Before I get to the main topic of this post I would like to offer my condolences, thoughts, and heartfelt sympathy to all of the victims and the families and friends, as well as everyone else who was affected by the shooting in Arizona over the weekend. There is nothing that I can say to make anyone feel better, but please know that the nation is with you.
Having said that, this is a post that I was hoping I wouldn’t have to write, but it has become obvious that I must, because–as Larry at Political Realities pointed out–the left has decided to politicize these murders for reasons that I find absolutely despicable. Because I have waited a couple of days to post this I may be repeating things which have already been said, but I still feel this is something I must write about.
It started when I first went on-line after learning about this shooting and was met with the following comment on a totally unrelated post of mine from last week:
You morons will have the blood of the Arizona Congresswoman on your hands. The only consolation is that you’ll eventually all shoot each other
This person, who identified himself only as “bdbd,” claimed that I–and my readers–were responsible for the shooting that took place in Arizona over the weekend; according to “bdbd” I have blood on my hands because Jared Loughner decided to commit the most heinous of crimes.
At first I was willing to write this one comment off, but as the networks continued to cover this story the narrative became clear. The media, and the Democrats, almost immediately began to spin this horrible murder for political gain.
From talking about how Barrack Obama can use this tragedy for political gain–just as Bill Clinton did with Oklahoma City–to the media trying to lay blame anywhere but with whom it belongs–with Jared Loughner–the media has decided to cover this from a political angle instead of from a human angle and I find this to be in extremely bad taste. One Democrat who didn’t have the courage to go on the record had this to say about the shooting:
They need to deftly pin this on the tea partiers,” said the Democrat. “Just like the Clinton White House deftly pinned the Oklahoma City bombing on the militia and anti-government people
His first reaction was not sympathy for the victims and their families and his first reaction was not horror at what had happened, but rather his first instinct was political. His first reaction was to explain a way in which Barack Obama could actually benefit from this shooting.
The media quickly followed suit, looking to pin the blame on the Tea Party instead of with the shooter himself. When addressing the public after the Fort Hood shooting after giving a shout out to a friend–which was obviously a terrorist attack committed by a radical Muslim–the president called on Americans and the media not to jump to conclusions, but there was no such warning from the president this time and the media certainly has jumped to several conclusions–non of which include the fact that Jared Loughner was a radical loner and a lunatic. Capitol Commentary has a great article about the difference in media coverage on these two issues which everyone should read.
Ignoring the fact that Jared Loughner appears to be a leftist, atheistic, communist sympathizing, flag burning, anti-Semite, 9-11 truther who targeted a Blue Dog, secure the border, second amendment supporting congresswoman and a conservative justice, the left has tried to blame the vitriol and the hatred and anger which they claim is prevalent in the blogosphere, the Tea Party, and conservative talk radio for the events of this past weekend.
The left is “sighting” Sarah Palin’s use of cross hairs in a political ad on her website over congressional districts in which she felt that the conservatives had a chance to win, as well as her comment that it is not time to “retreat but to reload” as fodder to accuse her of being responsible for this madman’s actions. But the left is neglecting the fact that references to battle used in a figurative way is nothing new to political discourse. As a matter of fact the word “campaign” has a militaristic history in itself.
How often do politicians promise to “fight for the people” or promise to “battle their political opponent” until the polls close? And let us not forget that during his presidential campaign Barrack Obama urged his supporters to “get in the face” of his opponents, and shortly before the mid term election Barrack Obama called his conservative opponents the “enemy,” yet this has been immune to criticism and the story line has been that this type of rhetoric and anger is isolated to the right, and has only come into existence since Barack Obama became president. Barack Obama has also promised to “keep his boot on the neck” of businesses and stated that he wants to know “whose ass to kick.” He also doesn’t have much of a problem with people being angry either:
I don’t want to quell anger. I think people are right to be angry! I’m angry
And just in case you haven’t heard enough hate filled rhetoric from the president, there is this:
If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun
And as can be seen at both Bunkerville and Conservative Hideout, it is actually a leftist who has openly called for a violent revolution against the Tea Party. And then there is the little reported fact that books were written that explained the best ways to assassinate George Bush, and a movie was made that actually was well received by the left which depicted the assassination of George Bush, yet we are supposed to believe that this type of violent rhetoric somehow originated with the Tea Party?
The truth is that the Tea Party is looking for a non violent solution using constitutional means to secure change and save out country. If understanding and condoning constitutional answers to this country’s problems is considered radical, I guess we are all guilty as charged.
