Posted on 06/14/2017 1:17:36 PM PDT by pgkdan
On her 12 p.m. ET hour show on Wednesday, MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell was worried that the clear Democratic affiliation and left-wing activism of the shooter who attacked members of Congress was going to be “swept up” in coverage of the violence and exploited by “partisans.”
She acknowledged that alleged shooter James T. Hodgkinson “was a volunteer in [Bernie] Sanders’ campaign” and that “within his mental condition, there was, at least he felt, some sort of political motivation, as horrible as that is to even address.” Correspondent Garrett Haake – reporting from the scene of the attack in Alexandria, Virginia – worried: “...you are seeing the suspect’s political activities get swept up into this....already the political and apparently anti-Republican leanings of this suspect are getting drawn into the conversation...”
Mitchell echoed that sentiment: “Yeah, and we can see that he, in still photos, has in the past been a protester. This will inevitably be swept up through social media.”
Talking to Senator Claire McCaskill later on the program, Mitchell fretted: “Do you have concerns, we just heard from Senator Sanders, that partisans on both sides are going to try to take advantage of the fact this alleged shooter was in some way connected to protests against Republicans?”
The Missouri Democrat replied:
I hope not. This is not the first time a member of Congress has been shot by someone who clearly was not well and had evil in their heart. I hope it’s the last. But it is, I think, a big mistake to use this as a moment to find division among us, to take sides, to sign up for teams, to play gotcha politics.
McCaskill was quite right, six years ago, Arizona Congressman Gabrielle Giffords and several others were shot by Jared Loughner outside a grocery store on a Saturday morning. At that time, Democrats and liberal media figures like Mitchell had no problem jumping to false conclusions that the shooting was somehow inspired by Sarah Palin or conservative Tea Party activists.
Just two days after that attack, Mitchell began a report for NBC’s Today by proclaiming: “Sarah Palin responded to the tragedy in Tucson by offering condolences and prayers on her Facebook page. And while there is no indication that this suspect was inspired, in any way, by political speech the attack has reopened criticism of the way Palin targeted Gabby Giffords and 19 other Democrats in last year’s campaign.”
The liberal journalist wasn’t at all concerned with her reporting being “swept up” in politics or “partisans” trying to “take advantage” of the situation. So what’s changed?
While it would clearly be wrong to blame Bernie Sanders, who strongly condemned Wednesday’s shooting, or the Democratic Party at large for the violent actions of one disturbed individual, it was beyond outrageous for those on the left and in the press to do exactly that to the GOP in 2011.
If Mitchell and her colleagues want to be taken seriously when calling for political unity in times of crisis, they should first apologize for stoking such division in the past.
why does andrea remain unshot?
If the situation were reversed this monumental hypocrite would be leading the charge to condemn every Republican on the planet for the shooting.
“She was one of the first to jump on Sarah Palin!”
Well,,,, I’d jump on Sarah!
She worries that this perfect example of Democrat violent extremism will be used to showcase why liberalism is destructive why conservatism is a better, safer and more prosperous way and she’s right.
Apparently Andrea Mitchell considers telling the truth exploitation. She is a woman to be despised and with good cause.
Ed
But she’s not a partisan.
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