Ex-New York governor George Pataki, a Republican, and Patrick Lynch, head of a New York City police union, launched into finger-pointing today by blaming yesterday’s assassination of two NYPD police officers by a deranged ex-felon on President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, Mayor Bill de Blasio, peaceful protesters, and everyone else who objects to police brutality. I’m disgusted by their hateful behavior.
Pataki tweeted, “”Sickened by these barbaric acts, which sadly are a predictable outcome of divisive anti-cop rhetoric of #ericholder &mayordeblasio. #NYPD.” Lynch said, “There’s blood on many hands tonight.” At the hospital where the mortally wounded officers were taken, dozens of cops turned their backs on the mayor when he arrived as a show of disrespect.
There already was bad blood between the mayor’s office and the police union, apparently because the mayor hasn’t sucked up to the union to Lynch’s liking. (It seems to me a mayor’s job is to supervise the police, not kowtow to them.) Last week, before these killings occurred, Lynch had asked his union members to sign forms pledging the mayor would not be invited to their funerals if they’re killed in the line of duty.
GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham also hopped on the blame-Democrats train, but in a more beating-around-the-bush way. He said, “I blame the shooter and nobody else.” Really? He added, “I think that the mayor of New York has probably undercut his cops and the attorney general is trying to walk a fine line. … But the tone they’re setting around the rhetoric regarding the cops incites crazy people. But I blame the shooter.” Really?
What Lynch, Pataki, and Graham are doing is stupidly divisive. While the rest of the country closes ranks behind the police and grieves along with them, these incendiaries are working overtime to turn police deaths into a political weapon against their ideological opponents. These killings were committed by a deranged, possibly insane, individual — a nut who shouldn’t have had access to guns.. To play politics with it by blaming Democratic politicians and peaceful dissenters is reprehensible. And we should tell them so.
NAACP president Cornell Brooks, with admirable calm, responded, “To link the criminal insanity of a lone gunman to the peaceful protests and aspirations of many people across the country including the attorney general, the mayor and even the president is simply not fair.” That’s rational, reasonable, and responsible … in sharp contrast to the hissing and spitting of the rightwingers.
The message these Republican politicians and police unions are sending is that if you exercise your constitutional right to demonstrate against police brutality, it’s your fault if cops get killed in the line of duty. No. That’s wrong. It’s also stupid, vicious, and repulsive. But it will play well to the red-meat mobs of the irrational right. It will get some votes. Which is why these cynical and opportunistic politicians do it. Make sure they never get your vote.
Meanwhile, Lynch and the other cop union leaders like him (there’s more than one) aren’t doing their fellow officers any favors by saying things that alienate large swaths of the public and confirm for many people all the bad things they already believe about police. And making a show of disrespecting their civilian superiors is beyond stupid, it invites intervention and outside micromanagement, because it says in effect they can’t be trusted to respect or obey civilian authority. It’s a further invitation for the public to see police as a threat.
At a time when police are under fire, this inflammatory rhetoric can only further arouse the public against the police. It will cost the police sympathy and support 
when they need it most. What are they thinking?
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/naacp-president-not-fair-to-blame-holder-de-blasio-for-nypd-deaths/
Updates: The Seattle Times locked its comment thread after just 29 comments. Looks like they think this story is too hot to handle. A week from now, America may be divided into pro-cop and anti-cop factions along conservative-liberal lines. It’ll be a tragedy if that happens, but right now, it looks like that’s where this is going.
On Monday, Lynch’s comments were criticized by Philadelphia’s police commissioner and a CNN guest opinion; and a Gallup poll reveals that public trust of police, especially among minorities, has dropped dramatically since 2001.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/22/opinion/obeidallah-police-killing/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
http://www.gallup.com/poll/180230/drop-among-nonwhites-drives-police-honesty-ratings-down.aspx