On Charleston

(And isn't it interesting how these mass murders are known by place names?)

The responses to this horror have been coming thick and fast, and rather than do my own analysis (which I was going to do, but as I said, "thick and fast" and a little much to keep up with), I'm going to rely on a couple of other commentators.

First, Jon Green at AmericaBlog has a good recap of the Republicans' attempt to dodge the race issue:

Roof traveled over 100 miles from his home in Lexington, South Carolina in order to target Emmanuel Church specifically. Roof’s Facebook photos showed him sporting and taking pictures with white supremacist flags, ranging from the Stars and Bars of the Confederacy all the way to the apartheid-era flags of South Africa and Rhodesia. The suspect’s former roommate was quoted by CBS as saying that Roof had been “planning something like that for six months,” and “said he wanted to start a civil war.” Roof reportedly told his victims, who were all black, that “you rape our women and are taking over our country.”

This was not a random, senseless act of violence. This was a planned, thought-out terror attack. It fits every one of our criteria for terrorism: Violence committed by a non-state actor with a clear political motive — in this case white supremacy. So, of course, mainstream conservatives — some of whom have a non-zero probability of being our next president — took to the airwaves to remind everyone that, despite the shooter’s clearly-stated motives, the attack really isn’t about race.

It’s actually an attack on Christianity.

Let's keep one idea front and center: this was about race. It was all about race. That's all it was about. The Republicans' problem is that they are, for some reason, reluctant to address racism as an issue -- unless, of course, it's about whites being discriminated against, which isn't really going to fly in this context.

The first one that I saw who labeled this an example of persecution against Christians was that font of wisdom, Rick Santorum. Now, of course, everyone's piling on, especially since President Obama commented on the shooting and the ease of acquiring guns. Don't be fooled -- Rick Perry knows it's about drugs:

Instead of talking about guns, Perry said, we should be talking about prescription drugs: “Also, I think there is a real issue to be talked about. It seems to me, again without having all the details about this, that these individuals have been medicated and there may be a real issue in this country from the standpoint of these drugs and how they’re used.”

He said that such drugs are responsible for high suicide and joblessness rates, adding that “there are a lot of issues underlying this that I think we as a country need to have a conversion about rather than just the knee-jerk reaction of saying, ‘If we can just take all the guns away, this won’t happen.’”

There's more -- pick a Republican presidential candidate, or non-candidate, or Fox News -- and brace yourself for a completely irrelevant reaction.

Another good summary/analysis comes from Digby, who surveys the off-the-wall responses -- this, from WSJ, is worth highlighting:

Today the system and philosophy of institutionalized racism identified by Dr. King no longer exists.

What causes young men such as Dylann Roof to erupt in homicidal rage, whatever their motivation, is a problem that defies explanation beyond the reality that evil still stalks humanity. It is no small solace that in committing such an act today, he stands alone.

Emphasis added.

I'm at a loss for words after that one. (But do remember one of the crimes punishable by death: existing while black.)

If you want to see a prime example of the evil that stalks humanity, read this rant by white-supremacist, arch-homophobe and Duggar defender Tony Perkins. Or at least, as much as you can without ruining your keyboard.

Read both Green's and Digby's posts. I can't do them justice through excerpts.