Like many others, I found out about the shootings at the Navy Yard through a news alert on my phone. I quickly looked at the television in my office and saw the events unfold. As has become my practice, I don’t stay glued to the TV at times like this. First reports are so often inaccurate and out of whack. I keep up through sources, email alerts and updates on television.
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Early on, this headline came through from NBC News: “Gun rampage at Navy Yard leaves at least 4 dead.” This represents what’s wrong with reporting. This was not a gun rampage. Guns are inanimate object. Unless there is a person using them, they will just sit there and do nothing. A person went on a rampage at the Navy Yard, and it was tragic, but the cause was the person, not the gun. A decision was made to take the lives of others, and the person has to do that.
Later that day, there was a “gun incident” outside the White House, which turned out to be a man throwing fire crackers. Most news reporting in this incident didn’t say “fire cracker caused incident,” they rightly noted “a man throwing fireworks caused the incident.”
In the midst of all this, the president said, “I cannot remember a time when one faction of one party promises economic chaos if it can’t get 100 percent of what it wants. That’s never happened before. But that’s what’s happening right now.”
Mr. President, I cannot remember a president calling out his opponents in the middle of a negotiation on an important deadline.
In fairness, the president had planned to make a statement on the 5th anniversary of the financial crisis before these events unfolded. Why you would note that day in history? I don’t know, but that was the plan. You would think in light of the issues of the day, one might change that plan.
However, it’s inappropriate and a lack of leadership to use a moment of national tragedy to attack your political opponents. Second, I believe it’s the president who said the continuing resolution, Obamacare and the debt ceiling are off the table as far as any negotiation. It’s the Republicans who are offering alternatives to be debated and could be voted up or down. In the Senate and in the House, Republicans are the only one offering options.
If you know of a Democrat plan presented to address the debt ceiling, the continuing resolution or Obamacare implementation problems, please let me know by commenting below.
But back to D.C. In the next days and weeks, we’ll find out everything you ever wanted to know about the perpetrator of this horrible event at the Washington Naval Yard. Today, let’s pray for the families who lost loved ones, the people who were wounded and the investigators who have to get to the bottom of this. I won’t use the perpetrator’s name and I will pray for his victims.
Martha Zoller is the editor-in-chief for zpolitics and the co-host of Georgia’s Morning News with Zoller and Bryant on Fox News 1340 WGAU.