Some people on the left cannot resist politicizing every single tragedy. Many on the left including leaders in the Democratic Party blamed the Tuscon shooting on Sarah Palin, and did not let the fact that the shooter was a deranged man with no coherent political philosophy deter them. Many on the left blamed the Austin airplane suicide crash on the Tea Party, when it turned out that the suicidal pilot was a man who had had longstanding issues with the IRS, which had an office in the building he crashed into. His incoherent manifesto mostly pointed toward the political left. This morning, some on the left are blaming the Aurora shootings, which have left 12 dead and 50 wounded, on radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh. President Bill Clinton served as the template for casting such blame, when he used the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing to demonize the radio host. His response to that national tragedy was widely credited at the time for resurrecting his faltering presidency.
Earlier this week, Limbaugh suggested that Hollywood was using Bane to make a villain of Mitt Romney’s connections to Bain Capital. Limbaugh seems to have been misunderstanding an argument that I was the first to make, which had nothing to do with the content of The Dark Knight Rises, but instead just used the Bain name as a springboard to discuss why the Democrats sought to make a villain out of Romney, whose life and record harbor no indications of any illicit activity at all.
Now, liberals on Twitter have been quick to turn the shootings into an excuse to criticize Rush’s criticism of the film. This follows the usual pattern: Piers Morgan and Mike Bloomberg have blamed Americans’ Second Amendment rights, and ABC News hosts have already reached to make a Tea Party connection. It’s as if the rush to judgement in the George Zimmerman case never happened. How long before a media network or web site fabricates evidence, as NBC clearly did in its attempt to case Zimmerman as a racist?
The fact is, TDKR was anticipated to be the biggest box office opening of all time. We know nothing of the alleged shooter’s motives, but the frenzy leading up to the movie’s opening likely played a part. Rotten Tomatoes, the web movie critic aggregator, had temporarily suspended comments in reaction to numerous threats against any critics who panned the film. The attention paid to this opening is the most of any film in recent memory. The shooter knew he could prey on unsuspecting moviegoers who were unlikely to be armed. He timed his massacre to dominate today’s headlines, to have the nation awake not to news of the blockbuster’s gaudy earnings, but to news of his evil actions. The evidence suggests that he was armed to the teeth and heavily armored, and had planned and premeditated his heinous act.
Maybe I’m as nuts as the gunman, but what about the possibility that the damage was higher than it might have been because some of the crowd thought that the smoke and sound of shots were part of the show? In the ’50s, there were a few horror movies in which the special effects in “selected theaters” included tricks played on the audience with wired seats, monster-costumed ushers, etc. If people didn’t realize what was going on and thus didn’t react fast enough…
check out drudge
Good point. Doubtful that the theater would have the volume on anything but high on a premier night. I don’t know if it’s at all the same with the audio of the theatrical release of this movie, but my DVD of the Dark Knight has the greatest disparity between high and low volume of any that I’ve come across, action movie or otherwise. Turn it up enough to hear the speech during a quiet part and get nearly deafened when they switch to action.
Not that the shooter’s tactical planning probably went any deeper than “big crowd + darkened cramped area = more targets.”
Wonder if it was a “gun-free zone”.
yes, a gun free zone.
We should be investigating this Frank Miller creep. He seems to be the source of these violent narratives. This article shows a Frank Miller Batman comic were a loony shoots up a movie theater. http://washingtonexaminer.com/batman-movie-shooting-imitated-from-scene-in-1985-comic/article/2502701
Why would someone depict such horrible acts for lucre only? I’m not buying it. There’s more to it than that, if you ask me.
Like what?
That series, the Dark Knight Returns, was actually pretty well done.
Now I’d support investigating Frank Miller for Dark Knight Strikes Again. What a piece of junk that was.
Seriously though, the Examiner’s sort of reaching for a story there. The Batman character has been around since the ’30s, where he started as a character in Detective Comics. Since that time, he’s made several thousand comic appearances created by scores of writers, as well as numerous live-action and animated television and movie appearances. The detective story/crime fiction focus is still a major part of the character. Between that and all of the aforementioned stories, the real challenge would be to find a crime that hasn’t been part of a story plot.
this is exactly what a couple of the people said they thought it was….
Of course george on GMA sending it to the tea party this morning, trying to stir up more trouble…i sure the shooter was a registered democrat..
wonder what EO obama will push through on this sad friday. oh, yeah…every move he makes is for his political agenda….sympathy, deceit..
better hold onto your guns and religion out here..the assault will be forthcoming. none of this would have to do with the movie, the comics etc that have come out..reenactment????
