If President Barack Obama stands for something, Rupert Murdoch, who owns the Post and the Fox News Channel, has usually found ways to stand against it. The NRA will oppose any new gun regulation, and Murdoch and his vast media empire would normally be on its side. But the massacre of 12 girls and eight boys in Newtown, Conn., all of them 6 and 7 years old, is evidently too much even for the Mighty Murdoch, which is saying something. Remember, this is the guy who tried to buy himself a president.

So one of the most influential voices of conservatism is now at odds with one of the most influential voices of conservatism. The tide appears to be turning. A new CNN poll found most people, and most Republicans, approve of the specifics of gun control like background checks and bans on certain weapons. After announcing the vice president as head of a commission to recommend new gun laws, Obama said that he’d do everything in his power to ensure nothing like the Newtown massacre ever happens again.