NRA has an Enemies List of Political Cartoonists

Remember President Nixon’s Enemies List?  The National Rifle Association has one too. The NRA’s list features prominent journalists and political editorial cartoonists.

From the post:

So perhaps it’s linguistically fitting that of the 37 journalists on an NRA-ILA roster of organizations, corporations and public/media figures who have voiced “anti-gun” policies and stances, the list is positively filthy with political cartoonists.

Whether you’re pro-NRA or anti-the-organization, though, you can see that’s a striking preponderance of ink-stained artists. Cartoonists aren’t accustomed to making up nearly 40-percent of any list that isn’t an industry convention or most endangered newspaper jobs. Then again, the immediate and pointed clarity of political cartoons can be the professional equivalent of painting a target on your hunched-at-the-table back.

….

The 14 cartoonists listed are Steve Benson, Tony Auth (who retired from his staff post last March), Jim Borgman (who retired from daily political cartooning in 2008), Stuart Carlson, Mike Lane, Mike Luckovich, Jimmy Margulies, Jim Morin, Mike Peters, Kevin Siers, Ed Stein (who quit political cartooning last June), The Post’s Tom Toles, Garry Trudeau (“Doonesbury”) and Don Wright.

Reached Tuesday about the list, Politico cartoonist Matt Wuerker — a 2012 Pulitzer winner who is president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists — told Comic Riffs:  “When Nixon drew up his ‘enemies’ list,’ it included just one cartoonist: Paul Conrad from the Los Angeles Times. I was lucky enough to know Conrad and I remember that he was far prouder of making Nixon’s list than his three Pulitzer Prizes.

“It appears the NRA decided to shoot higher when it came to their enemies list. They put 14 cartoonists on their list. In fact, it’s telling that of the 37 journalists they targeted, [about] a third of them are editorial cartoonists.

But perhaps those Second Amendment proponents at the NRA have forgotten that there’s an Amendment that comes before their favorite one — the First Amendment.  And satire is protected speech even if the subject of said satire doesn’t get it.  The NRA clearly doesn’t.  They offered no comment on the enemies list.

4 Comments

  1. Dan,
    NRA is well aware of the First Amendment. NRA members are constantly made aware that lies and innuendo’s are spread through the media about firearms owners nearly every day. There is no fairness to it, nor is their any real way for firearms owners to rebut those lies, so they become thought to be true by the general public, who have little or no personal knowledge of the subject.

    A list of supporters and detractors isn’t new, nor is it unique to NRA. As you well know it’s simply a part of the way the political game is played today. Every political organization has such lists, National Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, Audubon Society, the list goes on and on. The only differences are most don’t publicly make their lists readily available to outsiders.

    Let’s just say I bet you have a certain fast food franchise on your enemies list, don’t you? Even if the views expressed by the owner of the company was expressing his personal views, not the company policy. Just so you know, I didn’t agree with what he said either, nor do I particularly care for their product. BUT I totally support his Right to say what he did, even if I was opposed to it.

    I still wear Levis too.

  2. An internal Media Matters For America memo obtained by The Daily Caller reveals that the left-wing media watchdog group employs an “opposition research team” to target its political enemies. Included in the list of targets are right-leaning websites, conservative think tanks, prominent financiers and donors, and more than a dozen specific Fox News Channel and News Corporation employees.

    “We will conduct extensive public records searches and compile opposition books on individuals,” declares the memo. Investigations, it says, “will focus on the backgrounds, connections, operations and political and financial activities of the individuals.” (RELATED: Media Matters sources, memos reveal close coordination with White House and news organizations)

    http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/13/inside-media-matters-david-brocks-enemies-list/#ixzz2KJpTHI76

  3. The NRA is the biggest, most powerful lobby shop in the country. As such they usually get their way. With that power comes a grandiose sense of entitlement. So when people express opinions that differ from them they get indignant. The worry of course is that, unlike an individual or small group that may boycott an organization, corporation or chain based on political differences, the NRA is populated by people who obviously like to shoot things. If I were on an enemies list of a group or individual that had great anger toward me and access to a large arsenal of deadly weapons, I would be concerned to say the least. I think we’re seeing what can potentially happen with this cop killer, who also has an enemies list. It only takes one guy with a lot of mental instability and access to weapons for them to be dangerous.

    • So that whole 1st Amendment thing should go out the window for the NRA because they advocate for 2nd Amendment rights. I see ……. go pound sand HB Leftie.

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