Pirro on Garland: ‘Stop Blaming the Victim and Start Killing the Murderers’

On Saturday, the Fox News Channel’s “Justice with Judge Jeanine” host Judge Jeanine Pirro argued the US should “stop blaming the victim, and start killing the murderers” in her opening statement on the Mohammed Art Exhibit and Contest.

Pirro stated, “You know, free speech in america is non-negotiable. No matter what the perceived consequences, no matter the worry about retribution from Islamic extremists, period, end of the story. A primer, the First Amendment wasn’t established to protect speech that everyone agrees with. The whole point is to protect even hate speech, speech that offends, speech that insults. Even that liberal icon of the Supreme Court, Justice William Brennan wrote, ‘government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because…[it] finds…[it] offensive or disagreeable.’ The Supreme Court ruling burning of an American flag, burning of a cross, and cursing dead soldiers at their funerals by the Westboro Baptist clan, all disgusting and repulsive to me, are protected by the First Amendment. Pam Geller’s draw the prophet contest in Garland, Texas pales in comparison to those examples.”

She continued, “but because of her, many in the politically correct class want to re-think free speech because of the sensitivities of some. Like the New York Times‘ editorial board who said ‘blatantly Islamophobic provocations like the Garland event…can serve only to exacerbation tensions and to give extremists more fuel.’ Now, I, for one, am sick and tired of liberal apologists who believe in free speech unless they don’t. Where were they when the taxpayer dollars through the Endowment of the Arts put a crucifix of Jesus in a jar of urine and called it art? Where were they when another taxpayer-funded project showed Mother Mary surrounded by pornography and elephant dung? Now they want to re-think the First Amendment? Now they don’t want to offend Muslims? And to shut us up, they say the cartoon contest is inspiring ISIS to commit mass murder. Really? Was anyone drawing a cartoon of Mohammed when they hit us at the World Trade Center? They hate us. They don’t need a reason to kill us.”

Pirro then declared, “Look, we need to stop blaming the victim, and start killing the murderers. A simple example, you don’t protect the batterer or the abuser by telling the victim, ‘don’t get him upset, don’t provoke him, and you’ll be all right.’ Since when are we willing to surrender our Constitution to keep peace with those hell-bent on killing us anyway?”

She concluded, “I don’t care if you like Pam Geller, you don’t like her, or what her motives are, she has the right to say whatever she wants. Now, I don’t agree with what Pam did. It was probably a dumb move. But she did something that critics may not have thought about. She opened our eyes and teed up the discussion about whether free speech in America survives the pushback from Sharia Law.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett