President Obama’s approval rating has seen a modest jump in favorability over the last month, as the public seems to have warmed to the idea of stricter gun laws, a new survey found.
According to a Time-CNN survey released Wednesday, 55 percent said they approve of the job the president is doing, against 43 who said they disapprove. Obama’s job approval was at 52 percent in the same poll conducted in late December, a marked increase from his first term, when he generally tracked in the 40 percent range.
The public’s support for tighter gun laws nearly matches Obama’s approval rating, with 55 percent saying they support stricter measures, against 44 who said they oppose, according to the poll.
Vice President Biden, who spearheaded the president’s gun task force initiative, enjoys the best rating of all at 59 percent approval, up from 54 in December.
And if THAT were not enough to indicate how the wind is at the President's back, don't forget he also has a very powerful political machine at his disposal.
Courtesy of Mediaite:
On Wednesday, President Obama announced his proposals to reduce gun violence, including 23 executive actions that he signed immediately, and a legislative agenda that includes universal background checks, and bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. The President said, during that announcement, that legislative action would “not happen unless the American people demand it.”
To that end, President Obama’s campaign mothership, Obama For America, sent an email to supporters Thursday, urging them to “Stand with the President to reduce gun violence.”
During the 2012 election, the Obama campaign operation loomed large, providing the President with an unparalleled ground game which gets much of the credit for propelling him to victory. With an email list countable in tens of millions, Obama For America has the capability to conduct staggering grassroots outreach, which they’re doing now to help the President push the Biden task force’s agenda to reduce gun violence.
In other words it looks like the NRA, for the first time in decades, may have more than met their match.
And all I can say is it is about damn time!
I have emailed every one of my elected Federal representatives. In it I told them I was FOR a complete ban on military assault rifles and the high capacity magazines - as a START!
ReplyDeleteI asked them that if they were considering NOT banning assault weapons and large capacity magazines, would they at least have the nerve to apply the same EXTREMELY tight control we currently have on fully automatic weapons?
And I am a gun owner!
The racism is apparent in this country as VP Biden who is hardly heard from (we hardly hear about anything he is doing) his job is lightweight, and he has very little responsibility compared to the President, BUT has a higher approval rating than President Obama. I abhor racism. IT IS SO UGLY.
ReplyDeleteBy President Obama being elected, my eyes have been opened wider than they already were, about the racism in this country. As a Black woman, of course I knew about racism, but by us electing the first Black President (and I proudly voted for him twice), I got a sickening re-awakening about the racism in America. I am so disgusted and appalled at how President Obama is treated. The racism is blatant, and I will never forget it, when it comes time to elect another president, when a white is most likely nominated to run on the Democratic ticket.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous5:57 AM
DeleteI totally agree! I had thought racism a thing of the past, until President Obama ran for office.
The witch of wasilla was the pied piper who made it "ok" to disrespect the office of POTUS.
I will never forget this as long as I live. The country has gone backwards instead of forward in the years of my life. It makes me so sad.
We have a rabid bunch of bitter clingers running around screaming like a stuck pig!
A bunch of overgrown BABIES, who are so MUCH in denial, they are spreading rumors that POTUS actually PLANNED Sandy Hook to take away their precious guns???? WTF?
And pontificating the second amendment which was ratified for Militia's or SLAVE POLICE!!!!!
I think its time to ratify again.
One rifle per person. That's all you need to protect your precious what ever.
Bunch of fucking idiots.... never seen such bullshit in my life it is disguising.
BTW everyone GinaM is in NYC going to see POTUS inaugurated! I am so happy for her, I was supposed to go with, but shit happens. I am so happy for her and excited.
cwl
Speaking for My Tribe
ReplyDeleteSo let me introduce myself. I’m a non-gun person. And I think I’m speaking for a lot of people.
It’s customary and very understandable that people often introduce themselves in the gun debate by saying, ‘Let me be clear: I’m a gun owner.’
Well, I want to be part of this debate too. I’m not a gun owner and, as I think as is the case for the more than half the people in the country who also aren’t gun owners, that means that for me guns are alien. And I have my own set of rights not to have gun culture run roughshod over me.
