Right-wing commentator Ken Blackwell has made some strong comments once again attacking President Barack Obama. Now, Blackwell is entitled to his opinion, but his opinion is a misguided attempt to take a shot at President Obama through the exploitation of Pvt. William Long's brutal murder by a low-life thug (Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad) who attacked innocent individuals and viciously murdered a young man. It's a reprehensible act and the perpetrator must be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
Blackwell, like so many fellow conservatives, has sought to exploit the murder of Pvt. Long to attack President Obama. It's beyond disgusting.
Wrote Blackwell:
The contrast between President Obama’s reaction to the murder of a late-term abortionist and the murder of a U.S. Army Recruiter could not be more stark. Obama raced to send U.S. Marshals into abortion facilities. He denounced the murder in the strongest terms in a statement which is posted on the White House website:
I am shocked and outraged by the murder of Dr. George Tiller as he attended church services this morning. However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence.
I agree that we cannot resolve our differences by acts of violence. I would like to have seen such a strong statement from the Obama administration when two U.S. Army Recruiters were shot in Arkansas, one of them fatally, by a recent convert to Islam.
Obama’s reaction to this heinous act of violence in Little Rock was, to be charitable, muted. He was busily preparing to fly off to Saudi Arabia to continue his apology tour.
President Obama could not have won in this case. Had he swooped in he would have been accused of exploiting Pvt. Long's death for good publicity. By choosing to be far more private in expressing his condolences, he has been attacked by conservative Republicans hungry for any excuse to attack him. By the way, do you want evidence this was a partisan hit piece by Blackwell? Take a look at his last sentence in this excerpt. It's an attack using tired and old Republican talking points designed to portray the president as some kind of hater of America.
Notice also how Blackwell makes sure to mention the man was a recent convert of Islam. That was not mentioned by accident.
Let us go back to one thing Blackwell said in the above excerpt:
The contrast between President Obama’s reaction to the murder of a late-term abortionist and the murder of a U.S. Army Recruiter could not be more stark. Obama raced to send U.S. Marshals into abortion facilities.
As heinous and senseless as the murder of Pvt. Long was, we have to understand the differences in the two situations. Dr. George Tiller (Scott Roeder is the man being detained for this wicked act that took a life), a man who has provided abortions to women in need, was viciously assassinated in a church. This nation has a history of domestic terrorism in regard to abortion clinics and toward abortion doctors. Doctors are not soldiers and are not as specially trained and armed to protect themselves. Also, any disturbed fool crazy enough to murder a doctor or bomb a clinic is a danger to many other private citizens seeking a legal medical procedure. When clinics are bombed, not only are innocent civilian doctors in danger, but so too are women, men, girls and boys who could find themselves in harm's way because of some domestic terrorist seeking to deny a woman's right to choose by what an individual feels are any means necessary.
It's a shame that Blackwell is exploiting the death of Pvt. William Long to try and score cheap and partisan political points against President Obama.
Sadly, however, Ken Blackwell is not alone.
Townhall.com:
http://townhall.com/Columnists/KenBlackwell/2009/06/04/arm_our_military_recruiters
Ms. Miller. Well put. For your thoughtful piece, whoever writes HIS speeches should shortcut to your itemized points.