HuffPo Hack Blames Bush for VT Shootings

Hokie Deaths Provide Grist for Liberal Political Agenda

This is the face of modern liberalism. Joseph A. Palermo is already seeking to capitalize on the tragedy at Virginia Tech to push his anti-First and anti-Second Amendment agenda.

Not satisfied to stick to actual events, Palermo invents strawmen:

We will hear right-wingers, like David "Bobo in Paradise" Brooks, blame the shootings at Virginia Tech on Quentin Tarrantino movies and violent video games.

Okay. Maybe you should wait until those arguments are actually made, then try to counter them. But no, Palermo continues a few paragraphs down:

Also, if David Brooks and the Rightwing can blame video games and the violent movies coming out of Hollywood for the school shootings, then I think it is also fair to place some of the blame on our political leaders who called for us to invade and occupy Iraq.

But Joseph, you haven't established that they have yet done that; you simply suggested that they will. And Palermo has some words for the liberals, too:

The liberals, like Hillary Clinton and Nicholas Kristof, will launch into hand-wringing "analyses" about the availability of guns in our society...

Leave out the obvious fact that Palermo himself is one of these "hand wringers;" his solution is to restrict the First Amendment to ensure a pure election in 2012 by banning contributions from people he doesn't like. You know, the usual suspects, the NRA, big oil, etc. - while Joey doesn't actually use the word Bushitlerburton I'm sure he's thinking it.

What Palermo neglects to mention is that trade unions, teacher's unions, the AARP, and ethnic/religious organizations use lobbyists to donate money to politicians, too. The Constitution guarantees them the right to have their voices heard.

Palermo's bio says his doctorate is from Cornell. I nominate this passage as the most simple-minded assertion ever to appear on a blog:

Whoever the killer is, if he didn't have access to a gun those 31 people would be studying for their midterms right now.

Really? Nothing that a new American Gestapo, empowered to enter every home in the country to confiscate weapons, and backed up by Soviet-style re-education camps couldn't ensure.

If this is the kind of thought that comes from an Ivy League PHD, state universities are looking pretty good.