Craig Bannister ramps up the irony in a June 15 CNSNews.com blog post:
“Vitriolic political rhetoric” must stop because it “puts us all in danger,” the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) warned after Wednesday’s shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) at an Alexandria, Virginia baseball field where Republicans were practicing for a congressional game.
NSA President Sheriff Greg Champagne offered his prayers for Scalise, who remains in critical condition the day after being shot:
“The National Sheriffs’ Association would like to offer our collective prayers to House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and his family, as well as to all of those injured in the unprovoked shooting in Alexandria, VA this morning. We wish all of those victims a speedy and complete recovery.”
Champagne called on Americans to end today’s hateful rhetoric that can lead to violence – violence that law enforcement officers themselves have been victimized by the effects of “this destructive rhetoric”:
“We also call upon everyone to end the vitriolic political rhetoric that has no other purpose than to dehumanize and demonize those with different political views or who belong to a certain group. Law enforcement officers have also been the subject of this destructive rhetoric that puts us all in danger. It is literally tearing our country apart.
“Enough is enough!”
The sheriff’s group’s call itself is highly ironic because one of the chief purveyors of vitriolic political rhetoric in America today is Wisconsin sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. And it’s doubly ironic that Bannister posted it at CNS because CNS — mostly in the person of managing editor Michael W. Chapman — loves to post Clarke’s hate-filled rants, especially when his anti-Obama screeds served its political agenda. For instance:
- Sheriff Clarke: To Curb Violence, Obama Must Target ‘Underclass, Young Black Male’ Involved in Crime – But He Won’t
- Sheriff Clarke: ‘Best Thing About Obama Presidency Right Now Is It’s Coming to an End’
- Sheriff Clarke: Obama ‘Is Hallucinating If He Thinks He Has Improved Race Relations in America’
- Sheriff Clarke: Slavery Finally Ended Because Blacks Were Armed
- Sheriff Clarke: ‘President Obama and Mrs. Bill Clinton, They Are Anti-Gun Bigots’
- Sheriff Clarke to Tarantino: ‘You Are a Fraud. You Do NOT Share Black Experiences From Your Elitist Lifestyle’
- Milwaukee’s Sheriff Clarke: ‘Stop Trying to Fix the Police — Fix the Ghetto’
- Sheriff Clarke: Media Talk ‘Gun Control’ To Distract From Fact That ‘Obama Cannot Keep Us Safe’
- Sheriff Clarke: Obama Has ‘Incited Americans Against Americans,’ The Republic ‘Is A Hot Mess Right Now’
- Sheriff Clarke: Obama’s ‘Reign of Terror’ Has Divided The American People
- Sheriff Clarke on Beyonce’s Halftime: Would It Be Acceptable If ‘A White Band Came Out In Hoods and White Sheets?
- Sheriff Clarke: Barack Obama is ‘A Straight-Up Cop Hater’
- Milwaukee Sheriff: Obama ‘Started This War on Police’
Needless to say, Bannister never noted the disconnect between the sheriffs group’s rhetoric and the hate coming from one of its own — or that CNS is a chief purveyor of the “vitriolic political rhetoric” that statement was denouncing.