By the time the Sunday morning political talk shows aired most of the Republican and Democratic candidates running for president all agreed that the attack on the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs was an act of Domestic Terrorism. Candidates from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton all agreed that the attack on the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood by the shooter Robert Lewis Dear was an act of Domestic Terrorism. Dear gave up after terrorizing the Planned Parenthood clinic Friday, where he engaged in a standoff with police that lasted for six hours. Three people were killed and at least nine others were injured.
All of the candidates will continue to fight over Planned Parenthood; the Republican’s will keep beating the drum on defunding the organization. Meanwhile, the Democrats will fight to keep the organization working with the government and protecting women’s health issues.
The goal will be to try to keep the rhetoric down to a rational debate rather than the over the top scare mongering we have heard along the campaign trail. CNN along with other news outlets are reporting that Dean mentioned “baby parts,” and in interviews with police he expressed a strong feeling against abortions.
While, law enforcement officials caution it’s too early to determine a motive in the case until all evidence is gathered and examined. That process is still ongoing. Though the state is taking the lead, the FBI is conducting its own investigation to determine whether federal charges would be filed.
The mayor of Colorado Springs said it “certainly appears” the shooting and standoff at a Planned Parenthood clinic that left three dead Friday was an act of domestic terrorism.
Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers would not comment on a motive for the shooting. Police haven’t released a possible motive or said whether the clinic was the intended target.
“We have a person that’s pretty much off the grid and acting for whatever motivation,” Suthers said on ABC’s “This Week.” “[It’s] very hard to ferret out those folks.”
Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor who is known for his social conservatism admonished the alleged shooter in an interview with CNN’s Brianna Keilar Sunday on “State of the Union.”
“What he did is domestic terrorism, and what he did is absolutely abominable, especially to us in the pro-life movement, because there’s nothing about any of us that would condone or in any way look the other way on something like this,” Huckabee said.
He contrasted anti-abortion activists’ response to the shooting with Secretary of State John Kerry’s comment that the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris had a “rationale” that could be understood, while the recent killings there do not.
“We’re not going to have the kind of language that you heard from John Kerry where he talked about legitimizing or rationalizing terrorist actions,” Huckabee said. “There’s no legitimizing, there’s no rationalizing. It was mass murder. It was absolutely unfathomable. And there’s no excuse for killing other people, whether it’s happening inside the Planned Parenthood headquarters, inside their clinics where many millions of babies die, or whether it’s people attacking Planned Parenthood.”
