Shortly after the tragic murder of two members of the WDBJ news team–reporter Alison Parker and photographer Adam Ward–by a man now identified as Vester Flanagan (who goes by the broadcast pseudonym Bryce Williams), right wing news sites began to pour out puerile trash headlines like this one from Breitbart:
“RACE MURDER IN VIRGINIA: BLACK REPORTER SUSPECTED OF EXECUTING WHITE COLLEAGUES.”
And then social media kicked into high gear, with conservatives making sure to blame the whole thing on Democrats, with nary a word about the NRA or the role of the GOP in blocking any kind of sensible gun control legislation:
In times of tragedy, it’s important to make sure we stop, take a moment, & put @TheDemocrats political agenda first. https://t.co/lc1HJQZjWb
— Erik Soderstrom (@soderstrom) August 26, 2015
Another NRA bootlicker then chimed in with this post, in which he said that the reason Flanagan had committed the double murder could be attributed to his political affiliation:
All you ever needed to know about Vester Flanagan in one picture #Democrat #UniteBlue @Talkmaster pic.twitter.com/zOHL8uO4XS — Howie Rubenstein (@HowieRubenstein) August 26, 2015
Of course, some of the conservative trolls also had to make an attempt to link the crime with the Black Lives Matter movement:
VESTER FLANAGAN SINGLE -HANDEDLY DESTROYS BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT-MANIFESTO UPCOMING – http://t.co/FpyfAAhSZ5 pic.twitter.com/tbyMSCYdYq
— Larry Freeborn (@FreeboLarry) August 26, 2015
A black man murdered two white colleagues on live t.v. Keep giving #BlackLivesMatter a voice, MSM. They’re killing YOUR COLLEAGUES.
— Bree 🙂 (@bree_mars) August 26, 2015
Even Dana Loesch, whom you’ve no doubt seen on Fox News spewing out her particular brand of hate and ignorance, got in on the act:
Do all lives matter yet?
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) August 26, 2015
You know, I’m not sure what I find more disturbing about this whole thing which happened earlier this morning. It is indeed tragic that a man decided to take out his frustrations on two innocent people. The families of all involved should be in our thoughts and prayers.
But to see these right wing vampires then pile on and try to make their perverted political points in the midst of the suffering and mourning taking place across the country makes me angry and leaves me wondering if the jackals on the conservative side will ever change their tune.
I hope they can, but the evidence points to exactly the opposite.
