Shortly after news broke Wednesday morning that three gunmen attacked a French satirical newspaper, Breitbart columnist Ben Shapiro decided to use the tragic event to take shots at President Obama and Hillary Clinton. The paper, Charlie Hebdo, was targeted by gunmen Wednesday and it is being reported that 12 people were killed. The publication has courted controversy in the past with its cartoons lampooning Muslims and Islamic traditions, and four cartoonists were among those killed. Reports claim the gunmen shouted “God is great!” and “We have avenged the Prophet!” during the attack.
In typical ‘use a horrific incident to criticize the president’ mode, Shapiro sent out a tweet asking when will Obama and Clinton condemn the satirical magazine for the attack and call for the staff’s arrest.
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So when do Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton recommend we arrest the rest of the Charlie Hebdo staff for inciting Islamic violence?
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) January 7, 2015
For Shapiro, it doesn’t matter what the President says about this tragedy or what steps he will take to assist the French on capturing the killers or bringing those involved to justice. No. In Shapiro’s mind, this is somehow Obama’s fault for appeasing radical Islamists. In fact, Obama will find a way to blame the magazine for the terrible violence inflicted on its workers. Why? Because he’s obviously a secret Muslim who sympathizes with terrorists.
Shapiro has a history of slandering the White House when it comes to the Middle East. This past summer, after three Israeli teenagers were slain, leading to heightened tension between Palestinians and Israelis, Shapiro called the White House a “Jew-hating administration” during an appearance on Fox News. He also wrote an article at that time titled ‘The Jew-Hating Obama Administration.’
It wasn’t just Shapiro taking aim at President Obama after the Charlie Hebdo attack. Mollie Hemingway at The Federalist published an article shortly after the attack directly blaming the White House for the killings. Per Hemingway, the president “sold out” Charlie Hebdo when he told the United Nations in a speech shortly after the Benghazi attack “the future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.” That statement was in the context of an anti-Islam video that led to a number demonstrations in the Middle East and other Muslim countries.
Both Hemingway and Shapiro are engaging in Right-Wing Media 101 — use any tragedy to criticize the White House. The bigger and more horrific the incident, the better. For the president’s part, he has already condemned the attack, specifically calling it a terrorist attack and offering France any assistance necessary.
Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).
