LaPierre is an awful speaker
 

I'm a member of the NRA and firm believer in gun rights so it kills me when I see the creepy and out of touch LaPierre out in public speaking for us.
Am I the only one that feels this way?
I know he's the vice President of the NRA but is there anyway we can hire a more eloquent and quick minded speaker? He's nothing but fodder for the anti- gun pundits.
I give good hard earned money to the NRA, all I ask is that they represent us well. In the meantime I'll do my part and contact my representatives and continue to donate money to the cause.

Hes awful and the main reason I wont join the NRA. Keene is 10 times better and should be the one out front for the NRA

I agree. Terrible speaker.

completely agree. I love how he shoves all the blame to the 1A, believing in censorship in video games and movies. If you guys haven't seen Henson Ong speak in CT yet, you guys should check it out. If only LaPierre made the points he made. LaPierre essentially just pushed anti-gun people to believe that gun owners are pretty much exactly what they had already stereotyped.

He's no Chuck Heston. We need a LIKEABLE head of the NRA. I like LaPierre's views on guns but he's just not likeable. Chuck Heston was likeable. Someone like a Dustin Ellerman would be great.

Wayne La Pierre: Mudslingers favorite
 

Bloomberg funded propaganda machine, Obama's campaign machine now turned into propaganda attack machine, and of course the lamestream media are all directed to destroying at best, marginalizing at the least, the public image of the NRA. Wayne will be a main target simply for being who he is, so be careful of falling into the web they are creating (Did you all see the Tweets "reporters" were throwing when WLP was giving his speech, they could not wait until the speech was over before marshaling opinion against him/us/NRA, preparing the talking points used against him forthwith). There will never be anyone speaking for the NRA that will not be attacked, this is simple reality. You play their game and attack WLP when he is/has done nothing wrong except be low-hanging fruit for their attacks. Heston "likeable"?. Heston dealt with nothing but insults and attacks from the anti-gun crowd when he was alive, what kind of revisionism is that view?. Look at Col. West, for example. Man "told it like it was", and the media ganged up on him, painting him as a "nutbar" and succeeded in him being ousted. Do you think it would be anything less for any spokesperson for NRA?. If anything in this propaganda war, NRA is dropping the ball by not being more proactive and aggressive. They already hate and will attack and put the pro-rights side down anyway, so what is there to lose?. I say: Fix Bayonets...:rant:

Seems like a good speaker to me. I think he comes across as humble, inteligent, and determined.

Although I can't say I ever saw Heston speak for the NRA, gonna have yt that.

You could join and help change in from within? :D

Just a thought.

Exactly what I was thinking. Talk about cutting off you nose to spite your face. Don't help the largest group out to help you because the head guy doesn't speak well. :facepalm:

I love that too, because they're the actual root of the problem. And, they are the ones that blame the 2A for the fact that kids are desensitized to killing. Hollywood needs to STFU and look at themselves.

This "I won't join because of _____ reason" only further divides us. Sad how people like you just refuse to see the big picture. Don't worry, we will save freeloaders rights too.

You can't deny the fax that he is no pushover though. We need a tough speaker for the NRA and He is it. I think likeabe would be a liability.

The NRA's media strategy is a trainwreck. It's content and delivery have been poor to say the least. I don't lay it all at the feet of WLP, what we're seeing is the result of organizational, no individual, incompetence. I'm a member, but I certainly don't begrudge anyone who isn't... as long as they give to Calguns instead:D

True. The issue with many gun owners (calgunners) is that virtually noone can or will ever met their expectations except themselves. People were ripping on Charlton Heston the other day. Bunch of armchair quarterbacks who main objective in life is to biatch biatch biatch about everything under the sun. Bunch of whiny negative nancy's.

Unga bunga....I glad I wore a thong today because otherwise my panties would be all bunched up. :D

I think the NRA needs multiple representatives speaking for it, including an articulate woman. The country has changed demographically and I hear a lot of " old white guys" bashing. Like the republican party, the NRA can't be seen as being out if touch with the "new" America. People need to feel welcome and get drawn into the positive aspects of firearm ownership. (disclaimer: female poster here)

:) You all are drunk. WLP is far better than anyone else out there.

