At least Mike Grunwald, Time Magazine‘s senior national correspondent, is honest:
The Aurora Shooting: Sometimes There’s Nothing Wrong With Politicizing a Tragedy
If advocates or experts or even politicians think their policy ideas can prevent the next Aurora–by preventing potential killers from obtaining guns, by making sure potential victims can carry guns, or by some other method–then by all means, now is the time to spread the word. Pretty soon, the pundits will be back to “you people” and “you didn’t build this” and whatever new verbal gaffe overwhelms the competition to lead the free world.
It’s telling that the people who get paid to analyze politics recoil at the notion that its practitioners should connect it to real-life pain. They think they’re covering a sport, an entertainment. But politics matters, because policies matter. “Obamacare” and “gay marriage” are not just issues that might play badly with swing voters or turn the tide in Virginia; they’re issues that affect people’s lives. Gun control and the Second Amendment are issues, too, and now seems like a pretty good time to talk about them.
In times such as these, most people think first of the victims and their families. The media, naturally, just wants to fight for political advantage.
Grunwald is careful to straddle both sides of the gun control debate, but methinks he knows that, if the media decides to politicize this, which way the media will go.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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