RUSH: The governor of Missouri, Jay Nixon, before Obama came out, did his own town hall meeting type of event in Ferguson. Here is a portion of what he said.
NIXON: This community has been torn apart by this horrific and bad occurrence over the last week, so we need that safety. But we also need to allow folks who want to express their energy in an appropriate way, to have the absolute right to do that. Because we will not get the healing that we all need if the only response from the public is, “You all just be quiet.” There is a certain level of emotion that must be expressed in order for us to reach a higher plane.
RUSH: Now, folks, this goes exactly to the point that I made to our first caller today from Ferguson. Our first caller, if you didn’t hear it in the last hour, said that he was very happy that the cops are doing what they’re doing, protecting property, that they are being not tolerant at all of people engaging in further unlawful activity. If they spot it, they’re shutting it down. They’re stopping people, if need be they are arresting them. He said that people who live in neighborhoods nearby where the rioting and looting is taking place are scared and that he’s very happy and somewhat comforted by the fact that the cops are taking a hard line against any more of this lawless behavior. And he wanted us to know that he supported the cops in this regard.
He also made the point that the McDonald’s where these reporters were sitting working is boarded up because it was vandalized, which is a little bit conflicting with the reporters themselves who said they were in there and buying stuff from McDonald’s. But I want to go back, because the governor here just said something. I want to restate what I said to this caller. And I know this is true. I know it’s true because I’ve had e-mails from people who say it. But I don’t even need e-mails. I know people so well, I just do.
What triggered all of this? What appears to be a really bad mistake. A police officer in Ferguson shooting an unarmed black teenager. No excuse. Bad. Very bad. That’s horrible. There are some people who believe that the cops need to admit to people, outside of a formal investigation, they need to show people that they realize that this was a very bad thing that their fellow officer did, and that one of the ways they can do that is to, you know, sometimes look the other way when vandalism is taking place and understand that people are going to have these reactions. If you let them do a little looting, if you let them engage in some questionable civil unrest, and if you let them get it out of their system, that you’ll end up having peaceful circumstances prevail much sooner than if the cops act like hard line East German Stasi officers.
In light of that, here came the governor of the state of Missouri, who said, “So we need that safety, but we also need to allow people who want to express their energy in an appropriate way to have the absolute right to do that.” Now, he’s not advocating lawbreaking, and I don’t want anybody misquoting me on this. Not my point. But he is, in a very predictable way, he is suggesting or advocating that some kind of behavior here in reaction to an unwarranted, uncalled for, may be discriminatory act needs to be understood, need to understand the rage. I mean, the cops once again shot a black kid, and people are gonna be fit to be tied over this, they’re tired of it. If they go loot, if they go to this, well, just let it happen and back off. Give ’em a couple days to get it out of their system and then start clamping down. Let ’em blow off some steam.
Now, he didn’t say that because he said “in an appropriate way,” but still the attitude or the mind-set is there. And people have the absolute right to do that, because, he said, we will not get the healing that we all need if the only response is y’all just be quiet and just keep arresting people are breaking the law, really strict enforcement of the law, ’cause there’s a certain level of emotion that must be expressed in order for us to reach a higher plane. That means we gotta let some of these people get it out of their system.
Now, again, don’t anybody misunderstand. I’m not suggesting that the governor is telling the cops to look the other way when people break the law, not at all, and don’t anybody misquote me. But the mind-set here is the same, minus the lawbreaking. The reason I’m pointing this out is ’cause I know when that caller called and he said that he was happy and proud what the cops are doing, he’s tired of the vandalism and he feels very secure that the cops are protecting people in the neighborhood, I know that there are a bunch of people listening to this program, people in the audience, who were shouting at that guy, “Well, yeah, easy for you to say, the cop didn’t kill your kid.”
I’m just telling you that there are a lot of people, when the police are supported in the aftermath of one of these circumstances, there are a lot of people who don’t like it, and they think that the police should know that. They think the police should be aware that everybody hates ’em after an event like this, and just, you know, don’t clamp down so hard on people. If you just let ’em blow off steam we’ll get to peace a lot sooner than if you guys continue to just be hard asses about this. I know that that’s a popular thought with a lot of people, because I know — you fill in the blank — I know them, folks.
I know how the thought process goes. I know what conflict resolution 101 is. I know that they believe that two wrongs sometimes do make a right, because the second wrong is the payback. Hey, if somebody’s gonna commit a wrong, we better allow the people who were victimized by it to commit their own version of the wrong, and then we’re even.
A lot of people think that way. The governor was essentially saying, “Hey, people gotta blow off seem and maybe if we let ’em do that and not so strictly enforce things…” He didn’t say let people break the law. Don’t anybody misquote me. I know that’s gonna happen. But I’m saying this over and over so that you listening know that I’m not saying it. I’m not putting words in the governor’s mouth, but the mind-set is two wrongs do make a right sometimes.
At any rate, let’s. Oh, one more. Remember General Honore from Katrina? Russel Honore. He’s now retired. He was on CNN this morning. Carol Costello spoke with him. She said, “General Honore, I went to New Orleans when you were there, and one of your guys pointed a gun at the crowd, and you yelled at him.
“You said, ‘Do not point your weapon. Put it down,’ and I was impressed by that, General. I was impressed that you would tell your guy not to point his weapon at people. I was kind of taken aback by it at the same time,” and here’s what General Honore said.
HONORE: Any time we have policemen pointing weapons at American citizens, they need to go through retraining. And I think we are about 24 hours too late, that the governor should have stood in here and brought in the state police and pulled that police force off the line. They are gonna have a hard time reestablish credibility to protect and serve on those streets after this type of infraction has occurred. That is why the governor, I think, should come in with the state police. Not National Guard, state police.
RUSH: So, what he’s saying is, once the cops screwed up here and shot the black kid, their credibility is shot. Get ’em out of there. They’re never gonna be able to able to keep peace. They’re never gonna be able to keep credibility. They can’t get away with telling anybody not to break the law ’cause what’d they just do? So sweep ’em out of there and bring in the state police.
The state police, in this case, would be unbiased. They would be unaffected, not involved, therefore untainted. Bring them in, let them police. Not the Guard, not the military. The state police, the troopers. (interruption) Well, General Honore said the cops lost their credibility with this incident, this infraction.
They lost credibility, and they don’t have time to reestablish it. So bring in the state police and let them handle it ’til this situation is solved — and then, I guess, what? Put the Ferguson police back on the street? He’s… (interruption) Well, that’s… I’m just playing the sound bite for you. That’s just what General Honore said. Don’t look at me!