But the most astounding angle to this story happened when Arizona Sheriff Clarence Dupnik ignited the fire by injecting personal partisan opinion and conjecture into the mix when he was supposed to be briefing the public on the FACTS of this tragic event. To watch the sheriff of Prima County offer his personal opinion about conservative radio during an ongoing investigation is astounding to me and is the height of irresponsibility. All that he did with this was raise the level of the very vitriol that he was warning against.
The left and the media have been hoping something like this would happen since they realized that the Tea Party actually represented a real and effective political movement, and while there is as of yet no evidence that this man was connected in any way to the Tea Party the narrative has been set. The media finally has the tragedy they have longed for and they are not about to let the facts get in the way of their story, so they will continue to blame the Tea Party movement even though Jared Loughner is in no way involved in the Tea Party, and in fact didn’t even bother to vote in the 2010 election.
The media’s reporting of this story has been irresponsible from the beginning; from reporting that Representative Giffords was dead to reporting that Jared Loughner was a returning war veteran, the media has been derelict of their duty and I see no reason to believe that they will not continue to be. The media feels that this can be used to simultaneously prop up Barack Obama and bring down the Tea Party and they are going to do whatever it takes to accomplish both of these goals.
We cannot let this get us off of our message, we must continue to fight (can I still say that?) for what we believe in. The media is trying to bring us down, and they will stop at nothing, as was evidenced by the coverage of this shooting over the weekend; we must not let them succeed, for we all know that there is only one person to blame for this crime and it is the shooter.
Rahm may be back in Chicago, but his advice is still being followed by the left – they never let a crisis go to waste.
WHEN will Republicans and Conservatives alike call these leftist idiots out, let everyone know you know what they are doing and take back the conversation!
Great post, Steve and thanks for linking to my post.
I’ll be honest, I was quite surprised at the way the media jumped in the middle of this tragedy without looking where they were leaping. I suppose I shouldn’t be, but I was shocked at how quickly they moved to paint this as a result of the words used by Sarah Palin and on the actions of the Tea Party. One thing this has done is cement in my mind the shape our country is in and I am still shaking my head in disbelief.
You are welcome Larry. You know, I had actually thought that maybe the media wouldn’t try to spin this because of the terrible tragedy, but I should have known better. They had this story written long ago and they have been waiting to use it, now they have their chance and it doesn’t matter that nothing about Loughner would indicate that he had anything to do with the Tea Party.
Wow! Thanks for the compliment, that is the first time anything that I have written has been called poignant! (Or well thought out for that matter. 🙂 )
I read today, Steve, from and AZ paper, that the Sheriff received multiple phones calls about threats that were made by this young man to radio stations, and different entities and they were told to “not press charges because his mental state was being handled” (paraphrase) and because “his mom worked for Pima County” (paraphrase).
Sounds like to me, IF there is blame to case about, it may fall at this Sheriff’s feet for not heeding those calls earlier!
I heard something about this a little while ago also. This man should resign for his comments after the shooting alone, but when you find out that he knew about Loughner and did nothing it appears as if he is more at fault than the people he is trying to blame. Maybe that is why he said what he said, to deflect the blame away from himself.
The pastor cnceeotnd this Sunday’s Gospel with the one from last week, so St. Peter who was first described as a foundational rock, this week was a skandalon a rock that makes one stumble specifically because St. Peter, in this episode, wanted to avoid saying something unpopular. The response to the Lord’s question Who do they say I am? brought up the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist including explicitly that St. John was martyred for his support of the sanctity of marriage! The importance of saying things that people may not want to hear was well-emphasized.Additionally, people seemed to be dressed more appropriately for Mass than had been true the past few weeks.
Not suprised one bit by the lefys reaction or hypocrisy, as a matter of fact within minutes of the news I said to my wife ” how long before the left tries to pin this on the tea party and talk radio” one need only wait until sheriffs presser to find out. These people are soul less and disgusting. I wouldve been shocked with anything less.
This sheriff needs to resign, while it isn’t too surprising that the media would spin this it is outrageous what this sheriff said. This man added his opinion to the case when he should have stuck to the facts and he should lose his job. He is no Sheriff Joe!
The sick thing about Liberals is they didn’t even wait until the bodies were cold until they started their play. And what about the judge appointed by George H.W. Bush who was murdered? No mention as to why a “Tea Partier” would shoot him.
It is troubling how quickly the liberals moved in on what they saw as an opportunity, but the more that we learn about this man the more the media is exposed. Nobody seems willing to ask the question: “if this man was a Tea Party person, how come he murdered a conservative justice?” And I think we all know why nobody in the media is asking that question.
