Today\’s paragraph was written by National Review\’s Andrew McCarthy, and, interestingly enough, is meant to dispute another National Review writer/editor, Jonah Goldberg.
Several days ago Mr. Goldberg wrote an essay in which he solely blamed the shooter, career thug ismaaiyl brinsley, for executing New York Police Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.
Mr. McCarthy disagrees. Here is the key paragraph which explains why:
Icannot agree with it, however, if it is a statement, more broadly,that no culpability should be laid at the feet of the movement andthose involved in it: (a) organizers like Al Sharpton; (b) members,especially those who\’ve committed violent acts short of murderagainst police, and those who\’ve paraded through Manhattanshouting, “What do we want? Dead cops! When do we want them? Now!”;(c) government enablers like President Barack Obama, Attorney GeneralEric Holder, Mayor Bill de Blasio, and other public officials who,even after its violent rhetoric ignited violent actions, haveencouraged the movement and chosen not to take steps that could havecontained it; and (d) media cheerleaders who have helped perpetuatethe slander that fuels the movement, namely: the claim that racismcaused the recent deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, who mettheir demise when police, in Ferguson, Mo., and New York City,respectively, used force because the two men resisted efforts toeffect lawful arrests.
I could not agree more, Mr. McCarthy. How could I say otherwise, since I\’ve been writing exactly the same opinion ever since these two officers were murdered in cold blood.
Words have consequences. Threats encourage people who hear those words to make good on the threats. And public officials who make it clear that their sympathies are with the people doing the threatening may not be accomplices in the legal sense, but, in a very real way, are accomplices nonetheless. That is why there are laws against incitement.
Andrew McCarthy, therefore, wins the Paragraph Of The Day award simply because – with no disrespect at all to Jonah Goldberg – he is 100% correct.
