Clip, clop. Clip, clop.
That's the sound of Mayor Kenney walking back his early comments about the nature of the wannabe assassin of Officer Jesse Hartnett.
Even though confessed shooter Edward Archer said he was a Muslim who acted in the name of Islam and pledged allegiance to ISIS, Kenney insisted it was a "criminal" act, not terror, and it had "nothing" to do with Islam.
At a Thursday news conference at the Roundhouse with Sen. Robert Casey and Police Commissioner Rich Ross, Kenney was forced to retreat.
Earlier, Pennsylvania's other senator, Pat Toomey, used "terror" to describe the attack. http://mobile.philly.com/beta?wss=/philly/news&id=365306011
After blaming the media – not the mainstream media, but unnamed websites – plus Rush Limbaugh and Sen. Marco Rubio for blowing it all up, Kenney said his intent was to say the 200,000 lawful Muslims of Philadelphia should not be held responsible.
That is what he should have said.
Instead, he stated the shooting was criminal, not terror. Now, with the FBI investigating it as a possible terror attack, he says "we should wait and see" what the FBI and police discover. http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2016/01/14/officials-speak-out-one-week-after-officer-shooting-in-philadelphia/
Yes, we should. And he should have said that at his first news conference instead of falling victim to his imagined fears of an anti-Muslim uprising, and fanned by his political correctness.
As Kenney was leaving, I shouted to ask if he retracted his comments that the attack was criminal. He either didn't hear me – or didn't want to.
As to Hartnett, I asked Ross if the officer is, or was, in danger of losing his arm, as I have heard rumored in police circles.
I didn't get a firm yes or no, but Ross said the officer sustained "significant damage" and doctors had struggled to repair the damage and he had a long road to recovery.