Putting the ASS in Assassination, part 2

During an on-air discussion on with Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer, contributor Liz Trotta jokingly endorsed the assassination of Sen. Barack Obama. This coming right off the heels of Hillary's vile and tasteless comments.

When asked about the aforementioned story with Clinton, Trotta stated that "some are reading [this] as a suggestion that somebody knock off Osama." Hemmer quickly inteceded by pointing out Trotta's intention to say "Obama" instead. From there, Trotta goes on to say "...both if we could". This was immediately followed by chuckles. See for yourself:




It's bad enough that Fox News once again put somebody in front of a camera who apparently can't seem to make the distinction between an honorable man running for the highest office in the country with the heartless person who masterminded the attacks of September 11. This is a clear attempt to undermine the legitimacy of Obama's candidacy by using associative propoganda (by name) as an imaginary link to some sort of clandestine terrorism. Accentuating the "Hussein" part of his name is another such tool. I get that. I'm angry about that, but I'm certainly not suprised.

Where I draw the line is with Trotta's contention that not only can Obama and Osama NOT be differentiated, but that they both need to be assassinated.

Trotta tried to offer an apology later:



...but like Hillary's tepid and bland apology, Trotta's apology fell upon my deaf ears.

I don't know how gaffes about killing a human being make you feel. But as for me and my house, I refuse to tolerate this any longer. Whether or not Trotta was joking is irrelevant to me. Whether or not Trotta was contrite is irrelevant to me. Yes, I may be willing to forgive the unforgivable. Yes, I'm the biggest fan there is of freedom of speech. But if I can get detained for joking about blowing up an airplane (I haven't, but you get the point), people should be brought to bear for joking about the assassination of a presidential candidate; particularly when the blood of so many other political leaders has been spilled in similar grotesque fashions.

While I have indicated that I will forever be a proponent of the freedom of speech, I've also indicated that this freedom does not necessarily provide a cloak for expressing said freedom without some level of consequence. That said, I'm following in Malik's footsteps by urging you not to go after Fox News themselves. We all know that protests are pretty pointless these days. Instead, hit them where it hurts: through their sponsors. Similar to how Gina from What About Our Daughters successfully launched a campaign against BET by calling out its sponsors; I urge you to let Fox News' advertisers know that you will not support them as long as they subscribe to nonsense "news" outlets that openly allow people to joke about assassinating presidential candidates.

I'd like to be the optimist and say that most decent Americans don't endorse -- nor are entertained by -- the lunacy that gets produced on Fox News. Still, the very existence of such lunacy is in itself problematic. Again, to deny its existence is to deny every freedom that we have as Americans. But the media must be held accountable when they choose to deviate from their journalistic responsibilites of increasing our understanding of the world and sustaining our discursive democracy instead of broadcasting the ultimate in disrespect that comes with joking about assassinating our leaders.

H/T to Malik for this story.

- ACL