The Left Said What? (No, We Didn't)

Let's start with this simple sentiment - I do not think Republicans deserve to be shot. You'd think that this would be a given. I don't think I've ever said anything to the contrary and if I've ever said anything that made you doubt that I feel this way let me assure you that I do not. I do not want right wingers to die. I want you to read.

My current argument, oddly enough, is about the shooting of Steve Scalise, Matt Mika, Zack Barth, David Bailey and Crystal Griner. Everyone is aware by now, I'm sure, of the shooting that occurred on June 14th of this year at a practice for the annual congressional baseball game. Some people, for obvious reasons, are continuing to attempt to push the narrative that "The Left" cried in unison at the time of the shooting, and after, that he deserved to be shot. I strongly contest this. Strongly. For one, I'm on the left and this was my response:

A response that was liked by fellow leftists, 13 likes isn't bad for my humble little twitter account, and that no one argued with. So either we aren't actually leftists or this immediately disproves this false narrative of "The Left"'s response to the shooting. For the sake of putting this argument completely to bed, however, let's dig a little deeper.

Who are they claiming said he deserved to be shot?

Joy Ann Reid, for one. They continue to link this "article", from right wing rag The Daily Wire, as proof of this. Not so fast, though. Here's what she actually said:

Well, gee whiz, that's not saying he got what he deserved, is it? That's saying that he was against things that might have stopped him from being shot, which is true, and for things that hurt the person that helped him, which is also true. Nowhere does she ever say that he deserved it. Fake news.

A "Democratic operative", James Devine, posted this on Facebook:

“We are in a war with selfish, foolish & narcissistic rich people. Why is it a shock when things turn violent?” Devine posted on social media, ending the message with the hashtag: #HuntRepublicanCongressmen

A - I've literally never heard of this James Devine guy until he said this bullshit. B - I responded to questions about it like this:

 Followed by...

And ending with a google search that yielded (not so) surprising results...

Who else said "He deserved it!"? Well, according to this Fox News OPINION PIECE, Scott Pelley, who I do not watch, of CBS, that I do not watch, did.

Did he, though?

Did he really?

Transcript below: 

It's time to ask whether the attack on the United States Congress, yesterday, was foreseeable, predictable and, to some degree, self-inflicted.

Too many leaders, and political commentators, who set an example for us to follow, have led us into an abyss of violent rhetoric which, it should be no surprise, has led to violence.

Yesterday was not the first time.

In December last year, a man with an assault rifle stormed into a Washington-area pizzeria to free child sex slaves whom Hillary Clinton was holding there -- or at least that's what political blog sites had said. He fired into a locked door to discover no children in chains.

Sen. Bernie Sanders has called the president the "most dangerous in history." The shooter yesterday was a Sanders volunteer.

You might think that no sane person would act on political hate speech, and you'd be right. Trouble is, there are a lot of Americans who struggle with mental illness.

In February, the president tweeted that the news media were the "enemy of the American people":

The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2017

Later, at a lunch for reporters, President Trump was asked whether he worried that language would incite violence. His pause indicated it had never crossed his mind. Then he said, "No, that doesn't worry me."

As children we're taught, "Words will never hurt me." But when you think about it, violence almost always begins with words. In "Twitter world," we've come to believe that our first thought is our best thought.

It's past time for all of us -- presidents, politicians, reporters, citizens, all of us -- to pause to think again.

Does that say he deserved to be shot? It doesn't read that way to me. Then again, I'm not trying really hard to make it read that way. 

Anyone else? A whole gang of people apparently. That article is purely misleading. It starts with a couple of really bad tweets from some guy named Jesse Benne, who I've never heard of, and ends in this tweet taken completely out of context:

Oh gosh, oh jeez. Why would he say that?!

Oh. Wow. It's almost like context matters or something. Note also, for the record, that I don't follow this guy. This guy that is "The Left". 

So... A bunch of out of context tweets that are being misrepresented and a Democrat nobody no one has ever heard of. Oh! And a guy that got fired for saying it. 

Hmm. Seems like this is an entirely false narrative. Who'da thunk it? 

No one that I've been arguing with will even read this, most likely, because, when I called their bullshit articles bullshit articles, half of them blocked me. Typical.

If any of this is unclear I'll conclude with this; If you believe that Republicans deserve to be shot, stabbed, or burned at the stake, then we are not alike. Unfollow. Don't read my shit. Kick rocks. I do not agree. I completely reject this and everyone I take seriously does as well. 

Pretty sure I'm not going to lose any followers or readers, though, because the majority of "The Left" knows better. 

Happy Thursday! 

Toodles,

Soos.