Ken Berwitz
Today\’s quote comes to us from Rachel Maddow, the reliably hard-left Host of a prime time cable news show on (where else?) MSNBC.
It seems that yesterday, in Philadelphia, a man dressed in Islamic garb ran up to a police car and shot something like 11 -13 bullets at the officer who was driving it (reports vary). Astonishingly, the officer is alive was even able to pursue him.
Upon being arrested, the man said his intent was to kill a cop for Allah, and pledged his loyalty to ISIS. It also turns out that he has made several trips to the pre-ISIS Middle East, presumably to be with, and possibly train with, his like-minded radical Islamic terrorist pals.
But Ms. Maddow is having a bit of trouble figuring out what his motive was.
Here is what she had to say about it:
A horrible incidentlast night and some very chilling surveillance video released today out ofPhiladelphia. It shows a police officer in a squad car being ambushed late lastnight. As you can see in the footage, the gunman approaches the squad car andthen basically fires at point-blank range. He shoots at the officer in thatsquad car at least 11 times. Somehow it\’s a miracle that the officer, 33-yearJesse Hartnett, despite being shot at 11 times at that range, that officer wasnot killed. He was shot three times in the arm, in the left arm but OfficerHartnett actually managed to give chase to the suspect. Got out of his car andchased the suspect. And the suspect was captured shortly after the shooting.
Tonight, the detailssurrounding the shooter\’s motive are still a little bit unclear. Policesay that he did tell investigators he had pledged allegiance to ISIS whichmay well turn out to be true. It\’s also worth noting however that his mothertold the Philadelphia Inquirer that her son had been hearing voices recentlyand the family asked for him to get help. The suspect does have priorconvictions on assault and firearms charges. Police are also reportedly lookinginto trips he made to the Middle East in 2011 and 2012. Again, themotive here is still murky.
Video shows him wearing a garment associated with Islam. He made trips to the Middle East (not, we assume, for the temperate climate or beach accommodations). He told police he did this in the name of Islam. He pledged his allegiance to ISIS.
But Rachel Maddow can\’t figure out why he did it. “…the motive here is still murky”.
I award Rachel Maddow quote of the day for squaring a circle, by being so intentionally obtuse that she has turned a horrific incident into a bad joke.
And I award an “honorable (or is it dishonorable) mention” to MSNBC, for providing this, er, quality of analysis to us every day of the week.
