“Have you no sense of decency, sir?” is a famous line from an ugly time in American political history. It was said by attorney Joseph Welch during the “Army-McCarthy” hearings in 1954. Sen. Joseph McCarthy was investigating the US Army for Communist activities and Welch was the attorney for the Army. When McCarthy began to slander a young attorney at Welch’s law firm, Welch uttered that famous line to McCarthy, which attracted much sympathy across the nation against McCarthy’s witch-hunts.
I thought of Welch’s quote over the past few days every time I heard a politician, commentator or columnist try to use the horrible shooting in Tucson, Arizona for political gain. I sadly watched them claiming it was the fault of the “right-wing” or the Tea Party or even Sarah Palin. Shame on everyone that resorted to such a pathetic politicizing of this horrible shooting. I must wonder if any of them have any sense of decency?
And you wonder why the American people are so turned off by politics? It is very clear that we have a mentally deranged young man here that committed a hateful and evil act. Our hearts break for the six that were killed, and we grieve for their families. All Americans should stand together against this horrible shooting.
Unfortunately, even if there was no right-wing or Tea Party or Sarah Palin, this troubled kid would have been facing the same demons and would have still took that gun and killed and maimed innocent people.
Pray for the victims and consider ways to keep guns away from the mentally ill. But don’t dare take this deranged act and try to exploit it for some political cause. Please try to demonstrate some sense of decency. For those that do exploit this – you should hang your head in shame!
County Legislator
Jim Maisano
914-636-1621
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