This should remind us of that with which we are dealing. These folks believe that the ends justify the means. So, the lies and the blame is part of the agenda. The word on the narrative went out very fast. The local lib radio talkers were on it. The dinosaur print media, the cable outlets, and the broadcast nets were all reciting it nicely.
That being said, I still think that this is being pushed so hard that it will eventually backfire. They are throwing lies on top of lies. If people can see what the shooter was saying and thinking, they’re going to see through the lies…at least I hope so.
It does illustrate for us the depths that these people are willing to go to get back their power, they will stop at nothing. I think they just might push this too far, it is obvious the more we learn about Loughner, the less he has in common with the Tea Party.
A New York Congresswoman (Rep McCarthy D-NY)is going to introduce a bill in the house to outlaw high capacity magazines again because of this. They just don’t get it. I wonder if he had driven a Lincoln Navigator through the crowd if they would introduce a bill to ban those also? Probably so if it was a Ford but never a Chevy or Dodge, Ford was the only US manufacturer that didn’t take Government money keeping Uncle Sam out of the books.
As I understand it, that sheriff was shooting his mouth off regarding the SB 1070 debate as well. Sounds like he has an agenda. Looks like he’s using the old tactic of accusing others of what he is actually doing, and having them waste energy defending themselves.
Thanks for the link Steve..This story is really stunning. I wonder how the average person who isn’t plugged in, is taking this. Now with Zero going down to AZ, when he wouldn’t go before, is sickening.
You are welcome! I wonder the same thing also, how many people are out there who don’t pay attention to what is going on and only listen to the liberal media know the truth about this man and about the rhetoric the left has been using over the years?
Right-winger pundits may or may not have pushed this guy over the edge. But one thing is for sure, they’ve propagated fear and hatred across our country and have pushed other people over the edge, like the George Tiller murderer.
But speaking of politicizing a tragedy, it’s a little hypocritical for right-wingers to complain. After all, George W. Bush politicized 9/11, as did a lot of Republicans. Okay, it’s EXTREMELY hypocritical.
“But one thing is for sure, they’ve propagated fear and hatred across our country and have pushed other people over the edge, like the George Tiller murderer.”
Seriously, its for sure? Scott Roeder was not responsible for murdering Mr. Tiller, it was right-winger pundits? And this has been settled, its proven? Or is it more of a global warming kind of proof, you know, where you make up crap to fit your argument?
Wow, I just checked out Ben Hoffman’s blog, the douche above that believes everyone but him is evil. Go take a peek if you want to see the lunatic rantings of an uber-lefty.
Here is his list of “American Terrorists”
George Bush (of course)
George H.W. Bush
Ronald Reagan
Henry Kissinger
Richard Nixon
L.B.J.
John F. Kennedy
The Christian Church
Those guilty of un-American activities
Barack Obama
Eric H. Holder, Jr.
Judy Miller
Almost all right-wing pundits
Of course I do. Don’t you know how to follow a threaded comment? My reposting of your American Terrorist list was separate from your inane comment on right-winger pundits.
The media have a great power over the population’s mind and they don’t seem to mind using it for their own purposes (or who is behind them).
And this kind of story is gold for them in economic ways too, by causing controversy and some caos they get more people interested and more people watching the news.
So I don’t care what they say with their “experts”, this is just Jared Loughner’s fault. I don’t agree with some politicians too, do you see me shooting at them?
I must start off by saying I am neither right nor left. I think our political structure is crooked and corrupt of any morals. The media as you brought up is spinning this, but as you may know the media is run by the left or the right. What we see are half truths or fear mongering. We can only blame the shooter in this case, but we can also place those who failed him down the road in his life. I have MI and I can tell you no one just wakes up crazy it is a slow process, which makes me (the paranoid side) think this could be orchestrated by a higher order.
Like the news media tying to blame the OKLAHOMA CITY bombing on CONSERVATIVE TALK RADIO which is just tyoical of these liberal left-wing journalists scumrats small wonder their newspaper sales are falling the american citizens dont trust their reptiles
A liberal madman terrorist shoots a politician and somehow conservatives are to blame? Only in the libtarded media. Look at how they allow WikiTerror to get away with espionage and refuse to take a stand against the terrorists in their own camp. It’s sickening.
It’s time to end the liberal disease. If you have one in your family, ostracize them until they grow a brain. If you see one at work, get them fired. People need to learn that there are consequences to being a liberal.
