Several media conservatives have criticized President Obama for creating an “environment” and “climate” that helped foster the recent shooting at the Holocaust Museum.
Conservatives link Obama's purported “class warfare,” positioning “America against the Jewish state” to Holocaust Museum shooting
Written by Eric Hananoki
Published
In their reactions to the June 10 shooting at the Holocaust Museum, several conservatives in the media have criticized President Obama for creating an “environment” and “climate” that helped foster the shooting. For instance, financial analyst and radio host Jim Lacamp said on Fox News that “we have an administration that's really done a lot of class warfare, a lot of class-baiting. And so, it sets the stage for social unrest”; syndicated radio host Tammy Bruce repeatedly claimed that the Obama administration's “increasing anti-Israel rhetoric and the pandering to the Jew-hating world Arab world ... encourages all the beasts among us”; and Newsmax.com posted a column claiming that "[i]t is no coincidence that we are witnessing this level of hatred toward Jews as President Barack Obama positions America against the Jewish state."
During the June 10 edition of Fox News' Your World, Lacamp said that the Obama administration has engaged in “class warfare” and in “a lot of class-baiting,” which he said he's “very concerned about moving forward”:
CAVUTO: Well, and also we should say, the last terror attack -- but not this was not a terror attack, I got to stress that, and nor do authorities think it was -- but it occurred in Washington and it occurred in New York, and do you think, then, Jim, had this been in any other city -- take nothing away from a Wichita or a Macon, Georgia -- that it would've gotten the attention or gripped Wall Street the way this did?
LACAMP: New York and Washington, D.C., those are the two hubs, and anywhere else it would not have had the same impact. It does highlight something that I'm very concerned about economically, and that's social unrest. You have a lot of people losing their jobs; you have a lot of people losing their homes -- they're angry. And as interest rates go up, foreclosures accelerate, and we're going to have a lot of resets over the next two years. The same time, municipalities are cutting back on their police forces, and we have an administration that's really done a lot of class warfare, a lot of class-baiting. And so, it sets the stage for social unrest, and that's one of the things that I'm very concerned about moving forward.
CAVUTO: Although we're not making political views on this --
LACAMP: Right.
CAVUTO: I know where you're coming from.
Later during the program, Bob Newman -- a Colorado radio host whom Cavuto presented as a “terror expert” -- raised questions about whether Obama's recent visit to a concentration camp or his statement about Israeli settlements were factors in the shooting:
CAVUTO: But, Bob, normally when you're in tough economic times, it does bring out the sort of -- the home-grown loonies. And I wonder whether that's what we have to worry about, or we should be not forgetting. What do you think?
NEWMAN: That is oftentimes one of what is called the lead-up catalyst -- what led to this particular act that was mentioned just a few moments ago? What was the president of the United States doing last week? He was visiting a Holocaust site in Germany with Chancellor [Angela] Merkel. And a day or two before that, he was mentioning some things about the Jews in regards to the settlements in the West Bank. Were those factors here? Well, we don't know. That's what the investigation is for. Remember, simply because something might seem obvious upfront -- this has to be it -- not necessarily.
CAVUTO: Very true.
NEWMAN: And that's where the FBI will come in. They'll get to the bottom of it.
As Media Matters for America noted, Newman has a history of anti-Obama and anti-Muslim statements.
During her June 10 program, Bruce repeatedly claimed that Obama -- whom she refers to as "Urkel" -- “encourages” terrorist attacks and helped create the “environment” for attacks such as the Holocaust Museum shooting. While speculating about the identity of the shooter, who she said could be named “Muhammad,” Bruce said:
BRUCE: We have this development, as I've noted.
One of the more important positions of the president is to send a message to people everywhere about what's going on, and the message of this president is: Israel does not deserve support. We are the bad guys. We have been wrong. We must pander to Islamists. We are grabbing our ankles. And what does that manifest as?
It is no coincidence that in the first -- that it takes the first six months of this man's dawn of a new era, Americans are taken hostage by foreign tyrants and Muslims, who happen to be American, are planning to try and have murdered people in this country. This is the environment that has been created by the American left.
Bruce later claimed: “On a day when his spiritual mentor and father figure, and a man who considers him his son, complained about 'them Jews.' A few days after B. Hussein Obama speaks to Islamists in Egypt, pandering and apologizing and grabbing his ankles.”
