The Commander-in-Chief of the United States Armed Forces finally saw fit yesterday, two days after the murder of Pvt. William Long and the attempted murder of Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula, to issue a statement on this attack on two young men who had pledged him their service (HT: Michelle Malkin):
I am deeply saddened by this senseless act of violence against two brave young soldiers who were doing their part to strengthen our armed forces and keep our country safe. I would like to wish Quinton Ezeagwula a speedy recovery, and to offer my condolences and prayers to William Long’s family as they mourn the loss of their son.
Compare this to Sarah Palin’s statement, issued Tuesday (yes, a sitting governor took this seriously enough to respond more promptly than the President of the United States):
The stories of two very different lives with similar fates crossed through the media’s hands yesterday—both equally important but one lacked the proper attention. The death of 67-year old George Tiller was unacceptable, but equally disgusting was another death that police believe was politically and religiously motivated as well.
William Long died yesterday. The 23-year old Army Recruiter was gunned down by a fanatic; another fellow soldier was wounded in the ambush. The soldiers had just completed their basic training and were talking to potential recruits, just as my son, Track, once did.
Whatever titles we give these murderers, both deserve our attention. Violence like that is no way to solve a political dispute nor a religious one. And the fanatics on all sides do great disservice when they confuse dissention with rage and death.
And then, further, compare this to the statement of our Commander-in-Chief on the murder of George Tiller:
I am shocked and outraged by the murder of Dr. George Tiller as he attended church services this morning. However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence.
What conclusions can be drawn from these comparisons? I can think of four.
- Barack Obama cares more about the murder of abortionists than about the murder of American soldiers. The former “outrages” him, the latter merely “saddens” him.
- Barack Obama is more willing to condemn those who act in the name of Christianity than those who act in the name of Islam. Murder by the former is “heinous,” while murder by the latter is merely “senseless” (never mind that it made perfect sense to Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, formerly Carlos Leon Bledsoe). This makes sense, given that he appears to be committed to a policy of naïve appeasement of global Islam, while his attitude toward evangelicals who don’t like his actions is, “I won.”
- Governor Palin takes the murder of American soldiers more seriously than President Obama.
- The likes of al’Qaeda are going to be a lot more worried if Sarah Palin is elected president down the road than they will ever be about Barack Obama.
Man, what I would do to be given a third choice politically.
Choice One: All Muslims do is try to blow us up and violate human rights.
Choice Two: Let's all pretend that Muslims never try to blow us up or violate human rights.
How long ago was it that there were death threats about a cartoon? I buy into a large Muslim moderate group (in the US at least, since I have almost no experience with Muslims overseas) and I get that they are never given time on the news (no one who is reasonable does anymore) but still – can't we just find some middle ground?
That third choice is well represented, actually; that's where, among others, George W. Bush stood and stands. (It's one reason Dick Cheney's been criticizing him in recent months.) I suspect that moderate Muslims (who are in my limited experience as well the vast majority of Muslims in this country) would get a lot more play if they'd stand up more and stand against the tactics and behavior of the jihadists.