South Carolina presidential hopeful Sen. Lindsey Graham was a guest on ABC's The View this morning and discussed the horrific shooting massacre of 9 people at the Emanuel AME Church in historic Charleston, South Carolina. Conservatives on Fox News have tried to portray this act of domestic terrorism as an attack on Christians, and totally ignore that race had anything to do with it. I expect that from them, but for a SC Senator to do the same thing is very sad indeed.
Graham joined the hosts to talk about the possible motives of the shooter, who left nine people dead including the church’s pastor and former state senator Clementa C. Pinckney.
Graham wanted to assure viewers that this act is not a “window into the soul” of South Carolina. “It’s not who we are, it’s not who our country is, it’s about this guy,” he said of the assailant, “and this guy’s got tons of problems and to kill people in a church after sitting with them for an hour shows you tells you how whacked out this kid is.”
But despite the fact that the Justice Department has labeled the attack a “hate crime,” Graham was not willing to go that far. “There are real people who are organized out there to kill people in religion and based on race, this guy’s just whacked out,” he said. “But it’s 2015. There are people out there looking for Christians to kill them.”
Graham wouldn't comment on the hate crime aspect of the crime even though all the people were members of a famous black church, but instead he focused on getting votes from his right wing base by playing the "Christian persecution card." I guess the shooter's words don't matter at all to the Senator.
Many of Roof’s Facebook friends, including those from his high school, are black. The cousin of the church’s pastor who was killed quoted a survivor who said Roof told the church: “I have to do it. You’re raping our women and taking over the country. You have to go.”
Maybe he thinks Dylann Roof is an ISIS recruit?
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