Stossel: Media Hysteria

I just saw his segment on the O'Reilly Factor tonight. This is his piece:

O’Reilly says, “new laws that provide greater safety for public officials should be considered.  We simply cannot have chaos at this level.”

But we don’t have “chaos.” America is safer than ever.  Crime is down.  Political assassinations are rare.  They were once much more common.  Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy were murdered.  So were Senators James Hinds, Huey Long, Robert Kennedy and Rep. Ryan Leo. The shooting of Congresswoman Giffords was the first such incident in more than thirty years.  There is little that can be done to stop a crazy person from committing a crazy act.

Bill is right to complain about the hysteria from the left.  Jane Fonda said “Palin holds responsibility.”

Michael Daly of NY Daily News said,  “Gabrielle Giffords' blood is on Sarah Palin's hands.”   This is nonsense.


But Bill is wrong to say that congress needs more security. Our imperial political class already spends too much on security.  I was once on a CNBC talk show with Treasury Secretary John Snow.  The Secretary was accompanied to the NYC studio by four secret service men who officiously ordered us about, demanding we leave each room that the Secretary entered.  This self-importance is  nonsense too.  Few people in NY even knew who John Snow was.  I bet more people want to kill me.

I want to say that this case out of Tucson, AZ has nothing to do with political discourse and everything to do with a nutcase that was very intent in engaging in a violent act!