Absolutely. There needs to be an illegal alien face of the NRA.



;)

I don't think WLP comes across well at all. He's really not a bad speaker, but you combine the look, the voice, and the mannerisms - and we are hampered by using him as the spokesperson.

The message is probably better than a lot of people think, however - and would not likely change if there were another spokesperson.

But then, I've not been seeing anyone from the NRA on TV recently. I keep seeing GOA folk on Fox News, and I don't know why GOA is now the Go-To group for Fox. The NRA needs to take note.

The Hoffmang!

http://www.bts411.com/wp-content/upl.../07/Gene21.jpg


Seriously, from a strategy and a public speaking perspective, how could we do better than Gene?

.

I would like to see Tom Selleck work for the NRA as the "friendly but determined" face of the organization.

He's horrible, and has always been. I remember back in he 1980's he would appear on the Sunday news shows to "debate" some liberal gun grabber. Each and every time he would get torn to pieces by the Dem. So frustrating. You would think the NRA could manage to get an intelligent, charismatic, well-spoken, effective spokesperson. Amazingly.... NO! : /

The NRA is about a lot more than LaPierre's speaking ability.

To not join because he is not the best speaker seems a bit silly to me.

They have Gabrielle Giffords speaking against guns on TV right now. When Obama does, he packs the stage with children. Good anti gun PR.

Wayne seems fine to me. Stop crying.

Whatever. Just because he's leading something important doesn't make him the right man at the right time.

WLP is good at fire and brimstone which motivates the faithful to give more in times of relative calm, and everyone else just ignores him. That made him an OK, if uninspired, NRA leader in 2008.

He's so bad speaking to moderates or in debate it's actually shocking. No head of the NRA should ever lose to someone as mediocre as Piers, and WLP certainly did. That makes him a bad leader for what is happening in 2013.

^ This, i know his message gets traction with gun owners, but i think that is about it, it's important to reach out to people that are anti-gun or somewhere in the middle with arguments that get them to realize that the tool is not the problem the operator is.

I remember Charlton Heston debating people so well they were stumped and could barely respond to his arguments have yet to see that with Wayne.

I disagree that he is the problem, he is a good speaker though some of his speeches could use some work. Overall the bigger problem is the NRA needs to adjust how they operate to be more successful.

The main problem is fighting for 2A rights is not just in Washington anymore, its on a local level, national as well as local media, the internet/social networking, and so on. Part of the reason I think the gun grabbers get any traction is because its such a multi pronged attack, we need to do the same and we have FACTS on our side but people don't know that because the 5 minutes of news they watch each day keeps saying "GUNS KILL CHILDREN, GUNS BAD, NRA WANTS CHILDREN TO DIE" Its all lies but if you grew up your entire life with everyone around you telling you the sky was green, you very well might actually believe it lacking any other perspective.

We need a more diverse group of people speaking for 2A rights & representing not just the NRA but many 2A groups. I believe a big key in changing the minds of the public is changing who they think gun owners are and to do that we need to be putting forward people who do just that. We need to put foreword Woman, ethnicity's other than white, gays, people of all ages, legal immigrants, people who have grown up all over the country not just already pro gun states, people of varying economic levels, teachers, police, military, parents, business professionals, non-gun owners and so on. Additionally they need to be reaching out to the vast community on-line thats constantly putting together excellent videos, articles, letters, etc in support of the the 2nd amendment and inviting them to get involved, speak on behalf of the NRA at an event, or fund professional video production of new videos with those people. Obviously a big component is going to be selection of the right people but in addition to that they will need to play to the peoples advantages some people are going to be better at delivering a speech, others good at delivering a message via video, others will be good at retaining lots of information and debating live, etc and to support them they need a really strong research department and a strong team of writers helping them create speeches, sound bites, and strong but respectful counter arguments.

