Thomas Lindaman writes:
I have to applaud President Obama for his statements a couple of days ago telling Americans we can be better and not inject vile politics into a tragedy like the Arizona shooting. It was the right thing to say and I can't argue with it, given how vile the political rhetoric has gotten in the wake of the shooting.
If you're sensing a "but" coming, you're right. I do take issue with the President's statement from a timing aspect. This was a statement that could have and should have been made on the day of the shooting, preferably prior to the Paul Krugmans of the media world deciding Palin and conservatives were to blame for the shooter's actions (all prior to gathering those pesky things called facts). As it stands, Obama told people to tone down the rhetoric after the rhetorical barn door had already been opened and all the cattle had stampeded out of there.
This speaks to two aspects of the Obama Administration. First, it reinforces Obama's lack of leadership skills. When this series of events was unfolding, a leader would have had the foresight to see the potential for chaos to break out and try to curtail it before it happened. Obama didn't, and chaos ensued.
The other aspect is the pure political nature of the Obama Administration. Rahm Emmanuel loved to say "Never let a good crisis go to waste" and Obama didn't in this case. His delay in issuing a statement telling Americans to ratchet down the political rhetoric allowed people who agreed with him (such as the aforementioned Paul Krugman) to set the narrative on his behalf. The Left ran with the "Palin/Beck/Limbaugh/TEA Party is to blame" idea for days before Obama stepped in and told us to be better. That, I believe, was a political calculation designed to further demonize his opponents in a way that couldn't be linked directly to him and to give him an opportunity to appear above the fray.
Sorry, Mr. President, but you're hip deep in this with your silence. Like it or not, your silence actually enabled the heated rhetoric you're now telling us to discard, and your ideological pals on the Left aren't listening. That undercuts the heart of your message to the point it's now irrelevant.
Lindaman yet again has to resort to stealing from Beck and Limbaugh. Lindaman had to wait until there was something negative to extract before posting about it (in this case, they had to resort to "Obama waited too long"). Lindaman then parroted them (and tacked on the "he's not a leader" to disguise the stealing). Hell, even the title isn't original.
Obama did make a statement after the shootings. Immediately after. Was he supposed to have an hour-long speech ready immediately? Why are you right-wingers such lying fucking pricks? You guys and your faux amnesia.
What's funniest, is that if Obama made a one hour public speech on the day of the shooting, Limbaugh and Beck would say: "Why does he demand all of this attention so soon? Why does he want the spotlight so badly? Can't he give the nation some time to think about it before he consults his teleprompter? Is he trying to shut down the national discussion by speaking so soon?" And Lindaman would parrot this, then tack on "Uh, and he's not a leader. See, my stuff is totally different from Beck."
And regarding blame: Strange, wasn't the Voice of the Republican Party spending most of the last week attempting to tie this man to the... Democrats?!? And failing miserably?
Oh, and don't forget this lovely Tea Party Founder's comments on who is to blame for Gifford being shot in the head: Gifford herself!
It started with Palin, Angle, and Bachmann's pie holes. It was never about "blame," it was about illustrating in painful detail what "second amendment solutions" look like in practice -- regardless of the shooter's reason for resorting to it.
You lost your rights to speaking about exploiting a tragedy after the GOP raped 9/11 and its victims like a drunk girl on prom night for a decade.
That being said, I'm not saying there aren't flaws in the message of "don't blame anybody." The longer we continue with the farce that we are all to blame for what happened, the longer the perpetrators get to hide behind this country's fear of actually accusing the extreme right of doing something wrong. You cannot restore civility by lumping the civil and the uncivil together and saying "everybody just needs to chill out, okay?" The civil are already civil, and the uncivil will accuse the speech as an empty gesture and will continue to stoke the fire and motivate these horrors knowing everyone will take the blame when it happens again. It does nothing more than provide anonymity for the perpetrators to hide behind.
What happened when people actually named names and called Palin out for her disgusting hit-list? She took the fucking hit-list down. See? One has to stop giving them cover, and start flushing them out into the light of day so they can be punished. Call them out.
It's you right-wingers that helped create what happened with your violent rhetoric inciting lunatics. And then, OF COURSE, you try to exploit the aftermath.
You right-wingers cowered as the spotlight shone on your actions. Who are you guys to say how and when others are to mourn their deaths? You're nobody.
I wonder how you and Beck felt about Bush taking three days to get to New York after 9/11. We know how Beck felt about the victims' families, that's for damned sure.
You're just bitter because, yet again, Obama makes you guys look retarded.