America's Watchtower 
Rahm may be back in Chicago, but his advice is still being followed by the left – they never let a crisis go to waste.
WHEN will Republicans and Conservatives alike call these leftist idiots out, let everyone know you know what they are doing and take back the conversation!
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This has Rahm’s fingerprints all over it! I don’t think that this narrative will work any more but that won’t stop the left from trying.
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Great post, Steve and thanks for linking to my post.
I’ll be honest, I was quite surprised at the way the media jumped in the middle of this tragedy without looking where they were leaping. I suppose I shouldn’t be, but I was shocked at how quickly they moved to paint this as a result of the words used by Sarah Palin and on the actions of the Tea Party. One thing this has done is cement in my mind the shape our country is in and I am still shaking my head in disbelief.
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You are welcome Larry. You know, I had actually thought that maybe the media wouldn’t try to spin this because of the terrible tragedy, but I should have known better. They had this story written long ago and they have been waiting to use it, now they have their chance and it doesn’t matter that nothing about Loughner would indicate that he had anything to do with the Tea Party.
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Excellent, excellent, excellent.
Probably the most poignant and well thought out piece I have read so far on the subject, good stuff Steve.
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He did a good job, didn’t he.
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Wow! Thanks for the compliment, that is the first time anything that I have written has been called poignant! (Or well thought out for that matter. 🙂 )
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I read today, Steve, from and AZ paper, that the Sheriff received multiple phones calls about threats that were made by this young man to radio stations, and different entities and they were told to “not press charges because his mental state was being handled” (paraphrase) and because “his mom worked for Pima County” (paraphrase).
Sounds like to me, IF there is blame to case about, it may fall at this Sheriff’s feet for not heeding those calls earlier!
LikeLike
I heard something about this a little while ago also. This man should resign for his comments after the shooting alone, but when you find out that he knew about Loughner and did nothing it appears as if he is more at fault than the people he is trying to blame. Maybe that is why he said what he said, to deflect the blame away from himself.
LikeLike
The pastor cnceeotnd this Sunday’s Gospel with the one from last week, so St. Peter who was first described as a foundational rock, this week was a skandalon a rock that makes one stumble specifically because St. Peter, in this episode, wanted to avoid saying something unpopular. The response to the Lord’s question Who do they say I am? brought up the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist including explicitly that St. John was martyred for his support of the sanctity of marriage! The importance of saying things that people may not want to hear was well-emphasized.Additionally, people seemed to be dressed more appropriately for Mass than had been true the past few weeks.
LikeLike
Not suprised one bit by the lefys reaction or hypocrisy, as a matter of fact within minutes of the news I said to my wife ” how long before the left tries to pin this on the tea party and talk radio” one need only wait until sheriffs presser to find out. These people are soul less and disgusting. I wouldve been shocked with anything less.
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This sheriff needs to resign, while it isn’t too surprising that the media would spin this it is outrageous what this sheriff said. This man added his opinion to the case when he should have stuck to the facts and he should lose his job. He is no Sheriff Joe!
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The sick thing about Liberals is they didn’t even wait until the bodies were cold until they started their play. And what about the judge appointed by George H.W. Bush who was murdered? No mention as to why a “Tea Partier” would shoot him.
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It is troubling how quickly the liberals moved in on what they saw as an opportunity, but the more that we learn about this man the more the media is exposed. Nobody seems willing to ask the question: “if this man was a Tea Party person, how come he murdered a conservative justice?” And I think we all know why nobody in the media is asking that question.
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This should remind us of that with which we are dealing. These folks believe that the ends justify the means. So, the lies and the blame is part of the agenda. The word on the narrative went out very fast. The local lib radio talkers were on it. The dinosaur print media, the cable outlets, and the broadcast nets were all reciting it nicely.
That being said, I still think that this is being pushed so hard that it will eventually backfire. They are throwing lies on top of lies. If people can see what the shooter was saying and thinking, they’re going to see through the lies…at least I hope so.
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It does illustrate for us the depths that these people are willing to go to get back their power, they will stop at nothing. I think they just might push this too far, it is obvious the more we learn about Loughner, the less he has in common with the Tea Party.
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A New York Congresswoman (Rep McCarthy D-NY)is going to introduce a bill in the house to outlaw high capacity magazines again because of this. They just don’t get it. I wonder if he had driven a Lincoln Navigator through the crowd if they would introduce a bill to ban those also? Probably so if it was a Ford but never a Chevy or Dodge, Ford was the only US manufacturer that didn’t take Government money keeping Uncle Sam out of the books.
