You can tell a lot about whether or not an argument is principled by the demeanor and integrity of the participants involved. In the debate regarding gun violence in the US, there is a 92% agreement among Americans, across political stripes that the government should be “doing something” about it. Whether that “something” is enacting stricter background checks, registering ammunition, conducting periodic in-person license renewal, mandating liability insurance, closing purchase loop holes, outright banning of military-style weaponry…the country is crying out for change.
On one side of the gun control debate, you have folks who seem empathetic, caring, logical and…let’s say it—pretty cool. Like the kids from Parkland High, who have stepped up so incredibly bravely to put a face to the most recent carnage. Jimmy Kimmel, Bill Hader, Melissa McCarthy, Henry Rollins, Amy Schumer, Tim McGraw, Seth Rogen…to a person, people I’d be thrilled to know or have a beer with. They all seem friendly, fun, good natured, intelligent, and sane.
There are also many conservatives who, predictably, fall on the conservative side of the debate, and I even have grudging respect for a few of them. But take a look at the individuals who are out there really flying the flag for a ‘rhoided up 2nd Amendment: Chuck Norris, Wayne LaPierre, Sarah Palin, Ted Nugent, Tomi Lahren, Dana Loesch—big mouth alpha-male tough guys and certified right wing “spank bank” Real Dolls who tart themselves up like they’re about to rock their spotlight dance at Mons Venus. Tomi Lahren is so singularly annoying, antagonistic and nauseatingly faux-aggrieved that if she ever showed up at one of my parties I actually think I might suddenly become pro-gun. She’s that bad.
But even Lahren’s incessant hyper-speed whine is no match for the despicable and insufferable Queen Mother of the NRA, Dana Loesch. Loesch, in typically classy right wing fashion, grabbed some crossover fame back in 2016 when she attacked and humiliated CNN commentator Kayleigh McEnany on the air for, get this, not having big enough tits to be a true conservative. When it was later pointed out to Loesch that McEnany was in the process of having a preventative double mastectomy because she was BRCA 1 positive, Loesch didn’t give a shit and doubled down on her insult. You stay classy, gurl.
Anyone who has watched Loesch’s NRA videos knows she’s a completely unhinged sociopath who flicks the bean to the heady dream of an all out race war in the United States with more drooling excitement than Francis/Psycho, the nut case recruit rom Stripes. “All I know is I finally get to kill somebody.”
But if you thought Loesch had already hit rock bottom, rest assured she hadn’t. Watch her speech at CPAC this week where she showed up with her metaphorical roadheader boring machine. No, no rock bottom, none, will ever hamper this classless, bile inducing shill.
“The media loves mass murders. Crying white mothers are ratings gold to you,” Loesch reiterated to incredulous CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota in a live interview just a week after the Parkland High massacre.
Uttered while more than a dozen high school kids were being buried, just kinda let that one marinate a while. No, seriously. Read it back a few times until it fully sinks in.
The words “common sense” have been almost permanently affixed to any discussion about gun reform, but, see, that is the real problem—presuming the gun crazy right wing, embodied by Dana Loesch, has anything remotely resembling common sense, common courtesy, or common decency is a big mistake. They have proven again and again they do not. The NRA and the far right are not having a “debate” right now, they are indulging in their psychosexual fetishization of guns the way NAMBLA members watch Stand By Me. And any network that puts Loesch on the air from now on is complicit in the poisoning of our political discourse.
You can tell a lot about a debate by who stands on which side. Dana Loesch certainly picked hers. Is that really a team anyone would want to be on?