From the New York Times:
Officials from both law enforcement and Planned Parenthood said they did not know whether the group’s Colorado Springs center had been specifically targeted. But the attack carried echoes of other violent assaults on abortion providers, and it prompted the police in New York City to deploy units to Planned Parenthood clinics in the city.
But we know, don’t we? If you’ve seen pictures of the building, you know that the words “Planned Parenthood” were written in letters about 10 feet high. You also know that Planned Parenthood has been the target of a vicious smear campaign organized from the beginning by the Republican Party, which has made charges that have been found to be bogus by investigations all over the country. There is a clear and direct line from these vicious and unfounded attacks and this incident in Colorado. We all know that.
So I ask you, WWTRD (What would the Republicans do?) if the situation were somehow reversed, and the Democrats had, let’s say, accused the NRA of being the criminal’s lobby and enabling terrorism, after which Wayne Lapierre met an oh so delicious and ironic fate?
Let’s first put aside the fact that the Democrats charges would have been true and the scenario itself unlikely (as this one was not). That’s irrelevant to this discussion. The Republicans would immediately blame Democrats, Obama first and foremost. The lines of attack would have been coordinated. Every Republican would be making statements that were variants of an agreed upon theme, and despite the fact that in this scenario the Democrats would have no moral responsibility, they would all immediately assume defensive crouches. Their response, if any, would be entirely uncoordinated, consisting mostly of mumbled half apologies.
That’s what would happen, more or less. So here’s a prediction about the Democratic response to this Republican inspired massacre. A few lonely voices will point out the connection. They will be met with a furious Republican counter-attack, both from the Republicans themselves and Fox News. Other Democrats will remain silent. The white male shooter will be written off as a disturbed loner. The lying attacks in and out of Congress on Planned Parenthood will continue, until the next disturbed loner comes along.
UPDATE: Well, good for Bernie:
In a statement, Sen. Sanders said, “While we still do not know the shooter’s motive, what is clear is that Planned Parenthood has been the subject of vicious and unsubstantiated statements attacking an organization that provides critical health care for millions of Americans. I strongly support Planned Parenthood and the work it is doing and hope people realize that bitter rhetoric can have unintended consequences.”
Via Politicus
Not quite as specific as I’d like, we really need to make it clear that it’s Republicans doing this, and lets not presume the stuff about “unintended consequences”.
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