Anne, PJ Media Bloggers, et al:
I just sent the following message to the Colorado Tea Party that might be of interest to you. If so, you might consider doing the same:
When George Stephanopolos and Brian Ross tied a member of your organization to the Aurora theater outrage on Good Morning America today, they not only defamed the Colorado Tea Party, but every Tea Party Patriot in the nation.
This, of course, has become the default accusation levied by the left and their house organs everytime some sociopath goes off the deep end and guns down his neighbors.
Don’t you think it’s time we in the Tea Party push back?
The mainstream media has gotten away with this abuse of their Constitutional privlage because they have not had to pay a price. They think they can blacken our eye with impunity, as long as they issue a pro-forma “apology” after they’ve done the damage. No wonder some 40 percent of the American electorate hold us in low-regard.
It’s time we do something about this. I recommend you file a liable suit against ABC in general and Stephanopolos and Ross in particular for the reckless way they defamed you and millions of other members and supporters of the American Tea Party movement.
You may not win such a suit, but you’ll put the leftist media on notice that there will be a price to be paid when they publish their outragious attacks on the good character of those of us who still believe in America.
To paraphrase a great American conservative, let me ask, if you who were defamed by this so-called news organization don’t take the lead on this, who will? If not now, when?
Bryan – The Democrats have their own reality irrespective of its resemblance to empirical reality. If there is an act of nature, such as a hurrican, they are goint to blame it on the Tea Party and/or Republicans. Their disassociation from reality is truly frightening, and hence my continuing comment on how being a Democrat is a form of mental illness.
Some questions about the shooter: Where did he get the tear gas? Did the shooter have explosives, and if so, where did he get them?
A question about the FBI: It said that there is no evidence that this is a terror attack. How in the world can the FBI know that, only several hours after the event, or is this another instance of sudden jihad syndrome that the FBI does not want to contemplate?
Going all the way back to Oswald, the left has tried to pin gun use like this on the “extreme right wing”. Well, nowadays, they’ve even tried to pin Booth’s behavior on right-wing extremism when in fact, Booth was a confederate veteran who hated the whole notion of Lincoln being president, among other things.
The left fails every time they try this. However, they keep trying because they want it to stick and if it doesn’t stick of its own accord, they tape it to the wall anyhow and say, “See? It stuck.”
Dealing with the delusional left is something I prefer to not occupy my time with. While they occupy Wall St, I go about my business doing other things. I have a job, hobbies and I read things here and other blogs to get the truth in the news, not what the communists on the left want me to believe.
The shooter in this case is obviously a freak-show nutjob and should be put away. Any laws against guns would’ve made no difference, for, that person would’ve found a way to hurt others no matter what. What’s interesting is places like Great Britain fail to report in their news about, not only gun crimes, but the violent actions perpetrated by said nutjobs. Perhaps part of that “crawl-in-a-hole” mentality, for if they don’t report it, it doesn’t happen, right?
Here in the US, they still report it in the MSM so they can pin it on some extremist right-winger. But it has failed every time it’s been tried. Thought experiment: If the communists are successful and get all guns banned, do you think the media will report on any gun crimes in the country? I say it would mimic the British method and get ignored altogether because it would be an acknowledgement/admission that the conservatives were right all along.
I fully expect the accusations to point towards the Tea Party/Rush Limbaugh/pick-your-conservative-target in not just this, but any other similar event, even if retractions need to be made later.
Sadly, it’s a fairly sound strategy. The accusation will always be louder and better remembered than the retraction. One can’t unring the bell.
So then the new media must get into the face of these people — with cameras — and ask them why a so-called journalist would jump to conclusions without the facts — and keep hounding them until they admit their bias and bigotry.
THEY, are the news.
won’t happen…:(
It does happen from time to time. If there’s enough pressure, one or a few expendable reporters gets let go. If they’re high enough in the food chain, they may take an “early retirement”.
The network, or other news source, may issue a vague statement about overeager reporters rushing a story that was too good to check. The news company skates away cleanly, still pretending to have no bias, and the damage is done.
Try asking an acquaintance who doesn’t closely follow the news about President Bush’s military service, flushed Korans at Guantanamo, or the 2000 Presidential election. Not as a challenge or as a prelude to an argument, but simply for what they recall about those events, or any other events of the sort where the truth and the narrative weren’t the same.
The accusation will always trump the retraction. And that’s what they’re counting on.
Expect the next wave of demands for more gun control to come out of everywhere today in the mainstream media. Makes me so tired when this happens. Pity nobody in the theater was armed so that they could put down this maniac before he could do so much damage.
Particularly since it’s Colorado. The Columbine references will be coming out of the woodwork within the hour.
It’s the Jared Loughner (Tucson) case all over again!
