her resignation takes effect.

With the notable exception of Speaker John Boehner, I don't think there was a dry eye in the house. There certainly wasn't a dry eye in this house.

I'll add the transcript as it becomes available.

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Keith Olbermann bestowed the rare honor of naming Pima County GOP Chairman Mike Shaw the Worst Person in the World for the second night in a row over his decision to raffle off a Glock handgun, the same kind of weapon that was used to shoot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ).

On Thursday night Olbermann called Shaw a 'Human-Shaped Pile of Feces'.

Hudson Valley Rep. Nan Hayworth (R-NY) was runner-up for her own foolishness, recounted here by the Times Herald-Record.

Only days after a record-setting storm destroyed her district, Rep. Nan Hayworth and her House colleagues threatened to withhold disaster money if lawmakers don't cut additional spending from the federal budget.

"We're facing a natural disaster in the middle of an economic disaster," Hayworth said Wednesday. "Certainly, the challenges we face with the national budget have not changed."

Hayworth, R-Mount Kisco, said she would only vote to replenish the federal disaster fund if new spending was offset by budget cuts. She said those cuts should come from "non-defense discretionary spending." Hayworth likened her position to a family skipping vacation if it was overwhelmed by bills.

"We have to control spending," she said. "There's no question about it."

Right. In times of disaster we all need to tighten our belts. Gotcha, Nan.

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I've snipped together some local news reports from Tucson about the reaction to their proposed handgun raffle. Reports are from KOLD, KGUN, and KVOA.

TUCSON, AZ (AP/KOLD) - The Pima County Republican Party is drawing scathing criticism for its decision to raffle a Glock handgun.

It's the same brand of gun authorities say accused shooter Jared Loughner used in the January 8 shootings in Tucson that killed six and wounded 13, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

Democrats are calling it "a stunning lack of judgment and sensitivity."

The story has gone viral.

The Glock raffle is on the local Republican Party's website.
..
In a news release, Arizona House Minority Leader Chad Campbell said, "Their raffle is not common sense; it is sick, and the Pima County GOP should call off the raffle in respect for the Arizonans who died and were injured in the Tucson shooting."

The raffle is not sitting well with the Pima County GOP's former chairman.

Brian Miller says "It's a human issue. It's a sensitivity thing. It's a result, like I said, a result of echo chamber thinking. It's myopia."

Chairman of the GOP's legislative district that includes the southern Tucson area, James Kelley, says he advised his colleagues not to raffle the gun.

He acknowledges the party has held previous gun raffles without problems, "but post-Jan. 8, it's bad messaging, and it's insensitive."

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Keith Olbermann didn't parse any words during his Worst Persons segment on Countdown this Thursday and went after Sen. Tom Coburn for his eliminationist rhetoric where he said that “It’s just a good thing I can’t pack a gun on the Senate floor." And then as John already noted, proceeded to attack President Obama as an affirmative action recipient and claimed the country was better off before we had Medicare in place.

Keith called for Coburn to resign and I agree with him. Not that he's going to care what anyone thinks since he's not running for reelection anyway.

OLBERMANN: But when he moved from health care and casual racism to the debt ceiling deal, Sen. Coburn took a step down from the simply mean spirited, out of touch, whiny elitism which has marked his political career and moved towards ineligibility for the office which he holds.

He called his colleagues “cowards” and then added “It's just a good thing I can't pack a gun on the Senate floor.”

Yes it is, but apparently that's insufficient protection for the rest of us. For a sitting U.S. Senator to say in public that he even daydreams or jokes about the prospect of shooting other Senators is not just to ignore the supposed lessons of the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords and the other victims of Tuscon. It is not just to ignore the years before the Civil War when Congressman Preston Brooks of Georgia went up to Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts in the Senate chamber and beat him into unconsciousness with a cane and kept him out of office for a year.

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After NRA lobbyist Wayne LaPierre attacked MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell at this year’s CPAC, O’Donnell responded in his Rewrite segment and pretty well ripped LaPierre to shreds for his part in contributing to the number of deaths after that tragic shooting of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords in Tucson, Arizona.

O’DONNELL: Time for tonight’s Rewrite. In Washington during the Conservative Political Action Committee better known as CPAC, I actually made an appearance of sorts. It happened while Washington’s lobbyist in favor of murderers’ rights to always use the gun of their choice, Wayne LaPierre, the Executive Vice President of the NRA, was speaking about the calls for gun and ammunition control in the aftermath of the Tucson massacre.

(cut to video)

You just heard the NRA’s lie, now some facts. A Justice Department study on the federal assault weapons ban, which was law for 10 years found “Gun murders declined 10.3 percent in states without preexisting assault weapons bans.” 10.3 percent. Another study by the Justice Department in 2004 concluded “If the ban is lifted, gun and magazine manufacturers may reintroduce assault weapons models and large capacity magazines, perhaps in substantial numbers.”

And that is exactly what the merchants of death did; reintroduced assault weapons and the high capacity magazines that allowed Jared Loughner to take 31 shots, 31, before he had to stop and reload.

On the NRA’s web site, gun violence cheerleader Wayne LaPierre says “It’s time to acknowledge what we know in our hearts to be true.” That “The best way to stop a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun.”

Wayne, there was a good guy on the scene that day, in Tucson with a gun, but there wasn’t anything he could do. It was too dangerous to fire. He could have hit an innocent bystander. A good guy with a gun did not stop Jared Loughner.

It was the moment that Loughner had to reload that he became stoppable and he was stopped by a 61 year old woman who wrestled another high capacity magazine out of his hand as he tried to reload, and an unarmed 74 year old man, who had already been grazed by one of Loughner’s bullets. The second, the second Jared Loughner had to stop and reload, he became an unarmed man.

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