The end of the "Thoughts and Prayers" Press Conference
and how Beto O'Rourke and Coach Kerr ended them
Governor Greg Abbott rolled into Uvalde Texas on Tuesady to give an update on the mass shooting that left 19 children and 2 adults dead. All the people you would expect to be there were there: the mayor, the school district superintendent, the head of the Texas Office of Public Safety (State Police). The Lt. Governor and Speaker of the Texas House were also there. For reasons that weren’t entirely clear Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and John Cornyn (R-TX) were also present.
Actually, the reason that the Lt. Governor, the House Speakers, and both U.S. Senators were there was that Abbott, who is running for reelection, had just held a political fundraiser.
The “update on the tragedy at Robb Elementary” was a perfect political setting for reiterating the NRA’s talking points:
“No one could have seen this coming” and “elimination of the instrument by which these crimes are committed cannot arrest the ravages of a psychotic murderer1” and a personal favorite “armed teachers at schools could stop these tragedies”.
Plus, Abbott and his fellow Republicans could offer their “thought and prayers”. Actually, Ted Cruz ramped that up by asserting that he and his wife were “fervently praying” for the victims.
That was the plan until Beto O’Rourke came in and confronted Abbott.
“This is on you” said Beto, who is running against Abbott2. “You said this was not predictable? This is totally predictable when you choose not to do anything.”
The confrontation ended with Beto being hustled out of the building where he had his own press conference assailing Abbott’s pro-gun and anti-children agenda.
The Texas GOP quickly pounced on Beto for what was clearly a political stunt albeit one designed to upend a steaming pile of political theater. But since Abbott’s moment had been lost, their complaints were seen as acrimonious grumbling at being upstaged.
But if there was a star on Tuesday emoting from the Left on guns violence, it wasn’t Beto O’Rourke — it was Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr who instead of giving his standard pre-game press conference gave a full throated soliloquy3 on the tragedy. Here is a slice of it.
"When are we going to do something? I am tired. I am so tired of getting up here and offering condolences to the devastated families out there. I'm tired of the moments of silence. Enough. ... So I ask you, Mitch McConnell and all of you senators who refuse to do anything about the violence and the school shootings and the supermarkets shootings -- I ask you, are you going to put your own desire for power ahead of the lives of our children and our elderly and our church-goers? Because that's what it looks like. That's what we do every week. I'm fed up. I've had enough. We can't get numb to this. We can't sit here and just read about it and say let's have a moment of silence."
It would be easy to attack Kerr as a liberal and a Californian — except that he played for the San Antonio Spurs (twice) and brought the Lone Star State an NBA chamionship. In Texas, sports stars are royalty not to dismissed or ignored.
And just like that thoughts and prayers just lost out to political realism.
From the NRA-ILA website
https://www.kut.org/politics/2022-05-25/beto-orourke-interrupts-uvalde-school-shooting-press-conference-tells-gov-abbott-this-is-on-you
https://www.cnn.com/videos/sports/2022/05/25/steve-kerr-nba-golden-state-warriors-uvalde-texas-school-shooting-sot-vpx.nba-tnt