Last night I asked the question "How will the media handle the Tiller Assassination?" Now we know, and it is much worse than I thought it would be.
Memo to the Mainstream media: Dr. Tiller was not murdered. He was assassinated by a member of a radical, borderline terror group called Operation Rescue, which has been infringing on peoples rights for years. Randall Terry, the leader of this group, has basically said his only regret is that Tiller didn't have a trial before his execution. Yet all we hear today is how quick pro-life groups have been to condemn this act. Really? Who? I haven't heard a peep from any of them.
The discussions of the assassiantion (which is a word no one has had the guts to use as of yet) have all turned to the procedure of late-term abortion, and what a terrible thing it is. I just watched Chris Matthews try to get his guests to make us understand why someone would be pushed to this kind of act, essentially saying that since only 3 Dr.'s in the country perform this kind of procedure, it must represent something horrible that the rest of the medical community won't participate in. Maybe the reason most doctors don't perform this often medically necessary procedure is because they don't want to get gunned down while walking into work or taken out with a sniper rifle while at home, as has taken place in the past. It may shock Matthews to learn that the world is not a large extension of his boyhood Catholic school he is always so fond of referencing. No mention of the killer's associations, and nary a word about the history of this right-wing violence. On Fox, which has mostly ignored the story despite their arguable culpability in the whole thing, I saw Shepard Smith ask a legal expert if the killer could use "I was protecting the babies" as a defense!!! Is this goddamn serious? On CNN, they feel the need to bring on a local who knew him to say "Tiller wasn't a monster." Why the hell would I assume that he was, unless you wanted me to by adding that little tidbit. Sick. We get Anderson Cooper discussing "both sides" on the issue of "the health of the mother" for ten minutes, because obviously, we can't even have a discussion about Tiller's slaying without throwing in a right-wing talking point to provide "balance." It makes me want to puke.
No one (aside from Keith and Rachel) has mentioned the right-wing hate mongers. No one has said a word about Operation Rescue. Just a ton of below the surface nudges that say to the viewer "No one can justify murder, but this guy was doing some pretty sick stuff, so let's not make a big deal about it." And platitudes for the pro-life movement for condemning the act. That's right, congratulations for coming out against a citizen of this country providing legal medical procedures getting gunned down in his church. We have truly hit the bottom.
Can you imagine what the media's reaction would be if a religious right leader was gunned down in his place of worship by a liberal fanatic? The story would never, ever end. Of course, it isn't liberals who react to public policy disagreements by executing those they disagree with while they are passing out church bulletins. This story has been distorted and diminished. Keith and Rachel did fantastic work on this (especially Rachel, providing a detailed history of this type of violence, and calling out O'Reilly head on, thank god for her), but everyone else can hang their head in shame. By the way, O'Reilly's double down on his anti-Tiller rants that led off tonights show must be seen to be believed. I don't think I have ever seen anything as sickening on television in my life. In O'Reilly's head, Tiller was murdered because he destroyed 60,000 fetuses (as if that stat, if even true, is supposed to mean anything) and Bill O'Reilly is the victim because people are being critical of him. This man is beyond sick. Fox News, since Obama's election, has literally become dangerous. If Beck, O'Reilly, and Hannity continue this drumbeat of apocalyptic fear, I have no doubt we will continue to have incidents like this on a regular basis. How many times will it take for people in this country to realize that the cowards in the conservative echo chamber are inspiring, and let's be honest, hoping that these mentally disturbed listeners take matters into their own hands, thus accomplishing what the right can't do at the ballot box, which is making it not illegal, but impossible to get a abortion.