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A Delicious Orgy
Nancy Morgan
RightBias.com
January 17, 2011
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Game, set and match to the leftist media. Once again, they have defined the issue
and set the terms of the debate on the horrific shootings in Arizona last weekend.
He who defines the issues wins. Period. And the liberal media has the right on the
ropes - putting them, once again, in the lose-lose position of proving a negative.
Along the lines of "Have you quit beating your wife?", the new template fostered
by the leftist media focuses on the riveting question of who caused a lone nut to
express his inner self by blowing away a federal judge, a 9 year-old girl and an
unfortunate Congresswoman. As the media has pretty much ignored the other fatalities
killed by this loon, I'm left calling them incidental casualties.
Oh, the delicious opportunities.... The President finally had a chance to show his
empathy on a global stage. And not incidentally, roll out the new slogan for his
re-election campaign. The T-shirts made available to mourners didn't mention the
dead. They proclaimed instead Obama's new slogan: "Together We Thrive." Huh? American
Thinker has a wonderful piece on the origins of this phrase. I digress...
Assorted elected officials seized the opportunity to opine on the absolute dangers
they face every day as they diligently toil for the people. "Aren't we brave?" they
imply, as they jockey for the new status symbol of a taxpayer funded bodyguard.
Making hay while the going is good, Sen. Barbara Boxer called for federal regulations on concealed weapons permits.
Ignoring the reality that a few concealed weapons would have stopped this nut job
in his tracks.
Meanwhile, Rep. James Clyburn,
South Carolina Democrat, taking a cue from Emanuel regarding never letting a good
crisis go to waste, is demanding the return of the "Fairness Doctrine," which would
compel radio stations to grant equal time to leftist views.
Various friends of both the shooter and the shot also got a chance to grab their
15 minutes of fame. Finally, they're somebody.
The right, once again, entered the fray on the defense. Forced to rebut emotional
statements totally devoid of facts, they nevertheless chimed in, denying that they
are the cause of this nut job's inner angst.
All the spokesmen on the right joined in this non-debate. From Rush Limbaugh, to
Glenn Beck to Neal Boortz, to Bill O'Reilly - all have fallen into the media trap
of being forced to prove a negative. All having forgotten the first rule of debate
- by acknowledging a baseless accusation, you enable it.
Like teenagers in high school, the headlines abound with "he said, she said." Accusations
fly, opinions are expressed and solutions are proposed. This is what passes for
national discourse today.
What a delicious orgy. The media and assorted politicians had carte blanche to speculate
what was in another's heart without being bound by fact checkers. And assert themselves
as moral and caring people, to boot.
I have no doubt the media and politicians are patting themselves on the backs
for having turned this tragedy to their advantage. And I expect they will have more
tragedies to confront as more and more idiots issue forth from government schools
pumped full of unearned self esteem, focusing like a laser on their own rights,
with never a thought to the attendant responsibilities.
This whole embarrassing episode says something very bad about the current state
of America's media and our political elites. That a piece of white trash with a
gun could dominate the headlines for a full week as Iran goes nuclear and America
teeters on the economic brink should cause Americans grave concern about our national
priorities.
Nancy Morgan is a columnist
and news editor for conservative news site RightBias.com
She lives in South Carolina
Article may be reprinted, with attribution
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