Anyone who thinks they have all the Answers before they've even heard the Question - is Dangerously Deluded! Real Truth Requires Vigilance, Perseverance and Courage, regardless of Party and who wields Power. Left, Right, Center, Corporations, Government, Unions, Criminals or the Indifferent.
Feeling wounded and attacked Sarah Palin and the Right Wing have whined that media has committed a Blood Libel and a Pogrom against Conservatives - which if you ignore the fact that these were terms meant to describe the persecution of Jews like Gabrielle Giffords - means that they feel they are being unfairly victimized and attacked for things they had nothing to do with.
Well there's a reason why Palin and her bestest buddy Glenn Beck have been criticized for putting cross hairs, and "Reloading" against Democrats.
It's because people lives have already been put at risk - 3 Times - and it leads righr back to Glenn Beck.
Once is dumb luck. Twice is a coincidence, but three times is a clear and recognizable pattern.
First there was Byron Williams who wanted to "Start a Revolution" by killing people at the Tides Foundation and ACLU.
From the Jailhouse William's explain the motivation for his action were based on "Crime Inc" conspiracy theories he heard from Glenn Beck about George Soros, the Center for American Progress, the ACLU and Tides.
Byron writes, "You want to know about Soros and Tides, yes, Glenn Beck is doing very well uncovering his wickedness, check his 'June' programs for 'Petrobraz', also look into 'DiscoverTheNetworks.com.' "
Byron also writes that "very good information regarding 'Petrobraz' can be found in Glenn Beck's 'June' shows, where he accurately covered the Obama-Soros-Petrobraz-Chicago (Crime Inc.) connections for several days. It's all true."
Byron adds that he "found allusions to the Horizon disaster as a 'false-flag' operation in Alex Jones 'Info.Wars.com' and 'PrisonPlanet.com.' "
"Think like a conspiracy theorist," Byron tells me during the interview. "Except don't use the word 'theory.' Because the conspiracies are not theories. The official report is the lie; the conspiracy is the truth.?"
Byron says he thinks Beck has improved in recent months. "I don't think he's a natural newscaster, you know what I mean?" he says. "I look at it more like a schoolteacher on TV, you know? He's got that big chalkboard and those little stickers, the decals. I like the way he does it." [Media Matters, 10/11/10]
The Second Beck Inspired Death Threat was by Charles Alan Wilson against Washington Senator Patty Murray when he left messages like this.
"Just remember that as you are politicing for your reelection. It only takes one piece of lead. ... Kill the fucking Senator! Kill the fucking Senator! I'll donate the lead. ... Now that you've passed your health-care bill, let the violence begin. Let the violence begin.""
His Cousin stated that Charlie had fallen under the Spell of Beck.
While his actions were undeniably wrong and his choices were terrible, in part they were the actions of others played out by a very gullible Charlie. He was under the spell that Glenn Beck cast, aided by the turbulent times in our economy. I don't believe that Charlie even had the ability to actually carry out his threats.
Third there was Gregory Guisti who not long after Glenn Beck stated a mock murder of Nancy Pelosi repeatedly threated to Fire-Bomb her home. Her mother stated he was influenced to hate and threaten Pelosi because of Fox News.
Giusti Admitted To Making "More Than 30 Phone Calls" Threatening Pelosi Not To Support Health Care Reform. The Associated Press reported in April 2010 that in one recorded call, "Giusti said, 'if you pass this freaking health care plan don't bother coming back to California cause you ain't gonna have a place to live,' according to a transcript of the message included in an amended complaint." The AP added: "Officials said the caller often recited Pelosi's home address and said if she wanted to see it again, she should not support the health care overhaul bill that since has been enacted. Giusti left at least two recorded messages containing threats involving one of Pelosi's residences in Northern California, according to the complaint." [The Associated Press, 4/8/10]
Giusti Called Pelosi "A Witch" And Said He Didn't Like Her Pushing Health Care Bill "Down The People's Throats." The AP further reported that Giusti "told investigators he had phoned Pelosi about a half-dozen times, called her a witch and said he did not like her 'pushing the health care bill down the people's throats,' the complaint stated." [The Associated Press, 4/8/10]
ELEANOR GIUSTI: Greg has -- frequently gets in with a group of people that have really radical ideas and that are not consistent with myself or the rest of the family and -- which gets him into problems. And apparently I would say this must be another one that somehow he's gotten onto either by -- I'd say Fox News or all of those that are really radical, and he -- that's where he comes from
Just like what is suspected of Jared Loughner, Guisti has reported mental health issues.
