Now that earlier attempts to define the narrative have apparently collapsed (even regular Democratic voters aren’t willing to blame the Right for the Tucson shooting), let us take this moment to discover what we have learned about stereotypical reactions to tragedies and atrocities. And what is the most important thing that we have learned? It’s that the blogosphere and the pundit class can be neatly divided into two groups:
- When one group heard of the Tucson shooting, they rightly prayed for the victims.
- When the other group heard of the shooting, they prayed for the ‘right’ victims.
I will leave it to the individual reader to pick his or her ‘favorite’ examples of each – and to decide for him or herself just Who these groups are praying to.
Moe Lane (crosspost)
PS: This is a free observation to the media: I am given to understand that there is about to be quite a bit of hand-wringing over rhetoric, due to the CBS poll a renewed sense of needed decency. My suggestion? The reason why there’s such awful rhetoric is because various minions of the Left are permitted to say, write, draw, and film the most appalling things, yet still be invited onto your media programs to spout their opinions and flog their books. Stop inviting them on, and they will swiftly modify their behavior. It’s called ‘negative reinforcement:’ also, ‘Parenting 101.’
And no, they do not have to worry about having similar standards for various minions of the Right. Frankly, if they imposed the same standards of outside behavior for liberal pundits that they do for conservative ones there would be nobody on who’d be more controversial than either Mr. Rogers, or the guy who used to paint “happy trees.”
Moe Lane
Dan Spencer
Dan McLaughlin
Jeff Emanuel
The real story
michaelbowler Tuesday, January 11th at 1:59PM EDT (link)Th pundits of the left and the democrat operatives are expected to try to blame the right or Bush for every ill in the world. This is a knee jerk behavior we have all come to understand will happen without regard to facts.
The news media are also expected, in this era of left journalism, to report that this is what democrat operatives are saying, ignoring or diminishing the response from the right. This was a different animal, the right was ignored/diminished as usual, but the left’s response was given the creedence of direct reporting without much attribution of the narrative that this was Sarah Palin/right wing radio/TEA Party, as though it were fact. This was AFTER the information was available that this Loughman’s leanings were decidedly left of left and wierd.
Add to this a sherriff, who is involved in the investigation, that decides to opine without ANY supporting evidence, that the right’s rhetoric is responsible for this man’s behavior. Unprofessional at best, this was an act of unconscienable partisan politics unbecoming of any person, let alone a law enforcement officer.
Arizona shooting: Mother shielded daughter from shots Says She's a Moma Bear.
joehnewyork Tuesday, January 11th at 2:03PM EDT (link)Where have I heard that before.
by John Faherty and Laura Trujillo – Jan. 11, 2011 12:00 AM
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/01/11/20110111Gabrielle-Giffords–arizona-shooting-mother-protects-daughter-from-bullets.html
The Arizona Republic
Itwas supposed to be a nice, quick moment. A photograph to help commemorate an important event.
Mary Reed and her daughter, Emma McMahon, were only going to be there for a few minutes.
Emma, a Tucson high-school senior, had been a congressional page for U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords over the summer. But things had been so busy, she never got a photograph of herself with the congresswoman. Giffords inspired her, and she wanted the memory. So, on Saturday morning, the two went to Safeway, where Giffords would be holding a “Congress on Your Corner,” a meet-and-greet event. Also along were Mary’s husband, Tom McMahon, and son, 13-year-old Owen.
They were the second-to-last people in line to meet Giffords.
Then everything changed. A gunman approached, shot Giffords in the head and kept on firing.
Mary didn’t know exactly what it was when she first heard the noise, but she knew it was loud and bad. She knew she wanted to protect her daughter.
So, Mary pushed Emma up against the brick wall, cradling and covering her with her own body. “There was nowhere to go,” she said.
Only when she was shot the first time did she realize what she was protecting her daughter against. “I knew what it was then,” Mary said.
That’s when she saw a man with a gun, 2 feet away.
“It was terrifying,” Reed said. “But I had to save my daughter.”
She scanned the crowd, but couldn’t see her husband or son.
Owen and Tom were less than 10 feet away when the gunman started shooting, just a short distance, but enough to keep them safe in a peculiar crime where violence erupted so cataclysmically in such a small space.
Then, Reed was shot again. And shot again. But she didn’t move. She couldn’t expose Emma.
“Yes, a mama bear,” Mary said.