Media bias anyone? The instant presumption that someone on the right must be responsible!
Two things struck me upon learning of the massacre in Aurora Colorado Friday. First, revulsion and horror at the crime and second, how long will it be before someone suggests a right wing political motive for the shooter?
It didn't take long. As expected, the bottom feeders on the Internet got into the action trying to blame Rush Limbaugh (what bad things don't they blame on Rush?) Rush had earlier expressed concern that the Batman movie at which the shooting took place would be a vehicle for attacking Mitt Romney because the villain in the film is named "Bane" similar to Bain Capital, Romney's investment firm.
Internet hate speech is one thing. Journalist in the so-called "mainstream" media putting out a false story suggesting a possible connection between the shooter and the Tea Party is something entirely different. On ABC's Good Morning America Investigative Reporter (he gets paid for this) found that a man named Jim Holmes was connected with a Colorado Tea Party and speculated it might be the shooter. But the Jim Holmes in the Colorado Tea Party is 52 years old and formerly worked in law enforcement.
Journalists love to stick their nose up in the air and tell us why the quality of their news gathering is superior to that of the citizen journalists found on the Internet. But as we see once again, when the information matches their prejudices and assumptions, journalist standards for veracity go out the window. ABC as since apologized but the seeds of the "Tea Party to blame" theme have been planted nonetheless.
What do you bet that if we find the shooter is a member of some left wing group supporting Obama the same media that rushed to put out a false connection with the Tea Party will bury the story and sell the story that the shooting was act of some deranged lunatic (which was the case in the Arizona shooting of Gabrielle Giffords).
Meanwhile, President Obama canceled a campaign event in Florida today saying "There are going to be other days for politics." Yet supporters chanted "four more years" anyway. Expect the Mourner in Chief to milk this for all it's worth. As his former Chief of Staff said "never let a crisis go to waste!"
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