Why can’t we just blame Hollywood? Aren’t they the ones that make this violent crap? Aren’t they the ones that make it possible to take a SIX YEAR OLD to such a movie? Aren’t they the ones that use guns to the nth degree in practically everything you see on film? AREN’T THEY THE ONES? Could it be they are partially responsible? And how about the parent THAT TOOK THE SIX YEAR OLD? WHO DOES THAT? Rush and the Tea Party did not make this movie. THE LIBERALS and PROGRESSIVES who SUPPORT Barack Obama did. LIBERALS ARE TO BLAME.
curiously, this flick portrays the rabble rousers as “ows” types and the main villian as a “get the evil 1%” agitator
granted, as one of my old coaches used to tell us constantly, “no one but crazy jacks out past 11pm”
Bah, we’ve always had violent movies since the days of silent film. The thing is, we didn’t always have mass murderers.
If you want to know what has changed, check out the pharmaceutical industry….there always seems to be a single common denominator in these shootings regardless of what the shooters age, political affiliation, or ethnicity are.
Pharmaceuticals?! BAH!
Every murderer known to humanity drank water, breathed air, and had mothers. Many of them had fathers, too.
THOSE are the culprits we should be looking at.
Actually,the mothers and fathers are the culprits we should be looking at. The people who blame violent movies forget that some of the first movies anyone ever saw were “The Great Train Robbery” and “Nosferatu”. If the murderer wasn’t saying “I’m the Joker” it would have been “I’m John Wayne” or “I’m Nosferatu” in exactly the same way that if he didn’t use an AR-15, it would have been a pipe bomb or a couple of gallons of gasoline. People always use these times to try to ban something they personally don’t like,be it guns or violent films or pornography or what-have-you.
The only thing that’s changed since the 1920′s is the fact that we don’t allow parents to put the fear of God into these emergent psychopaths before they kill a bunch of people. I recognize that this will not prevent every one of these killing sprees, but it will accomplish a lot more than banning anything will.As Americans,we don’t surrender our rights to terrorists. We don’t surrender our right to guns, and we don’t surrender our right to free speech just because somebody goes nuts. We punish the offender. We punish them and we stand united against them. That’s what we do, and that’s why we’re the greatest country on Earth.
Headline
http://www.drudgereport.com/ July 20, 2012 10:26 AM
Suspect’s Mother: ‘You have the right person’…
Apparently at a minimum the Mother was aware of her son’s state of mind and potentials. A question is … who else knew, was the FBI already aware and why didn’t any of the forewarned take action? Why did anyone, knowing the propensities of the perp, not take steps to see he wasn’t able to arm himself?
Because. We have to TIP TOE. Can’t judge anyone with a mental illness or just mean damn personas. NO, no, no. We must be, as Mona Charen says, good little victims.
it is unfortuante…but you are right.. don’t say anything that might offend someone..don’t tell, ssshhhhh
Let’s extend that brilliant logic. If this shooting was caused by Tea Party Rush et al then the shootings in Chicago are the fault of liberal policies
The hate knows no decency or limits. To seize on this for expression of vicious smears tells you how dangerous the left is, not a hint of restraint or evidence. And of course tiny Mayor Bloomberg can’t hold back, not the first time he’s done this & it doesn’t matter what the truth is. Use this reaction as an indicator of the real danger the American left poses.
Methinks the left doth protest too much.
Actually Bryan, the comparison shouldn’t be to Martin/Zimmerman, it should be to the Gabrielle Giffords shooting. Where a lunatic opened fire, killed multiple people, the left blamed the right, and it turns out the shooter was a leftist.
I don’t know the political ideaology of the shooter, or whether he is as criminally insane as in the Arizona incident, but hopefully you get my point, the lefty pundits don’t know either, but by George there’s hay to be made.
How about we blame these senseless acts where they belong – on the shooter. At this time we no very little about what has motivated this sick 24 year old. Louis Gohmert, the terror babies congressman, states it because of ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christians beliefs. It premature speculation but then let’s see what Rush says.
that’s = know. What a dunce I am
The loudest voices politicizing this won’t be conservatives, BostonButt.
I was using hyperbole when I suggested it was Hollywood’s fault …
“It premature speculation but then let’s see what Rush says.”
Gee Be Libby, you still managed to get your tongue firmly knee jerked between your cheeks. What talent.
Never let a tragedy go to waste…
BostomLib, we agree on your last remark. You’re spot on.
They are willing to tell us the Fort Hood Shooting was a workplace shooting nothing more, but this Colorado theater shooting was the work of one Rush Limbaugh. If Rush is such the all powerful mindplayer the left says he is, how come people still believe in Obama’s hope & change?