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Watch out for the Fainess Doctrine also.
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As I understand it, that sheriff was shooting his mouth off regarding the SB 1070 debate as well. Sounds like he has an agenda. Looks like he’s using the old tactic of accusing others of what he is actually doing, and having them waste energy defending themselves.
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This man has come under fire before, he seems like the type of person that uses his position to promote his agenda. This man needs to resign!
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Thanks for the link Steve..This story is really stunning. I wonder how the average person who isn’t plugged in, is taking this. Now with Zero going down to AZ, when he wouldn’t go before, is sickening.
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You are welcome! I wonder the same thing also, how many people are out there who don’t pay attention to what is going on and only listen to the liberal media know the truth about this man and about the rhetoric the left has been using over the years?
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Good stuff here, linked at RR today-
If There’s Still Any Hope of Salvaging the MSM’s Credibility… <a href="http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com/2011/01/if-theres-still-any-hope-of-salvaging
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Thanks for the compliment and for the link!
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Right-winger pundits may or may not have pushed this guy over the edge. But one thing is for sure, they’ve propagated fear and hatred across our country and have pushed other people over the edge, like the George Tiller murderer.
But speaking of politicizing a tragedy, it’s a little hypocritical for right-wingers to complain. After all, George W. Bush politicized 9/11, as did a lot of Republicans. Okay, it’s EXTREMELY hypocritical.
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But no left wingers have engaged in the type of behavior they are now complaining about over the years, right?
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“But one thing is for sure, they’ve propagated fear and hatred across our country and have pushed other people over the edge, like the George Tiller murderer.”
Seriously, its for sure? Scott Roeder was not responsible for murdering Mr. Tiller, it was right-winger pundits? And this has been settled, its proven? Or is it more of a global warming kind of proof, you know, where you make up crap to fit your argument?
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Much like the left defended Polanski (it wasn’t rape rape) this isn’t proof proof!
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Wow, I just checked out Ben Hoffman’s blog, the douche above that believes everyone but him is evil. Go take a peek if you want to see the lunatic rantings of an uber-lefty.
Here is his list of “American Terrorists”
George Bush (of course)
George H.W. Bush
Ronald Reagan
Henry Kissinger
Richard Nixon
L.B.J.
John F. Kennedy
The Christian Church
Those guilty of un-American activities
Barack Obama
Eric H. Holder, Jr.
Judy Miller
Almost all right-wing pundits
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Ben stops by here every once in awhile, I have checked out his blog in the past.
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None of them are pundits. Don’t you even know what a “pundit” is?
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Of course I do. Don’t you know how to follow a threaded comment? My reposting of your American Terrorist list was separate from your inane comment on right-winger pundits.
But points for an excellent rebuttal. Not really…
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I understood what you posted, it seemed perfectly clear to me. Maybe you should type a little slower the next time so that Ben can understand. 🙂
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Easy Ben, you’re going to push somebody over the edge.
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The media have a great power over the population’s mind and they don’t seem to mind using it for their own purposes (or who is behind them).
And this kind of story is gold for them in economic ways too, by causing controversy and some caos they get more people interested and more people watching the news.
So I don’t care what they say with their “experts”, this is just Jared Loughner’s fault. I don’t agree with some politicians too, do you see me shooting at them?
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The media conveniently has forgotten that the man responsible for the shootings is Jared Loughner and nobody else.
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I must start off by saying I am neither right nor left. I think our political structure is crooked and corrupt of any morals. The media as you brought up is spinning this, but as you may know the media is run by the left or the right. What we see are half truths or fear mongering. We can only blame the shooter in this case, but we can also place those who failed him down the road in his life. I have MI and I can tell you no one just wakes up crazy it is a slow process, which makes me (the paranoid side) think this could be orchestrated by a higher order.
LikeLike
Like the news media tying to blame the OKLAHOMA CITY bombing on CONSERVATIVE TALK RADIO which is just tyoical of these liberal left-wing journalists scumrats small wonder their newspaper sales are falling the american citizens dont trust their reptiles
LikeLike
A liberal madman terrorist shoots a politician and somehow conservatives are to blame? Only in the libtarded media. Look at how they allow WikiTerror to get away with espionage and refuse to take a stand against the terrorists in their own camp. It’s sickening.
It’s time to end the liberal disease. If you have one in your family, ostracize them until they grow a brain. If you see one at work, get them fired. People need to learn that there are consequences to being a liberal.
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Can anyone remember hillary and her VAST RIGHTWING CONSPERACY against her traitor husband More of these liberal nuts at it again
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