Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The opening skit on the Stephen Colbert Show just now was a huge lampoon of Cagle during a Delta pre-flight safety demonstration. Absolutely hilarious!
LOL! I just saw that!
Hopefully there will be some video of that skit posted somewhere online soon that can then be posted on this thread.
Georgia better be careful. If Delta feels like they're being mistreated, they might relocate.....and so will a lot of film productions. Losing both would set Georgia (especially Atlanta) back and/or stagnate growth. Look how far mistreating people got Birmingham.
Lol this dude Cagle is done. At least I’d hope GA primary voters understand what’s at stake now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by -thomass
Well if Cagle was the metro Atlanta republican, I’d say it’s not looking good for him now. It’s just an odd move attacking an Atlanta-based company, especially over something as trivial as a discount program, a program that probably was hardly ever used anyways. Now of course this could all blow over, but if this keeps lingering in the news or if amazon chooses another city, then I think metro Atlanta will be looking for another republican candidate. I’m sure Delta republicans already are
Actually, as far as the gubernatorial election in Georgia goes, Cagle is looking pretty good from a political and electoral standpoint.
It is actually not that odd of a move for Republican candidates running for higher office to attack Delta over its move to discontinue discounts to NRA members because of the high rate of gun ownership and because of the high amount of voting by gun owners in a generally socially conservative and still deep-red state like Georgia.
While it may be getting heavily derided in the mainstream media complex, Cagle's attack on Delta over its move to discontinue its discount NRA discount program likely has helped him to solidify his lead in the Republican Primary (where statewide elections are pretty much completely decided these days) because of the increased profile in the national conservative movement (including within the conservative mediasphere, which is a dominant force in the national political discourse these days) that this political firestorm has given him.
Cagle's attack on Delta over its disassociation from the NRA has helped to make Cagle look like a national champion of conservative values and a national defender of gun rights and legal gun ownership in a state in Georgia where gun rights and gun ownership is considered sacrosanct by probably more than half of the state's electorate as evidenced by the results of the 2016 election where Donald Trump won just over 50% of the vote on the strength of a strong pro-gun rights campaign platform and much financial and political from the NRA.
I think that this firestorm could eventually at least lessen somewhat, but Delta Airlines likely is going to have to make some kind of gesture that shows gun owners and gun rights advocates that they are being treated no worse than any other political lobbying group.
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal (who personally pushed hard for the fuel tax break on Delta's behalf before the current firestorm broke out over the weekend) weighed in on the issue the other day and seemed to indicate that this firestorm could be diffused or at least de-escalated somewhat if Delta were willing to make some public gesture of reconciliation towards gun owners and gun rights advocates by announcing additional disassociations from any other political lobbying organizations that it might be associated with, particularly on the left side of the political spectrum.
But overall, this issue likely is not going away. Instead, Cagle's pushback against pressure from gun-control advocacy groups seems to have become a major rallying point for local and national conservatives and for local and national gun rights advocacy groups for the 2018 mid-term electoral cycle... A 2018 mid-term election cycle that was already expected to be one of the most confrontational mid-term election cycles ever, but that got truly confrontational after the Parkland, Florida high school shooting massacre sparked an early national push for increased gun control and an early national pushback against the strong gun rights advocacy of the NRA.
Gun control advocates and left-leaning groups have their cause celebre/major rallying point for increased gun control in the Parkland, Florida high school mass shooting, and gun rights advocates and right-leaning groups now have their cause celebre/major rallying point for pushback against increased gun control in Casey Cagle's attack on Delta over its disassociation with the NRA.
...And it looks like Casey Cagle potentially may have just become a leader in the national pushback against increased gun control measures in the wake of the Parkland, Florida shooting, which is something that most likely has significantly boosted his political stock with primary voters in the 2018 race for Georgia governor.
I have to still blame Fedex for being short-sighted.
If that is true, then Fedex should have leverage and pricing power with gun owner's. Therefore, there is no reason to give them a discount program the others might not have access to at all.
Going back to FedEx's refusal to drop their association with the NRA (in contrast to Delta Airlines which did drop their association from the NRA)...
I suspect that FedEx did not drop their association with the NRA, not only because a shipping company like FedEx does much business with gun owners and gun merchants who frequently ship guns with them, but also because FedEx is headquartered in Memphis in Tennessee, which like Georgia (where Delta Airlines is headquartered in Atlanta) is a deep-red state with a state legislature that is dominated by a fervently pro-gun rights Republican majority.
I suspect that FedEx executives thought that all political hell would break loose in Tennessee's fervently pro-gun rights political climate (especially in the deeply-conservative Tennessee Legislature) if the company disassociated itself from the NRA in a state in Tennessee where the NRA has a very strong following (amongst both Democrats and Republicans alike) and where gun ownership and gun rights advocacy is a central way-of-life, much like here in Georgia.
Like other posters and political observers have stated, I think that Delta Airlines disassociated itself from the NRA because of the continuing intense political pressure from gun control activists in the wake of the Parkland, Florida shooting massacre and because a main competitor had already disassociated itself from the NRA in United Airlines.
