By Hank Beckman -
Suddenly it’s all clear to our friends on the other side of the aisle.
The fog of confusion has lifted, allowing them to finally understand what’s been evident to most of us ever since the chaos erupted over the death of George Floyd—riots are bad.
Not bad, you understand, in the sense that there has been horrific damage inflicted on innocent people’s businesses all over the country, or that the Internet is filled with videos of people being assaulted, sometimes dragged out of their cars for the crime of simply being in the vicinity of one of these “mostly peaceful” protests, or that violent thugs are destroying once-thriving central business districts that might never be the same.
(Think I exaggerate? Consider the West Side of Chicago, parts of which still haven’t recovered a half-century after the riots following Dr. King’s murder)
It wasn’t really a problem for Democrats that mobs are venturing out to the suburbs to harass white people, sometimes demanding they give up their homes, or that everyday working people have been forced to take up arms to defend their homes and businesses, or that growing numbers of citizens have become first-time gun owners, an ominous sign of where we’re headed.
All that Democrats could live with, but what finally got their attention was something near and dear to their hearts—the polls.
People who otherwise have been missing in action regarding the chaos engulfing several large cities are rushing to urge calm, some displaying a remarkable honesty.
CNN’s Don Lemon was open about his politics.
“The riots have to stop,” he declared as if he’d stumbled upon some nugget of wisdom that hadn’t yet occurred to anyone. “They’re starting to show up in polls…they’re starting to show up in focus groups.”
Politico’s Natasha Korecki posted an article from Kenosha, Wisconsin, a swing state and the scene of the the latest riot over an officer-involved shooting of a black man.
She warned that “some Democrats fear that the looting and rioting and clashes are feeding Trump’s argument that this is what life would be like under the so-called radical left.”
Washington D.C Mayor Muriel Browser recently criticized protestors harassing outdoor diners in the city; one group of white punks had surrounded a women and demanded that she raise her fist in solidarity with BLM while chanting that “white silence is violence.”
Even the guy from the basement is starting to pay attention to the danger of his party’s tacit encouragement of the destruction of large sections of urban America.
He tweeted that “Needless violence won’t heal us.” He still emphasized the distorted view that police are “once again” shooting black men, but at least it was something.
But there’s a problem with their sudden concern for rampant destruction, and it was on prominent display just last week.
Speaking at the Democratic convention, Barack Obama made it clear that the thugs destroying our cities were on the right path.
“To the young people this summer, telling us we need to be better—in so many ways you are this country’s dreams fulfilled,” he said, adding that “you give our democracy new meaning.”
Got that?
Destroying private property and assaulting random strangers is now as valid a form of policy debate as a party caucus or a town hall meeting.
I’m sure Obama would explain it away with the “mostly peaceful” meme, but the anyone with a television and an Internet connection sees that what’s been going on is anything but peaceful.
He’ll get a pass because he’s The Precious One, but the rest of the Democrat/liberal/media establishment likely won’t be so lucky as the election season heats up.
Many alternative news outlets and freelance journalists have been on the ground covering the riots and are giving us a view that contrasts sharply with what we’ve heard from mainstream media.
We’ve watched as the mayor of Seattle allowed thugs to take over a police precinct building, musing about how the takeover of public city streets might signal a “summer of love.” We know that a leftist district attorney dropped charges against hundreds of people involved in the chaos in Portland. We’ve seen the mayor of Minneapolis cower before the mob, slinking away like a puppy being shamed for tinkling on the carpet when they told him to go home.
We know that a St. Louis couple forced to defend their home with firearms faced felony charges, again from a Democratic prosecutor. We heard the 911 call on Tucker Carlson’s show when the woman with child in her car was told by the operator that there was nothing to be done about the creeps swarming her vehicle because the protest event “was sanctioned.” We watched as a Democratic candidate for office in Minnesota led a mob to the home of a the Minneapolis police union chief and screamed like a lunatic about white racists while his children and neighbors watched in shock.
We know that the guy from the basement’s staffers contributed money to bail out violent protestors; we also know that his running mate also urged people to contribute bail money for the thugs.
And no one will soon forget Nancy Pelosi comments about mobs tearing down the statue of Christopher Columbus in Baltimore.
“People will do what they do,” she said. It doesn’t get any weaker than that.
We’ve noticed the lack of condemnation from the party that once produced Harry Truman, John Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey. Worse, we’ve noticed the unforgivable slurs against the president when he tried to stop the violence, Pelosi insisting that “Trump & his stormtroopers must be stopped.”
The obvious hypocritical political pandering won’t matter much to the Democratic base, especially in this hyper-partisan era.
But it’s going to be a tough sell to any Republican whose votes they’re trying to peel off, and probably a tougher sell to independents.
Too little, too late and so obviously lacking in sincerity.