I don’t have any problem with people using guns to hunt. And I don’t have any problem with people having guns in their home for protection or because it’s a fun hobby. At least, I recognize that gun ownership is deeply embedded in American culture. That means not only do I not believe there’s any possibility of changing it but that I don’t need or want to change it. This is part of our culture. These folks are Americans as much as I am and as long as we can all live together safely I don’t need to or want to dictate how they live.
I’ve never owned a gun. I’ve never shot a gun. (I’m not including the bb guns I shot a few times as a kid.) Once about ten years ago, my friend John Judis and I were talking and decided it would probably be educational for us as reporters and just fun to go to a firing range and do some shooting. For whatever reason it never happened.
I also have a random and kind of scary experience from childhood.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/01/speaking_for_my_tribe.php
I Have No Words
I accidentally killed my best friend when I was 15. Shot my best friend of eight years a week before we started high school. I was sitting in his room holding his rifle across my legs as he talked about how he had looked it up in some collectors guide and it was worth more than when he got it (Christmas or birthday or something). All the sudden there was a gigantic explosion and the rifle flew off my legs and I looked over as my friend fell over holding his gut and the whole world was tinted a hazy red.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/01/i_have_no_words_1.php
Guns Kill People
I’ve gotten a lot of powerful responses to my post on the non-gun tribe — many agreeing, others angry, empathetic, many with thoughtful critiques. They’ve run the gamut. There are many pieces I write not to convince or advocate but simply to capture as clearly as I can a certain perception or belief. They also help me learn more about the topic at hand and often more about myself. Much of what I wrote in this post was not to advocate or convince anyone but simply to capture an experience that seems too little unexpressed but is shared by many, many people.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/01/guns_kill_people.php
The National Rifle Association may be taking a beating in the public opinion polls since they began their post-Newtown offensive, but to hear the organization tell it, the tragedy has swelled their ranks, from 4.25 million to 4.5 million since the tragic mass shooting. While mainstream news organizations dutifully report the NRA‘s unverified figures, Mother Jones‘ Josh Harkinson lays out a compelling case that the organization is, shockingly, overcompensating to the tune of about a million members by, among other things, continuing to count dead members.
ReplyDeleteYou can draw a bright, straight line from the NRA’s clanging response to the horrific shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School and their current slide in public opinion. This isn’t just some generalized wave of anti-gun feeling; six days after the shooting, and the day before Wayne LaPierre’s press conference, Public Policy Polling showed the organization with a positive favorability rating, 48 to 41. A few weeks later, the same poll had them at 42% favorable, vs. 45% unfavorable, and more recently, an ABC News/Washington Post poll has them at just 36% favorable, to 44% unfavorable.
The mainstream media, and the NRA, would like you to believe that those numbers are somehow counteracted by a “surge” of 250,000 in memberships to the organization, a number for which they provide no verification. Even if they did, however, reporting on this surge gives the misleading impression that there’s some parity in Americans’ reactions to the NRA’s post-Newtown actions, or even that the NRA is gaining in support. The fact is that, if you apply the polling numbers to the entire adult population, the NRA has lost the support of 28 million Americans since Wayne LaPierre began opening his mouth after the shootings, while the 250,000 members it claims to have gained represents one tenth of one percent of American adults.
http://www.mediaite.com/online/gun-fluffer-nutter-nra-accused-of-inflating-membership-with-zombies-freebies/
What the NRA is also neglecting to include in their stories about their supposedly swelling membership rolls is the big discounts they're offering on membership fees.
DeleteJust a coincidence, of course!
Gun Appreciation Day Sponsored By American Third Position, White Supremacist Group
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/18/gun-appreciation-day-_n_2502568.html
Gina,
ReplyDeleteIf you get close enough, please give President Obama a terrorist fist bump from me, and if you can sneak one in, give Michelle a big hug and maybe a pat on the behind (friendly, tasteful, but discreet) from her secret crush.
Have a great time and savor the moment we all hoped would come to fruition. I have "severe" respect for the man and his wife as well.
