THESE PEOPLE NEVER LET UP, DO THEY?

President Obama was at a campaign event in Fort Myers, Florida, when news of the Aurora massacre reached him. He made a humane, decent statement -- or maybe I just think it was humane and decent because I'm not a right-wing blogger. If I were a right-wing blogger, I'd find it appalling and contemptible.

So we have this at Weasel Zippers:

Obama Refers To Himself At Least 17 Times During Speech On Colorado Movie Shooting...

Narcissist-in-Chief.

The reader who sent this to me says she counted Obama making 20 references to himself....

And this from Gateway Pundit:

Barack Obama offered condolences today to the victims of the Aurora Theater shootings the best way he knows how -- by talking about himself.

The president used "I", "me" or "we" over 20 times and used it as an opportunity to talk about himself and his family.

Here's part of his speech today:

My daughters go to the movies. What if Malia and Sasha had been at the theater, as so many of our kids do every day? Michelle and I will be fortunate enough to hug our girls a little tighter tonight, and I'm sure you will do the same with your children. But for those parents who may not be so lucky, we have to embrace them and let them know we will be there for them as a nation.

So, again, I am so grateful that all of you are here. I am so moved by your support.

And you're surprised?

OK, let's stop right there. It's wrong for a president to talk about his family after a mass shooting? Here was President George W. Bush at a Virginia Tech memorial convocation:

I know many of you feel awfully far away from people you lean on and people you count on during difficult times. But as a dad, I can assure you, a parent's love is never far from their child's heart. And as you draw closer to your own families in the coming days, I ask you to reach out to those who ache for sons and daughters who will never come home.

Narcissist!

(I'm being sarcastic. I'm no Bush fan, but I have no objection whatsoever to what he said there.)

And the multiple references to "I," "me," and "we" in Obama's statement are all self-referential? Really? Including sentences like "We're still gathering all the facts about what happened in Aurora, but what we do know is that the police have one suspect in custody"? That's about him? By that standard, Bush's post-Virginia Tech radio address was an exercise in narcissism, because "I" and "we" showed up 23 times.

Again, though, I'm being sarcastic, because I'm counting passages like this:

This week, we reflect on what has been lost and comfort those enduring a profound grief. And somehow we know that a brighter morning will come. We know this because together Americans have overcome many evils and found strength through many storms.

And I suppose this would have been seen as the product of an obsession with self and spouse if it had come from Obama after Aurora, and "Laura" were changed to "Michelle":

The day after the attack, Laura and I attended a memorial service on the campus in Blacksburg. We met with faculty members who lost students and colleagues, and shared hugs with grieving moms and dads -- including parents who had lost their only child. We offered what words of comfort we could, and we were moved by the solidarity and strength of spirit we found. We wanted everyone at the university to know that this tragedy saddened our entire Nation -- and that the American people stand with them in an hour of darkness.

It's all about them!

Enough. I thought the Bush presidency was horrible, but I didn't feel the need to attack him for statements like this. Even if you find the Obama presidency horrible, can't you cut him a freaking break on this?