Predictably, brave police officers and other first responders ran to the sound of the gunfire in Las Vegas in order to neutralize a crazed shooter and to save lives. Just as predictably, Democrats ran to the microphones, to flog their useless political agenda.

“Our grief isn’t enough,” said the execrable Hillary Clinton. “We can and must put politics aside,” she said as she politicized a tragedy we are still trying to grasp the dimensions of. (Can anyone remember an instance in which Hillary Clinton put politics aside? I can’t.) She called on the nation to “Stand up to the NRA,” apparently under the impression that the shooter was Wayne LaPierre. She called on us to work together “to try to stop this from happening again.” An empty goal as there is no reason to believe any of the anti-gun laws whooped up by Democrats would have stopped the Las Vegas wingnut from doing what he did.

Connecticut Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal, who may have learned a bit about firearms during his time in Vietnam (pardon the irresistible sarcasm), claims he is frustrated and angry that Congress has not adopted the useless nostrums he and his party have been pushing throughout the living memory of most Americans. “It has been barely a year since what was previously the largest mass shooting in American history — the deadly attack at Pulse nightclub,” he said irrelevantly. “In the interim, thousands more have been lost to the daily, ruthless toll of gun violence. Still Congress refuses to act. I am more than frustrated, I am furious.”

If Blumenthal truly believes those thousands would still be alive if Congress had just enacted a bunch of gun control laws, then in addition to furious he is also one of two other things — cynical or stupid. I’ve heard him talk a few times. I don’t think he’s stupid. (Though he sure botched that Vietnam business, didn’t he?)

Various other Democrats made various vacuous and ill-timed statements. They’re not worth the space to repeat and all reflect the theme of: “Do something, even if it’s pointless. Then perhaps the gullible will think we’re doing something worthwhile, thereby justifying our existence.” It’s the same old song, tastelessly orchestrated while emotions are still raw and victims are still suffering. I don’t expect Congress will fall for it.

As for Stephan Paddock, there are very few times when I’ve hoped there is a literal Hell. This is one of those times.