With this recent history of near violence, is it any wonder that people questioned the connection between Palin's Gun sites and the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords? Frankly, it's more surprising that their isn't any connection - so far - however it should be noted that Loughner ex-girlfriend says that he's faking his insanity to avoid prison and that in fact - he's VERY POLITICAL and would constantly rant about the Government.
We honesty don't fully know why Jared Loughner did what he did, whether he's been faking or not, and exactly what is the nature and source of his anti-government paranoia. We don't know if there was a trigger event in his life, or if like Mark David Chapman and Catcher in the Rye something in the public sphere set him off.
We don't really know - but let's also not forget that 11 out of 20 of the Sarah Palin Hit List were attacked and/or threatened. He may not been taking marching orders from Beck like Williams or Guisti, but that doesn't mean the general atmosphere of "blood in the water" - including the successful assault on Gifford's offices (which remain unsolved, and we don't know that Loughner wasn't involved) - didn't have an impact.
Still, it's ridiculous for the right-wing to complain that they're being persecuted by the presumption that their Incessant Hate Speech and Murder Metaphors had anything to do with it, but at the same time they are regularly arguing that he was really a "Lefty" because he read The Communist Manifesto (which is about Communism, not Liberalism), that he targeted Gabby Giffords because she was a "pro-gun Blue Dog" (Who voted for the Health care bill?) and he shot a Federal Judge who was a Republican (Like, that was tattooed on his forehead?), or their latest hair-brained theory - Pot Made Him Do It.
Yeah, sure, it could be all that - but it couldn't possibly be the kind of radical anti-Government ("They're out to Control Everything") theories that motivated Williams or Guisti or Wilson?
Although the international response to the actual shooting has been somewhat muted, the response to Obama's stunning speech not only silenced the Right-Wing Critics (for about 3 minutes) it's also had a massive response from around the world.
Details (compiled by my wife Robin) over the flip.
Arizona shootings fallout and Obama's Tucson speech - as it happened
Paul Harris with all the latest as the US continues to come to terms with the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others – including Barack Obama's speech to the nation tonight
It seems to me that we'd forgotten who Obama truly was. we'd forgotten the depth of empathy, compassion and stirring Hope that he could bring to the table. if anyone was born to fulfill a task, to help heal a grieving and frustrated, Nation - bitterly back-bating against itself - pick it up, dust it off and send it back in the right direction - Barack Hussein Obama was that man.
How could we doubt it? Why did we forget?
You see, when a tragedy like this strikes, it is part of our nature to demand explanations –- to try and pose some order on the chaos and make sense out of that which seems senseless. Already we’ve seen a national conversation commence, not only about the motivations behind these killings, but about everything from the merits of gun safety laws to the adequacy of our mental health system. And much of this process, of debating what might be done to prevent such tragedies in the future, is an essential ingredient in our exercise of self-government.
But at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized -– at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who happen to think differently than we do -– it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we’re talking with each other in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds.
...
As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let’s use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy and remind ourselves of all the ways that our hopes and dreams are bound together.
...
We may ask ourselves if we’ve shown enough kindness and generosity and compassion to the people in our lives. Perhaps we question whether we're doing right by our children, or our community, whether our priorities are in order.
We recognize our own mortality, and we are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this Earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame -– but rather, how well we have loved -- (applause)-- and what small part we have played in making the lives of other people better. (Applause.)
