We know very little at this point about the person, or persons, behind events in Dallas Thursday night. We know that one of the shooters claimed to be “upset” about Black Lives Matter. We know that he stated a desire to kill more police officers, and specifically white officers. We don’t know why. We don’t know if he was acting alone, or if he had been aided by others that have been detained.
We know so little except that he targeted not just police officers, but the idea of peaceful protest—an idea that had been supported by both police and by the hundreds who had gathered to march, peacefully, in Dallas.
This morning, as most of us are still ignorant of the details of how this happened, who was behind it, or what their motivations might be, some comments and reactions are coming in. Chief among them, from President Obama.
President Obama condemned the sniper-style shootings of Dallas police officers Friday, calling them a "vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement."
"I believe I speak for every single American when I say we are horrified over these events, and we stand united with the people and the police department in Dallas," he said.
The president’s remarks were both forceful and measured, but it was clear he was shaken by what happened overnight.
As he did earlier Friday, Obama called on Americans to do more to address police-involved shootings and violence in the criminal justice system. And he also suggested that lax gun laws also played a role: "We also know that when people are armed with powerful weapons, it makes shootings like this more deadly and more tragic," he said.
But he said his immediate concern was for the officers and their families. "Today is a wrenching reminder of the sacrifices they make for us," he said. "They are heartbroken. The entire city of Dallas is grieving. Police across America, which is a tight-knit family, feels this loss to their core. And we're grieving with them."
Unfortunately, a request that we withhold a rush to judgement in the midst of a vacuum of facts was not a call that some quarters chose to honor.
So far, Hillary Clinton’s campaign has restrained statements to a single tweet.
Surprisingly, Donald Trump released a reasonable statement, though the call to “restore law and order” at the heart of his message may prefigure harsher words to come. Trump’s statement is also the first time his campaign has mentioned, at least somewhat directly, the murders of Sterling and Castile.
Last night’s horrific execution-style shootings of 12 Dallas law enforcement officers – 5 of whom were killed and 7 wounded – is an attack on our country. It is a premeditated, coordinated assault on the men and women who keep us safe.
We must restore law and order. We must restore the confidence of our people to be safe and secure in their homes and on the street.
The senseless, tragic deaths of two motorists in Louisiana and Minnesota reminds us how much more needs to be done.
This morning I offer thoughts and victim’s families.
However, Trump was something of an exception in delivering a moment of relative sanity. Dozing doctor, Ben Carson, woke up long enough to deliver a insensible, self-contradicting blob of words.
"Now is definitely not the time to get political," the former Republican presidential candidate and Donald Trump surrogate told "Fox & Friends" when asked about Obama's comments. "Now is the time to use logic and ask ourselves, why do we have a Constitution? Why do we have a Second Amendment? They’re always saying you don't need a high powered weapon to hunt deer. The Constitution is not about deer hunting. It's about people being able to defend themselves from an overly aggressive government or an external invasion."
Carson uses “logic” … to talk about deer and paranoid delusions and to suggest that he’s in sympathy with those in Dallas who were shooting oppressive forces of the government in the back during a peaceful protest. Logic.
Mike Huckabee was also a dependable asshole in a time of crisis.
"I think this is a time when real leaders bring people together, he doesn't split them apart," the former presidential candidate told "Fox & Friends" when asked what he would do in Obama's place. ...
"He doesn't need to inject the divisive arguments like gun control at a time of great grief for the nation," Huckabee said. "And he ought to do for us what Ronald Reagan did after the Challenger disaster.”
Of course. Huckabee ignored everything else the president said to laser in on a sentence about weapons, because it’s never the right time to mention guns after a shooting.
And of course, some sources could not resist bringing out their worst, because irresponsible hate-mongering is the only note they play.
And some responses managed to be beyond bad or ugly, as they lurched into race-baiting calls for violence.