I thought this was a memorial to honor the dead and the wounded. So how do we get from that to t-shirts, distributed at the event, that say “Together We Thrive?” And what does that slogan have to do with the Tucson tragedy?
And then we learn that the slogan is warmed over from the Obama campaign. Now isn’t that just special.
The smoke from the gunpowder of the maniac who killed six and wounded thirteen others had barely dissipated and the liberal Democrat sheriff of Pima County, Clarence Dupnik, in a shameless display of his lack of common decency, was politicizing it, blaming the tragedy on political discourse. The establishment media ran with that story line, accusing the Tea Party, Rush Limbaugh, and Sarah Palin almost as accessories in inflaming the killer, Jared Loughner. Then his high school friend, Zach Osler, nuked that whole argument with his statement: [Jared] “did not watch TV. He disliked the news. He didn’t listen to political radio. He didn’t take sides. He wasn’t on the left; he wasn’t on the right.” And we learned, also, that his animus toward Congresswoman Giffords dated back to 2007, before the Tea Party even existed and before Sarah Palin was on the national scene.
But, even though it is a fantasy, a figment they created out of thin air, the Left loves the story line, and it’s too hard to just give it up. After all, if they hammer at the point for long enough, maybe eventually they can get conservatism branded as hate speech and get their critics off the air.
So they memorialize this notion that somehow this maniac was connected to the intensity of their critics with this “unity” message on the t-shirts: “Together We Thrive.”
Tacky. Just simply tacky.
Agreed. A large portion of the people there showed no class or respect. If I was there and one of my loved ones had been killed, I would have asked to speak and told them to shut the hell up or leave. Obama started his 2012 campaign right there and that was wrong of him. He has no shame.
Comment by David Hall:
My take is that I didn’t have a problem with Obama’s speech, and I don’t fault the audience, who merely reacted to what was presented. I do have a problem with the organizers, the t-shirts, and the message on the t-shirts. However worthy you may think the “unity” plea was, the subject of the memorial service should have been honoring the fallen, wounded, and the heroes of the day. Anything outside of that to me detracts from the honor that should have been given. And borrowing the slogan from Obama’s presidential campaign was positively tacky and shows the gross lack of class of many of those who associate themselves with Obama.
I find it interesting that the article decided to ignore the fact that the University of AZ decided to print the shirts. The White House had nothing to do with the idea. The Author of this article does not know what the intention of the slogan creator was. How does he know that it is linked to any Obama campaign slogan? This is his opinion and he is presenting it as fact.
First off it is a t shirt. Second of all, if that is the worst criticism of the event then I think it must have went very well. I understand that the Author has a bias and he is allowed to write with one. However, I think his attempt to present this bias as fact is far tackier then anything at the Tucson memorial service.
Response by David Hall,
Nice try at a defense. But, if you’re so passionate about separating facts from opinion, let’s look at what you wrote.
First, I never addressed the matter of who had the t-shirts printed. Nor did I address the intent. The slogan comes from the Organizing for America website (my.barackobama.com) – that is difficult to dispute. Stating that “The White House had nothing to do with the idea” goes beyond what you actually know and represents conjecture on your part. I don’t know if the White House was involved or not, and that’s not my point. My point, and my opinion, is that this was very tacky. And it sounds like you’re not too eager to defend on that point, which leads me to another opinion which is that I believe that on this point you do have some common sense.