Stand with Roseburg, and Listen

By Ed Hoffman

In the wake of another mass shooting, the President and his allies have once again followed the liberal directive “never let a crisis go to waste” by using the tragedy as a platform for their agenda – the agenda, of course, being gun control. And to those who would accuse him of “politicizing” the tragedy in Roseburg, Oregon, he said, “This is something we should politicize. It is relevant to our common life together, to the body politic.”

First of all, does anyone actually know what “the body politic” means? Second, it would appear that those who accuse him of politicizing the tragedy includes the residents of Roseburg themselves. Finally, the residents of a victimized city are speaking out against letting the White House turn their town into a political football, and we should listen.

First, we should listen to the mother of victim Cheyenne Fitzgerald, Bonnie Schaan, who emerged from time at her daughter’s hospital bed saying her daughter should have been allowed to arm herself with a gun for self-defense. Ms. Schaan suggested that Americans everywhere should arm themselves. “I feel like our children ought to be able to protect themselves, somehow,” she said.

Next, we should listen to the publisher of the Roseburg Beacon newspaper, David Jaques, who expressed what he believes is the overall sentiment in the community. Jaques told Bill O’Reilly that the President is “not welcome” in Roseburg because people think he will grandstand for political purposes. “And that isn’t just my opinion,” he said. “We’ve talked to dozens upon dozens of citizens, some family members of the victims and our elected officials.”

Jaques continued, “When the President opened his press conference, we were still counting the bodies on our campus…He wants to come to our community and stand on the corpses of our loved ones and make some kind of political point. And it isn’t going to be well-received.”

For the past eight years, many cities have allowed the President to politicize the tragedies that took place on their soil. They just didn’t know any better. But now, we have a city that understands what is at play here and is speaking out. Roseburg, Oregon is saying, “Stand with us, mourn our victims…but don’t let them turn us into their pawn.” And we should listen.

Ed Hoffman is host of The Main Event on AM590, which airs Saturday 9:30 AM- 10:30 AM and Sunday 4:00 PM- 5:00 PM. Follow him on Twitter @EdHoffman, and like him on Facebook by searching The Main Event 590.