Not even a full 24 hours has passed since Dallas police shooting suspect Micah Johnson (and his possible accomplices) killed five cops and injured seven others during a Black Lives Matter protest. Yet the tragedy’s freshness hasn’t deterred public officials, or anyone else with access to a live news feed, from saying something decidedly silly about the matter. Like Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, who spoke with Outnumbered co-host Harris Faulkner on Fox News.
Patrick, whose penchant for commenting on matters like the Orlando nightclub shooting and transgender bathroom legislation has become the stuff of legend, wasted no time in ridiculing everyone but the alleged shooter. He didn’t name names à la Donald Trump’s Virginia campaign chair, but one comment about the Black Lives Matter protesters in attendance stood out:
“All those protesters last night, they ran the other way expecting the men and women in blue to turn around and protect them. What hypocrites! I understand the first amendment, I understand freedom of speech, and I defend it… But you can’t go out on social media and mainstream media and say that the police are racist.”
“Last night was peaceful,” Patrick described the protest earlier in the segment. However, he didn’t waver when he assigned blame to “former Black Lives Matter protests,” public figures like Rev. Jesse Jackson, and others who routinely cast law enforcement officials in a negative light.
Meanwhile, Patrick’s boss, Texas Governor and transgender-bathroom-rights-are-like-the-moon-landing advocate Greg Abbott issued an altogether different statement:
Every life matters.
With each innocent life lost, we lose more of our humanity.
It is time for us to unite as Texans, as Americans, to say no more.
(Via Dallas Morning News)