If it isn't already clear, our government is otu of touch with reality. After Orlando (I almost said Katrina) it is clear that the Republicans should change their mascot from the Elephant to the Ostrich with his head in the sand. This all reminds me of Ty's mother in the movie "Sordid Lives." She knows her son is gay, but if she doesn't acknowledge it, maybe it isn't true. Republicans must know guns and mental health and hatred and backwards thinking are the all intertwined in this "gun control" issue. You say gun control and gun laws and Republicans act like you're talking about castration. Well, the Republicans didn't talk about the elephants in the room.
Published 3 days after the Orlando Massacre on the website TheWrap.com , a piece called Guess How Many Republican Senators Said 'Gay' or 'Guns" After Orlando, addressing the content of Republican statements about the Orlando incident, shows us that elephants may actually be quick to forget.
Zero Republicans said “guns,” according to TheWrap’s analysis of every official written statement issued by U.S. senators
Of the 50 Republican senators who issued statements in response to the Orlando massacre on Sunday, only three specifically mentioned the gay community — and none mentioned guns at all as a contributing factor in the incident.
TheWrap investigated official statements by every U.S. Senator in response to the slaughter of 49 people at the gay nightclub Pulse, both on their official websites as well as on social media.
And the findings reinforced the two parties’ divide on critical issues like terrorism, guns, LGBT rights and the threat of radical Islam even in the face of the most deadly mass shooting in U.S. history.
Here’s what TheWrap found:
- Of the 54 Republicans currently in the Senate, four released no statement at all: Thad Cochran (R-MS), Michael Enzi (R-WY), Dean Heller (R-NV) and Mike Lee (R-UT). Heller’s last statement on his website came two days before the attack and touted a “pro-gun amendment seeking to protect concealed carry rights” that he filed to attach to the National Defense Authorization Act.
- All but one of the 46 senators who caucus with the Democrats made statements about the Orlando massacre, and more than half of them mentioned the LGBTQ community. (Cory Booker of New Jersey was the only Democrat who did not release a statement or tweet about the tragedy.)
- No Republicans mentioned guns in their statements despite the renewed criticism about the lack of restrictions for assault weapons.
- Thirteen Democratic senators mentioned guns in their statements.
- Nine Republic senators mentioned “radical Islam” or “Islamic terror” while no Democrats did.
Only three Republican senators — John McCain, Mark Kirk and Ted Cruz — made any reference to the LGBTQ community.
“To all those visited by fear in the aftermath of this attack, including the citizens of Orlando and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community across the nation, I can only say we must not and will not give in to fear,” McCain said.
It was a rare Republican reference to the fact that the 49 victims’ sexual orientation seem to have factored into their targeting by the late suspect, Omar Mateen. Democrats, who have long counted on the LGBT community as a voting bloc, were less reticent to draw the connection.
“Sunday’s violence was fueled by hatred — hatred which has no place in America,” Sherrod Brown, Ohio’s Democratic senator, said. “We want our LGBT friends and neighbors to know that we stand with you in your grief and outrage, and we will not tolerate hate.”
The discrepancy over the causes of the attack also broke along party lines. While 13 Democratic senators mentioned guns in their statements, only Republican Sen. Ted Cruz referenced the Second Amendment — to defend it.
“They [Democrats] will claim this attack, like they claimed every previous attack, was isolated and had nothing to do with the vicious Islamist theology that is daily waging war on us across the globe,” the Texas senator said. “And they will try to exploit this terror attack to undermine the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms of law-abiding Americans.” – thewrap.com
It is said an elephant has a great memory. I read somewhere that what an elephant actually remembers is how to survive. Elephants remember fellow friendly elephants in the herd, they remember threats, recall good watering holes and pathways. Well Republicans, you have picked the wrong path. Know that the Gay Agenda is now the American Agenda and that is one for safety, security, and OUR survival. We will be a threat for you and the comforting piles of money you have received from the NRA. If we have our way, your terms will end and you will not survive.
h/t: – thewrap.com