But United Airlines is not headquartered in a deep-red state like Georgia where the NRA has a very strong following and where gun ownership and gun rights are considered sacrosanct.
United Airlines is headquartered in a deep-blue state in Illinois where the issue of gun control most often is a driving force in that state's left-leaning political climate and has been for decades.
I think that Delta's executives very understandably thought that they were positioning themselves on the correct side of the gun issue by disassociating themselves from the NRA after building public pressure from gun control advocates after an admittedly deeply-flawed and combative public relations response by the NRA (courtesy NRA President Wayne LaPierre and NRA Spokeswoman Dana Loesch) to the emotionally-charged aftermath of the Parkland, Florida shooting massacre.
Unlike FedEx's executives probably did in Tennessee, I do not know if Delta's executives thought completely through what might be the response in Georgia and other red states (which currently number about 30 states, or about 60% of the states in the union), but particularly in their home state of Georgia, if they disassociated the airline from the NRA.
While it very much does appear that they were worried about the potential of a backlash from the left side of the political spectrum, and from the nation as a whole, if they did not follow other major companies (including a major competitor in United) and disassociate from the NRA, it appears to be unclear if Delta's executives figured that the airline would open itself up to significant backlash from the right side of the political spectrum (including political retribution from the Georgia Legislature in the form of a killed fuel tax break that the airline had pushed so hard for) if they disassociated themselves from the NRA.
In another demonstration that this ongoing controversy has become a national story, The New York Times published a very interesting write-up about the Delta Airlines-NRA political firestorm that appears to be turning into a major flashpoint in the continuing national social and culture wars...
Quote:
As pressure from social media and advocacy groups has intensified, and calls for boycotts mount, more than a dozen companies have severed business ties with the N.R.A. since the massacre in Parkland, Fla. Just as quickly, a counteroffensive arose from gun supporters excoriating the companies for their stance, forcing business leaders to navigate the treacherous ground where social responsibility, ideology and financial impact converge.
It’s okay for adoption agencies to shun gay couples, but it is not okay for Delta not to provide the NRA with a perk. Now there is hypocrisy if I’ve ever seen it!!!!!
In another demonstration that this ongoing controversy has become a national story, The New York Times published a very interesting write-up about the Delta Airlines-NRA political firestorm that appears to be turning into a major flashpoint in the continuing national social and culture wars...
The people in Delta’s target markets are opposed to the NRA’s hard right politics and aggressive lobbying by a sizeable margin. This is not a secret for anyone in Delta’s C-Suite which is why they ended their relationship with the NRA. Cagle’s grandstanding may force Delta into some sort of token gesture to demonstrate “fairness”. But I don’t expect them to reinstate the discounts. They will do more damage to their brand and generate more ill will than the preferential tax treatment is worth should they cave in to Cagle’s demands.
Frontier and Spirit aren't spelled S o u t h w e s t. You can have them, I'm not impressed by them at all. My last flight on them was my last flight on them. Not fun taking a 30 minute delay on a tired old 737 that had an overhead bin that wouldn't close. After a parade of maintenance guys couldn't fix it, they literally duct-taped it so we could depart.
No, it's called being morally responsible against a spineless, radical organization that endorses carnage of innocent people.
My point was that I already left Delta. I don’t fly the airlines you mentioned. Not sure why you assumed I did.
My other point was that the discount is so nominal, it barely moves the meter. What, save $10 on a round trip? I recently was quotes group pricing on Delta (last week). It amounts to averaging the fares so that everyone in the party is paying the same price. It wasn’t a discount. It was actually more than the tickets available for immediate purchase. It took those tickets and averaged them with the higher fare so everyone pays the same price.
Thus this is simply a spectacle for Delta. Lulz at anyone thinking Delta is some great moral crusader and that is the reason for this.
Thus this is simply a spectacle for Delta. Lulz at anyone thinking Delta is some great moral crusader and that is the reason for this.
Nah. Corporations have moral responsibilities to our society and their corporate actions generally reflect the consensus beliefs of management and their Board of Directors. I'm proud of Delta. Does their decision have an economic impact? Likely little to none - nothing particularly measurable. But, we all hold beliefs that are not economic in nature. I rescue dogs, not because it makes me money (in fact, it costs me money), but that I feel it is the morally right thing for me to do. So, no, I have to respectfully disagree with you on this point.
Status:
"Pickleball-Free American"
(set 6 days ago)
Location: St Simons Island, GA
23,466 posts, read 44,115,130 times
Reputation: 16866
Quote:
Originally Posted by AnsleyPark
Nah. Corporations have moral responsibilities to our society and their corporate actions generally reflect the consensus beliefs of management and their Board of Directors. I'm proud of Delta. Does their decision have an economic impact? Likely little to none - nothing particularly measurable. But, we all hold beliefs that are not economic in nature. I rescue dogs, not because it makes me money (in fact, it costs me money), but that I feel it is the morally right thing for me to do. So, no, I have to respectfully disagree with you on this point.
I find it pretty disingenuous if not blatantly ignorant to dismiss Delta's sense of corporate responsibility. They have for years expended an enormous amount of capital on this facet of their mission.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
