This page was last updated on February 9, 2011.
Don’t be deafened by noise machine; Lonzie Cox, Jr.; Beaver County Times; February 9, 2011. I am not related to Mr. Cox.
Most of Mr. Cox’s at least 62 letters since 2004 are tinged with race, and all take leftist positions.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“The Republican noise machine roared at full throttle after the Tucson massacre.”
[RWC] I’ll go out on a limb and assume Mr. Cox doesn’t consider himself or his pals at Beaver County Reds to be part of the lefty “noise machine.” It’s good to see Mr. Cox got into his normal name-calling right out of the chute.
“Republicans, conservatives, hate-radio talkers and tea-baggers of all shapes and sizes filled the media with denials that anything they had done could have influenced the shooter of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.”
[RWC] As a reminder, “hate” is leftyspeak for anything with which lefties disagree.
“These denials are really confirmations of guilt. We just emerged from an election in which an enormous amount of money was spent convincing a slight majority that the wrong party was the right choice.”
[RWC] “These denials are really confirmations of guilt?” If Mr. Cox checks the timeline, he would find his fellow lefties launched the accusations and those on the right simply responded. Indeed, one of Mr. Cox’s fellow local lefties conceded (probably by accident) responses from the right were “counterattacks.” Had those on the right not responded, Mr. Cox would have referred to that as “confirmation of guilt.”
As for the “enormous amount of money … spent,” FEC data shows Democrat House candidates spent about $545 million vs. $536 million by Republican candidates. In the Senate, Democrat candidates spent about $327 million vs. $394 million by Republican candidates.
“Right-wing groups utilized threatening language in ways not seen before and so incessantly that finally a congresswoman was shot down, a judge and five others killed and others wounded.”
[RWC] Note Mr. Cox didn’t provide any examples of “threatening language in ways not seen before and so incessantly.” I think you’ll find Mr. Cox’s definition of “threatening language” is similar to the leftyspeak definition of “hate.” That is, “threatening language” is anything with which lefties disagree.
A few years ago, I saw a labor union management operative working out at the Beaver County YMCA who wore a t-shirt with a gun-sight on the word “scab.” I wonder if Mr. Cox would consider that to be “threatening.”
“Then the right-wing/tea-bagger/Republican/NRA chorus cried out in unison, ‘Oh no, don’t blame us because all the meanness and hate and demonizing and shrieking Sarah Palin meant nothing. It was all in fun, and also the Glock automatic pistol assassin (Jared Loughner) is nuts and deaf and maybe a liberal as well. Who knows?’”
[RWC] I guess Mr. Cox didn’t get the memo that nobody was buying the BS that conservative “violent rhetoric” had anything to do with the Tucson shootings. If Mr. Cox wants to go down the “blame it on the right” road, consider Mein Kampf and The Communist Manifesto were among the shooter’s favorite books and at least one friend wrote “As I knew him he was left wing, quite liberal.”
The shooter is mentally disturbed (fixated on Rep. Giffords for years) and that’s the reason for the attack. Nothing else.
“Demonizing?” Ask I’ve asked before, does Mr. Cox read his own letters? Even if his comment were true, Mr. Cox’s letter-writing body of work would expose him as living in a glass house or the pot calling the kettle black.
“Shrieking Sarah Palin?” If you want to hear real shrieking, here’s then-Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) back in 2003.
“The Republican noise machine blares loudly on its way, destroying America as our foreign enemies never could but our domestic enemies surely will.”
[RWC] I could be wrong, but I suspect Mr. Cox’s definition of “domestic enemies” is anyone who doesn’t support his leftist ideology.
“Giffords was right when she said that words have consequences. They always have, and they always will.”
[RWC] Here’s the bottom line. All this hooey that mythical “right-wing rhetoric” foments violence is simply an attempt at censorship. You’ll note Mr. Cox didn’t seem to mind when Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) speaking on the House floor a few weeks ago compared Republicans to the Nazis. Perhaps Mr. Cox doesn’t believe comparing Republicans to Nazis is “hate.” It also wasn’t “hate” back in 2005 when Mr. Cox referred to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as “Clarence (the uncle) Thomas.”
Finally, I would like to go on the record saying I have no evidence Mr. Cox’s rhetoric had any influence on the shooter.
© 2004-2011 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.