The Blame Game

As a nation, we are known to collectively grieve when one part of our great land is faced with a terrible atrocity, as was the case on Friday when a madman rampaged a theater full of innocent people in Aurora, Colorado. Friday’s killing spree was not only a tragedy, but an outrage. One would think that on such a day, politics would be the farthest from anyone’s mind. Sadly, in a trend that is becoming frighteningly more common, a few people found a way to place blame on anything but the madman himself.

Brian Ross of ABC news, upon learning the name of the Colorado shooter, was quick to point out that there was in fact a James Holmes on the Colorado Tea Party website. Watch him make the allegation by clicking here.

Yes, there’s a member of the Colorado Tea Party named James Holmes. He is a 52 year Hispanic Republican who “joined the Tea Party after becoming disillusioned with the Republican party.” He also happens to be one of 25 “James Holmes” listed as residents of Aurora, Colorado per a brief search on http://www.whitepages.com. This doesn’t even include unlisted names.

Brian Ross and ABC news had been privy to the gunman’s name for just moments prior to Ross’ statement on Good Morning America. Interestingly enough, Ross just happens to “stumble” upon the fact that there is a Colorado Tea Party member named James Holmes. It begs the question: it’s quiet a stroke of luck, isn’t it? That is, that so quickly Ross would stumble across this information? Even Googling “James Holmes” would have produced little more than generic search results, but Googling “James Holmes + Conservative + Colorado” or “James Holmes + Tea Party + Colorado” would have easily produced the desired results.

Comments made by Rush Limbaugh during a radio broadcast this past week also came into play during this round of instantaneous media blame-game. He pointed out that he thought it likely that the left would try to make a connection between the new Batman movie’s villain “Bane” and the constant “Bain Capital” argument. Not only were his comments misconstrued to mean that the movie makers did this on purpose (which Rush stated that they had NOT), there were some that actually tried to blame Friday’s attacks on Tuesday’s broadcast. Ah yes, my brilliant media crowd- the insane Mr. Holmes was inspired by Tuesday’s show, and was somehow able to amass all his weaponry, tear gas, bomb material, etc., come up with a plan and carry it out all in just a few days’ time. Yes- that makes sense.

Let’s assume for a moment that it was connected. Let’s assume for a moment that Holmes heard Limbaugh’s show and thought “YEAH. That dirty villain Bane. That dirty venture capital firm Bain. I’m gonna do something about it.”

Wouldn’t that in effect make Holmes . . . . a liberal?

So quick to blame Rush that they don’t even fully think through their logic.

Later on in the day (though police had still not yet even entered the booby-trapped, bomb laden Holmes apartment) some in internet-world even claimed that paraphernalia from Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity was found within the residence.

To be clear, ABC issued a restatement after it was made painfully clear that they’d made a “mistake.” What concerns me is the regularity with which we are confronted with the very same blame game each time something of this horrific nature occurs. These sort of shenanigans not only distract from where the focus should be; that is- rebuilding and recovering after the tragedy – instead so much of the media and the liberal left are obsessed with placing blame on their political opponents. This is not only unethical, but it’s a dangerous pattern.

Allow me to take you on a brief journey though recent history (Note: Michelle Malkin @ www.michellemalkin.com has published a similar list. Please visit her site for additional information):

IRS Building, 2009: Joseph Andrew Stack flies a plane in the IRS building in Austin Texas. Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post reacts: “I am struck by how his alienation is similar to that we’re hearing from the extreme elements of the Tea Party movement.”

University of Alabama Shooting, 2010: Crazed Amy Bishop shoots three minority colleagues of hers; media instantly places blame on the growing Tea Party movement.

Times Square Bomber, 2010: Radical Islamic terrorist Faisal Shahzad attempts to bomb Times Square, and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg reacts: If I had to guess, twenty five cents, this would be exactly that,” Bloomberg said. “Homegrown maybe a mentally deranged person or someone with a political agenda that doesn’t like the health care bill or something. It could be anything.”

Gabrial Giffords Shooting, 2011: Jared Loughner shot Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and several others at a gathering in Tucson, Arizona, and some in the media and in elected office immediately blamed Sarah Palin and an old map depicting areas upon which to focus grassroots efforts; these spots were identified with bulleyes. Keith Olberman of MSNBC ties the shooting to Palin: “If Sarah Palin, whose website put and today scrubbed bullseye targets on 20 representatives including Gabby Giffords, does not repudiate her own part in amplifying violence and violent imagery in politics, she must be dismissed from politics.”

Interestingly enough, not only were Bishop, Stack, Shahzad and Loughner NOT conservatives, Bishop, Stack were fairly adamanently left-wing, while Loughner was indiferent. Shahzad was a jihadist from Pakistan. Interestingly enough, (in addition to simply being absolutely out of their minds) not only were Bishop, Stack, Shahzad and Loughner NOT conservatives, Bishop, Stack and Loughner were outspokenly left-wing. Bishop was once described by a family member as “a far-left political extremist who was ‘obsessed’ with President Obama to the point of being off-putting.” Stack blamed “big business” and George W. Bush for his woes. Loughner was described by a classmate as “quite liberal” and as a “political radical.” Shahzad was a radical Islamic jihadist from Pakistan. Incidentally, it was just reported on the news this morning that Colorado shooter James Holmes had a Match.com profile in which he described him self politically and religiously as “Middle of the Road” and “Agnostic.” Ah yes- these lovely individuals clearly fit the bill of the average Tea Party participant. You be the judge. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- I dare you to find me proof that the Tea Party has ever participated in, advocated, or failed to decry violent behavior. It cannot be done, because it doesn’t exist. Andrew Breitbart once offered a $100,000 reward to anyone who could produce proof of a Tea Party member spewing racial epitaphs.

Cricket. Cricket.

I happened to be in a bookstore on Friday morning, and came across the following publication:

At first glance, it looks like it’s all in good fun. Take a gander at the upper right-hand corner, however. “How to Taunt a Tea Partier”? “125,000 Ways To Insult Conservatives”? Ah yes. Sounds peaceful.

I point this out not to place blame for this and other past acts of violence of this nature on the Left Wing in America, but rather to point out that while the Left dedicates massive time, energy and resources accusing the most peaceful “protest” movement in the nation’s history, certain proponents of Left-wing philosophy (most vividly seen in Occupy Wall Street) spend epic amounts of time carrying out the accused actions. Those who aren’t actively participating in less-than-appropriate behavior aren’t exactly condemning it:

Occupy Wall Street “Occupants:”