Bruce also said: “Bottom line: The increasing anti-Israel rhetoric and the pandering to the Jew-hating world Arab world by the Urkel administration encourages all the beasts among us. ... When beasts among us get a sense that there is no leadership or you have a pantywaist in the White House, and there are no repercussions to what you do, and that this nation is bad, those kinds of people tell themselves they have permission to be crazy, to do want they want to do. Welcome to Urkel world.” She further stated: "[W]hen you go exclusively to the Jew-haters and pander, you encourage beasts like this. Suddenly, beasts like this guy believe that they've been in the right."
Echoing her radio comments, Bruce wrote on Twitter: “Whomever the shooter is, there is no doubt the increasing anti-Israel rhetoric by the Urkel admim [sic] inflames and encourages beasts among us.”
Hours after the shooting, Newsmax.com published a column by Rabbi Dr. Morton H. Pomerantz, a chaplain for the State of New York, headlined, "Obama Breeds Climate of Hate Against Jews." Pomerantz wrote: “Our new president did not tell a virulent anti-Semite to travel to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington to kill Jews, but he is most certainly creating a climate of hate against us. It is no coincidence that we are witnessing this level of hatred toward Jews as President Barack Obama positions America against the Jewish state.” From Pomerantz's column:
Our new president did not tell a virulent anti-Semite to travel to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington to kill Jews, but he is most certainly creating a climate of hate against us.
It is no coincidence that we are witnessing this level of hatred toward Jews as President Barack Obama positions America against the Jewish state.
[...]
While Obama acknowledged that “six million Jews were killed -- more than the entire Jewish population of Israel today” -- his discussion about the Holocaust was followed by this statement: “On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people -- Muslims and Christians -- have suffered in pursuit of a homeland.”
“On the other hand ... ”?
Obama's clever construct comparing the mass genocide of six million Jews to the Palestinian struggle will not be lost on the estimated 100 million Muslims who tuned into to hear him.
Perhaps it was not lost on James W. von Brunn, the 88-year-old white supremacist identified as the alleged attacker Wednesday at the Holocaust Museum. He apparently felt that he could easily take retribution against the Jews for the atrocities Obama implies they are guilty of.
From the June 10 edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto:
CAVUTO: Jim, I'm always interested in how, you know, Wall Street follows this, too --
LACAMP: Right.
CAVUTO: -- because there were a lot of things to worry about with the economy.
LACAMP: Sure.
CAVUTO: But I've got to tell you, to a man and woman I talked to in the business world, they all tell me, “Neil, what's going on in Washington, the shooting?” Even though we have a pay czar controversy over, you know, how much money we're doling out, this -- I always feel this is sort of the unaddressed scab for Wall Street, that they're not quite over this, and maybe after 9-11, they never will be. What do you make of it?
LACAMP: I think you're absolutely right. I think we've lost a generation of buy-and-hold investors. Now, keep in mind, the market, if you go back 13 years, isn't any higher than it was 13 years ago.
CAVUTO: That's true.
LACAMP: People lost a lot of money in 2000 to 2002 --
CAVUTO: And they don't need much to get off the buying pot, do they?
LACAMP: They sure don't. And they lost a lot of money in those three years, then they lost a lot of money in 2008. They're still hearing all this economic news. The housing market has not gotten any better, so I think there's a lot of skepticism about the health of the economy and the stock market as a result. And so, people are still very leery of the stock market, and you can throw Washington and Wall Street into that mix because they're still leery about people on Washington and Wall Street.
CAVUTO: Well, and also we should say, the last terror attack -- but not this was not a terror attack, I got to stress that, and nor do authorities think it was -- but it occurred in Washington and it occurred in New York, and do you think, then, Jim, had this been in any other city -- take nothing away from a Wichita or a Macon, Georgia -- that it would've gotten the attention or gripped Wall Street the way this did?
LACAMP: New York and Washington, D.C., those are the two hubs, and anywhere else it would not have had the same impact. It does highlight something that I'm very concerned about economically, and that's social unrest. You have a lot of people losing their jobs; you have a lot of people losing their homes -- they're angry. And as interest rates go up, foreclosures accelerate, and we're going to have a lot of resets over the next two years. The same time, municipalities are cutting back on their police forces, and we have an administration that's really done a lot of class warfare, a lot of class-baiting. And so, it sets the stage for social unrest, and that's one of the things that I'm very concerned about moving forward.