For those who were harmed, those who were killed –- they are part of our family, an American family 300 million strong. (Applause.) We may not have known them personally, but surely we see ourselves in them. In George and Dot, in Dorwan and Mavy, we sense the abiding love we have for our own husbands, our own wives, our own life partners. Phyllis –- she’s our mom or our grandma; Gabe our brother or son. (Applause.) In Judge Roll, we recognize not only a man who prized his family and doing his job well, but also a man who embodied America’s fidelity to the law. (Applause.)
And in Gabby -- in Gabby, we see a reflection of our public-spiritedness; that desire to participate in that sometimes frustrating, sometimes contentious, but always necessary and never-ending process to form a more perfect union.
In this section Obama did something remarkable. He managed to pull up the dreaded spirit of "collectivism" and make it personal and individual. He made it clear that what made all the persons involved in this tragedy wasn't their fame, their riches, their power or their status - but their essential humanity, charity, grace and willingness to give of themselves - up to and including their life essence, without hesitation - to each other.
A group of various back grounds, various religions, various ages, various political parties and various wealth all shared in this tragedy - and now share in the triumph of heroism and survival.
These are Christian ideals, Jewish ideals, Muslim Ideals, Buddist ideals, Progressive Ideals - American Ideals.
Obama has called to us, as individuals, to dig deep within ourselves to become better Americans, because that is precisely what is required to accomplish that often used, but rarely understood goal - "To form a more perfect Union".
It's not all about what laws we pass, or which pet provisions were or weren't included. It's not about what government does - it's about what we do. how we turn away from spending our energy damaging each other, but instead lifting each other up - rather than moving in a circle - we move forward.
Like the closing scene from "Saving Private Ryan" - we must ask ourselves, have we lived up to the sacrifices of those who come before us, and the hopes of those who follow us?
Can we strive not to be petty? Not to be selfish?
Not to be like Palin.
The first 90 seconds of this statement is actually pretty good and uplifting, but after that it starts to fall off the rails.
Palin: After the shocking tragedy I listened at first puzzled, then with concern, and now with sadness to the irresponsible statements from people attempting to apportion blame for this terrible event.
Here's the thing. Sherrif Dupnik is absolutely entitled to his opinion - but he didn't say definitively that the "toxic atmosphere" was to blame for the actions of Jared Loughner. Neither did Paul Krugman. In fact, the only person who actually brought Sarah Palin's name into this thing - was Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
Giffords: The rhetoric is incredibly heated, the calls, the emails, the slurs.
People need to realize that the rhetoric and firing people up, even things for example we're on Sarah Palin's targeted list the way she has it depicted has the cross hairs of a gun over our district. when people do that, they've got to realize there's consequences to that action.
So really, the person the Palin is calling "irresponsible" - the person who she says has perpetrated a "Blood Libel" = is Jewish representative Giffords.
The other problem with Palin says is her attempt to make individualism an all of nothing option.
Palin: President Reagan said we must reject the idea that every time a law is broken society is guilty rather than the law breaker. it is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions, acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own, they begin and end with the criminals who commit them. Not collectively with all the citizens of a state. Not with those who listen to talk radio, not with maps of swing districts used by both sides of the aisle, not with law abiding citizens who respectfully exercise their first amendment rights at campaign rallies. Not with those who voted in the last election.
No one is saying that "society is guilty", and the perpetrators are "innocent".
Here Palin lays out a very different vision of American than Obama's vision. An America where each man and woman is an island, with no connection or responsibility to their fellow man. Yes, it is true that the primary person responsible for someones actions - is themselves. But people don't live in a hermetically sealed vacuum. The actions of one are not completely divorced from the actions of others. This is often how Conservatives would like to view the world. They see the success or failure of any particular individual as being an act of singular will, or singular failure. In the nature vs nurture debate, they repeated place all emphasis on nature. Everything is choice, nothing is environment, but the truth is that is simply not the case.
Individuals can choose to overcome tragic circumstances, as well as fail when given every possible advantage. But we do, as all part of a community - as part of an American family - have connections to one another, and do have the ability either to increase each others chances for success or diminish them.
