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In reply to the discussion: Wonder why Wayne LaPierre wasn't in the Army during Vietnam? [View all]eppur_se_muova
(36,247 posts)8. Wayne's not in it for the guns -- he's in it for money and power.
SHERYL GAY STOLBERG, The New York Times:
Wayne LaPierre is the NRA. He built the NRA into what it is today.
NARRATOR:
In the 1970s, he started as a lobbyist.
RICHARD FELDMAN, Former NRA Lobbyist:
If youre a political junkie, like Wayne or like myself, it was a wonderful job. Youre working with all these people and having these fights. And youre cutting your teeth.
NARRATOR:
But LaPierre was no ones idea of a glad-handing lobbyist.
WARREN CASSIDY:
He was a very quiet man. I was amazed he was a lobbyist because he did not have the hail fellow well met attitude or personality that I associated with politicians or with lobbyists.
NARRATOR:
And surprisingly for the NRA, he was not a gun enthusiast, more comfortable on K Street than in a duck blind.
JOHN AQUILINO:
The safest place you could be with Wayne and a gun back then was in a different state because he really did not know anything about guns. Politics, yes. Guns, no.
NARRATOR:
And inside the fractious politics of the NRA, LaPierre was skillful, navigating between the sportsmen and the gun rights activists.
WARREN CASSIDY:
Wayne could put a finger to the wind and see which way it was blowing, and he would position himself so that neither side would be offended and might even think that he were, in fact, on that side.
TIM DICKINSON, Rolling Stone:
In an organization that is so beset by factionalism, his being unmoored to any particular point of view is actually very helpful for him in terms of being able to ride the torrents that have occasionally swept through the NRA and emerge always on top.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/gunned-down/transcript/
Wayne LaPierre is the NRA. He built the NRA into what it is today.
NARRATOR:
In the 1970s, he started as a lobbyist.
RICHARD FELDMAN, Former NRA Lobbyist:
If youre a political junkie, like Wayne or like myself, it was a wonderful job. Youre working with all these people and having these fights. And youre cutting your teeth.
NARRATOR:
But LaPierre was no ones idea of a glad-handing lobbyist.
WARREN CASSIDY:
He was a very quiet man. I was amazed he was a lobbyist because he did not have the hail fellow well met attitude or personality that I associated with politicians or with lobbyists.
NARRATOR:
And surprisingly for the NRA, he was not a gun enthusiast, more comfortable on K Street than in a duck blind.
JOHN AQUILINO:
The safest place you could be with Wayne and a gun back then was in a different state because he really did not know anything about guns. Politics, yes. Guns, no.
NARRATOR:
And inside the fractious politics of the NRA, LaPierre was skillful, navigating between the sportsmen and the gun rights activists.
WARREN CASSIDY:
Wayne could put a finger to the wind and see which way it was blowing, and he would position himself so that neither side would be offended and might even think that he were, in fact, on that side.
TIM DICKINSON, Rolling Stone:
In an organization that is so beset by factionalism, his being unmoored to any particular point of view is actually very helpful for him in terms of being able to ride the torrents that have occasionally swept through the NRA and emerge always on top.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/gunned-down/transcript/
Those last two paras sound disturbingly Trumpian.
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Am happy for you as well. Vietnam destroyed my first marriage. He was never the same
secondwind
Feb 2018
#69
The NRA used to be for sportsmen, hunters and gun safety. Now it has become an industry owned shill
keithbvadu2
Feb 2018
#39
Yeah, I got out of it when the started that "gubmint bad" crap in the late 80's.
Ligyron
Feb 2018
#56
Because all LaPierre has to do is produce records showing he had a student deferment
onenote
Feb 2018
#29
No, but again does not matter. What is the point of any meme posted on DU?
sinkingfeeling
Feb 2018
#45
Doesn't respect guns nor is he a patriot....he is just a fascist ideologue and money grubber.
Thomas Hurt
Feb 2018
#43
one thing du has taught me across these years is to site sources and fact check
orleans
Feb 2018
#78