Randi Rhodes: OWS Smears & Excuses

In Oakland an Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen is in critical condition after a clash between cops and Occupy Wall Street protestors. But then is it really a “clash” if only one side is clashing? Let’s say that an Iraq War veteran is in critical condition after a beat-down of protesters by cops.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan said “Yesterday was a sad day for us.” It was a worse day for Scott Olsen, Mayor. The incident left the city of Oakland with a black eye, but it left Scott Olsen with a critically injured eye socket. The clash came after Oakland officials complained about what they described as sanitation and health issues at the dismantled camp. Hey, if you’re worried about safety, people are more at risk from rubber bullets than they are from food poisoning. Really? Sanitation and health issues? So let me get this straight—you’re protecting the protestors from germs by shooting at them. Maybe tear gas has some sort of disinfectant quality that I’m not aware of.

Bill O’Reilly claims the Occupy Wall Street people are anti-Semitic, based on finding a loose nut case spouting anti-Semitic comments for the Fox News cameras. Fox always seems to find those people. In fact, I think they might be finding them elsewhere and directing them to these events. Let me tell you, if there are news cameras everywhere at an event, it’s going to attract a few nut jobs… unless it’s a Tea Party event, in which case it will attract a whole lot of nut jobs. Or take a look at one of Glenn Beck’s gatherings. It’s not hard to find someone who is deluded, deranged, and possibly mentally ill. All you have to do is look at the podium.

Finally, it looks like this Halloween, Paul Ryan wants to scare us with spooky stories about class warfare. Yesterday Paul Ryan gave a speech in which he spent most of his time viciously attacking President Obama... a speech about rejecting the politics of divisiveness. Sorry, Paul—that went over about as well as the head of the Oakland Police giving a speech about proper crowd control procedures. Ryan titled his attack “Saving the American Idea: Rejecting Fear, Envy and the Politics of Division,” which sounds a lot better than “Hey, That Colored Guy Wants to Take Your Money!”

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Protester calls for a medic ring out as US Marine vet Scott Olsen’s skull gets fractured by police at Occupy Oakland...