Not every madman acts entirely without outside influence. Timothy McVeigh did not act completely randomly. He was directly inspired by the Racist, Anti-government writings of William Pearce in The Turner Diaries - so much so that his attack on the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was planned and lifted Directly From the Books depiction of the Truck Bombing of FBI Headquarters. Byron William's did not act randomly when he attempted to attack the ACLU and Tides Foundation in San Francisco. James Adkisson did not randomly when he killed two people and wounded five in Knoxville, inspired by the writings of Bernard Goldberg to "Kill every Liberal".
When it comes to madman, there can sometimes be no telling exactly what set the off and no explaining it. Mark David Chapman's inspiration was Catcher in the Rye for his Assassination of John Lennon, while John Hinkley wanted to emulated Taxi Driver when he fired on Ronald Reagan, and Charles Manson's insane plot was apparently hatches between the grooves of Beatles Records and a twisted interpretation of the Bible.
Additionally clinical psychologist, who make it their business to study what influences the mad, disagree with Palin
Dr. Swartz cautioned that there's still much we don't know about Loughner or more generally about the impact of the political climate on the mentally ill. But he asserted that asking how our politics might have impacted Loughner's behavior was an entirely natural line of questioning.
"We know the manifestation of mental illness is affected by cultural factors," Dr. Swartz said. "One's cultural context does effect people's thinking and particularly their delusions. It gives some content and shape to their delusions. While we don't know whether there was a specific relationship between the political climate that he was exposed to and his thinking, it's a reasonable line of inquiry to explore."
There may have been any number of things that finally pushed Jared Loughner to snap. I may have been entirely personal, related more to his own loss of employment and being kicked out of school - or it may not. We don't yet know truly.
What doesn't make sense though, is Palin simultaneous argument that anything she's done or said couldn't possibly have had an impact but somehow every one whose merely talked about what she's said - have been "irresponsible".
That's selfish, narcissistic hogwash.
Rush Limbuagh: I tell people don't kill all the Liberals leave enough so we can have two on every campus so we never forget what those people stood for
Conservatives can't simultaneous claim with any credibility that's it's unfair to apportion blame over what Jared Loughner did - and then blame Mein Kampf and the Communist Manifesto. You can't seriously expect to have your cake and eat it too. You can't whine that's it unfair to blame Conservative Hate Speech, while proudly saying - "He was the Liberal of Liberals".
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) says political rhetoric doesn't really incite violent behavior at all -- but not before describing Arizona shooting suspect Jared Loughner as a "communist" and "the liberal of liberals."
"This guy appears to be a communist," Foxx told the Winston-Salem Journal. "His beliefs are the liberal of the liberals [sic]. There is no evidence whatsoever that this man was influenced by Sarah Palin or anybody in the Republican Party. This man is not a conservative; he's a fan of communism - that's the opposite of conservatism."
There's frankly no evidence that his being a fan of the Communist Manifest, had any more to do with his actions than his being a fan of Ayn Rand or The Wizard of Oz.
These dueling visions of America - one the greatest that Americans can do is to help better the lives of their family, friends and fellows, and one where each America stands isolated and alone without connection or support from those around him, where all responsibilities are individual and none public - are exactly what America must choose from.
Does is matter what we say, and how we treat each other or doesn't it? Are we our brothers keeper, or are we all just islands alone in the stream?
I don't know about everyone else, but I find Obama's vision of America far more compelling, more welcoming, more quintessentially AMERICAN than that of those who primary instinct and primary goal is to Put themselves and their own petty partisan concerns first - and to hell with everyone else.
I rather live in the brighter hopeful world of Obama's America, than the dark, dismal, petty world of Palin.
And Wrong for these Twitter user to suggest what they did about the Death of Sarah Palin.
And so far, No One has - thankfully - taken these angry twitter rambling seriously or acted out on them.
