Big Media Ignores Obama’s Boneheaded Comment in Paris About Mass Shootings
It’s odd. I can’t find stories in the New York Times, or Los Angeles Times, or Washington Post, about Obama’s absurd statement yesterday about the Planned Parenthood shooting:
I mean, I say this every time we’ve got one of these mass shootings; this just doesn’t happen in other countries.
Obama said this in Paris — which was, you might recall, the site of a rather large mass shooting just last month. As well as a few other recent ones.
Had a Republican said something this stupid, it would have been good for three days of media gloating. They would throw it in the candidate’s face at every opportunity. But there’s barely a peep from our major news sources about it.
I can’t find anything at the New York Times.
I can’t find anything at the Los Angeles Times.
I can’t find anything at the Washington Post (except in a blog, about which more below).
Oh, they know about it. An AP story at the New York Times Web site is titled Obama Says He Hopes Shooting at Colorado Clinic Spurs Action:
President Barack Obama said Tuesday he hopes the shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado spurs conversation and action on deterring gun violence.
Obama, speaking at a global warming conference, said it will ultimately be up to Congress, states and local governments to act in ways that prevent people intent on committing violence from getting weapons.
They just left out his whopper about how these shootings don’t happen in other countries . . . like the one he was in when he said that.
Can you say “whitewash”?
I should note that this isn’t just about the president saying something dumb. The fact that it is so glaringly not true undercuts his argument for gun control, which is why Big Media is so studiously avoiding it — like they might ignore someone passing gas in a room full of people dressed in tuxedos and formal dresses.
There are stories about him running his mouth yesterday about climate change (WaPo, WaPo, Reuters at NYT)) or about terrorism (LAT). But — and please correct me if I’m wrong — I don’t find a single instance of the kind of coverage we would see of a Republican making such a boneheaded remark.
There is one glaring exception: the Washington Post does host the Volokh Conspiracy blog, which published a post titled Fact check: Obama claim that ‘I say this every time we’ve got one of these mass shootings; this just doesn’t happen in other countries.’
Is the president’s statement about “other countries” accurate? No. For example, on Nov. 20, 2015, mass shooters attacked a hotel in Mali, murdering at least 19 people.
Although President Obama has relatives in Kenya, his statement suggests a lack of awareness of events there. On April 2, 2015, criminals murdered 142 students at the University College Campus of Garissa, in northeastern Kenya. Among the other mass shootings in Kenya in recent years are those as Lamu (29 murdered, July 5-6, 2014), Mpeketoni (53 murdered, June 15-17, 2014), Majembeni and Poromoko (15 murdered, two days after Mpekoni) and the Westgate Mall in Nairobi (67 murdered, Sept. 21, 2013). Kenya, by the way, has extremely strict laws against the possession or carrying of firearms, as well as bows, as I detailed in a Quinnipiac Law Review article with Joanne Eisen and the late Paul Gallant.
On Saturday, Boko Haram attackers murdered four people in Nigeria, and four more in Niger. Last weekend, four Egyptian policemen were murdered in a drive-by shooting. As reported by CBS News the day before Thanksgiving, “Two massacres that killed 15 people in less than 12 hours rocked Honduras and left the country’s top cop in tears on Wednesday.”
And that’s not even mentioning the rather glaring examples of mass shootings that had occurred in Paris, the very town in which this buffoon made his statement.
But a blog is not the same as a multi-day multimedia pile-on. And you all know, deep in your bones, that’s what would have happened to a Republican.
This is why people don’t trust the media.
They also ignore the fact that a White, Evangelical Christian male cop gave his life to protect people in Planned Parenthood.
Patricia (5fc097) — 12/2/2015 @ 8:07 amthis is on yahoo finance today
happyfeet (a037ad) — 12/2/2015 @ 8:08 amHAS THE PRESIDENT LOST HIS ABILITY TO DISCHARGE THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF OFFICE? “Is it now time to invoke Section 4 of the 25th Amendment?” Those are the questions that Charles Hurt of the Washington Times asks:
“Anyone who listened to President Obama speak to reporters in Paris on Tuesday would reasonably conclude it is high time to start drawing up the papers to transmit to Congress for his removal.
If you are one of the millions and millions of literate Americans out there who have simply tuned this president out the past three or four years, that is certainly understandable. But if you tuned in to the long, rambling, empty press conference, you would have been truly alarmed.