Why don’t we know the shooter’s name?
We do – James Holmes and it appears he lives in an apartment complex associated with the University of Denver
Very odd for his mother to proclaim “You have the right person”….what the hell is that supposed to explain? What is the background on that? There is a lot more to this than any of us know at this point.
What a nightmare, trapped and disoriented in a dark theatre with a madman. Prayers for the injured, killed and their families…
I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a connection to the Limbaugh rant, but we can only wait to see. To deny that possibility is also a rush to judgment.
Have you noted the extensive advance preparations the shooter had to make for his little soiree? Limbaugh did his Bane/Bain riff when? Wednesday?? So, what, did Holmes get all ready and then wait for someone like Rush Limbaugh to incite him?
Don Wade, on WLS chicago, this morning asked Jake Tapper (ABC) why the president has made a statement on this shooting in Colorado yet never has said a thing about the murder rate in Chicago. Every weekend in Chicago for the last two years has had 10 killed and 50 wounded making Chicago more violent than Baghdad or Afghanistan.
Is that this shooting killed white kids and the Chicago shooting kill black kids?
BTW, the Nation of Islam is now going to patrol Chicago and enforce Islamic Law as way to end the violence. Again you do not see this level of violence in Muslim countries.
You’re kidding, right? Forget the /sarc tag perhaps?
You really want to compare the level of violence in Aurora CO with current violence in the Islamic Meccas of Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc? Really?
Turning loose Farrakhan’s goons on the streets of Chicago to enforce Sharia will lead to more violence, not less. Cheers -
“Again you do not see this level of violence in Muslim countries.”
is that a joke?
LOL! – understood.
Why is it impossible to spot your own typos until after you post?
Well, sense we’re going to play the blame game, I blame these incidents on the psychologists and psychiatrists and sociologists pretending to be scientists, providing a false sense of social control and explanatory power over human behavior when they and their models have never been able to predict any of these incidents before the fact.
AND i blame it on the lack of mental help with the great unwashed….This man is in need of some serious mental help.., someone, somewhere knew something about what was going on…
Once again this proves if gun laws cannot keep guns out of the hands of criminals, then these laws are worse than no gun laws at all.
California Approved Handgun Safe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWucDHAphQ8&feature=player_embedded
The NYT v. Sullivan decision needs to be revisited. The Media in this country can no longer hide behind an “absence of malice”. Their reportage is absent of anything but malice toward the Tea Party in particular and Conservatives in general.
Breitbart is reporting that they’ve tentatively identified a James Holmes who is 25, and a registered Democrat, born in San Diego. They have not been able to confirm that he is the same James Holmes being held by Denver police.
After this shooting and the AZ shooting, I think I have a compromise on which we can all agree. If these shootings make the case for gun control at all, it’s that Democrats should not have guns.
Since it took a while to plan this shooting, acquire the weaponry, etc, it’s idiotic to blame Limbaugh’s yesterday’s broadcast. Egads the left is dumb, and they make us dumber from having to listen to them.
Carmelita – Good find about the party affiliation of the shooter.
After I had commented earlier I found out that the shooter jerry-rigged his apartment with sophisticated explosive devices (or, so Fox News said). I wonder, where did the shooter get sophisticated explosives?
i read that’s where his mother was, she was setting off the CO….sorry for his parents too.
Poor Carmelita – You and Breitbart seem to be engaging in exactly what this is about -speculation without any facts. The blame on the Tea Party was because they had a person named John Holmes but it wasn’t the same John Holmes as the shooter. Now you seem to be spreading speculation from Breitbart. How ironic.
Mobile-Phone Surveillance by Police Targets Millions Annually By David Kravets July 9, 2012
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/07/massive-phone-surveillance/
There is one thing I would bet my life on about this matter.
The primary focus of obama’s campaign strategists, and leftist strategists everywhere right now is how to turn this to the Con Man’s political advantage.
They have been 100% consumed with developing that strategy from the moment they were informed about the tragedy, which in their minds, isn’t a tragedy, it’s an opportunity.
I expect that the early stumbles (Brian Ross, netroot kooks blaming it on Rush), will be quickly corralled, and the dominant story-line will emerge by the end of the day or perhaps for the morning propaganda shows tomorrow. Charly Rose may have a preview tonight. Perhaps the magic show will even be ready by the nightly news and the MSNBC nightly puppet shows.
They won’t let this go to waste, and they won’t let the normal crazies turn it into a bunch of stupid fake stories that will discredit whatever the main theme is that they decide upon.
