All our Democratic candidates got it right on the Charleston shootings - Republicans failed outright

All of our Democratic candidates (and other Democrats, as well) are including observations and critiques on racism along with their calls for the confederate flag removal from the S.C. statehouse grounds...


Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, described the flag as a "relic of our nation's stained racial history" when calling for its removal.



Sanders: Charleston Shooting Reminder Of 'Ugly Stain Of Racism' In US

Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Thursday condemned the shooting at a historically black church in Charleston, S.C. as a "tragic reminder of the ugly stain of racism" tainting America.

"This senseless violence fills me with outrage, disgust and a deep, deep sadness," Sanders tweeted.

In a longer statement, the Democratic presidential contender said the killings, which were blamed on a white suspect whose victims included state Sen. Clementa Pinckney (D), showed that the U.S. had a long way to go in escaping its history of racial violence.

"The hateful killing of nine people praying inside a church is a horrific reminder that, while we have made significant progress in advancing civil rights in this country, we are far from eradicating racism," he said.

Hillary Clinton weighed in on the South Carolina confederate flag debate back in 2007 and still holds the view that it should be removed.

"I think about how many South Carolinians have served in our military and who are serving today under our flag and I believe that we should have one flag that we all pay honor to, as I know that most people in South Carolina do every single day," Clinton told The Associated Press in an interview.

"I personally would like to see it removed from the Statehouse grounds," the New York senator said
http://www.foxnews.com/story/2007/02/19/sen-clinton-south-carolina-should-remove-confederate-flag-from-statehouse.html

Hillary Clinton decried 'institutional racism' after Charleston shooting

Issuing an emotional plea following the South Carolina church shooting, Hillary Rodham Clinton called for "common-sense" gun reforms and a national reckoning with the persistent problem of "institutional racism."

Clinton's remarks also marked a forceful entry into the heated topic of race relations, an issue that's become a major theme of her campaign. Clinton called race a "deep fault line" in America, noting that "millions of people of color still experience racism in their everyday lives."

The problem of racism was not limited to "kooks and klansman," she said, but included the off-hand, off-color joke; whites scared of young black men and not speaking up against poverty and discrimination.

"We can't hide from any of these hard truths about race and justice in America," she said. "We have to name them and then own them and then change them."

Martin O'Malley spoke out about stronger gun laws, Confederate flag removal, and 'White Racism'

BaltSun:

"I heard some elected officials say this week, 'laws can't change this,'" O'Malley told the group in San Francisco.

"Actually, they can," he said. "How many senseless acts of violence do we have to endure as a people before we stand up to the congressional lobbyists of the NRA?"

If the families of Charleston can forgive, can let go of their anger, is it really too much to ask the state government officials of South Carolina to retire the Confederate flag to a museum?" he said.

WBAL:

"We come together in a sad week in the life of our country, don't we," said O'Malley, a candidate for President. "Another senseless gun massacre in America. "Newtown, Aurora, Washington Naval Yard, and now Charleston. The entire world must think us mad, sending trillions to Afghanistan and Iraq while the casualties pile up here in our own cities and towns".

"The most poisonous force in American politics today is not bad people who do bad things, it is good people who do nothing," said O'Malley. "The shrug of the shoulders, the resignation that somehow this is the best we can do".

"One of the sad triumphs of white racism is the degree to which it has succeeded in subconsciously convincing so many of us, black and white, that somehow black lives don't matter," said O'Malley.

"What a terribly jarring and callous sight then, in the wake of this racist massacre, to see the American flag at half-staff, while above it at full staff over the state Capitol of South Carolina flew a Confederate flag."

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on the republican side...


Rick Santorum initially framed the shootings along the lines of the FOX propaganda that the shootings were an attack on 'religious liberty.'

Speaking to AM970 radio host Joe Piscopo, Santorum said that it was hard for him to believe that "things like this can happen in America."

"It's obviously a crime of hate," he noted. "We don't know the rationale, but what other rationale could there be. You're sort of lost that someone would walk into a Bible study at a church and indiscriminately kill people."

"This is one of those situation where you have to take a step a back and say - you talk about the importance of prayer at this time, and we're now seeing assaults on religious liberty we've never seen before," the candidate noted. "So, it's a time for deeper reflection even beyond this horrible situation."

He later pulled back from that and admitted that the shootings were 'clearly' racially motivated...

...at the Faith & Freedom conference, Santorum clarified to The Huffington Post that “it was clearly racially motivated.”

So why, then, did he suggest it’s an assault on religious liberty? “At the time I didn’t know it was racially motivated,” Santorum said, “nobody did.”


Rick Perry said the Charleston massacre was caused by prescription drugs, not guns...

...former Governor and current Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry used the senseless tragedy as an opportunity to campaign while at the same time minimizing Wednesday's shooting, calling it an "accident" caused by prescription drugs.

“It seems to me," Perry said "again without having all the details about this, that these individuals have been medicated and there may be a real issue in this country from the standpoint of these drugs and how they’re used."

Perry later claimed he misspoke, meaning to say 'incident' instead of 'accident.'


Ted Cruz took the opportunity to make a gun control joke days after the shooting...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) cracked a couple gun rights jokes on the campaign trail last week, just a few days after the mass shooting at a historic black church in Charleston that left nine dead.

"You know the great thing about the state of Iowa is, I'm pretty sure you all define gun control the same way we do in Texas -- hitting what you aim at," Cruz said at a town hall event in Iowa, according to the Huffington Post.

He told the audience in Red Oak, Iowa, that he recently went to a New Hampshire gun range that had "incredible full autos" along with his wife, Heidi.

"My wife, Heidi, who’s 5’2, blonde, a petite California blonde, she was standing at the tripod unloading the full machine gun with a pink baseball cap that said 'armed and fabulous,'" he said.

Chris Christie demonstrated his utter uselessness by claiming 'laws can't change' the epidemic of gun violence...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Friday said laws will not change the epidemic of gun violence in America after nine people were shot and killed while worshipping in a South Carolina church.

"This type of conduct is something that only our display of our own love and good faith that's in our heart can change, laws can't change this, only the goodwill and the love of the American people can let those folks know that that act was unacceptable, disgraceful and we need to do more to show that we love each other," Christie said in an address to the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference.

Jeb Bush displayed his profound (or calculated) ignorance by declaring himself unsure of what motivated the white shooter to gun down nine black women and men in a historical black church...

"I don't know what was on the mind or the heart of the man who committed these atrocious crimes," the former Florida governor said at the Faith & Freedom Coalition conference.

The shooter, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, was crystal clear about his motive: He reportedly announced he was there to kill black people, saying at the church, "You rape our women, and you're taking over the country. And you have to go."

In a Facebook picture, Roof sported patches on his jacket representing Rhodesia, a former apartheid state in East Africa, and apartheid-era South Africa. He also reportedly told his roommate he was planning to ignite a civil war.

Bush's remark was echoed by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who said in a statement that, "we do know that we'll never understand what motivates anyone to enter one of our places of worship and take the life of another."

No...it appears that republicans will never understand (or admit they do).