Brit Hume Questions Tone, Timing Of Arizona Shooting Memorial Service (VIDEO)

A panel on Fox News' "Special Report" weighed in on the memorial service held on Wednesday for the victims of the Arizona shooting. While panelists Brit Hume, Charles Krauthammer and Chris Wallace all had high praise for President Obama's speech, Hume seemed perplexed by what he called the "tone" of the event. The audience had peppered the speeches with regular applause and cheering, and this appeared to surprise Hume.

"I think the president prepared this speech in the expectation that this would be indeed a memorial service," he said. "I think it ended up being nothing of the kind. This was much more of a pep rally and perhaps that's precisely what the people of Tuscon and the people of this region needed...and wanted."

Also, he said, the event had perhaps been held "a little late...certainly the mood in that auditorium suggested the sense of mournfulness that you might have expected and sobriety you might have expected was not to be found tonight." Hume continued that the opening Native American blessing, which was given by Carlos Gonzalez, a professor at the university, was "remarkable." By the time it was over, he said, Gonzalez had "blessed the reptiles of the sea and he had prayed to the four doors of the building and while I'm sure that all has an honorable tradition with his people, it was most peculiar."

WATCH:

Comments

[Brian Armstrong]

12:20 PM on 01/23/2011

I think it's odd how some people like to judge people based on how they grieve. It shows a close-mindedness that I simply don't understand. I couldn't even imagine watching a memorial service, then criticizing the people because they don't grieve the same way I do. I find this excerpt from "Celebrations of Death: The Anthropology of Mortuary Ritual" quite apt.

"What could be more universal than death? Yet what an incredible variety of responses it evokes. Corpses are burned or buried, with or without animal or human sacrifice; they are preserved by smoking, embalming, or pickling; they are eaten - raw, cooked, or rotten; they are ritually exposed as carrion or simply abandoned; or they are dismembered and treated in a variety of these ways. Funerals are occasions for avoiding people or holding parties, for fighting or having sexual orgies, for weeping or laughing, in a thousand different combinations. The diversity of cultural reaction is a measure of the universal impact of death. But not a random reaction; always it is meaningful and expressive."

Instead of looking at the differences of the human experience, it's sad that Britt Hume resorts to judging and looking down his nose at people. If he simply observed, maybe he would learn something about his fellow man.

[FDMNews]

11:29 AM on 01/17/2011

Oh Brit, if only we didn't see honoring Mother Earth as 'peculiar' we might not have allowed corporations to contaminate the air, water and earth, and we'd be a lot better off. I always found that inability to connect the environment to our survival...well, peculiar.

If Native Americans were included more in national life, there would be a higher comfort level. Kudos to President Obama, you can't imagine how each action heals.

[JessWonderin]

01:03 AM on 01/16/2011

classy guy . . brit . . one totally worthless hunk of carbon, hydrogen and assorted trace elements . . . . . . .

[logic-a-go-go]

11:49 PM on 01/15/2011

I think the venue was all wrong for a memorial. Some practical person(s) was thinking they just needed something large to fit everyone, and selection is limited in Tucson, so the university was the obvious choice. Poor setting for a public memorial service, however. Since audiences in university auditoriums always clap for speakers, performances, debates, etc., it encouraged the same degree of enthusiasm, rather than the sobering gravity that is generally seen at memorials held other venues. It seemed to work really well if you were there, but media-wise, a lovely memorial speech by the president inadvertently brought on criticism for sounding campaign-like. The speech was fine...in fact, it was pretty terrific. It was the venue that was the problem, along with conservatives that were looking for any reason to criticize it.

[Lahonda]

10:02 PM on 01/15/2011

Is Fox News occupied by a tribe of "bubble buys?"

They seem to be unaware of regular folks sentiments on this entire matter.

[Lahonda]

10:00 PM on 01/15/2011

Tone? Mood?

Mt. Rushmore has more personality and changes of expression than Mr. Hume, with his deep understanding of "tone."

[provi]

02:40 PM on 01/15/2011

Of course Bret felt that he had to throw some dissent into the affair.
So-called conservatives like him, had to try and make the
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, look bad!
Shame on him!

[logic-a-go-go]

11:50 PM on 01/15/2011

I'm sure he considers that his job.

[SensibleJoe]

08:29 AM on 01/15/2011

And America questions the tone, timing of Brit Hume...

[wjh399]

11:40 PM on 01/14/2011

Is Brit Hume a Muslim? I ask the question because I find his comments about the blessing at the recent memorial service to be "most peculiar" and can only conclude that he cannot be Jewish or Christian. Judging from his advice awhile back to Tiger Woods, I suspect he is not Buddhist.

But any Christian or Jewish man would immediately connect the similarity of the words of the blessing used at the Arizona memorial service, which Hume found so upsetting, to Sacred Scripture-- they particularly echo Dan 3:57-88. They were prayed within the Native American tradition, since Arizona is home to 21 recognized Indian tribes with more that 250,000.

Maybe Hume, born and bred in DC, has been within the Eastern establishment for too long to be an effective commentator on the news to people beyond the beltway.

[pceasy]

11:07 PM on 01/14/2011

Good job Brit. Stick with the script. Propaganda at its finest. You are so right Mr Hume. Mr Obama was too late on this one. He should have held a memorial minutes - NO seconds after it occurred. Mr Obama has never done ANYTHING right. Thank you Mr Hume for always diagreeing with our president on every single thing he does. Just like you didn't with Mr Bush.

[CivilGargoyle1]

08:41 PM on 01/14/2011

I have a dream that one day Fox may see and learn.

[Lemon722]

06:04 PM on 01/14/2011

I thought their comments were hilarious and show how utterly incapable they are of saying anything good about anyone who isn't a tea bagger, ultra Republican, white and wealthy. Yes the prayer was different, it called blessings on the 4 directions (doors), blessed all the animals (not just the cute fluffy ones) and did not end with Amen. I was at first surprised at the cheering, etc. although this was called a memorial by networks a relative who lives in Tucson corrected me quickly. Yes it was to remember the event, the people who died, who lived, etc. but primarily it was promoted there as a day to unite as a city and state with the rest of the country to celebrate values and honor those who died or were injured. The University passed out free t-shirts with the slogan (Thrive....) and were pushing it as a celebration of them as a town including the heritage of the city and state. Being an old white woman I know what the stodgy old white men at Fox expected and because it happened while Obama was president it was inappropriate of course. Not that POTUS had one single thing to do with the program other than to speak but to Faux the fact he was there is reason enough to lay all blame at his feet.

[Billar]

03:24 PM on 01/14/2011

Perhaps Mr. Hume and friends should learn the local culture of Arizona then he would understand what was going on there.
Fox News continues to make the political discourse in this country worse.

[BigLeftbowski]

12:50 PM on 01/14/2011

I have to give to Bret Hume -his complement was a lot less backhanded than Becks, and bordered on actual praise.

[RoofinReality]

12:30 PM on 01/14/2011

Having just returned from a funeral, the minister laid claim that death does not have sting against those who have faith. Rather, there is a celebration of the life that was and a belief that the deceased will hold us a seat in heaven.
For those who don't believe, perhaps someone like Brit(?), the celebration of life is "peculiar."

[dmb1981]

02:22 PM on 01/14/2011

When the minister said that did everyone stand up and cheer? Was everyone wearing matching t-shirts with a slogan printed on them?

Celebrating life is not the issue here. The t-shirts, banners and repeated standing ovations are the issue.

[CivilGargoyle1]

08:37 PM on 01/14/2011

Could you define "those who don't believe".