S.E. Cupp Spars On Morning Joe: Christie ‘Cheapened’ Debate By Deeming NRA Ad ‘Reprehensible’
S.E. Cupp, co-host of MSNBC’s The Cycle, found herself at odds with the Morning Joe roundtable on Friday, as they sought to discuss the National Rifle Association and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie‘s recent response to their newest ad, which makes mention on President Obama‘s two daughters.
Even when the NRA is having a “bad day” and being called aggressive, Cupp argued, it actually ends up being a good day for them usually, in terms of membership. “The politics of maligning the NRA is probably not a strategically good idea,” she added, noting that while there’s “been an urgency to vilify” the organization, polling and gun sales numbers show otherwise. Gun control advocates would do better to focus on concrete legislation and proposals, Cupp advised.
To that point, The Financial Times‘ Gillian Tett agreed. While some would love to believe the NRA is “losing the PR war,” that doesn’t appear to be entirely true, she said. So focusing more on the issue makes more sense than trying to attack an entire “way of life.”
“The NRA is not a way of life,” John Heilemann countered, asserting that it’s an interest group that mainly represents manufacturers, not gun owners. Here, Cupp disagreed. Yes, they’ve taken corporate money, she said, but it technically it does represent gun owners.
Speaking of the NRA, the segment then moved to Christie — who yesterday deemed the new NRA ad “reprehensible.” Cupp viewed this response as a “missed opportunity.” Thinking it would be good to hear his opinion on gun control, she said, but instead “the first thing you hear out of him are thinks thoughts on this ad.”
“I just think it really kind of cheapened the debate and cheapened his influence,” Cupp contended. “He had a real opportunity there and he squandered it.”
Mike Barnicle replied that it wasn’t the first time Christie had spoken about. Indeed, he’d been on their own show recently. Asked whether she, too, found the ad “reprehensible,” Cupp said she did not. “I think they were making a point, I don’t think they made it particularly well,” she said. “The point was valid.”
That led to the fellow hosts and guests to assert she’d take issue if a Republican president’s children were used in that way. Cupp argued that every president’s children have been “misused” — and was challenged to find an example, which she said she would.
Watch below, via MSNBC:
