In this Washington Examiner column, Byron York reviews the mainstream media's response to the mass murders of 13 people at Ft. Hood and describes how on every turn reporters urged Americans to avoid jumping to conclusions about Maj. Nidal Hasan's motives.This was despite the evidence that Hasan had yelled "Allahu Akbar!" before his rampage, was a visitor to web sites promoting jihad, and more.
He "wrote Internet postings justifying Muslim suicide bombings, considered U.S. forces his enemy, opposed American involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan as wars on Islam, and told a neighbor shortly before the shootings that he was going "to do good work for God." There was ample evidence, in other words, that the Ft. Hood attack was an act of Islamist violence...
Fast forward a little more than a year, to January 8, 2011. In Tucson, Arizona, a 22 year-old man named Jared Lee Loughner opened fire at a political event, gravely wounding Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, killing a federal judge and five others, and wounding 18. In the hours after the attack, little was known about Loughner beyond some bizarre and largely incomprehensible YouTube postings that, if anything, suggested he was mentally ill. Yet the network that had shown such caution in discussing the Ft. Hood shootings openly discussed the possibility that Loughner was inspired to violence by…Sarah Palin.
Indeed, the evidence began to pile up the very day of the murders showing that Loughner was a psychotic, anti-God, left-wing druggie. And yet the mainstream media (along with Democrat politicians) continue the howl that the violence was somehow connected to Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, anger at government, frustration over illegal immigration, and so on.
It is a despicable and heartless thing for liberals to try and capitalize on the horrendous violence enacted in Tuscon, especially when it involves deliberate deceit and manipulation. But that is exactly what's happening. They are attempting a smear of conservatism -- completely unwarranted as it may be -- in order to push special points of the left's agenda: gun control, the Fairness Doctrine, and a demonization of popular conservative leaders and ideas.
Don't let them get away with it. Let your friends, family and co-workers know the facts about Lee Loughner and remind them of the manipulative, sinister double-standards the press employ in order to get their way.
