Jeb Bush was hesitant to connect Dylann Storm Roof’s alleged actions to any racial prejudice.
When asked about whether he thought the attack was racially motivated, Bush told a Huffington Post reporter, “It was a horrific act and I don’t know what the background of it is, but it was an act of hatred.”
When pressed again about whether race motivated the attacks, Bush said, “I don’t know. Looks like to me it was, but we’ll find out all the information. It’s clear it was an act of raw hatred, for sure. Nine people lost their lives, and they were African-American. You can judge what it is.” . . .
“I don’t know what was on the mind or the heart of the man who committed these atrocious crimes,” Bush said in his remarks. “But I do know what was in the heart of the victims.”
Three “don’t knows” in such a short statement. Of course, the killer stated his reasons for the murders very explicitly, yet all Mr. Bush can say is the infantile and sulky “I don’t know.” We can judge, he says, but he can’t because he just doesn’t know.
Do we want somebody who takes so long to process simple information to be our president? Again?
Clarissa's Blog 
Now compare this to Bernie Sanders’ reaction.
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/statement-on-charleston-church-shootings
The Charleston church killings are a tragic reminder of the ugly stain of racism that still taints our nation. This senseless violence fills me with outrage, disgust and a deep, deep sadness. The hateful killing of nine people praying inside a church is a horrific reminder that, while we have made significant progress in advancing civil rights in this country, we are far from eradicating racism. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and their congregation.”
LikeLike
Why is it so difficult for so many to have this kind of response to a mass murder? Everything is obvious, everything is clear. Why this fumbling and bumbling? How hard is it to reach inside yourself and find some badic humanity somewhere in there and avoid compounding the suffering of the victims by the insanely offensive string of “I don’t know”? What else does anybody need to just fucking know already?
LikeLike
It really sounds more like an “I mustn’t know” than an “I don’t know”.
LikeLike
He’s trying to avoid angering the base while still sounding at least somewhat human. Bit it’s really disgusting to be using a massacre to advance one’s political ambitions.
LikeLike
It’s a series of tweets, but this guy is a very sharp cultural critic and you should follow him on twitter.
Explains, among other things, why Cliff is feeling so anxious and defensive about this incident.
.
.
I feel there is a direct line between the “crazed Negro” talk of 1963 and the “doesn’t look white” talk of 2015.
In both cases, we have a horrible crime, something so terrible as to shake the foundational myth of white innocence.
Since myth of white innocence can’t be challenged, one major tactic is to jump to conclusion that it was blacks thmeselves who did this
.
.
LikeLike
OK, I read this tweets and I’m just speechless. The discussion of whether he’s “actually white” is just the limit. This is the most fucked-up thing ever.
LikeLike
And there’s more: “National Rifle Association board member Charles L. Cotton wrote that the victims of a mass shooting in a Charleston, South Carolina church died because of Reverend Clementa Pinckney’s advocacy for gun safety laws.”
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/06/18/nra-board-member-blames-murdered-reverend-for-d/204057
LikeLike
Republican politicians cannot state the truth without alienating large portions of their base. They must appear racism friendly or racism neutral. Stating the murderer murdered people for racist reasons that he explicitly state to the victims makes the racists who vote for Republicans very uncomfortable, especially since the things this particular guy said to his friends aren’t that far off from regular Republican rhetoric. They can’t outright deny anything, so they bumble.
Stating that the Charleston/Oak Creek[/Aurora/Tuscon/Newtown, fill in the blank] killer might not have been able to kill so many people if he didn’t have access to a large cache of semiautomatic weapons makes gun nuts who vote for Republicans uncomfortable.
Saying that all of the hateful words they volley in a firehose at anyone different than them might actually lead someone to act on them makes all of them uncomfortable.
They are just precious troubled snowflake lone wolves who don’t resemble racists or gun nuts or racist gun nuts in the slightest, and they are all just part of a series of coincidences so that everyone can lay down their heads at night untroubled.
