Liberal View co-host (and 9/11 truther [1]) Rosie O'Donnell wasted no time on Thursday in taking the shooting in Canada and spinning it into a plea for gun control in America. The comedienne cited a comment from model Chrissy Teigen. On Wednesday, Teigan tweeted [2], "Active shooting in Canada or as we call it in America, Wednesday." O'Donnell raved, "I thought it was brilliant." [MP3 audio here [3].]
The co-host compared, "But 86 people a day are killed in America with guns. And you know what, that is terrorism here." O'Donnell has a long history of aggressively pushing gun control, going back to a 1999 attack [4]on Tom Selleck. In 2006, she flatly declared that the Second Amendment is "not really a right. [5]"
Moderate Republican co-host Nicolle Wallace usually doesn't challenge O'Donnell, but after her colleague wondered if the shooter was mentally unstable, Wallace retorted, "But it's also possible he was an evil terrorist. Okay?"
O'Donnell has strong, bizarre feelings on terrorism. On October 7 [6], she blamed the United States for creating ISIS.
A partial transcript of the October 23 segment is below:
11:02
ROSIE O'DONNELL: First up, the big shooting that happened in Canada has stirred up a lot of emotion from a lot of people.
...
O'DONNELL: And now with Twitter, Chrissy Teigen, who is a super model as you all know, she is sort of getting slammed for her comments because she put a tweet up about the attack that she said "Active shooting in Canada, or as we call it in America, Wednesday." I thought it was brilliant and on point but some people thought it was insensitive.
AMY ROBACH: Timing is everything.
O'DONNELL: Yeah.
ROBACH: And I think when you tweet something like that in a middle of an active shooting, people are afraid and running for their lives and a man is dead. But it's an important point.
O'DONNELL: It's an important point!
NICOLLE WALLACE: An important point, but I think it's just as important, I think, I know it's important to you that mental health is always raised is a possibly cause. But it's also possible that he was an evil terrorist. Okay? So, I don't want that to get lost. The Canadian government has classified this as a terrorist attack. The definition of terrorism is arbitrary violence and death rendered on innocent people who are just doing their jobs.
O'DONNELL: I get it. But 86 people a day are killed in America with guns. And you know what, that is terrorism here.
WALLACE: I don't disagree with you. I don't disagree. And I think that getting rid of – there are two equally important conversations. And so, I think conflating them and making them compete with one another for which one is more horrific is wrong.
O'DONNELL: I don't think which one is more horrific. I think she's saying "I'm an American, I live here." I see two people shot this week in Canada and the entire country of Canada is in mourning. However, in America this happens on a daily day basis and we don't even pay attention any more.
— Scott Whitlock is Senior News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Scott Whitlock on Twitter. [7]