Who can forget Obama’s lecture to us about civility in the aftermath of the Tucson shooting tragedy? Here is some of the text of that message.
You see, when a tragedy like this strikes, it is part of our nature to demand explanations – to try to impose some order on the chaos, and make sense out of that which seems senseless. Already we’ve seen a national conversation commence, not only about the motivations behind these killings, but about everything from the merits of gun safety laws to the adequacy of our mental health systems. Much of this process, of debating what might be done to prevent such tragedies in the future, is an essential ingredient in our exercise of self-government.
But at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized – at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do – it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.
Scripture tells us that there is evil in the world, and that terrible things happen for reasons that defy human understanding. In the words of Job, “when I looked for light, then came darkness.” Bad things happen, and we must guard against simple explanations in the aftermath.
For the truth is that none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack. None of us can know with any certainty what might have stopped those shots from being fired, or what thoughts lurked in the inner recesses of a violent man’s mind.
So yes, we must examine all the facts behind this tragedy. We cannot and will not be passive in the face of such violence. We should be willing to challenge old assumptions in order to lessen the prospects of violence in the future.
But what we can’t do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another. As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together.
How’s this for civility? Or, even honesty. The plant in question closed 2 years after Romney left Bain Capital. The poor wife died years after that. She had her own insurance as did the husband.
This is sleazy Chicago politics at it’s very worst. Maybe the most vile political commercial ever run.
The next time this man who can’t get along with anyone stands up to lecture anyone on civility, leave the room.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Nj70XqOxptU
This is from CNN, not Fox News.
Guy In Obama Commercial is LYING About His Wife’s Cancer Death
WOLF BLITZER, CNN: “Meanwhile a new attack ad by a Super PAC backing President Obama basically blames Mitt Romney for a woman’s death from cancer after his company, Bain Capital, shut down the steel mill where the woman’s husband worked. Let’s go to our White House correspondent Brianna Keilar, she’s watching this for us. Brianna, on the surface it seems pretty outrageous to blame Mitt Romney for the death of this woman. That’s a pretty outrageous claim. But what’s going on here?”
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN: “It does when you dig deeper here, Wolf, because this ad makes it sound like this woman passed away shortly after Bain Capital closed down the steel plant where her husband worked. But in reality she passed away five years after it closed. And the former steel worker in this ad, I spoke to him on the phone today and he said that during some of that time his wife had insurance through her employer. So, Wolf, this is a heart-wrenching story, but it’s not accurate.
KEILAR VOICEOVER: “Joe Soptic worked at GST Steel in Missouri for almost 30 years. He was laid off after Bain Capital acquired the plant, eventually closing it down. Now Soptic is featured in a new ad by Priorities USA Action, the Super PAC supporting President Obama’s re-election.”
PRIORITIES USA AD: “When Mitt Romney and Bain closed the plant, I lost my health care, and my family lost their health care. And a short time after that my wife became ill. And then I took her up to the Jackson County hospital and admitted her for pneumonia, and that’s when they found the cancer. By then it was Stage 4. There was nothing they could do for her.”
KEILAR: “It’s a heartbreaking story, but the ad does not tell all of it. In 1999 Mitt Romney leaves Bain for the Salt Lake Olympics, stopping day-to-day oversight of the company but remaining CEO. In 2001, Joe Soptic loses his job when Bain closes the plant. His wife still has insurance, though, through her employer, Saver’s thrift store. A year later, Romney formerly leaves Bain. And it’s that year, 2002, or perhaps 2003, Soptic tells CNN, that his wife leaves her job because of an injury. That’s when she became uninsured without fallback insurance from her husband. A few years later, in 2006, she goes to the hospital is diagnosed with cancer and dies just days later. Soptic, an Obama supporter who was in another ad back in May for the Obama campaign, blames Romney for the loss of his job and his insurance.”
JOE SOPTIC: “That’s the way that I feel. I mean, Mitt Romney, he’s a very rich man. I mean it’s obvious if you watch him on television that he’s completely out of touch with the average family, or, you know, middle income people. I don’t think he has any concept as to how when you close a big company like that how it affects families, the community. You know, it affects everyone.”
KEILAR: “The Romney campaign is blasting the ad. A spokeswoman saying President Obama’s allies continue to use discredited and dishonest attacks in a contemptible effort to conceal the administration’s deplorable economic record. The Obama campaign and the White House are keeping their distance from the debate. White House press secretary Jay Carney said he has yet to see the ad.”
JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE: “I’m simply saying I have not seen this. So how could I possibly assess it without–”
KEILAR: “Will you assess it later?”
CARNEY: “If you ask me tomorrow, sure.”
KEILAR: “Now, Wolf, I followed up with Carney after the briefing and he told me that he may look at the ad but if I ask about it, ‘my assessment will be I have no assessment.’ This is kind of a case of the Super PAC being able to do the dirty work and the campaign and candidate, and in this case, the White House, trying to keep its hands clean.”
BLITZER: “All right, so the White House at least now not touching this commercial. The Obama campaign I take it isn’t saying anything about it either, is that right? What about the Super PAC itself? What are they saying?”
KEILAR: “That’s right. Everything is being referred to the Super PAC. I spoke with Bill Burton, a founder of Priorities USA Action. And I pressed him on this, are you drawing this link between Mitt Romney and this woman’s death? And he said, no, we’re not doing that. But Wolf, I think a lot of people who looked at that ad, certainly you, certainly I, did not walk away from it with that impression.”
BLITZER: “We’ll talk about this ad in our next hour as well. We have a representative from the Obama campaign, a representative from the Romney campaign. They’ll be on together, and we’ll go through this point by point by point. Excellent report, Brianna, I really appreciate the good work. Thanks so much.”