When I look at the list of Left Wing Hate from 2000-2010 provided by Michelle Malkin - I can see a ton of really violent and rude signs, certainly ones that silly - but also embarrassingly vicious against George W.Bush. John McCain and Sarah Palin.
I'm not liking to the page or the photos because I don't want to give them, any more hits than they deserve. But Malkin has more than pictures - she has vidoes - but when you start to look at these in detail, they begin to become just a petty litany of anyone whose ever said anything rude about a conservative.
People like Madonna. "Sarah Palin - I'll kick you're ass if you don't get off of my street".
Or Sandra Bernhardt.
Now. we're supposed to take what a professional comedian says seriously?
It's surprising to me she didn't include the Dixie Chicks.
If we're gonna go there - what about Ted Nugent threatened to Murder both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama?
Nugent: I was in Chicago Last week, and I said "Hey Obama why don't you suck on these, YA PUNK!" (Holds up a Machine Gun) "Hey Hillary, you might want to ride one of these into the Sunset you worthless, Bitch!"
Charmer, ain't he? Yet again, Madonna and Sandra may have been rude - but they didn't wish anyone dead.
After this point it start to deteriorate, they use a serious protest videos to argue that "Liberal are Violent" when that isn't always clear.
Not here, during this video of a set of Prop 8 Supporters walking right through the heart of the San Francisco Castro District - these guys are getting the same reaction that a pack of neo-Nazi's would get in the middle of a Jewish neightborhood. And the "Liberals" are the Haters here?
On here during a non-violent protest of the Military in Oympia.
Or during some Civil Disobedience of Evictions by ACORN - also Non-Violent.
This Anti-SB1070 rally where protestors objected to being filmed and slap the camera - not a person, the camera - but eventually let the guy stay.
They have a set of mugshot of "Violent LIberals", but if you look closely they include...
A guy who cut down a Bush-Cheney Sign with a Power Tool, but Malkin fails to note that the full report also says that several Democratic Lawns signs were also vandalized at the same time. She includes mug shots for the anti-Republican vandals, but none of the anti-Democrats.
Wendy Fiedler, the county's Democratic chairwoman, said she now has decided to encourage local Democrats to file reports with police when their signs are vandalized. "This whole sign issue has really gone over the top this year," Fiedler said. "It's getting really ugly."
In one night last weekend, she said, several dozen Democratic signs along Centennial Lane, which borders Columbia and Ellicott City, were taken down by vandals.
Also, she said, one Democratic activist who lives in Ellicott City had reported a gunshot near his house and that a police report was made. Police were unable to confirm that late yesterday afternoon.
A guy who supposed tried to Run Down Katherine Harris - except that he didn't hit her, and she didn't more. So um, how'd he miss exactly?
A silver Cadillac "swerved off the road and drove up the sidewalk" heading "straight towards Ms. Harris," according to the police arrest report.
"Harris stated that she was afraid for her life," according to the police report, "and could not move as the vehicle approached her."
"I was exercising my political expression," Seltzer told police, according to the report.
He was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
And even through all of these claims of "Liberal Hate" - there may have been some property damaged and some feelings hurt - BUT NO ONE was injured in all of these incidents.
No one DIED.
None of these people is currently holding or running for elected office. None of these people has a daily or nightly platform on radio or TV that reaches tens of thousands and could seriously influence anyone else but their own twitter followers.
The right-wing in this country is incensed at being connected with the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and if you walk around with all of Michalle Malkin handy pic, videos and misleading links in your brain while no one ways can prove that Laughner was "taking direction" from anyone on the right wing I can fairly understand being a bit peeved. Of course you have to ignore all the dead and wounded from Knoxville to Washington D.C., to Pittsburg, Kentucy and Oakland to get there, but if you fairly fact-blind you can get there. The problem is that hardly any actually made the claim that "Loughner was Puppet of the Right." Most people haven't even suggested it, only two people who really brought it up have been Sherrif Dupnik and Paul Krugman.
Neither of them said that there was a direct link between anything that anyone has said and this violence, but what they did say was that the general tone may have - MAY HAVE - had an effect on a making an already deranged individual, even worse.
