Patterico's Pontifications

7/9/2017

Washington Post Implies Shooter of Republicans Was Inspired By Right-Wing Talk Radio

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 1:23 pm



How does that compute, you ask? It doesn’t. It’s the hackiest of all possible hackery:

In Alexandria shooter’s hometown, rage-filled radio host channels middle America’s inner frustration

It’s not yet 11 a.m., and Bob Romanik, sitting behind the microphone at his radio station in a rundown strip mall in the middle of America, already has said the “n-word” out loud — and on air — at least a dozen times.

Romanik is a surly 68-year-old former East St. Louis street cop. He hates Black Lives Matter and talks proudly about his Caucasian heritage to anyone who will listen. And do they listen. His controversy-courting radio program — he’s the self-styled “Grim Reaper of Radio” on KQQZ 1190 AM — reaches across this region, in and around Belleville, Ill.

The suburban community about 20 miles east of St. Louis drew attention in recent weeks because it was the hometown of James T. Hodgkinson, the out-of-work politically frustrated home inspector who up and left, drove a van to the Washington area, and then shot four people at a congressional baseball practice in Alexandria.

The nation was shocked, but Romanik — who seems to delight in launching savage attacks on local politicians and stoking his listeners’ many frustrations about race, crime and government — certainly wasn’t. Despite being a die-hard supporter of President Trump who has perfected the art of the dire populist message, many of Romanik’s biggest fans in southern Illinois are disgruntled Democrats like Hodgkinson.

“I can’t say for sure if this Hodgkinson guy listened to me, but he probably did,” Romanik said in a recent interview. “If people would be honest about what drove Hodgkinson to the point of violence, you’d probably see a lot of people right on the same page with him all over the country. But around here, for sure.”

Not once does the piece mention that Hodgkinson shot Republicans. Not once does the piece mention that Hodgkinson hated Donald Trump.

No, they just run with the self-promoting speculation of a crackpot radio host who wants attention.

This is truly Orwellian. It goes to show you: if a politically motivated shooting happens in this country, it does not matter how clear the evidence that it was committed by a leftist, targeting Republicans.

Hacks like Peter Holley of the Washington Post will find a way to blame the right.

There is no place for a sane person to go any more.

[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.0647 secs.