Sticks & Stones (& Guns)

If you agree with President Obama, and a talk show host uses an unchivalrous word to describe you because of your views, congratulations! You get a shout-out at a press conference

, a personal condolence call from the President, and the opportunity to introduce him at a political rally.

If you disagree with President Obama, and a gun man shoots you because of your views, too bad! First, you get silence; then an anodyne seven-word statement condemning violence generally, and finally, an outright refusal on the part of the White House to specify whether or not the shooting was a hate crime -- despite the assailant himself announcing it was because of your views.

Welcome to Obama's America -- where shooting in defense of left-wing ideas is, apparently, less of a vice than uttering an insulting word on the right.