Now I just hope everyone will give him and the position he holds the deference and respect he has earned, and not present obstacles that hurt the American people or the economy. Tall order, yes, but we often get no more than we expect, so I set the bar high.
Have fun!
Okay I hate to disagree with a commenter, but Gina whatever you do DON'T pat the FLOTUS on the ass.
DeleteThat is incredibly disrespectful and inappropriate for that venue.
Nothing to disagree about. I've been chastened and am now contrite.
DeleteYeah, upon reflection, i shouldn't have typed that since there's no way in hell I'd actually commit that type of breach of etiquette. So, dont REALLY pat her bottom. But it's okay if you tell her that she looks so great, and a friend asked you to tell them both best of luck. We're expecting big things of them.
Boney Boo Boo
You made my day!
DeleteWhat "venue" WOULD it be appropriate and respectful to give FLOTUS a pat on the ass?
BooBoo,
DeleteI will pass the word along to GIna, thanks!
Gryphen, will pass your words on to her too :)
I'm sure she will have a write up for us all!
So far she has told me she has a Hotel with a view of the Empire state building!!!
Wow! She is having a great time! Thanks to you guys for asking!
cwl
NRA Ad Stuns Conservative Pundits Into Speechlessness Followed By Really Articulate Rage
ReplyDeletehttp://www.upworthy.com/nra-ad-stuns-conservative-pundits-into-speechlessness-followed-by-really-articul?c=fea
Obama Assault Weapons Ban Proposal Recalls Memories Of 1994 Battle
ReplyDeleteIt was the early fall of 1994 when Rep. Dan Glickman (D-Kan.) got his first piece of ominous news. An administrative aide in his district office reported an abnormal number of angry letters from constituents upset with his support for a ban on the manufacturing of assault weapons. Glickman sought counsel from his colleagues.
“We are trying to work it out,” Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) told him. “But it could be a problem for you, Dan.”
It was a sobering, chilling statement. But Glickman largely dismissed it. After all, he had just helped pass aviation jobs legislation that would be a boon for his constituents.
“I just figured my services and work on this aviation jobs bill, good looks and funny mannerisms would get me through,” he recalled in an interview with The Huffington Post. “I thought I was an F-ing hero, to be honest with you."
Instead, he became a cautionary tale for future lawmakers. Despite 18 years of service, Glickman was ousted from his House seat that November. His support for the 1994 assault weapons ban made him a political casualty of the gun policy wars.
“I didn’t know I was in the epicenter of this controversy until I started going door to door in my district,” he said. "The NRA had made this issue Armageddon."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/18/obama-assault-weapons-ban_n_2502719.html
Glenn Beck Show Suggests Armed Children Could Prevent Shootings Like Sandy Hook (VIDEO)
ReplyDelete...The show, called “Foundations of Freedom,” featured a segment with David Barton, a self-styled but largely discredited historian, whose book The Jefferson Lies was pulled from stores following widespread scholarly criticism.
According to Beck's website, Beck and Barton were looking at how past leaders have dealt with crises similar to the Sandy Hook shooting and were aiming to "discuss the importance of the second amendment and the history of guns and gun laws in America."
Barton proceeded to tell Beck a fascinating but vague anecdote about a school shooting from the 1850s that was apparently stymied by a classroom full of gun-toting elementary tots.
“A guy, he’s out in the West, this guy from New England wants to kill him and find him," Barton said. "So, he comes into the school with his gun to shoot the teacher, he decides not to shoot the teacher because all the kids pull their guns out and point it at him and say, ‘You kill the teacher, you die.’ He says, ‘Okay.’ The teacher lives. Real simple stuff.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/17/glenn-beck-sandy-hook-armed-children-video_n_2498575.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
SICK AND FUCKED UP!
Some of my students are dangerous enough with a pencil and safety scissors. I shudder to think of arming them with loaded weapons!
DeleteI know that the pen was mightier than the sword. I never thought about safety scissors, crayons, and paste. We must arm our teachers against the students who have been given these WMD's (and other art supplies!) by the librul establishment.
