Hillary's Campaign Is Under Hostage, and I Don't Care

A man with a device strapped to his chest that he claims is a bomb has released two hostages he took at a Hillary Clinton campaign office in Rochester, New Hampshire. Details from local television station WMUR:

An armed man took hostages at the office on 28 North Main St. Friday afternoon, and officials with the campaign said that there were two workers taken hostage in the office, but police have not confirmed that those were the only two hostages in the building.

The two hostages were released at about 3 p.m.

Clinton, who is not in New Hampshire, canceled a National Democratic Committee meeting in Virginia.

A woman and her baby told workers at a neighboring business that she was released by the hostage-taker.

"A young woman with a 6-month or 8-month-old infant came rushing into the store just in tears, and she said, 'You need to call 911. A man has just walked into the Clinton office, opened his coat and showed us a bomb strapped to his chest with duct tape,'" witness Lettie Tzizik said.

Witnesses described the man as in his 40s with salt-and-pepper hair. There are several police officers in the area with guns drawn.

Actually, I do care about the people held hostage (since released) and hope that the person with the alleged bomb surrenders peaceably, but what I don't care to do is start speculating about motives or allegiances when so little is known.

Others have rushed to judgment and made some quite stupid comments, such as calling the hostage taker a "suicide bomber" (and yes, those on the right did it too).

Just to point out the obvious, suicide bombers don't generally take hostages. Their goal is not to talk, or negotiate, or make a point, but to turn their bodies into a weapons delivery platform, killing as many people as possible without advance warning.

This also goes from those bloggers and commenters who immediately determined that the hostage taker must belong to political ideology "X" because... well, just because.

We don't always happen to rush to publish just to get something out there, folks. Sometimes just shutting up and waiting is the best thing to do.