A tragedy unfolded in Arizona last Saturday. The kind of tragedy that gives grown-ups pause to remember, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” The kind of tragedy that causes adolescents to point the finger in order to avoid facing the reality that one way or another they, too, are someday going to die.
Nowhere was this more evident than in the lamestream media. Once word got out that Representative Giffords and others had been shot, media hacks from coast to coast dropped their Kool-Aid-filled sippy cups and any semblance of maturity or self-control and began to slip and slide in their drool as they frantically tripped over each other trying to be the first to get the scoop. And so despite that the shooting happened around 10:15 a.m. it wasn’t until nearly 2:45 p.m. any news outlet correctly reported Giffords was not dead.
It was one of journalism’s lowest, most pathetic and disgustingly revolting points in recent memory.
I read story after story in search of facts I knew could unfold but slowly; what I found most telling were the comments from obviously progressive liberals and Obamabots who glommed onto the Soros-backed reporting to loudly and most often crudely blame any and everyone right of center for the actions of one lone lunatic.
How quickly they forget what doesn’t fit their divisive, hateful paradigm. Much venom was ironically spewed about the GOP and the right allegedly inciting violence with their political rhetoric, but here is just a taste of the inconvenient truth:
December 13, 2004, DLC’s Blueprint Magazine presents its “targeting” strategy:
“If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.” (Barack Obama, 6/14/2008)
“I want you to argue with them and get in their face.” (Barack Obama, 9/17/2008)
“We don’t mind the Republicans joining us. They can come for the ride, but they gotta sit in back.”
(Barack Obama, 10/25/10)
For a more comprehensive look at what the progressive left considers “civil political rhetoric”, Michelle Malkin posted a hefty list of left-wing hate…errr…free speech spanning the last decade. She’s also posted a nice little primer outlining the left’s attacks on itself. Attacks that, of course, in the “for thee but not for me” bubble world of progressives have nothing to do with the rhetoric of the left.
As for the shooter:
Jared Lee Loughner has what was described as strange and unpleasant face-to-fact contact with Rep. Giffords (2007).
Loughner is rejected for military service (December 2008; reasons undisclosed but suspected as related to drug use).
Loughner is registered as an Independent but does not vote in the 2010 mid-term elections.
Loughner’s favorite books are stated to include Mein Kampf and The Communist Manifesto. (YouTube, MySpace; 1/8/11)
Loughner’s mother works for the Pima County Board of Supervisors (DHS, 1/10/11)
Loughner has a rap sheet showing multiple arrests but no criminal record (DHS, 1/10/11)
A safe at Loughner’s home contained a form letter from Ms. Giffords’ office thanking him for attending a 2007 “Congress on your Corner” event in Tucson, an envelope with handwritten notes, including the name of Ms. Giffords, as well as “I planned ahead,” “My assassination,” and what appeared to be his signature (FBI affidavit, 1/10/11)
None of this makes any difference to the left, however. The week has been filled with pompous rantings that continue to lay the blame everywhere except where it truly belongs: on insane Jared Lee Loughner. Even the memorial service held at the University of Arizon was a cringe-inducing sham; when did it become fashionable to hand out rah-rah t-shirts to attendees and when did respect come to include booing the governor but scream and cheer and throw those t-shirts around when the president snidely chides the nation about the nasty rhetoric that marked his own campaign and continues to mark his presidential tenure even though, according to him, it had nothing to do with the deaths of those he was allegedly there to honor? His “announcement” about Gabrielle Gifford opening her eyes, couched in calculated but stereotypical messiahnic self-aggrandizement, was flat-out embarrassing.
And exactly was that moronic statement about aligning your values with your actions, anyway? Seems to me that’s exactly what the left has done and it’s only created more and more divisiveness.
I felt so sorry for the families of the victims. Well, at least the ones who hadn’t ridden there on the bash-righty bandwagon.