CAVUTO: Although we're not making political views on this --
LACAMP: Right.
CAVUTO: I know where you're coming from.
From the June 10 broadcast of Talk Radio Network's The Tammy Bruce Show:
BRUCE: All right, Tom, we'll move on from this. The basic news is that the suspect is in custody. We don't know if he is shot. We still don't know how this transpired; some of the early news I heard was that the shooter went in shooting.
We, of course, do not have a name, or if the word Muhammad is in the name. What we do know already is that for the first time since September 11th, we have incidences of American Muslims -- Barack Hussein Obama is in office for six months -- for the first time since September 11th, 2001, we have had incidences of American Muslims planning attacks on Jews and infidels, or, in the instance of our recruiter, Private William Long -- may God bless his soul, may he rest in peace -- being shot dead by an American Muslim who had plotted and planned a variety of attacks, including against Jews. We have this development, as I've noted.
One of the more important positions of the president is to send a message to people everywhere about what's going on, and the message of this president is: Israel does not deserve support. We are the bad guys. We have been wrong. We must pander to Islamists. We are grabbing our ankles. And what does that manifest as?
It is no coincidence that in the first -- that it takes the first six months of this man's dawn of a new era, Americans are taken hostage by foreign tyrants and Muslims, who happen to be American, are planning to try and have murdered people in this country. This is the environment that has been created by the American left.
[...]
BRUCE: Whether it is an Islamist or not, somebody chose to take a rifle into the Holocaust Museum six months into the B. Hussein Obama administration. On a day when his spiritual mentor and father figure, and a man who considers him his son, complained about “them Jews.” A few days after B. Hussein Obama speaks to Islamists in Egypt, pandering and apologizing and grabbing his ankles.
[...]
BRUCE: Bottom line: The increasing anti-Israel rhetoric and the pandering to the Jew-hating world Arab world by the Urkel administration encourages all the beasts among us. When there is also a seemingly -- a seeming lack of leadership and chaos -- there is a quiet chaos going on in this country right now, enough quiet chaos to where 1.2 million conservatives organize themselves on tax day.
So, you have the anti-abortion guy murdering Tiller. You've got the Islamists murdering a troop. You've got more American Islamists trying to plan, and planning, trying to implement the murder of Jews and infidels -- this is the Bronx group -- of course those two Islamist plans are ignored by the media. Big headline, now, out quickly: “white supremacist” -- as opposed to, of course, the fact that that means Jew hater. You got to make this be about race, even though it's about hating the Jews.
[...]
BRUCE: Bob in Miami says Obama's politics with the Islamic terrorists fomented this attack today at the Holocaust museum. Look, there is a reason why the Arab Islamists during World War II aligned with Hitler, because they had one thing in common: They wanted the Jews gone.
And this is just -- every dynamic, whether it is the murder of an abortion doctor, the murder of a troop, the murder of Jews, the shooting of tourists, here's what we can tell you: When beasts among us get a sense that there is no leadership or you have a pantywaist in the White House, and there are no repercussions to what you do, and that this nation is bad, those kinds of people tell themselves they have permission to be crazy, to do want they want to do. Welcome to Urkel world. This is what it is.
[...]
BRUCE: The people who are shooting people include those who are encouraged by the positions of B. Hussein Obama, including, of course, the troops -- look, when you say you're not going to release detainee photos because it's going to make people hate the troops, you're saying our troops have done horrible things. And then, oh my gosh, an Islamist -- an American Islamist murders a troop. What a shocker.
When you tell the world America's the bad guy, we will -- we're never going to defend ourselves again and we're just going to go negotiate with you, you get hostages taken. You get women hostages taken. And when you send a message to the world that Israel is a problem, Israel is committing genocide, that the so-called Palestinians have been put upon and deserve their own land, even though they had it and they used it as a terrorist man pad; when you go exclusively to the Jew-haters and pander, you encourage beasts like this. Suddenly, beasts like this guy believe that they've been in the right.
Why do you think an airplane falls from the sky? Because the enemy and beasts have been aided and comforted by a new world order that says you've been right, we deserve to be punished. Do it.