60 Minutes doesn't mention 'Democrats' or 'Bernie Sanders' in Scalise interview

A curious omission from Sixty Minutes correspondent Norah O'Donnell, who interviewed Rep. Stephen Scalise, who was shot practicing for the congressional baseball game last June.

The shooter, James Hodgkinson, was a Democratic activist and Bernie Sanders supporter.  You wouldn't have gotten that information from O'Donnell, who referred to the shooter as simply "anti-Republican."

NORAH O'DONNELL: Did you see the shooter?

STEVE SCALISE: Never saw the shooter.

The shooter was 66 year-old James Hodgkinson. According to the FBI, he'd posted anti-Republican views on social media and had "a piece of paper that contained the names of six members of Congress." We've learned they were all conservative Republicans. Scalise was not on the list but two of his teammates were.

NORAH O'DONNELL: Do you believe you were targeted as a Republican?

STEVE SCALISE: I think it was clear he had a political agenda if you want to even call it that. And it's a sick twisted agenda. I don't think he could have been in the right frame of mind. But it was clear what his intentions were.

It's not as if Hodgkinson tried to hide his affiliation or where his loyalties lay.  He also didn't try to hide his motive.

CNN:

James T. Hodgkinson, the man identified as shooting a Republican member of congress and four others on Wednesday morning, was a small business owner in Illinois who defined himself publicly by his firm support of Bernie Sanders' progressive politics – and his hatred of conservatives and President Donald Trump.

This is based on CNN's review of Hodgkinson's Facebook profiles, public records, and three years of impassioned letters to his local newspaper.

"Trump is a Traitor. Trump Has Destroyed Our Democracy. It's Time to Destroy Trump & Co." he posted on his personal Facebook page on March 22.

"Republicans are the Taliban of the USA," he posted in February. ...

Hodgkinson's online presence was largely defined by his politics. For example, his public Facebook posts date back to 2012 and are nearly all about his support for liberal politics. He was passionate about tax hikes on the rich and universal health care.

In the past year, most of his Facebook posts consisted of signed petitions on Change.org with titles such as: "Bernie – please run no matter what;" "Hillary Rodham Clinton should concede the nomination to Bernie Sanders;" and "Healthcare for all Americans."

In one public post on May 24, he signed a petition to "Stop the NEXUS Pipeline" in Michigan and Ohio. After Hodgkinson's Facebook profiles were discovered by news reporters, they were updated to prevent public access.

On Wednesday, Senator Sanders publicly acknowledged that Hodgkinson had volunteered for his presidential campaign last year, but he denounced the violence as "despicable."

Hodgkinson's own descriptions on social media portray him as an avid consumer of political shows. His favorite television shows were listed as "Real Time with Bill Maher;" "The Rachel Maddow Show;" "Democracy Now!" and other left-leaning programs.

His favorite movie? The documentary "Inequality for All," featuring progressive economist Robert Reich.

He had also joined several anti-GOP Facebook groups, including "Terminate The Republican Party;" "The Road to Hell Is Paved With Republicans;" and "Join The Resistance Worldwide!!"

This was a political assassination attempt.  Not even mentioning the shooter's politics is journalistic malpractice.  There are a lot of people who are "anti-Republican" – including some Republicans.  That Hodgkinson's Democratic party activism wasn't mentioned was a deliberate effort to downplay the political motivation for the assassination attempt.  Would there have been a similar attempt to gloss over the political motivation of a shooter if he was a Republican? 

It is also incomprehensible why the shooter's strong support for Bernie Sanders never came up in the report. 

The inconvenient truth not mentioned by Sixty Minutes is that the hysterical, exaggerated, violent rhetoric directed against Trump and Republicans by Democrats and the far left was the primary motivating factor in Hodgkinson's shooting spree.  The bottom line is that Democrats enabled Hodgkinson and have yet to be called out for it.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/10/60_minutes_doesnt_mention_democrat_or_bernie_sanders_in_scalise_interview.html