Without the use of the teleprompter, his speech can be described only as “halting.” It was impossible to count the number of times he seized up, able to deaden the silence with only a drawn-out “uh,” “um” or “ahhh.”
The White House dutifully scrubbed all the halts and stutters from the official transcript, and it was impossible to count them in real time. But a sample of his incoherent word salad found him stuttering about every 15 words, which comes to more than 330 “uh-um-ahhs” in a single appearance.
This is not the same soaring speaker who inspired so many in 2008. This is a broken-down man who has lost the only gift he ever had.”
Colonel Haiku (933076) — 12/2/2015 @ 8:19 amNo, no, no. Only you unAmerican RWNJ terrorist Christian Bitter Clingers don’t trust the media. The rest of us true Americans, Patriot types who love us America and all the ideals that we need to keep progress towards improving America. We trust the media because it doesn’t lie to us. The facts and figures and presenting the scientific truth that the American of you and all the other RWNJ terrorists, you closeted nazis, you facists, imperialit war mongering dogs support is wrong and evil and corrupt. All those old ideals, need to be flushed away to provide for a better America.
All hail the new gods of media and the rurth telling they provide.
/sarc
Charles (6608b9) — 12/2/2015 @ 8:20 amThe link: http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/220333/
Colonel Haiku (933076) — 12/2/2015 @ 8:20 amPatricia,
Actually the left hasn’t lost sight of that. It is prime evidence #1 to say that the RWNJ right to life folks are terrorists. Since the right to life folks believe in the right to some icky cells life, but not a human life
Charles (6608b9) — 12/2/2015 @ 8:24 amThat the white GOP terrorists of the right to life movement ate willing to take lives to save lives. Which only proves that the 1st and 2nd amendments are evil corrupt and need to be destroyed. Oh and so does organizations that support either or both of those amendments. Starting with the churches.
This is a broken-down man who has lost the only gift he ever had.”
But the left, of course, will proclaim his nonsensical liberalism at least indicates he has a good heart, even if he has shown repeated signs of being a surprisingly non-compassionate human being.
Mark (f713e4) — 12/2/2015 @ 8:30 amMost by gun, some by bombs, knives and even a sword. But mass murder only happens in America. BTW, if you take away the top ten democrat run, gun prohibiting cities in the US I’d bet we are about 20th in murder rates too.
Rev. Barack Hussein Hoagie™ (f4eb27) — 12/2/2015 @ 8:39 amMillions of babies murdered by the likes of Charles and his like-minded muddleheads. Murdered for being inconvenient.
Colonel Haiku (933076) — 12/2/2015 @ 8:46 amCol. Haiku,
It’s called sarcasm and it’s also using the terms the MSM the lefts bubble of blogosphere.
Charles (6608b9) — 12/2/2015 @ 8:56 amyou need to put it quotes, Carlos Slims is still citing anonymous sources, till they nail down the narrative, completely,
narciso (732bc0) — 12/2/2015 @ 8:57 amCharles… I’m collaborating on multiple fronts and it is draining my power to think clearly… um… er…
Colonel Haiku (933076) — 12/2/2015 @ 9:02 am“whitewash” is racist…
i denounce you and demand you remove this blog post!
redc1c4 (51aab8) — 12/2/2015 @ 9:20 am@13… You neglected to call for the resignation of the president of the Chamber of Commerce and also the secretary of the Rotary.
Gramps (bc022b) — 12/2/2015 @ 9:47 amWe need to understand that Obola’s understanding of “country” is predicated on his knowledge of history and geography, both of which are subservient to his ideology. It was not an accident that he mentioned 57 states prior to his election in 2008. His mind is organized around a set of principles that are essentially in conflict, and as a consequence he needs to reject a fairly large portion of the information that we digest on a routine basis. All those “hmms”, “ahs”, and other verbal fumbles are the outward manifestations of his desperate search within the echo chambers of his mind for a path that allows him to complete his statement in a fashion that remains consistent with his fantasies. If this means rejecting facts that are well known to virtually everybody else, so be it. It’s his way of coping. And he’s repeated this stuff so often that he no doubt believes it.
BobStewartatHome (a52abe) — 12/2/2015 @ 9:51 amTo the media it is not boneheaded, it is fact. Remember, in the end they are nothing more than comfort girls for D politicians and left wing icons like Obama.