The question of whether a general atmosphere of hate and strife can act as a catalyst for one long nut to go over the edge, isn't necessarily as simple as it may seem. Ronald Reagan was shot because of the influence of Jodie Foster and Taxi Driver on a deranged individual, and John Lennon was assassinated because of how the demented mind of Mark David Chapman was influenced by Catcher in the Rye?
While some on the left have wrongly blamed specific voices on the right for the shooting, many liberals have simply argued that even if the shooter is a madman, the tragedy is a good jumping off point for a discussion of whether our toxic climate risks playing a role in tipping the unhinged towards political violence.
Dr. Swartz is the co-author of a 2006 study, reported on yesterday by Time magazine, finding that environmental factors can play a role in increasing violence in schizophrenics. I thought it would be worth asking him for his thoughts on the current debate over the shooting.
Dr. Swartz cautioned that there's still much we don't know about Loughner or more generally about the impact of the political climate on the mentally ill. But he asserted that asking how our politics might have impacted Loughner's behavior was an entirely natural line of questioning.
"We know the manifestation of mental illness is affected by cultural factors," Dr. Swartz said. "One's cultural context does effect people's thinking and particularly their delusions. It gives some content and shape to their delusions. While we don't know whether there was a specific relationship between the political climate that he was exposed to and his thinking, it's a reasonable line of inquiry to explore."
It can't seriously be argued that the worst examples of actual violence and deadly rhetoric are common mostly from the right-wing, but the left itself can't claim to be absolutely innocent. No, it doesn't happen coming from any serious - and if you were to compare tit-for-tit just have to include the guys who curb stomped Lauren Valle...
And THIS GUY whose already pretty far gone.
A larger question though, particular in the increased level of vitriol than has started in the direct aftermath of the Garbrielle Giffords shooting when exactly with the next borderline person on the edge of a psychotic break finally snap and go over the edge - and how much more or less likely will our actions from this point forward make the next horrible, terrible tragedy?
First we have Good 'Ole Glenn Beck show claims the Arizona Tragedy is being Politicized and it's a shame. Therefore we need to fight back against those who say - "Let's stop all the violent talk", because you see - Glenn Beck Doesn't USE Violent Rhetoric.
Beck: The Problem is that everybody is playing politics with a national tragedy. Paul Krugman says it's long past time took a stand against Hate Mongers. I don't need to tell you MSNBC said. Hink: They think Fox pulled the trigger. Media Matters wants us to be told what to say on or off the air. I don't use it, on or off the air so I guess I'm in compliance.
I would stand with Barack Obama and even Van Jones if they would stand against Politicing Violence?
Yes, Really. Amazing isn't it?
So I guess fantasizing about the murder of Michael Moore and Nancy Policy isn't "Violent Rhetoric". What is it then - High Comedy?
Palin on Bulls eyes: It was never meant to be Gun Sites, it was meant to be Cross hairs.
Gee, where would you find Cross hairs? On Gun Sites. Simply asking the question "Have some of the Death Threats that have been thrown at dozens of Democrats finally led to one being shot?" Just as people have looked at many situations going all the way back to the original Oklahoma City Bombing and stated that presumed based on the odds that it may have been "Muslim Terrorism" - people did indeed look at the most likely scenario in this case, and that was that Yet Another Right-Wing Wacko was probably at fault.
Here's a quick refresher on recent anti-government political violence and terrorism from last April.
Why would anyone have any of that come to mind when they hear a Democratic Congressperson had been shot? In the last couple years the number of acts of vandalism and death threats against members of congress has gone up 300%. To argue that the current environment hasn't been violently toxic is ridiculous
And Glenn, as a point of fact this what they said on MSNBC, and it wasn't that "FOX PULLED THE TRIGGER" - Olbermann admitted that some of his own harsh rhetoric may have been to blame for creating the "climate" and he apologized for it. He took some responsibility, something that Beck and his ilk - would never do.
