The war is raging between the rabid Islamophobe Republicans and the Tax-Hating Republicans, with Glenn Beck acting as the provocateur.
Earlier this week, Beck threatened to pull all of his support from the NRA if Grover Norquist was allowed to retain his seat on the board, calling Grover a "very, very bad man."
I might be inclined to agree with the "very, very bad man" pronouncement, but not for the same reasons Beck has. Glenny has allowed his pal Frank Gaffney to convince him that Grover Norquist is really a secret agent for the Muslim Brotherhood. Therefore Grover must leave the NRA board before he infiltrates it with secret Muslim cooties.
"I will tell you that I am so concerned about this," Beck said, "and I hope that the leadership of the NRA hears this and every member of the NRA hears this, that if this man is elected, or re-elected, and confirmed on the board of the NRA, I may drop my membership in the NRA. I am that concerned that he is a very bad influence and a very bad man that if this is who the NRA decides to put on their board of directors, I don't think I can be associated with them."
After tossing the lit match onto the haystack, the NRA was inundated by outraged wingnuts demanding to know why they had an Agent of Evil on their board. To appease Beck and his insane viewers, Wayne LaPierre agreed to hold an ethics investigation. Oh, the blind leading the blind.
On his radio program today, Beck announced that he had an hour-long conversation yesterday with the NRA's Wayne LaPierre, who told him that the organization had been receiving hundreds of calls from Beck followers threatening to cancel their memberships if Beck does so, prompting LaPierre to promise Beck that the organization will launch an ethics investigation into Norquist that would "get to the bottom of this once and for all."
"Many of the reasons why we are off on the wrong track now in the Middle East," Beck said, "is because of the influence of Grover Norquist ... This guy is on the wrong side. Whether he knows it or not, I don't believe he's out trying to destroy America, but his efforts and his work will lead to the destruction of America."
Beck said that LaPierre vowed to him that the NRA would conduct a totally "transparent" investigation into Norquist and his work, the results of which will be published on the NRA website for all to see.
The fact that Norquist hasn't voluntarily resigned from the NRA or dropped his bid for re-election amid the allegations, Beck said, "speaks volumes."
To me, this is certainly an entertaining display of conservative-on-conservative verbal violence. But on a larger level, what I see is an ideological battle between the neocons and the old-school fiscal conservative wings. I doubt Gaffney sees Grover Norquist as some kind of secret Muslim Brotherhood agent, but he is convenient fodder to advance more power and control over one of the most conservative and activist outside groups the Republican Party has at their disposal.
For 2016, ousting Grover guarantees solid control of the NRA by neocons. Since the NRA is really a trade association for gun manufacturers, more war in the Middle East is a good thing. More war in the Middle East would require the election of a neoconservative like Jeb Bush and the marginalization of the Reagan no-tax conservative wing.
Pop the popcorn, sit back and watch them eat their own.