The NRA needs to realize it can't all be under their name, they need to quietly support other 2A organizations. It makes it a lot more difficult for the media to play "THE CRAZY NRA PEOPLE SAID" if its NOT the NRA saying EVERYTHING... then all of a sudden the media has to figure out how to demonize multiple organizations, which they may well do but it makes it MORE difficult and thats the key. It also provides more variety to the people which better illustrates the size of support behind the 2nd amendment.

Then finally they need a REALLY strong communications group, thats making sure everyone is presenting the same united front and they are not quoting false, misleading or contradicting information. This department would sorta meld into the research department I spoke of before, because they need to be doing research into everything they can pull from the past but they also need people watching the developments every day and putting together daily briefs that go out to all the representatives including talking points, new facts, and corrections to existing information. At times they would probably have to send out mid-day, or breaking news updates to those briefs to be sure that all the representatives and teams are always up to date! However they should also have a strong and clear threshold for what constitutes fact because the last thing we want to do is behave like the media and just tell people whatever someone told us.

I'm sure other folks have even more ideas, but the point is we need to see MORE from the NRA.. Writing this has actually inspired me to write the NRA and tell them the points I make above. No time like the present!

He finally had a great statement ! You write laws that exempt your bodyguards, police and expect criminals to obey while disarming the law abiding mainstream americans.

It really doesn't matter if he seems fine to those of us who are committed to our civil rights.

We need a spokesperson who appeals to those who are not committed to furthering our civil rights. WLP is not that guy.

Now understand. I'm not arguing that we must fire WLP, he just shouldn't be the spokesperson.

Far better would be a fairly good looking woman who has a great grasp of the relevant issues and law and (preferably) has a couple of minor children.

Even though she is viewed as a polarizing figure, Sarah Palin would be much better than WLP. I'd not choose her, however, because her involvement in Republican politics would not be a great fit for what should be a non-partisan organization.

Please do not send a letter to the NRA saying he's a good speaker. He sucks. I don't mean messaging, he's just plain a lousy speaker.

I don't like Palin, but she is a good speaker. Being a woman is good.

Great is Reagan or Clinton levels...

He must have incriminating photos.

"We do not need the government infringing on our civil rights, attempting to control the behavior of law-abiding citizens, and criminalizing things they don't understand that are used by millions of people who have done no wrong in a knee-jerk reaction to a tragic event involving the deaths of children.

Instead, the government needs to infringe on our civil rights, control the behavior of law-abiding citizens, and criminalize things they don't understand that are used by millions of people who have done no wrong...for our children."

THIS! UNGA BUNGA, I CONCUR!:43:

Most of you folks are forgetting the issue.

Wayne's not there to impress Joe Blow. Other outreach stuff is for that.

Wayne is there to exert pressure and not necessarily by his public words.

It doesn't matter what he says if House (and even perhaps Seneate) won't fold on gun votes.

It's always important to remember which game is playing.

The real message is "I showed up and didn't delegate this to usual lobbying channels. We're serious, mofos. Remember '94."

Seriously Wiese? I assume (hope) that there is an army of lobbyists hitting every wobbly rep and senator out there. That is, in fact, what my member dues pay for.

Wayne is on the verge of bumbling when he speaks. Unless we need more bumblers in the NRA, there are better people to do his job.

I think he has been around since the 70's..........that's why I think he has pictures. I favor a smart but not pushy 45 year old woman with a tiny Carolina accent and a hint of bosom. They are out there.

Just to be clear.. my "love" was sarcasm. I can't agree with your point about kids being desensitized to killing solely based on video games and movies... but Hollywood does need to STFU a lot of times. If anything, lack of parenting and just shoving brain pills into a kid's mouth hoping for magic fixes really mess things up more. Just look up all the spree shooters and you'll notice majority of them were on psychiatric meds.

Most of the time, but it is chicken and egg. People really do watch, and pay for, whatever they produce.

Presentation is for the liberals.
I demand effectiveness and think that WLP will deliver.

Remember 94!

$1 million salary should be commensurate with performance. In his case, I'm not impressed.

WLP is not DYNAMIC! This isn't to say he shouldn't be where he is, or that he shouldn't be speaking, just that if you don't already support his position there isn't anything mesmerizing about him that would make you stop what you're doing and listen.