Sunday, July 22, 2012

Obama politicized Virginia Tech massacre, but still hasn't politicized Colorado shooting

The President apparently received a bit of wise counsel from his advisers last week, as evidenced by the fact that he did not repeat some of his past mistakes - namely, he refrained from discussing politics during a campaign stop Friday in Fort Myers, Florida, hours after a gunman killed 12 people and wounded dozens at a Colorado movie theater. Obama spoke about the tragedy and, in a surprising move for the politician par-excellence, left out the usual politics and rhetoric from his speech.

However, as I noted last year, Obama took a much different approach on April 16, 2007, the day of the Virginia Tech massacre.

Speaking at a campaign rally in Milwaukee, WI on the day of the Virginia Tech shooting, then-Presidential candidate Obama cunningly associated the tragic act of violence to a host of unrelated political issues, thereby politicizing the horrific tragedy - as he craftily stretched and squeezed the definition of the word "violence".



During memorial services for the victims of the Tucson, Arizona shooting rampage last year, the President also politicized the tragedy, but Mr. Obama's speech writer did a masterful and cunning job in making it appear as if the President had not politicized the matter.

Video -
Obama politicizes Arizona memorial with duplicitous, political speech

And, as would be expected from any Presidential candidate - other than Obama - Mitt Romney also refrained from discussing politics during a campaign stop on Friday, choosing instead to focus exclusively on the “unspeakable tragedy” in Colorado.

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