But it's not just Beck whose spouting this nonsense, it's already become the Fox Corporate Line that They are the True Victims of this tragedy.
Despite what Fox says about "no prominent Liberal" calling for people not to "Rush to judgment" the first person I saw tweet that jumping to conclusions was premature - at 1:29 pm Saturday within hours of the event - was Rachel Maddow.
@Maddow There is nothing to be gained from speculating on the motives and affiliations of AZ shooter w/o facts.
It's also interesting that Fox seems to be taking this criticism of "Right Wing Media" so personally - me think thou dost protest...
Getting into the facts, the argument that the DLC map looks like the Palin Target map is just nonsense, it has circles with dots inside - not Cross Hairs. There's no way you could even Imagine that it's indicating the use of weaponry. It looks more like ball bearings.
The argument that BoyBlue's post was some kind of Death Threat Against Rep. Giffords is a Lie, he was just saying he's done with supporting her after the Pelosi Leadership vote - not that she should DiE!
The argument that Markos used Crosshairs images to target Gifford's for a Primary is also a Lie. That "Bulls Eyes" graphic was added by the Daily Caller, then used by Tea Party Express to Fund Raise in the wake of the tragedy?
Politicizing it? These frackers are Making Money On it. (Arguably, so did Moveon.org)
But I mean seriously who are these people trying to kid? Yes, as I said, Krugman among others asked the obvious question "Did the Right Wing Do this?" But asking a question isn't coming to a conclusion.
When you heard the terrible news from Arizona, were you completely surprised? Or were you, at some level, expecting something like this atrocity to happen?
Put me in the latter category. I’ve had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach ever since the final stages of the 2008 campaign. I remembered the upsurge in political hatred after Bill Clinton’s election in 1992 — an upsurge that culminated in the Oklahoma City bombing. And you could see, just by watching the crowds at McCain-Palin rallies, that it was ready to happen again. The Department of Homeland Security reached the same conclusion: in April 2009 an internal report warned that right-wing extremism was on the rise, with a growing potential for violence.
Conservatives denounced that report. But there has, in fact, been a rising tide of threats and vandalism aimed at elected officials, including both Judge John Roll, who was killed Saturday, and Representative Gabrielle Giffords. One of these days, someone was bound to take it to the next level. And now someone has.
It’s true that the shooter in Arizona appears to have been mentally troubled. But that doesn’t mean that his act can or should be treated as an isolated event, having nothing to do with the national climate.
Last spring Politico.com reported on a surge in threats against members of Congress, which were already up by 300 percent. A number of the people making those threats had a history of mental illness — but something about the current state of America has been causing far more disturbed people than before to act out their illness by threatening, or actually engaging in, political violence.
I don't know if I entirely agree with Krugman's premise here that the permisiveness of threats running back and forth in the media have made the idea of actually going through with some maniacal violent plot far more plausible to those who are already most likely to slip completely over the edge into violence and madness - not just in this specific case - but in general. It's not a bad point, and it potentially deserves some debate - but I wouldn't say that it's a "slam dunk".
However it's the next part that really put a burr under Fox's fur.
Where’s that toxic rhetoric coming from? Let’s not make a false pretense of balance: it’s coming, overwhelmingly, from the right. It’s hard to imagine a Democratic member of Congress urging constituents to be “armed and dangerous” without being ostracized; but Representative Michele Bachmann, who did just that, is a rising star in the G.O.P.
And there’s a huge contrast in the media. Listen to Rachel Maddow or Keith Olbermann, and you’ll hear a lot of caustic remarks and mockery aimed at Republicans. But you won’t hear jokes about shooting government officials or beheading a journalist at The Washington Post. Listen to Glenn Beck or Bill O’Reilly, and you will.
And that's the difference. It's not just about saying something rude, or saying something mean - it's about threatening someones Life. O'Reilly did "Joke" about Beating up and Beheading Dana Milbank (ala the Taliban) because he didn't like something he wrote.
Was it ok because he thought it was funny?
