Obama Politicizes the Arizona Tragedy After All...

polifrog




I credited Pres. Obama as being presidential for the first time of his presidency for his handling of the Arizona shooting. Clearly, I didn't give him time to respond in his most preferred way.

However, I believe that if common sense prevails, we can get beyond wedge issues and stale political debates to find a sensible, intelligent way to make the United States of America a safer, stronger place.

I'm willing to bet that responsible, law-abiding gun owners agree that we should be able to keep an irresponsible, law-breaking few - dangerous criminals and fugitives, for example - from getting their hands on a gun in the first place.

I'm willing to bet they don't think that using a gun and using common sense are incompatible ideas - that we should check someone's criminal record before he can check out at a gun seller; that an unbalanced man shouldn't be able to buy a gun so easily; that there's room for us to have reasonable laws that uphold liberty, ensure citizen safety and are fully compatible with a robust Second Amendment.

That's why our focus right now should be on sound and effective steps that will actually keep those irresponsible, law-breaking few from getting their hands on a gun in the first place.

I was wrong in describing Obama as presidential. There is no issue Obama will not politicize. He is no better than Rep. Brad Miller.




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A Presidential Obama...

polifrog

(As commented at The Spag Report. This is better than my first attempt last night. Ferment?)

I did not watch the memorial or Obama's speech due to the inherently tedious nature of such events. I did, however, read Obama's speech as it was the linchpin of the memorial. It is unfortunate that those who truly mattered were upstaged, but that was a necessary cost for what was needed. I had feared based on history that Obama speech would not be worth that cost. That fear was not met.

Like others here, I believe Obama was presidential. I would add, though, that this is perhaps his first foray into such territory.

It appears that Obama recognized that the self inflicted damage being done by some Democrats had to be stopped for the benefit of his party, and although I doubt he understands the resultant outrage from the right at being falsely accused of murder, it was an aspect to the bargain he had to accept in an effort to protect his own party.

It also seems that he may have accepted the fact that he no longer has a tyranny of the majority within governance from which to govern, and must now govern from that new reality. Shades of Clinton three?

What ever the calculus, where he could have been partisan he was not. In that, this speech stands in stark contrast to those delivered over the past few years.

Lastly, this was not governance in a pen to paper, law making, bill signing way, but rather, governance through theater and, although Obama struck the appropriate chords last night he is anathema to American success.



[Edited "As posted at The Spag Report" to "As commented at The Spag Report"
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Rep. Brad Miller -- Accusing the Blameless for the Deaths in Arizona...

polifrog


How much hate must a person be consumed with to find it acceptable to blame the innocent, on the backs of the dead and injured, of the actions of the insane?

How little is a person required to think of individual responsibility before they embrace the socialization of that responsibility for political gain?

How little must a person respect the victims of the Arizona Tragedy to use their deaths in an effort to silence their opposition?

Brad Miller knows; he is currently lost in the morass of those depths.

Via NewsObserver:

Miller, a Raleigh Democrat, had sharp words for recent political rhetoric that he said has contributed to a toxic environment, saying the right especially has been more virulent in recent times.

He blamed the media for not bringing more attention to issues such as political rally signs comparing Obama to Hitler, and showing dead bodies stacked like cordwood, comparing health reform to concentration camps in the Holocaust.

Had Brad Miller included just one example of the left plying similar waters (the numerous BusHiltler signs perhaps?), I could believe his concern over political discourse, but he did not which makes his statement the epitome of a blood lust (thanks Sarah) political attack.

Brad Miller can now be included with the likes of Paul Krugman, Ed Cone, as well as many other liberal commentators, who have made it clear that they believe that responsibility for Saturday's attacks in Arizona resides not just with the insane delusions of the shooter, but with groups beyond the conscience decision to perform such a terrible act.

Should a man willing to lay blame on the innocent be a law maker?







[Edit] The original final line - "Brad Miller -- A political animal without conscience" was a step too far and has been replaced by the current final line.

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Palin On the Immoral Socializing of Individual Responsibility...

polifrog


Sarah Palin via Politico:

Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. They begin and end with the criminals who commit them, not collectively with all the citizens of a state, not with those who listen to talk radio, not with maps of swing districts used by both sides of the aisle, not with law-abiding citizens who respectfully exercise their First Amendment rights at campaign rallies, not with those who proudly voted in the last election.

...

within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible.

...

we will not be stopped from celebrating the greatness of our country and our foundational freedoms by those who mock its greatness by being intolerant of differing opinion and seeking to muzzle dissent with shrill cries of imagined insults.

And Polifrog?

Ed Cone, along with many other liberal commentators, has made it clear he believes that responsibility for yesterday's tragedy lies not just with the shooter, but with groups that lie beyond the conscience decision to perform such a terrible act.

This socializing of responsibility is a grotesque form of hate in that it accuses the innocent of a tragedy on the backs of the dead and injured.

Agreement is nice thing to confront.



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