Leftists quite frequently trash their opponents by saying they have "blood on their hands." This is quite common in gun-control debates, and now it's happening in fights over so-called "gender-affirming care." Journalists rarely object to the Left employing this rhetorical tactic.
But on Sunday, ABC This Week host Jonathan Karl freaked out that Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott would say Biden has blood on his hands -- for the October 7 mass murder of Israelis.
This is always harsh talk. Deadly crimes should be blamed on the criminals. But the media double standard is obvious. Karl pressed Scott to take it back, that it's not Scott's style.
ABC’s @JonKarl scolds @SenatorTimScott: “Do you regret saying that" Biden "has blood on his hands?” Scott: “No.” Karl: “To say that Joe Biden is complicit...in the greatest, deadliest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust...that’s beyond the pale, isn’t it?” #ThisWeek pic.twitter.com/HWmMMbIg7W
— Brent Baker 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@BrentHBaker) October 22, 2023
KARL: I want to ask you about something that you said just a few days after October 7th, when Hamas attacked. You said that Joe Biden had blood on his hands. That didn't really sound like the Tim Scott that I know, the hopeful, optimistic campaign you talked about running.
But sometimes, in the heat of the campaign, you say things that -- that maybe you regret. Do you regret saying that, of saying that the president of the United States has blood on his hands?
SCOTT: I don't, actually. I'm a happy warrior, without any question. But we are now in the midst of a conflict, and so the warrior in me requires responsibility to start at the top. When you think about the fact that the weakness of Joe Biden attracts conflict around this world, and frankly, the negotiations with Iran is -- was specifically I was talking about. Six billion dollars for hostages only creates a bigger market for Americans abroad.
Karl just had to interrupt. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Scott pushed back:
SCOTT: Let me finish, Jon. That money, we know Hamas's first thank you was to Iran. Ninety percent of their money comes from -- from Iran. Put those pieces of the puzzle together. That's why this administration froze those dollars just last week.
KARL: But -- but, I mean, I'm glad you mention they froze the money, because none of that money has gone to Iran, none of it. And you said that he has blood on his hands. I mean, with all due respect...... the blood is on the hands of Hamas. And to say that Joe Biden is complicit, which you also said, in the greatest, deadliest attack...
SCOTT: Yes.
KARL: ... on the Jewish people since the Holocaust, I mean, that -- that's beyond the pale, isn't it?
Karl didn't object when state Rep. Zooey Zephyr went "beyond the pale" and he didn't object when Tennessee leftists and Democrats did it when they couldn't get any gun-control passed. Karl gushed all over state Rep. Justin Pearson without ever finding him "beyond the pale."
Karl's written two anti-Trump books, so he wouldn't object when this trope was used against Trump.
But Joe Biden! Get Karl a fainting couch. He just pressed and pressed Scott to recant it:
SCOTT: I'm saying with great clarity that weakness from the American president, plus the negotiations, leading to terrorist attacks by negotiating with the number one state sponsor of terrorism in the world. Yes, it creates complicity.
KARL: OK. But I -- I think we can agree that the blood is on the hands of Hamas. That's who is to blame for what happened.
Scott agreed "The person who pulls the trigger is primarily responsible, but that does not release the president of our country as being complicit."