Delete
ReplyDeleteOn January 19, our nation will have a new holiday to celebrate. Normally, we’d have the Hallmark corporation to thank for this, but this time there is a very different force behind the movement: the American gun lobby. That’s right, it’s time for the first annual “Gun Appreciation Day,” and instead of buying chocolates and flowers to mark the occasion, this holiday encourages you to buy -- you guessed it --- more guns!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/17/gun-fails-second-amendment-rights-gone-wrong_n_2490579.html
NRA Fundraising Email Steps Up Anti-Obama Rhetoric
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/17/nra-fundraising-email_n_2499853.html
Ha, ha, they're shaking in their boots, aren't they?
Let's make some predictions then. I predict that there will be more armed guards placed around schools but that will be done on an individual state level and so it won't be Obama's. My other prediction is that the high capacity magazines will stop being supplied to the gungoons but existing ones will remain legal to own. Essentially, nothing but what the nra wanted all along will change. And your predictions jesse?
ReplyDeleteJust slightly off topic, but not by very much.
ReplyDeleteChristy has slammed the NRA for their ad about the protection of the POTUS kids! He spent a fair amount of time talking about it. I don't want to go into any more detail than this, because I don't want to misquote him, but it was a really good read and it was on Yahoo! News for those wanting to read about it.
Lawrence O’Donnell Eviscerates NRA ‘Poster Boy’ Tom Selleck: ‘It’s Time To Question His Humanity’
ReplyDelete...O’Donnell painstakingly listed the mass shootings that have occurred since Selleck first became associated with the NRA and eviscerated the actor for staying silent. “Tom Selleck, the man who for 14 years has given his full support as a spokesman and then as a board member to the industry lobbying group that has done everything it can every day to make sure that American mass murderers are the best equipped mass murderers in the world, that Tom Selleck has not had one word to say about what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary–and so yes, it is time to question Tom Selleck’s humanity.”
Coming to the conclusion that the only way Selleck can absolve himself would be to speak out publicly against the NRA, O’Donnell challenged him to “condemn what your organization has done this week in dragging two teenage girls into its propaganda campaign. If you do that, America will have the answer we’re all hoping for about your humanity. And if you don’t, then we will know who you really are. We will know that the clowns who wrote the words in that first ad you did for the NRA were absolutely right about you and said everything anyone will ever need to know about you in the last line of that ad. We’ll know that you, Tom Selleck, really are the NRA.”
Watch video below, via MSNBC:
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/lawrence-odonnell-eviscerates-nra-poster-boy-tom-selleck-its-time-to-question-his-humanity/
I was a big fan of his back in his Magnum days.
DeleteI won't watch anything he's in now because of his vocal support of the NRA and right wing views on gun ownership.
Attorney General Eric Holder had tough talk for the conservatives attacking President Obama's executive actions on gun violence Friday. Speaking at a gun violence panel at the U.S. Conference Of Mayors, Holder dismissed the complaints from members of Congress and state Republican leaders who have said the 23 executive actions taken by Obama Wednesday smacked of "tyranny" and could lead to Obama's impeachment.
ReplyDelete"Let me be very clear. Not one of these executive orders, contrary to what a few have said, impinges upon anyone's Second Amendment rights or is inconsistent with the historical use of executive power," Holder said.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/holder-obama-exec-actions-do-not-infringe-on
This is awesome, Gryphen! Every single presidential election ad in HISTORY can be found here. Boy, what an eye opener it was to see some of these. I bet you'll enjoy digging in to these gems. Sure does give you a different perspective on the GOP of old, the huge cultural shifts in the country, the level of vitriol that some of these ads struck, the brilliance of others. Hope you enjoy it as much as I am.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.livingroomcandidate.org/
What a cool site! Thanks for the link!
DeleteWelcome to "Organizing for Action" clip featuring First Lady. What a brilliant idea, but I think we may have to change the "Fired Up, Ready to Go!" mantra.
ReplyDeleteInfo here:
http://www.barackobama.com/
The video is here:
http://youtu.be/HYT68Uii1dk