Leftist hacks at a National Public Radio affiliate spewed wild hyperbole at a GOP congresswoman by arbitrarily connecting her to the “nudist activist” who attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband.
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) tweeted Oct. 28 following the attack on Paul Pelosi that she wished for “a full recovery” for him “from this absolutely horrific violent attack” in his home. Pelosi was reportedly taken to a hospital where he underwent surgery to repair a skull fracture following the incident. Stefanik said the suspect, identified as David DePape, “should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
North Country Public Radio reporter Zach Hirsch quote-tweeted Stefanik just over two hours later: “some context here is needed.” Here was the extent of Hirsch’s so-called “context” on Stefanik’s condolences: Stefanik, according to Hirsh’s asinine argument, bears indirect responsibility for the attack because she verbally opposes Speaker Pelosi and her policies. Common sense be damned.
Wishing a full recovery for Paul from this absolutely horrific violent attack.
This criminal should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Grateful to law enforcement for their important work.
— Rep. Elise Stefanik (@RepStefanik) October 28, 2022
NCPR News Director David Sommerstein promoted Hirsch’s nutty logic by being more direct: “ [Stefanik] denounces violent political acts. But her day-to-day rhetoric may contribute to it.” This isn’t journalism. It’s fallacious, leftist tabloid nonsense funded in part by both U.S. and New York State taxpayers. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ (R) Rapid Response Director Christine Pushaw ripped Sommerstein’s propaganda on Twitter: “So by this logic @davidncpr who was responsible for the congressional baseball game shooter who stated that he was trying to kill republicans and almost killed Scalise?”
.@EliseStefanik @RepStefanik denounces violent political acts. But her day-to-day rhetoric may contribute to it. An important thread from @zdhirsch who’s reported on Stefanik all year for @ncpr 👇 https://t.co/jODAJ2RTa9
— David Sommerstein (@davidncpr) October 29, 2022
“Stefanik regularly blasts Nancy Pelosi with increasingly harsh and personal attacks,” railed Hirsch in a babbling tweet thread promoting his “context.”
He continued: “To be clear, there is no evidence that Stefanik directly inspired this any other act of violence. The point is that political rhetoric has real-world consequences.”
After pontificating about the dangers of “political rhetoric,” Hirsch then did a 180-degree turn and smeared Stefanik by comparing her position on illegal immigration to the self-proclaimed white supremacist mass shooter suspect in Buffalo, New York: Payton Gendron.
Stefanik regularly blasts Nancy Pelosi with increasingly harsh and personal attacks. “There is a reason Nancy Pelosi is the most disliked elected official in America,” Stefanik said last year, before accusing Pelosi of a false, widely debunked conspiracy theory –
— Zach Hirsch (@zdhirsch) October 28, 2022
Hirsch harrumphed that Stefanik’s campaign posted ads last year “accusing Democrats of planning an insurrection by supposedly granting amnesty to immigrants who will ‘overthrow our current electorate.’”
Of course, Hirsch conveniently left out the “context” that Stefanik was talking specifically about illegal immigration in those ads, not immigration writ-large: “‘[Democrats’] plan to grant amnesty to 11 MILLION illegal immigrants will overthrow our current electorate and create a permanent liberal majority in Washington,’” Stefanik’s ad said.
But Hirsch, blowing past any glaring fallacy roadblocks, tried to malign Stefanik’s logical stance against illegal immigration by claiming it “closely resembled the white supremacist replacement theory.”
Uh, what?
Hirsch’s logic continued its downward spiral:
In the spring, a white gunman opened fire in a Buffalo supermarket, killing 10 Black people. Prior to the shooting, he appears to have written about that same theory. Stefanik denounced the violence, but then doubled down on the language in her campaign ads.
Newsflash Hirsch: Being against illegal immigration because it’s illegal has nothing to do with the “great replacement theory” or the reported white supremacist views of an alleged mass murderer.
In the spring, a white gunman opened fire in a Buffalo supermarket, killing 10 Black people. Prior to the shooting, he appears to have written about that same theory. Stefanik denounced the violence, but then doubled down on the language in her campaign ads.
— Zach Hirsch (@zdhirsch) October 28, 2022
Stefanik campaign Senior Adviser Alex DeGrasse tore into NCPR for pushing dangerous propaganda in comments shared to the Media Research Center:
Taxpayer funded NCPR – without a shred of evidence – disgracefully claims that Congresswoman Stefanik is responsible for the attack on Paul Pelosi just because she opposes Pelosi’s policies. They refuse to cover the violent leftist rhetoric which led to an assassination attempt on a Supreme Court Justice. This is deranged and dangerous, they should and will be defunded.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representative in Congress and the New York State Assembly and demand they #DefundNCPR.