Boston Bombing Blame Bluster: Here We Go Again …
I started Monday in a decent mood. Yes, it was a Monday, and a grey, rainy day, but all things considered, life could be worse. Around 3:30 I took a quick “brain break” and checked in on Facebook. My day went from not too bad to nose-dive into sad, angry, disbelieving and outraged all at once. Obviously, most of those feelings were because of the unbelievable act of terrorism inflicted on the people of Boston and their guests who were watching and running in the Boston Marathon. Unfortunately, they were also because, again, the bottom feeders of the media and far extremes of both sides of the political spectrum started the blame game before the dust had even cleared.
I wrote about this same “jackassery”, as Twitchy.com so colorfully put it, after the Newtown Tragedy. Some things never change. The next place I checked was my Twitter feed. Bad idea, because then I got even more ticked off. The very first thing I see is people reacting to a tweet by New York Times columnist, Nicholas Kristof. It was posted roughly an hour, possibly sooner, after the blasts and said “explosion is a reminder that ATF needs a director. Shame on Senate Republicans for blocking apptment”.
Seriously? It’s the GOP’s fault? The ATF can only react to the same thing that we all did. Without any credible leads that would have come from the FIELD AGENTS, not the Agency Director, this would not have been averted. Later that afternoon he deleted the tweet and posted “People jumping on me for criticizing Sen Repubs for blocking ATF appointments. ok, that was low blow. i take it back.” Ya think?
As the day and evening wore on, I heard CNN twice blame it on “right wing extremists”. Fox news touched on that as well. Comments on Twitter, Twitchy and Facebook were overwhelmingly “Pray for Boston” and “How about we wait to see what the authorities find before laying blame”; but there was an undercurrent of “It’s the Tea Party making a point on Tax Day in the city of the original Tea Party” on the left, and “Blame Obama” and “we will never know the truth because Obama protects his Muslim buddies” from a few on the right. I am seriously ticked at both sides and outraged that others used it to push an agenda.
STOP IT! PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING AND FAMILIES LOST LOVED ONES! VENTING YOUR SPLEEN AT YOUR POLITICAL ENEMIES IS NOT APPROPRIATE!!!!!
