The difference between Mrs. Palin and Ms. Dean is that Ms.
Dean is brighter, a more accomplished rhetorician, and, according to Mr.
McEnroe, a trifle dangerous: “… I know it’s not a good day when you find out
you gotta run against Martha.”
Ms. Dean had barely announced her run for governor whenshe
was set upon by the usual crowd. Isn't this the Martha Dean who serves as a
lawyer to the sort of gun groups Governor Dannel Malloy and Connecticut’s gun-phobic
General Assembly had chased out of state to South Carolina? Yup, she’s the
one. Isn’t she the bible thumping, constitution hugging lady who ran on her
Facebook page a clip affirming that Adam Lanza’s murderous rampage at Sandy
Hook Elementary school was a hoax?
No, not really. The clip did appear on Ms. Dean’s Facebook
page. It served principally as an example of what may happen in the sometimes
wacky conspiratorial theory community when releasable information is withheld
by investigators for more than a year after the commission of a mass murder.
Some of the conspiracy theories might easily have been
disproved by the early release of known data that would not have compromised a
seeming endless criminal investigation. For instance, one of the conspiratorial
theories involved the presence of a second shooter – actually a man discovered
running near the crime scene and detained for questioning by police, who knew
moments after questioning him that he was not a participant in the crime.
Another theory revolved around the notion that the rifle
used by Adam Lanza was not an AR15. A grainy shot showed police removing what
was misidentified as an AR15 from the trunk of a car; the rifle was a shotgun
Mr. Lanza brought with him to the slaughter. Information of this kind could
have been released immediately without damaging a prospective investigation. The
lack of accurate data is the breeding ground of conspiracy theories, nearly all
of which easily could have been dispelled at news conferences.
No, the murderer was not, as was mistakenly reported, Ryan
Lanza. Yes, there was only one shooter. Yes, that shooter was Adam Lanza. Yes,
first responders did not immediately enter the school, though they arrived as
reports of shots fired were being beamed over police radios, a datum that did not
become available for public consumption until the publication of Danbury State
Attorney Steven Sedensky’s criminal report,
which was issued a year after the crime.
Facebook is used by most reporters and commentators to file
items collected for future reference, or to elicit comments, and the appearance
of a report on Facebook certainly does not signify assent to the report.
In an interview with Dennis House on “Face the State” almost
immediately after the posting of the video, Ms. Dean said “I do not endorse it”
(the video). She said that media misinformation “invited conspiracy theories.”
She denounced the possibility that the assault on Sandy Hook Elementary School
had not occurred, saying it was “ridiculous to raise the possibility they (the
children) weren’t (murdered).” Asked, “Has there been a cover-up?” Ms. Dean
replied “I have no reason to believe there was.”
All these direct quotes are readily available to any
reporter or commentator with a computer who may be inclined to suggest erroneously
in stories or commentary that Ms. Dean herself ever seriously entertained the
notion that the assault on Sandy Hook Elementary School was a hoax.
Comments
For the record, I don't hate Dean. She's my favorite Connecticut republican. And clearly the life of the party.
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That pretty much sums it up for me. In my opinion, Palin was the best candidate of the four on the 2008 p/vp tickets. She has a much better grasp of the fundamental problems facing the country than do the John McCainiacal Republicans in D.C. On the other hand, her very voice grates on me.
At a Tea Party rally a few years ago Ms. Dean spoke well, but her Bible thumping seemed misplaced. Let's see what she has to say about the problems facing Connecticut. In my humble opinion, the most pressing one is out-of-control government; too much spending/taxing and too little respect for the State's Constitution and the rule of law.
I hope the Republican Party will have a candidate who sees the big picture and is willing/able to speak clearly and forcefully.
Outside of moronic districts like the one I reside in here in Hartford, Nutmeggers are ready for a person who tells the truth about the State's fiscal position. If she is opposed to knee-jerk gun "control" legislation in violation of the State's Constitution so much the better, but, please, no bidding on a new improved minimum wage mandate on Connecticut employers, Mr. Foley.
Over at the Courant, Kevin Rennie expresses relief that Dean lost the AG race to replace Vietnam vet, Richard Blumenthal. In fact, if she had won Rennie would presently be "frightened." For my money, a person who suggests that the Newtown murders didn't happen displays serious perception deficiency, but what's really frightening, at least to those who aren't members of the bar and inured to it, is dishonesty in the attorney general community.
The suggestion that the Newtown shooting never happened, that its image is crude propaganda device thunk up by the anti-gun guys, puts me in mind of "Fast and Furious." The offense in that case is not in believing that Eric Holder deliberately allowed guns to cross the border, that scores of murders, including that of a U.S. Border Patrolman, were facilitated by his bizarre gun control tactics, or that Eric Holder has lied about it under oath. Nor is it offensive to remind ourselves that Eric Holder holds the country in contempt. His gross anti-American ideology justifies deceit and corruption. I have great confidence that Ms. Dean would not have facilitated the pardons of Mark Rich or a gaggle of Puerto Rican terrorists, but that she would vigorously pursue the President's abuse of the citizenry by the IRS.
Our present Governor may have no unusual or offensive beliefs, but I'm very much looking forward to replacing him. I wouldn't mind if the electorate were to give him an "unmistakable rebuke>". I will vote for the Republican nominee unless he is possessed of a lot of moral turpitude. In 2012 I sent $25 to Todd Akin after he declared something idiotic about rape and abortion. Would that the establishment Republicans had stood by him; we'd not be saddled with the corrupt female Senator McAsskil, whose inoffensive belief is that
"abortion should remain safe, legal and rare."