He may’ve been a left/liberal freak, but it’s all conservatives, guns and Bush’s fault! (Just ask a Democrat… )
Wow. You Tea baggers sure like to murder people. Your cult is making you do things you wouldn’t normally do – like taking the lives of a dozen or more innocent people. And all because a black man won an election?
Hey, Jimbo, you read like you’ve celled up with Bubba before and tea bagged his balls because he was big and black.
– I have followed you since the radio days. You repeatedly wrote that you would block such filth from at least what you edit at PJM. I will never visit this site again. You are welcome to Jimbo and the others like him.
The Aurora police chief finished a news conference a few minutes ago, carried live on KOA 850 AM. What we know is that there was a single shooter, armed with an AR-15, Glock .40, and a Remington 12 gauge shotgun. 71 people were wounded. 10 died at the scene, 2 died in the hospital. He was wearing a ballistic vest, helmet, gas mask, throat protection, leg protection and possible arm protection (if I recall correctly). He may have entered the theater from the rear where his car was parked. There was another .40 Glock in his car.
No info about the legality of his weapons or how many shots were fired (obviously at least 71) or his motive. His Aurora apartment is booby-trapped with what looks like incendiary devices. There is no evidence he is or was a Tea Party member (this from online sources, not the police chief). No off-duty police were in the theater, which sometimes is the case, but they responded to the scene after 911 calls within a minute or so.
Blame Rush? Sarah wasn’t available? The guy is a mental case who bought 4 guns legally, the last one in May according to fed records. This was long before Rush talked about it. He’s not a TP member, either. Why was the 6yo at a midnite showing? I wouldn’t go to a movie at the hour myself.
Haven’t read where it is the fault of Bush. Libs/progs,Democrats and Obama blame everything else that happens on Bush. Why not this shooting?
It’s Obama’s fault.
I can see why/how his political affiliation would be of importance. You have to look at the mind of the murderer to figure out his motives. I’m not saying he was GOP/TEA but you have to admit there have been consistent violent events in sighted by the conservative entertainment media; Fox News, Limbaugh, Beck, etc…
” I’m not saying he was GOP/TEA but you have to admit there have been consistent violent events in sighted by the conservative entertainment media; Fox News, Limbaugh, Beck, etc…”
Where,when, WHICH violent events?
Can you NAME one violent act the Tea Party has carried out? Let me clarify this for everybody here. The JIM Holmes ABC reported on is a 52 year old hispanic man. The shooter in this case is a 24 YEAR OLD WHITE GUY. To this day,despite repeated ALLEGATIONS by the leftist media of violence,racism, and everything they can think of, NOT ONE VIOLENT ACT CARRIED OUT SINCE THE TEA PARTY’S INCEPTION CAN BE ATTRIBUTED TO THEM. NOT ONE.
Occupy Wall Street,on the other hand,has seen NUMEROUS ASSAULTS,NUMEROUS ACTS OF VANDALISM at least SIX MURDERS, SEVERAL RAPES, AND ONE CASE OF CHILD MOLESTATION all carried out in the PROCESS OF OCCUPYING, ALL DONE BY OCCUPIERS. OCCUPIERS HAVE BEEN CAUGHT RED-HANDED INCITING RIOTS,THROWING ROCKS AND FIREBOMBING.
THE LEFT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR NEARLY ALL ACTS OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN THIS COUNTRY.I will repeat that,because I know that’s how liberals get their “facts”,through endless repetition of narratives.
THE LEFT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR NEARLY ALL ACTS OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN THIS COUNTRY.
ANY TIME ANYONE IS CAUGHT CARRYING OUT A POLITICAL CRIME IN THIS COUNTRY,HIS POLITICS ARE LIBERAL 99.9% OF THE TIME. I am not engaging in hyperbole,or exaggerating. Look up the facts, DO NOT GET THEM FROM BIASED “reporters” LIKE BRIAN ROSS. HE HAD TO RETRACT HIS “Tea Party Connection” REPORT BECAUSE IT WAS FALSE.
The Tea Partier was an OLD HISPANIC MAN, NOT THE 24 YEAR OLD WHITE KID WHO KILLED 14 PEOPLE AND WOUNDED 60.
Read that over and over again.
THERE IS NO CONNECTION BETWEEN THE RIGHT AND 99% OF THE ACTS OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE THAT TAKE PLACE IN THIS COUNTRY. THE LEFTIST MEDIA SAYS THERE IS,AND THE FACTS OF THE CASE ALWAYS SAY THE OPPOSITE.
IF YOU SAY CONSERVATIVES COMMIT THE POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN THIS COUNTRY YOU ARE EITHER LYING TO MAKE THE LEFT LOOK GOOD OR DELUSIONAL.