Capitol Hill correspondent Garrett Hake interviewed Rep. Ro Khana on the Wednesday’s MSNBC Reports for what turned out to be a series of lamentations against Republicans. Haake would declare GOP answers in support of gun rights to be “suboptimal,” wondered what to do about those pesky GOP voters, and told Khana is mission is to try to figure out how to defeat “the anti-gun boogeyman” perception.
Haake told Khana that, “Republican lawmakers have had suboptimal answers when they have been asked by reporters about that age disparity here that why an 18-year old needs an AR-15 if they can’t buy a beer. It, that seems like the kind of thing that is in polling sometimes an 80-20 issue.”
Finally getting around to question, Haake wondered about all those troublesome voters, “How do you break through the problem where the 20 are the same 20 who are voting in Republican primaries? And so that even though you have such a big majority issue here, the loudest voices in one set of rooms who are very important to actually passing legislation are the ones who are saying no. What do you do about that dynamic?”
Khana declared that “a few Republicans” will need show “the courage” to support “these policies that are common sense,” while also trying to portray his party as moderate, “And we’ve got to convince people, no we aren’t going to take away the right to bear arms or the Second Amendment rights for most, almost all law-abiding citizens. This is really targeting a discrete problem.”
Haake then wrapped up the interview by agreeing, “Democrats have to figure out how to speak the language culturally to convince people they’re not the anti-gun boogeyman, I think it’s a huge part of this. Congressman, Ro Khana, we’ve got to leave it there, appreciate you taking the time out from this hearing to come talk to us.”
They could start by repudiating some members of their own party and speaking of suboptimal answers, come up with a compelling reason why 18-year olds can enlist in the military, but not purchase an AR-15.
This segment was sponsored by IHOP.
Here is a transcript for the June 8 show:
MSNBC Reports
6/8/2022
11:06 AM ET
GARRETT HAAKE: Republican lawmakers have had suboptimal answers when they have been asked by reporters about that age disparity here that why an 18-year old needs an AR-15 if they can’t buy a beer. It, that seems like the kind of thing that is in polling sometimes an 80-20 issue. How do you break through the problem where the 20 are the same 20 who are voting in Republican primaries? And so that even though you have such a big majority issue here, the loudest voices in one set of rooms who are very important to actually passing legislation are the ones who are saying no. What do you do about that dynamic?
RO KHANA: I think it will take a few Republicans to have the courage to come out for these policies that are common sense and I think they will find that many of them will win, I don’t think they will lose if they say 18-year olds shouldn’t have military-style weapons and they, we need to make the case based on data. And we’ve got to convince people, no we aren’t going to take away the right to bear arms or the Second Amendment rights for most, almost all law-abiding citizens. This is really targeting a discrete problem.
HAAKE: Democrats have to figure out how to speak the language culturally to convince people they’re not the anti-gun boogeyman, I think it’s a huge part of this. Congressman, Ro Khana, we’ve got to leave it there, appreciate you taking the time out from this hearing to come talk to us.
