Yesterday, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile in eastern Ukraine. It has been reported that all 298 people on board were killed in the crash.
Though there is much speculation that pro-Russia rebels could be responsible for the downing of this commercial airplane, there are still no official confirmation -- and many unanswered questions.
For some the tragedy is being used to push forward their own agenda. It is not just John McCain's war-mongering; politicians and pundits on the right have already politicized this tragedy.
1) Bryan Fischer uses the tragedy to make anti-LGBT comments:
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2) Megyn Kelly and Rep. Peter King cite Obama's "failure of leadership":
The congressman appeared on Fox News to discuss the plane crash, take swipes at the president's role as a leader and compare his response to that of the president's response to Benghazi.
3) Erick Erickson comes in with the the Reagan comparison:
Yesterday, many were criticizing President Obama for not canceling his previously scheduled trips to Delaware and New York. Erickson tweeted out a Reagan comparison.
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4) Todd Starnes politicizes the tragedy:
Almost immediately Todd Starnes fired off this tweet about the crash and the sanctions leveled the prior day.
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He was then swiftly rebuked by Greta Van Susteren.
5) Former representative Allen West writes that Obama is "purposefully creating drama globally":
Media Matters reports that the Fox News contributor wrote in a blog post:
"Sadly, hundreds of Ukrainians and 298 souls on MH17 have paid the price for the weakness and abject cowardice of Obama's 'flexibility.'
"And here in America we quibble over a lawsuit against this charlatan.
"The blood on Vladimir Putin's hands was poured by Barack Obama who is indirectly responsible, accountable accountable [sic] and no different than Neville Chamberlain's weakness in the face of the 20th Century maniacal dictator Adolf Hitler."
6) Rush Limbaugh says the tragedy is an "opportunity" for the media to abandon coverage of the U.S. border crisis:
Limbaugh told radio listeners:
"It's a Malaysian Airlines jet and can you -- I've got the British Open on the top menu, monitor, I haven't had CNN on all day, what do you bet they have broomed everything and are covering wall-to-wall the Malaysian Airlines flight shot down by a missile? This is, I mean, you talk about -- I don't want to appear to be callous here, folks, but you talk about an opportunity to abandon the bad Obama news at the border, and no, I'm not suggesting anything other than how the media operates."
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