2013-01-12

Turning the tables on Morgan

It's one of my personal weaknesses that occasionally I watch Piers "smug" Morgan on his CNN show, but the other night I got to see him receive a dose of his own medicine. US conservative Ben Shapiro, who looks about 18 years old (28, apparently) took Piers to task over his approach to debating gun control; he ran rings around Morgan, courteously yet firmly pointing out that if you want to stop killings then banning handguns makes more sense than banning assault weapons:

Shapiro: This is what I wanted to ask you, Piers, because I have seen you talk about assault weapons a lot, and I have seen Mark Kelly talk about assault weapons. The vast majority of murders in this country that are committed with guns are committed with handguns, they are not committed with assault weapons. Are you willing to ban handguns in this country, across this country?
Morgan: No, that's not what I'm asking for.
Shapiro: Why not? Don't you care about the kids who are being killed in Chicago as much as the kids in Sandy Hook?
Morgan: Yes, I do.
Shapiro: Then why don't you care about banning the handguns in Chicago?
Morgan: We'll come to that.
Oddly, Morgan never came to that. The kindest thing we can say about Morgan's motivation in wanting to ban assault weapons is that he realises a handgun ban isn't going to happen, and an assault weapon ban is probably the only law change with a chance of passing. Of course, its actual effect is open to debate - the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 didn't have any effect that the CDC could detect.

What really made the interview, though, was that Shapiro had brought along a copy of the Constitution to (metaphorically) beat Morgan over the head with. Morgan proceeded to display contempt for that Constitution:

Morgan: You come in, you brandish your little book, as if I don't know what's in there --
Shapiro: My little book? That's the constitution of the United States. It's our founding document, Piers.
Morgan: I know what it is, your constitution.
Shapiro: Do you really?
Morgan: I have been debating this for a long time.
Shapiro: Then you should read the 2nd Amendment again.
Go read the whole interview if you haven't got time to see the video, it was quite the entertainment.

Piers Morgan, as Shapiro accurately noted, came into the USA with the perspective that he knows better than Americans how their country should be run, and views the Constitution as an annoying impediment to making everything work as well as it does in Britain.

Today, US author Brad Thor (whose books, while entertaining, make Tom Clancy's look intellectual) took to his Twitter account with a rather good idea:

I'm looking for a TV channel in UK to host the Brad Thor chat show which I'll use to actively push for abolition of the monarchy. @BBCWorld?
Even as a foreigner, I'm sure the British will not criticize me 4 wanting to do-away w/ the monarchy. It's a relic anyway, right? #Forward!
On my UK chat show, I'll call anyone who disagrees w/ my opinions stupid & absurd. The Brits need to come into 21st C. I will lead them!
On my UK chat show, I will tell everyone that we don't have a monarchy in America - not really - and therefore the U.K.'s should be ended.
I can't wait to get the first guest on my UK chat show so I can say, "You Brits, ...sitting there with that little Magna Carta of yours..."
I would pay a large, large sum of money (say, my TV licence fee) to see this show on the BBC.

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