Bloomberg Slams Obama and Romney’s Responses to Colorado Dark Knight Rises Shooting
Just hours after news broke of the tragic shooting at a Colorado midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises, President Obama and Mitt Romney have released the expected statements of sympathy, and Mayor Bloomberg responded by criticizing both of them.
In response to the news, President Obama said he was “shocked and saddened” and released the following statement:
“As we do when confronted by moments of darkness and challenge, we must now come together as one American family. All of us must have the people of Aurora in our thoughts and prayers as they confront the loss of family, friends and neighbors, and we must stand together with them in the challenging hours and days to come.”
Mitt Romney’s statement wasn’t too radically different:
“Ann and I are deeply saddened by the news of the senseless violence that took the lives of 15 people in Colorado and injured dozens more. We are praying for the families and loved ones of the victims during this time of deep shock and immense grief. We expect that the person responsible for this terrible crime will be quickly brought to justice.”
Boilerplate, yes, but also respectful and appropriate. Bloomberg, however, is unimpressed. In a weekly appearance on WOR’s John Gambling Show, the Mayor sounded off:
“You know, soothing words are nice, but maybe it’s time that the two people who want to be President of the United States stand up and tell us what they are going to do about it, because this is obviously a problem across the country.
“And everybody always says, ‘Isn’t it tragic,’ and you know, we look for was the guy, as you said, maybe trying to recreate Batman. I mean, there are so many murders with guns every day, it’s just got to stop. And instead of the two people — President Obama and Governor Romney — talking in broad things about they want to make the world a better place, okay, tell us how. […] Most people say, ‘Well if you elect my guy, there will be leadership.’ But maybe the middle is going to demand that you tell them how. And they’re the ones that are going to decide this.”
Ouch. But, putting aside the fact that it wouldn’t have killed him to wait a few beats to jump into this, not to mention the political suicide Romney or Obama would have faced had they jumped straight into policy discussions instead of expressing sympathy, it’s hard to argue with his point that something like this will warrant a long, serious conversation about gun laws.