God forbid any white person feel sad or culpable or uncomfortable in the slightest for any reason when confronted with the pain of dead or maimed people, especially if they have brown relatives.
Just remember, white dudes armed like they’re going to play Call of Duty at your local McDonald’s are wholesome and friendly while a brown elderly man walking around a neighborhood needs his neck broken.
Just remember a bunch of loathsome fucking frat boys singing about hanging [slurs] from trees is just a joke, but but being brown and having a three o’clock shadow means you’re going to blow up the plane.
Forever and Amen.
LikeLike
TNC on the confederate flag.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/take-down-the-confederate-flag-now/396290/
LikeLike
But who’s really to blame for the Charleston massacre is, of course, Caitlyn Jenner: http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/06/19/foxs-erick-erickson-says-societys-acceptance-of/204066
What a pity she isn’t black, or we’d see some people experience orgasmic paroxysms of joy that a REAL EXPLANATION has been found.
LikeLike
Rick Perry’s started wearing glasses this time around to make himself look smart. It’s not working.
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/06/rick-perry-charleston-massacre-was-an-accident-caused-by-drugs-not-guns/
Rick Perry, the former Texas governor and current Republican presidential candidate, described the mass shootings of nine black worshipers by an apparent white supremacist as an “accident” caused by drug abuse.
LikeLike
Remember when the Supreme Court struck down the Voting Rights Act last year because there wasn’t enough racism in america to justify it? Good times.
Deadly violence in historic black churches. Is this 2015 or 1965?
LikeLike
And now let’s imagine what this already horrible Supreme Court will be like if we elect Bush, Walker or any other of the clown crew.
LikeLike
Wow. Just wow. An accident. Of course, accidental shootings don’t carry anything like a life sentence or death penalty. Should we just let the killer go because an accident can happen to anyone.
LikeLike
Yeah, it really bothers me when deliberate acts are called ‘mistakes’ or ‘accidents’. Like when cheaters call their cheating a ‘mistake’. What, you slipped on a banana peel and fell dick-first into a willing vagina?
LikeLike
Imagine if a black man walked into a church and shot 9 white people yelling “I hate white people! I’m guessing it would not be such an inexplicable accident then.
LikeLike
“But who’s really to blame for the Charleston massacre is, of course, Caitlyn Jenner”
Actually it’s Donald Trump.
“Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump went toe-to-toe on Friday over the former secretary of state’s suggestion that the billionaire’s comments about racial minorities helped inspire Wednesday’s tragic mass-shooting in Charleston, S.C. that left nine people dead.”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3131707/Hillary-v-Trump-shapes-gets-vicious-Clinton-blames-real-estate-billionaire-inspiring-Charleston-shootings-pushes-hard-saying-s-pathetic.html#ixzz3dXTQn1ZF
LikeLike
I don’t know why Hillary is wasting her time on this jerk. He is unelectable and she shouldn’t demean herself by noticing his existence.
LikeLike
This is what she actually said. It has some value for me besides beyond bashing Trump, who is a clown.
Clinton told Nevada radio host Jon Ralston that ‘we have to have a candid national conversation about race, and about discrimination, hatred, prejudice. Public discourse is sometimes hotter and more negative than it should be, which can, in my opinion, trigger someone who is less than stable.’
She cited Trump without naming him: ‘A recent entry into the Republican presidential campaign said some very inflammatory things about Mexicans. Everybody should stand up and say that’s not acceptable.’
You don’t talk like that on talk radio. You don’t talk like that on the kind of political campaigns.”
“You can name him,” Ralston responded, but Clinton refused to use Trump’s name.
“I think he is emblematic,” she said. “I want people to understand it’s not about him, it’s about everybody.”
“We should not accept it,” Clinton said of hateful speech in national political conversation. “Decent people need to stand up against it.”
LikeLike
LikeLike