Jack Kelly Sunday

I wasn't sure who Jack Kelly, conservative columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was writing about when he opened this week's column with this:

It was the Keystone Kops version of George Orwell’s dystopian novel of a dictatorship, “1984,” in which the past is rewritten to suit the political masters, words are robbed of their meaning. “War Is Peace.” “Freedom Is Slavery.” “Ignorance Is Strength.”

I mean, talk about rewriting history, Jack's the guy who wrote a column about Van Jones that was so fact-phobic the P-G removed it a few days later.  Jack's the guy who tried to spin the Reagan's two administrations into something both "popular" and "successful" (I wonder if his knowledge of Iran-Contra, the S&L and HUD scandals all went down Orwell's memory hole).

And we all know what happened when Jack Kelly wrote about slavery - twice.

So you'll forgive my assumption that the closest example of someone rewriting history to suit his political masters is Jack Kelly himself.

That being said, let's go look at what got Jack Kelly all bothered:

The Justice Department released Monday morning a partial transcript of Omar Mateen’s 911 call from the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. All references to ISIS and Islam were deleted.

“OM: ‘I pledge of allegiance to [omitted]. ‘I pledge allegiance to [omitted] may God protect him [in Arabic], on behalf of [omitted].’”

This effort to drop the killer’s motive down the Memory Hole was hilarious. It wasn’t hard to figure out what was redacted.

And:

That the real reason was to deceive Americans about the killer’s motive is made clear by the efforts of Democrats to blame the massacre on everyone but Islamists.

It wasn't difficult, that part's true, especially since the redactions were announced before hand - wait, didn't Jack tell you that?  He's trying to tell you that the Democrats and their lackeys in the DOJ erased any reference to Islam and the Islamic State and they were hoping you'd not notice.

But take a look at this portion of an interview Attorney General Lynch did with NBC's Chuck Todd a day before the partial transcripts were released:

LORETTA LYNCH: Yes, I'll be going to Orlando on Tuesday to continue my briefings in the case. Actually though what we are announcing tomorrow is that the F.B.I. is releasing a partial transcript of the killer's calls with law enforcement from inside the club. These are the calls with the Orlando P.D. negotiating team who were trying to ascertain who he was, where he was, and why he was doing this, all the while the rescue operations were continuing. That'll be coming out tomorrow and I'll be headed to Orlando on Tuesday.

CHUCK TODD: Including the hostage negotiation part of this?

LORETTA LYNCH: Yes. It will be primarily a partial transcript of his calls with the hostage negotiators.

CHUCK TODD: You say partial. What's being left out?

LORETTA LYNCH: Well, what we're not going to do is further proclaim this individual's pledges of allegiance to terrorist groups and further his propaganda.

CHUCK TODD: So we're not going to hear him talk about those things?

So tell me how that fits into the Orwellian memory hole?

Now let's look at what the DOJ released after  the GOP poop hit the PR fan:

The purpose of releasing the partial transcript of the shooter's interaction with 911 operators was to provide transparency, while remaining sensitive to the interests of the surviving victims, their families, and the integrity of the ongoing investigation. We also did not want to provide the killer or terrorist organizations with a publicity platform for hateful propaganda. Unfortunately, the unreleased portions of the transcript that named the terrorist organizations and leaders have caused an unnecessary distraction from the hard work that the FBI and our law enforcement partners have been doing to investigate this heinous crime. As much of this information had been previously reported, we have re-issued the complete transcript to include these references in order to provide the highest level of transparency possible under the circumstances.

Again - what memory hole?  Didn't they just acknowledge that much of the information they redacted was "previously reported"?

Admittedly, it probably wasn't the best decision this DOJ made.

But look at it the other way, as the right wing charges that the left wing wants to "blame the massacre on everyone but Islamists" the truth is far closer to this: The right wing wants to blame no one but the Islamists.

Yes, the reasons for the massacre can't possibly be anything other than the dangerous faith of all those non-Christians and how they want to kill each of us.  All they need is the opportunity and their God-given Constitutional right to a Sig Sauer MCX and all the ammo they can carry.

That's what the right wing is trying to sell to you.  And Jack's Minitrue column is simply part of that doublespeak narrative.