Man alive, all we’ve heard from NBC News and its leftist ilk since news of the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary shooting broke is, “Assault weapons! Magazine clips! Gun shows! Background checks!” But now that all of that except background checks (which is iffy) have gone down in a sea of humiliating hellfire, NBC News has decided to shamelessly move the goal posts for victory:

But this is the game, folks, and it’s always been the case: Background checks will define success or failure. As we said above, the assault-weapons ban never had a chance for passage[.]

What happened here is that Obama and his media got their collective butts kicked in this debate. Their coordinated attempt to cynically and dishonestly win a political battle by dividing Americans on cultural grounds might have won Obama re-election, but not this one. (Have you seen Obama’s latest poll numbers?)

And now in a patently desperate face-saving move, NBC News and First Read have decided to hustle us by screaming, “Nevermind, America!”

That’s right, nevermind 18 gajillion hours of programming from a cable channel called MSNBC that relentlessly pushed gun-grabbing.

Nevermind the 25 gajillion packages broadcast across all NBC platforms about those scary-looking assault weapons and magazine clips.

But most of all, let’s make sure to nevermind that almost everything proposed by President Obama has already gone down in a flaming ball of fail:

Requiring criminal background checks for all gun sales, including those by private sellers that currently are exempt.

Reinstating and strengthening the ban on assault weapons that was in place from 1994 to 2004.

Limiting ammunition magazines to 10 rounds.

Banning the possession of armor-piercing bullets by anyone other than members of the military and law enforcement.

Increasing criminal penalties for “straw purchasers,” people who pass the required background check to buy a gun on behalf of someone else

It is a simple fact that the ObamaMedia’s fascist gun-grab failed and that New Media and the NRA are the reason why. But when it comes to protecting Obama, facts have never mattered to the media.

So now, in order to avoid having to discuss this humiliating defeat, NBC’s decided to change the rules — as though all they anyone ever wanted was background checks.

This way, if background checks pass, the media can crown their Precious One a success.

And if background checks fail to pass, the media will simply memory-hole the rest of the failure.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC