Heartbreaking news came out on Wednesday afternoon as a mass shooting occurred at Ft. Jood, TX. Three people were killed by the shooter, and an additional 16 were injured. The shooter, Spc. Ivan Lopez, also ended his own life after the rampage. This tragedy brought up awful memories of a similar incident at Ft. Hood in 2009, when Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan killed 13 people and injured 32 others during a mass shooting. He has since received the death penalty.
I guess it was only a matter of time before some conservative pundit found a way to somehow blame President Obama for this tragedy. It didn’t take long at all. Fox News contributor Allen West, the former one-term Republican Congressman out of Florida, was on Hannity Wednesday night to discuss the shooting, as it was the top news story of the day.
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Sean Hannity set West up nicely by strongly hinting that this shooting was the result of terrorism by questioning if we have moved too far away from 9/11. Essentially, Hannity wondered why we aren’t living in a constant level of fear, feeling that everyone is a potential terrorist, especially if that person is an ‘other.’ West took the ball and ran with it.
Video courtesy of Media Matters:
As you can see, West said we have a civilian leadership that refuses to acknowledge and admit we have certain enemies. He then, inexplicably, points to Crimea and how President Obama stated that Vladimir Putin is working from a position of weakness. West then states that this proves that our country does not have the right security protocols in place. Umm, WHAT?!?!
Seriously, this was some crazy jumbled logic that would make Sarah Palin proud. First, Hannity takes the plunge by suggesting that we aren’t afraid of terrorism enough and need to have a more paranoid outlook. West then takes his queue and, feeling that Hannity wants someone to blame Obama for all of this, pulls out the Obama blame card and smacks it on the table. This felt more like a Saturday Night Live skit than an actual discussion on a supposedly ‘serious’ program.
I guess with all of the good news surrounding the Affordable Care Act lately, conservatives have to try a new tactic to hurt the President’s image. I doubt that West will be the last one to attempt to blame this tragedy on Obama.
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).
