Saturday, December 15, 2012

Politicizing Sandy Hook


As we mourn the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre we know that we should not politicize the event.

Those who are most insistent that we not politicize the event are calling for new gun control laws.

Some people can’t help themselves. They are doing what they know how to do: never letting a crisis go to waste.  

How many awards did Michael Moore receive for politicizing the Columbine massacre?

How many seconds did it take pundits and politicians to blame Jared Loughner’s Tucson shooting spree on Sarah Palin and the Tea Party?

I haven’t seen Bowling for Columbine but I am confident that Moore never mentioned the name of the man who was president at the time. If Harris and Klebold had opened fire during the Bush administration you would have heard nothing but the president's name.

Yesterday at Gawker, John Cook set off a firestorm by writing this:

Barack Obama was sworn in as America's 44th president 1,425 days ago. Since then, five of the 12 deadliest mass shootings in our history have happened. Here they are, as well as other lesser mass gun-killings that happened under his watch.

Cook’s article is accompanied by a slide show reminding us of some of the mass killings that have happened on Obama’s watch. I recommend it to your attention.

He does not draw any conclusions, so neither will I.

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