I have to applaud President Obama for his statements a couple of days ago telling Americans we can be better and not inject vile politics into a tragedy like the Arizona shooting. It was the right thing to say and I can't argue with it, given how vile the political rhetoric has gotten in the wake of the shooting.
If you're sensing a "but" coming, you're right. I do take issue with the President's statement from a timing aspect. This was a statement that could have and should have been made on the day of the shooting, preferably prior to the Paul Krugmans of the media world deciding Palin and conservatives were to blame for the shooter's actions (all prior to gathering those pesky things called facts). As it stands, Obama told people to tone down the rhetoric after the rhetorical barn door had already been opened and all the cattle had stampeded out of there.
This speaks to two aspects of the Obama Administration. First, it reinforces Obama's lack of leadership skills. When this series of events was unfolding, a leader would have had the foresight to see the potential for chaos to break out and try to curtail it before it happened. Obama didn't, and chaos ensued.
The other aspect is the pure political nature of the Obama Administration. Rahm Emmanuel loved to say "Never let a good crisis go to waste" and Obama didn't in this case. His delay in issuing a statement telling Americans to ratchet down the political rhetoric allowed people who agreed with him (such as the aforementioned Paul Krugman) to set the narrative on his behalf. The Left ran with the "Palin/Beck/Limbaugh/TEA Party is to blame" idea for days before Obama stepped in and told us to be better. That, I believe, was a political calculation designed to further demonize his opponents in a way that couldn't be linked directly to him and to give him an opportunity to appear above the fray.
Sorry, Mr. President, but you're hip deep in this with your silence. Like it or not, your silence actually enabled the heated rhetoric you're now telling us to discard, and your ideological pals on the Left aren't listening. That undercuts the heart of your message to the point it's now irrelevant.
Lindaman yet again has to resort to stealing from Beck and Limbaugh. Lindaman had to wait until there was something negative to extract before posting about it (in this case, they had to resort to "Obama waited too long"). Lindaman then parroted them (and tacked on the "he's not a leader" to disguise the stealing). Hell, even the title isn't original.
Obama did make a statement after the shootings. Immediately after. Was he supposed to have an hour-long speech ready immediately? Why are you right-wingers such lying fucking pricks? You guys and your faux amnesia.
What's funniest, is that if Obama made a one hour public speech on the day of the shooting, Limbaugh and Beck would say: "Why does he demand all of this attention so soon? Why does he want the spotlight so badly? Can't he give the nation some time to think about it before he consults his teleprompter? Is he trying to shut down the national discussion by speaking so soon?" And Lindaman would parrot this, then tack on "Uh, and he's not a leader. See, my stuff is totally different from Beck."
And regarding blame: Strange, wasn't the Voice of the Republican Party spending most of the last week attempting to tie this man to the... Democrats?!? And failing miserably?
Oh, and don't forget this lovely Tea Party Founder's comments on who is to blame for Gifford being shot in the head: Gifford herself!
It started with Palin, Angle, and Bachmann's pie holes. It was never about "blame," it was about illustrating in painful detail what "second amendment solutions" look like in practice -- regardless of the shooter's reason for resorting to it.
You lost your rights to speaking about exploiting a tragedy after the GOP raped 9/11 and its victims like a drunk girl on prom night for a decade.
That being said, I'm not saying there aren't flaws in the message of "don't blame anybody." The longer we continue with the farce that we are all to blame for what happened, the longer the perpetrators get to hide behind this country's fear of actually accusing the extreme right of doing something wrong. You cannot restore civility by lumping the civil and the uncivil together and saying "everybody just needs to chill out, okay?" The civil are already civil, and the uncivil will accuse the speech as an empty gesture and will continue to stoke the fire and motivate these horrors knowing everyone will take the blame when it happens again. It does nothing more than provide anonymity for the perpetrators to hide behind.
What happened when people actually named names and called Palin out for her disgusting hit-list? She took the fucking hit-list down. See? One has to stop giving them cover, and start flushing them out into the light of day so they can be punished. Call them out.
It's you right-wingers that helped create what happened with your violent rhetoric inciting lunatics. And then, OF COURSE, you try to exploit the aftermath.
You right-wingers cowered as the spotlight shone on your actions. Who are you guys to say how and when others are to mourn their deaths? You're nobody.
I wonder how you and Beck felt about Bush taking three days to get to New York after 9/11. We know how Beck felt about the victims' families, that's for damned sure.
You're just bitter because, yet again, Obama makes you guys look retarded.