Did Union Boss Hoffa’s Rhetoric Contribute to IHOP Shootings?
Let’s play a game of “Let’s Suppose.” By now you’ve heard that a nut case entered an IHOP restaurant and shot eleven people. Three of them are dead. Two of them uniformed Army National Guardsmen. Was the shooter influenced by Jimmy Hoffa’s comments?:
“Let’s take these son-of-a-bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong.”
Maybe the shooter took him literally. He found what best represented what the Tea Party stands for — free enterprise, freedom of movement, and the defense of this great nation — and he decided to take them out. Hoffa has not apologized for his comments. “We didn’t start this war — the right wing did,” he said in a written statement. Did he imply that he and his union members will finish it?
Hoffa’s a liberal. He doesn’t have to apologize. His party won’t scold him. Democrat Party Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz did not condemn his comments when she was asked directly by Gretchen Carlson on ‘FOX and Friends’ about them.
You won’t hear any condemnation from the White House. Here’s what White House White House spokesman Jay Carney said:
“Those weren’t comments by the president. The president … wasn’t on stage. He didn’t speak for another 20 minutes. He didn’t hear it. Mr. Hoffa speaks for himself. The president speaks for himself.”
By now the president has heard Hoffa’s comments. So what are his thoughts? Will he send Hoffa a copy of his “civility” speech? Don’t count on it. Hoffa is his guy. He wears the Democrat Union Label. Hoffa says that his people are going to go to war for the president. Did the IHOP shooter jump the gun?
After the shooting of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the Left went into full blame mode by claiming that it was Tea Party rhetoric that led to a lone gunman to shoot Giffords and John Roll, a federal judge; Dorothy Morris, Phyllis Schneck and Dorwan Stoddard, all retirees who had gone to hear their congresswoman speak; Gabe Zimmerman, a 30-year-old Congressional staffer; and 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green.
One liberal group said, “It is fair to say – in today’s political climate, and given today’s political rhetoric – that many have contributed to the building levels of vitriol in our political discourse that have surely contributed to the atmosphere in which this event transpired.”
Giffords’s father was more direct. When he was asked if she had any enemies, he said: “Yeah, the whole Tea Party.”
Maybe the IHOP shooter, following Hoffa’s comments, decided to seek vengeance for the Gifford shootings. He decided to finish what the Tea Party started.
In the end, it doesn’t matter why the IHOP shooter did what he did. Liberals will always blame conservatives for any act of violence, never mind that violent rhetoric mostly comes from the Left with accusations of “lynching,” telling peaceful Americans to “go straight to hell, and describing Tea Party members as “terrorists,” Nazis, and “barbarians.”
There’s a video game that allows players to slaughter Tea Party Zombies like Sarah Palin and Bill O’Reilly. Where is the Liberal condemnation? The game is called “Tea Party Zombies Must Die.” In addition to being able to kill Palin and O’Reilly, the player can pick off Sean Hannity, Newt Gingrich, Brit Hume, Michele Bachmann, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Glenn Beck, and the Koch Brothers, all conservatives. Is there a comparable “Union Member Zombies Must Die”? I’m not aware of one, but you know if there was one, the Dems and Libs would be the first to protest and the game would be off the market in the twinkling of an eye.
The media are complicit in the attacks. Sarah Palin was on to something when she made these comments after the Tucson shootings: “But, especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible.”
Two can play the blame game.