Oliver North - New NRA Head

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Originally Posted by Honey Badger282.8

I don’t harbor any negative opinions of Lt Col North, but his name is mud in the general population. Appointing him to a leadership position within the NRA is bad optics.

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The NRA will never, ever, ever be able to do anything at all that would result in "good optics" from the mainstream press, politicians, or the left, so as far as a metric for good/bad, this one doesn't really apply.

Don't read this as a defense of North.

I don’t know why is on the pro gun side keep bring in issues or characters that can potentially muddy up the water instead of just focusing on guns. Liberals sure can do it better.

Maybe he's been a patriot in the past, but maybe he's a fudd sensible sally too. Just because someone did something heroic in the military doesn't mean they're 110% pro gun champion either. Only time can tell.

I just wonder what the paycheck is for this job? I bet it is above the national average...

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Originally Posted by theGinsue

Anyone who thinks a LtCol could own total responsibility for the Iran-Contra deal doesn't understand the authority of rank in the military a lot of things.

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And I completely agree with BP's take on this. Revisionist history is alive and well, it seems, in the case of Iran/Contra and Lt Col North.

He's no longer in the military. His military career is in the past. He works for the NRA now, an organization with millions of followers.

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Originally Posted by Bailey Guns

And I completely agree with BP's take on this. Revisionist history is alive and well, it seems, in the case of Iran/Contra and Lt Col North.

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I'm 35 and I can tell you that it simply wasn't taught while I was in HS. Who knows now. But my guess is that hardly ANY millennials know ANYTHING about it, yet alone a revised version of it.

I would bet good money that the vast majority of younger folks never heard of it before the liberal media told them that they should be bent out of shape because the NRA elected him. They are just now learning about Iran Contra in the limited scope of what the media wants them to think about it.

Which speaks to the 'optics' of this as well. The older folks who remember Iran Contra and who aren't NRA members yet have had plenty of time to become members before North was elected/placed as President. If they wanted to, they would have already. I seriously doubt a different president would have gotten them off the fence anymore than North as president will keep them in the fence.

As for the younger folks who were considering joining the NRA, they never heard of Iran Contra before this week. My guess is it won't solicit any sort of emotional response from them. Again, if they're on the fence, North and the 'optics' of his election, isn't going to sway them either way.

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Originally Posted by DavieD55

Maybe he's been a patriot in the past, but maybe he's a fudd sensible sally too. Just because someone did something heroic in the military doesn't mean they're 110% pro gun champion either. Only time can tell.

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He has written a lot on townhall, iirc, so you could go look if curious.

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Originally Posted by hollohas

I'm 35 and I can tell you that it simply wasn't taught while I was in HS. Who knows now. But my guess is that hardly ANY millennials know ANYTHING about it, yet alone a revised version of it.

I would bet good money that the vast majority of younger folks never heard of it before the liberal media told them that they should be bent out of shape because the NRA elected him. They are just now learning about Iran Contra in the limited scope of what the media wants them to think about it.

Which speaks to the 'optics' of this as well. The older folks who remember Iran Contra and who aren't NRA members yet have had plenty of time to become members before North was elected/placed as President. If they wanted to, they would have already. I seriously doubt a different president would have gotten them off the fence anymore than North as president will keep them in the fence.

As for the younger folks who were considering joining the NRA, they never heard of Iran Contra before this week. My guess is it won't solicit any sort of emotional response from them. Again, if they're on the fence, North and the 'optics' of his election, isn't going to sway them either way.

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The text I bolded is exactly in line with what I was getting ready to offer up. The mush-minded useful idiots will be given yet another force fed opinion to hold as gospel.

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Originally Posted by DavieD55

He's no longer in the military. His military career is in the past. He works for the NRA now, an organization with millions of followers.

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He's a retired Lt Col. As such, he still has an association with the military and using his rank is very much appropriate. He was also awarded a Silver Star and Bronze Star w/Valor.

North was initially convicted of 3 felonies involving receiving an illegal gratuity and maybe obstructing congress or something similar. His convictions were overturned in the early 90s because of prosecutorial mistakes...with assistance, if you can believe it, of the ACLU.

His salary at the NRA, if it's in line with recent past presidents, should be just over $1M. Probably not out of line for an organization of 5M members and annual revenues of about $250M.