On Wednesday's The Last Word show, MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell tried to link rhetoric by NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre to the ricin attack on New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg as he played several clips of LaPierre criticizing the liberal mayor's support for gun control before getting to the story of the tainted letters. After running the clips, O'Donnell ominously related:
Wayne LaPierre and the NRA have made New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg their number one enemy for his gun control advocacy. And now the Mayor and the organization he founded, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, are the apparent targets of an attack with the deadly poison ricin.
Letters addressed to Mayor Bloomberg and the gun control group containing ricin were delivered to offices in New York and Washington. Sources tell WNBC investigative reporter Jonathan Dienst that the letters accused the Mayor of trying to "take our guns away."
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Wednesday, May 29, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC:
WAYNE LAPIERRE, NRA EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, CLIP #1: It's really important that they hear from every NRA member, every gun owner-
LAPIERRE CLIP #2: Michael Bloomberg or some other official trots out on national television to scold and shame us.
LAPIERRE CLIP #3: -stand up to this guy that says ridiculous things like, "The NRA wants firearms with nukes on them." I mean, it's insane, the stuff he says.
LAPIERRE CLIP #4: President Obama, Michael Bloomberg, they simply don't know what they're talking about.
LAPIERRE CLIP #5: You just heard Mayor Bloomberg, but he's going to find out this is a country, of the people, by the people, and for the people.
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: Wayne LaPierre and the NRA have made New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg their number one enemy for his gun control advocacy. And now the Mayor and the organization he founded, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, are the apparent targets of an attack with the deadly poison ricin.
Letters addressed to Mayor Bloomberg and the gun control group containing ricin were delivered to offices in New York and Washington. Sources tell WNBC investigative reporter Jonathan Dienst that the letters accused the Mayor of trying to "take our guns away."
-- Brad Wilmouth is a news analyst at the Media Research Center