Sunday, in Ohio, a man, who was later found to be armed, was arrested for pushing his way through a crowd and charging towards Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton at a campaign stop. Predictably, it would only be a matter of time until the leftist media participated in blaming rhetoric from the right for what took place, which was the case Monday on CNN's The Lead with Jake Tapper when fill in host John Berman allowed a guest to claim Republican Gubernatorial Nominee Vivek Ramaswamy was personally responsible for the attack.
John Berman, filling in, provided details of what happened, "Several people were injured. The suspect, 38 year old Patrick Havas, is expected to face assault and disorderly conduct charges. Law enforcement says he was carrying two firearms and a pair of brass knuckles, although he did not brandish a weapon during the incident."
He then welcomed in former Congressman John Boccieri (D-OH), who was at the event, and he described what he witnessed:
BOCCIERI: He was a rather large man, came barreling through the tent, with his camera in hand and filming and and yelling Dr. Acton's name. He proceeded to knock several elderly volunteers and and fairgoers to the ground.
(...)
... we found that the State Highway Patrol had found weapons on this individual.
BERMAN: So again, there is no evidence that he was brandishing the weapons. I should say that.When you saw the suspect pushing and he's trying to film the action, you say, what did you hear him say exactly? And did you pick up anything that indicated maybe what his motive was there?
While Boccieri indicated he had some ideas about motive, he did not reveal them, nor did he really answer Berman's question:
There's some second and third order effects of what I believe could be his motive, but the most immediate one, the one that the State Highway Patrol reacted upon, was him barreling through the crowd, knocking fairgoers and volunteers to the ground.
(...)
And you don't come barreling through a tent to ask a question to a gubernatorial candidate with the with two sidearms, two Glocks, and a loaded weapon and brass knuckles. There was no expectation that he was there to give Amy Acton a hug. This was - this was malicious. It was violent. And, you know, I believe that the charges are accurate and, and very much in line.
Boccieri continued to describe what he saw with reference to the political climate:
This incident was frightening and it should alarm every Ohioan. You know, regardless of your political affiliation, there's just no place for this kind of intimidation and violence. to volunteers, to fairgoers, to candidates themselves. And, I think that these are deeply we live in deeply divided times, but our disagreements should never lead to this kind of violence.
So far a very non-political Q & A, but the stage had been set, and that was about to change, as the name Vivek Ramaswamy, Acton's Republican opponent was brought into the mix by Berman:
We've seen an unacceptable rise in political violence over the last few years there's no question about that.
This race has been tough. I mean very tough. Dr. Acton is declining to debate with the Republican nominee, Vivek Ramaswamy. The PAC behind him is running a brutal campaign ad right now, including one that alleges that Dr. Acton struggles with alcohol and drug abuse issues, she denies both.
Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign did release a statement condemning the incident, with a spokesperson calling it unacceptable and saying candidates should be able to meet with voters without having to worry about threats or violence.
And then came the softball toss to Boccieri, teeing him up to directly blame Ramaswamy for the attack. Boccieri couldn't hide his appreciation:
BERMAN: What role do you think the rhetoric in this particular race may have had may have contributed, how it might have contributed to what happened?
BOCCIERI: Well thanks for asking that question, John. The type of campaign that Vivek Ramaswamy has run is built on misinformation and fear mongering and the the reckless rhetoric that has been used in this campaign, can bring out and drive the most, most dangerous impulses of our citizens. And he owns this.
This might have been a good place to step in and ask, "Are you saying Ramaswamy is responsible for the attack" Of course, he did not. He let His guest continue:
He has run a deeply vicious and personal campaign against her. I think it's less than honorable, to be honest with you. And I just think that we ought to get to the issues. We have to talk about where Ohio can move forward and how we can move the state forward and less on the personal attacks that he has run.
Berman never asked Boccieri for any examples of the vicious campaign being run by Ramaswamy, or how his campaign might have motivated the attacker. All Berman did was repeat what he had previously stated, "As we noted Vivek Ramaswamy his campaign, did condemn the incident at the fair grounds yesterday."
None of this was new or unexpected, it's what the leftist media does, and it comes on the heels of CNN's Maria Cardona blaming President Trump himself, for the multiple attempts on his own life. Sick, twisted and scary.
