Boston Bomb Attack No Excuse for Media Speculation

April 15 (Bloomberg) -- As if to provide a warning tocommentators, prognosticators, ax-grinders, think-tankers andtelevision analysts about the dangers of petty speculation, theNew York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof posted this thought onTwitter a few minutes after today’s apparent bomb attack inBoston: “explosion is a reminder that ATF needs a director.Shame on Senate Republicans for blocking apptment.”

Part of talking for a living is knowing when to shut up. Itis obviously true that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearmsand Explosives needs a director. It might even be true thatRepublicans could try a lot harder to put a director in place.But after an explosion about which we know almost nothing, andin the face of sudden, violent death at the finish line of theBoston Marathon, this is not the time to guess about theperpetrators or to recommend policy fixes that would preventsuch attacks from taking place. It certainly is no time tosuggest that a political party you happen not to like is toblame for a tragedy about which you know nothing.