Ipso Fatso (10964d) — 12/2/2015 @ 9:58 amI don’t think the mistrust is limited to the media. It is a more general, anti-authority impulse. Almost all of us on the outside feel it in some way, shape or form. Even some on the inside are bothered by the reach of the corruption. It isn’t just the media with you, is it? How about the scientific establishment? It is the corruption of the scientific establishment, after all, that is the vehicle for the conclave in Paris. Or the medical establishment? The educational establishment? The legal establishment? And, especially, government officials, elected or not? At the local, state or federal level? I could go on. They’ve all lent a hand in the shaping of this great hoax. They are all for one, and one for all. And they are everywhere. So why are so many scratching their heads over the rise of populism?
We mistrust – really hate – them because as we eke out an existence on the outside, we are all aware of just how comfortably our betters live. It is insiders vs. outsiders and it is a reflection of the disgust people feel with not only the corrupt core, but also with those willing to play footsy with them. To hard core outsiders, who now seem to be legion, those of us who were willing to vote Romney simply because he was better than the alternative are disgusted with us too. There is a saying about not making the perfect the enemy of the good. I now see how that it is a two-way street. Cutting the baby in half is a risky strategy and never constitutes the high ground.
Finally, although the great circus that is contemporary college campus life is easy to laugh at, or be appalled by, they’ve got one thing exactly right: the Progressive movement is, at its very heart, a movement based on promoting racial, cultural and economic division steeped in hate. It is every bit as much a part of the Paris summit as it was a part of the Wilson presidency. The great irony is that every college and university is a Woodrow Wilson school.
ThOR (a52560) — 12/2/2015 @ 10:22 amI don’t think that he (or the people in the media) realize it is boneheaded.
They think it is different.
But it is not so different.
The Paris attackers got their guns within Europe. There is a whole problem of decommssioned weapons.
The guns didn’t come from abroad.
Somebody wrote this (and I saw some obscure reference about someone from Lille facing trial or being under investgation from another source)
This is full of some oher accusations – that the government in Paris is sending fighters into syria – but there seems to be something to it:
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/10/08/fran-o08.html
Sammy Finkelman (4d9cfa) — 12/2/2015 @ 10:31 amThOR, I think you’ve hit a number of nails right on their heads. Forty years ago, the Federal government might come up with a food triangle, but we regarded that as advice, take it or leave it. And those that left it are healthier today. But with the passage of time, we now have the president’s wife dictating school lunches across the country, and nobody except the kids have raised a peep. This is all about personal power. Michelle knows no more about nutrition and the needs of children than any other lawyer pretending to be a house wife, but she glories in her ability to jam her thoughts down all our children’s throats (literally.) The campaign to stifle free speech is an essential aspect of this. It is no fun to dictate if some people are listening to a different voice. The lunatic, but entirely human, impulse to exercise power over others is at the heart of the matter. It is also the fundamental reason that centralized power ultimately fails, assuming there exists alternatives to provide contrast to its poverty and intellectual misery. Those who seek this power with the greatest ferocity, and the fewest introspective impulses, ultimately rise to the top in such systems, witness Obama, Hillary!, and Kerry.
BobStewartatHome (a52abe) — 12/2/2015 @ 11:25 amI’m sure those fact-check sites will hop right to this.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 12/2/2015 @ 11:28 amNew mass shooting in San Bernardino, CA at a disabled adult center. It’s an active hostage situahtion with SWAT Teams involved. The site is near a Planned Parenthood location. 1 to 3 attackers, 20 wounded.
Early reports are confused and usually full of errors.
ropelight (896a6c) — 12/2/2015 @ 11:43 amFOX reports 3 white men in military style uniforms attacked in unison and killed 12 people.
ropelight (896a6c) — 12/2/2015 @ 12:10 pmTo stand in Paris and say this is beyond boneheaded. Taken in conjunction with his ever-worsening speech, plus many other divorced-from-reality comments, I’m now seriously wondering if the man is suffering from dementia, and I mean that literally.
I’m with Colonel Haiku above (post #3); Time to give the 24th amendment a serious look.
Arizona CJ (331a26) — 12/2/2015 @ 12:21 pmHe just made another one,
seeRpea (1a565c) — 12/2/2015 @ 8:06 pmPresident Obama was informed of the shooting and commented on it during an interview with CBS News.
“We have a pattern now of mass shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world, ” and yada-yada-yada.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBEXSiFzOfU
JP (cf507e) — 12/4/2015 @ 5:50 am