When is a hate crime not a hate crime?

I was kind of half-joking when I wondered whether FOX would claim that the Charleston church shooting was part of the "War on Christianity."  But then Lindsey Graham went and did it for them:

Lindsey Graham Claims Right-Wing Racist Killed Black Church Members Because They Were Christian

Even though he very specifically said that he was there to kill black people.

Even though he said “I have to do it. You rape our women and you’re taking over our country.”

Even though he is clearly a white supremacist.

 Somehow, somehow Graham just can't bring himself to admit that this was a racially-motivated hate crime/terrorist attack.

This guy literally said out loud what his motivation for these murders was and Graham has the balls to sit there and speculate about "well, maybe he was one of those guys who hates Christians!"


Graham told the hosts of The View this morning that Dylann Roof had gone to school with his niece and she described him as “strange”:

“Strange, disturbed young man. Emily said in school he was just a quiet strange kid. Seems like one of these Newtown-type guys….I can’t explain this. I don’t know what would make a young man at 21 get so sick and twisted to kill nine people in a church, this is beyond my understanding.”

Really? You really can't understand how someone could be this filled with racist hate? Have you ever seen the internet?  Do you know how easy it is online to wrap yourself up in a blanket of hatred and paranoia? Have you ever heard AM talk radio? I know you're familiar with FOX. And some of the shit on the radio and online makes FOX look like the Elie Weisel Foundation.

And it goes without saying that when a Muslim person kills a bunch of people, it's because his religion encourages jihadism, and when a black person kills someone it's because of the flaws in "black culture," but a white kid who commits mass murder is just a "strange, disturbed young man," with no connection to any larger socio-political movement or gorup.

One of the hosts asked if Graham thought Roof was mentally disturbed or if he thought it was a hate crime. . .
"Probably both,” he replied. “There are real people out there that are organized to kill people in religion and based on race. This guy is just whacked out. But it’s 2015, there are people out there looking for Christians to kill them. This is a mean time we live in.”

Oh my God. Republicans will go through any amount of mental gymnastics to make it seem like their side is the one being victimized. This wasn't a group of black people being murdered by a white supremacist, this was a bunch of Christians, being killed by a religion-hater. Oh, what a scary time to be a Christian!

And, right on cue, it's the three stooges chiming in:

Fox & Friends: Charleston Massacre An Attack On Faith, Not Race

 Steve Doocy: Uhhh, it was released earlier—and extraordinarily they called it a hate crime—uhhh, and some look at it, because it was a white guy, apparently, and a black church, uhh, but you made a great point just a moment ago about the hostility towards Christians, so—and it was a church! So, maybe that's what their talking about. They haven't explained it to us.

 Jeezus Christ! "They" don't have to explain it to you. The shooter explained it himself. You don't need "them" to give you any insight into the murderer's motives, the murderer already told you why.

“I am here to kill black people”

How much more plain could he be?



It's also worth pointing out that this terrorist, who was known to be armed and extremely dangerous, was taken into custody by police without any shots being fired. Lucky for him, he wasn't an un-armed black kid.