From cartoonist Clay Jones about ‘Pray for This Deranged Cartoon,’ presidential candidates’ take on Colorado versus California, and the effect of prayers on Islam and gun violence.
The Republicans have been screaming about “Radical Islamic Terrorism” for a long time now. Meanwhile, they ignore greater threats. Yes. Greater threats, like climate change or non-Muslim Americans killing other Americans.
They were real slow in responding to a white guy shooting up a Planned Parenthood clinic. Why? Several reasons, but the main ones being they are waging a smear campaign against Planned Parenthood, the shooter is white, the shooter is a Christian, and mostly because the shooter shares a lot of their core values.
They almost tripped over each other to respond to the shooting in San Bernardino. That’s because the shooter is Muslim and he’s brown.
The Colorado shooting by a white, Christian Fundamentalist occurred on a Wednesday. The GOP candidates waited until Saturday to make statements. It’s been one day since the California shooting by a brown Muslim, and the candidates have spoken. Let’s compare.
Ted Cruz on Colorado: Praying for the loved ones of those killed, those injured and first responders who bravely got the situation under control in Colorado Springs. He also referred to the shooter as a “transgender liberal activist.”
Ted Cruz on California: “[A]ll of us are deeply concerned that this is yet another manifestation of terrorism, radical Islamic terrorism here at home.”
Mike Huckabee on Colorado: “It was mass murder,” he said. “It was absolutely unfathomable, and there’s no excuse for killing other people whether it’s happening inside the Planned Parent headquarters, inside their clinics where many millions of babies die or whether it’s people attacking Planned Parenthood.”
Mike Huckabee on California: Said there were always two “common denominators” for mass murders in the country: “One: A mentally unstable person. Two: A gun-free zone. And those seem to be the common denominators.”
Carly Fiornia on Colorado: “Any protesters should always be peaceful, whether it’s Black Lives Matter or pro-life protesters. What I would say to anyone who tries to link this terrible tragedy to anyone who opposes abortion or opposes the sale of body parts is, this is typical left-wing tactics…”
Carly Fiornia on California: “If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck and sounds like a duck, maybe it’s a duck.”
John Kasich on Colorado: “Senseless violence has brought tragedy to Colorado Springs. I pray for the families in mourning and have hope our nation can heal” (per Tweet)
John Kasich on California: “There can be no doubt that this is an effort to destroy our very way of life.”
Ben Carson on Colorado: “Unfortunately, there’s a lot of extremism coming from all areas. ”
Ben Carson on California: “Look at all the things that are going on around the world. ISIS and groups like this. Just hatred and evil.”
Marco Rubio on Colorado: “[W]e’re focusing too much on what it is people are using to commit violence, and not enough on why it is that people are committing violence.”
Marco Rubio on California: “We must not separate the threat to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv from the threat to Paris or London or New York or Miami.”
Donald Trump on Colorado: “I will tell you, there is a tremendous group of people that think it’s terrible, all of the videos that they’ve seen with some of these people from Planned Parenthood talking about it like you’re selling parts to a car.”
Donald Trump on California: “Radical Islamic terrorism. Take a look. I mean, you look at the names.” He then went on to criticize Obama for not using the term “radical Islamic terrorism.”
Chris Christie on Colorado: I can’t find anything, but he probably offered a prayer. He did have a tiff earlier this year over Colorado’s pot law. Maybe he felt a comment would be awkward.
Chris Christie on California: “We need to come to grips with the idea that we are in the midst of the next world war.” He also said it was the “first” terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11. I guess he doesn’t consider any gun violence terrorism and didn’t read a newspaper the week of the Boston Marathon bombing.
Jeb Bush on Colorado: “There is no acceptable explanation for this violence,and I will continue to pray for those who have been impacted.”
Jeb Bush on California: Praying for the victims, their families and the San Bernardino first responders in the wake of this tragic shooting.
The Republican main brand is fair, and this is another opportunity for them to sell that. Toward a solution, all the candidates have are prayers and a rush to hate Muslims. Neither is helpful or a solution to Americans shooting Americans. The New York Daily News is catching a lot of heat for illustrating as much on their front page. But praying while adding nothing else doesn’t change anything. Go ahead and pray for people. Despite some conservatives acting wounded over the prayer criticism, it’s not enough. Isn’t it just like conservatives to play victims over praying being criticized after 14 people were just killed?
How about in ADDITION to prayers (I said “in addition” you overly sensitive cry babies), proposing some solutions? How about actual legislation other than another bill to defund Obamacare?
Focusing on prayers and Islam isn’t stopping gun violence. Remaining silent over one shooting and taking a political advantage over another isn’t helping either.
The solution is fewer guns. Fewer guns for you. Fewer guns for me. And most importantly, fewer guns for bad guys. Seriously, it’s all empty rhetoric if you aren’t helping to keep guns away from terrorists, whether they’re domestic, foreign, Christian, or Islamic.
House Speaker Paul Ryan is against not selling guns to people on no-fly lists. We don’t have a problem leaving a douchenozzle stranded in Wichita, but we better not violate his civil rights by making him wait on purchasing a gun. This guy is the leader of Congressional Republicans. We’re in trouble. It’s also weird how Republican concerns over Constitutional rights are absent over issues such as hmmm … I don’t know … voting?
There are too many guns. That’s the foundation to this problem. Obama is doing a terrible job of rounding up all our guns before the U.N. invasion. I swear I’m not voting for that guy again.
http://claytoonz.com/2015/12/03/pray-for-this-deranged-cartoon/
I stand in admiration for the cartoon and especially for the accompanying article. This A-B comparison should leave no doubt about the underlying motivations and methods of the Republican political movement. What started as a bad idea (Reagan, Nixon) has become a pernicious clear and present danger (Bush, Cheney and the entire slate of Republican candidates). Countries have been overwhelmed by this kind of movement before.
WOW! The Independent is turning into ‘A Vote for Hilliary will save your soul’ platform rag. because ‘IT’S ALL BUSHES FAULT’ What a crap news source.
I wish we could create a humanity party, a political party with a heart and a brain. I’m sorry, but this article is just negative and so on the cartoon. I understood the point Mr. Jones was trying to make, but it isn’t helping the situation at all.