-By Warner Todd Huston
MSNBC’s Morning Joe host, Joe Scarborough, is nearly apoplectic over the recent IRS admission that it used the power of its office to intimidate conservative groups throughout Obama’s presidency. Not necessarily because the IRS was acting so poorly, but because the scandal hurts his anti-gun argument.
During the recent debate over gun control in the Senate, Scarborough was a big booster of the Toomey/Manchin gun bill.
One of the arguments against the two Senators’ bill was that expanded background checks would likely lead to an un-Constitutional gun registry. Opponents maintained that the government wasn’t trustworthy enough not to misuse the information that would be gleaned from universal background checks.
In April Scarborough called anyone that opposed his support of the Toomey/Manchin bill an “extremist.”
This week, after the current IRS scandal hit the news, Scarborough is changing his tune albeit if only slightly.
During his May 17 broadcast, Scarborough lamented that his support for background checks is damaged by this “devastating scandal.”
Re-stating that he still believes we need background checks for those interested in buying and owning a firearm, Joe re-iterated that he had scoffed at those who claimed that the government couldn’t be trusted.
“My argument has been, don’t worry, background checks aren’t going to lead to a national registry. The government is never going to create a national registry. Right,” he said.
But now that the IRS has come out admitting that it abused its power to attack Obama’s opponents that, Scarborough said, makes a mockery of his bland assurances that the government can be trusted.
My argument is less persuasive today because of these scandals. Because people say, hey, if they do that with the IRS asking people what books you read then how can I trust them with information about my Second Amendment rights? This is devastating. This IRS scandal is devastating! All across the board as Chuck said. Immigration reform, background checks, you name it, it’s a devastating scandal.
Notice that Scarborough did not accept the argument that government cannot be trusted, only that this IRS scandal lends support to those who make that argument. This, Scarborough says, puts a crimp in his assurances that government can be trusted not to abuse its powers.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
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