Glenn Beck REALLY DID openly fantasize about Murdering Nancy Pelosi with Poison and choking Michael Moore to death (I keep posting these videos over and over, because in the "he said/he said" between Krugman and Fox - there really are Facts to grab onto - and they don't support Fox)
Fox is playing a game where talking about choking someone to death, or poisoning them, or bashing them with a baseball bat, or decapitating them is all just Fun and Games - but if you have a picture that doesn't have cross hairs, have a post that doesn't put a Bulls Eye on a Congressman, say someone is "Dead to You" by way of separating yourself from supporting them because, gee, That's Hateful Speech.
How in the world does it work that Palin didn't mean to suggest a threat with Cross hairs and "Reloads", and Sharon Angle wasn't issuing a threat with "Second Amendment Remedies" and Michele Bachmann didn't really mean "Armed and Dangerous" but somehow the DLC's innocuous little map, and Kos's 2008 reference to putting a "bulls eye on these districts" and BoyBlue's "she's dead to me" did?
I watched a bit of Hannity tonight and on it S.E. Cupp said.
Even if Jared Loughner did have allegiance to the Tea Party - that doesn't 'mean they had allegiance to him!
Ok, what kind of double talk is that?
Did anyone of Fox Seriously think just because the 9-11 Hijackers had allegiance to Islam, it doesn't mean that Islam (and Park51) had allegiance to THEM?
NO! What we heard was "Muslim's killed us on 9-11!!!
What we heard instead was "Not all Muslim's are Terrorist, but All Terrorists Are Muslims!"
I mean S.E.'s point is essential correct in theory, but it goes directly against the Repeated Right-Wing Meme that when it comes to dangerous people, it's better, safer and neccesary to PROFILE them by group rather than take the time to look at them as individuals.
But somehow now it's going Beyond the Freaking Pale to even consider that yet another Right-Wing Nut Bag might have gone off an killed (or tried to kill) a bunch of people? AGAIN?
No, no - you see this is really part of a Great Liberal PLOT to blame the Right for everything.
The Liberal Agenda is a Failure? Jobs are Coming Back and Health Care Reform is Starting to Work. You know how to not make an issue political- you Don't make It Political! Going on the air to complain how the left is exploiting a tragedy by blaming the right for it - which they really aren't, except in a very general way about "tone" - while your online minions are running around trying to proclaim that the shooter is really a "Liberal" because he read the "Communist Manifesto" is patently ridiculous.
Tea Party Nation Urged Members To Blame Liberals For Yesterday’s Tragedy. “The hard left is going to try and silence the Tea Party movement by blaming us for this,” he [Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips] wrote. Clinton used the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing to “blame conservative talk radio, especially Rush Limbaugh” and “The tactic worked then, backing conservatives off and possibly helping to ensure a second Clinton term. The left is coming and will hit us hard on this. We need to push back harder with the simple truth. The shooter was a liberal lunatic.
This isn't about "Silencing the Tea Party" unless the only way they can get their points across is to Threaten Death On Democrats.
One of Loughner's other favorite books was "We The Living" Ayn Rands first Anti-Communist Novel, so does that make him a lunatic Ron Paul Liberterian? He liked the Wizard of Oz, so that means he was a Munchkin?
His Myspace Page had the Drowning Pool song "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" - is that a clue?
So I guess it only makes sense that Glenn Beck says we need to take a stand together - Against Sherrif Dupnik.
Yeah, let's not let Media Matters tell you what to say - let's tell Sherrif DUPNIK what to say. No First Amendment For YOU - Sherrif Dupnik, meanwhile Glen's got some more mock strangling to do...cuz that's just hilarous.
I just watched Beck on Fox and Friends this morning, still whining about Sherrif Dupnik and supposedly challenging Barack Obama and Sarah Palin to sign a pledge against violence (but not against violent rhetoric).
Exactly why anyone except people who already like Beck would want to legitimize him by signing that instead of responding the way he and Palin responded to David Brock with ridicule and laughter, especially after he and Fox just launched a campaign to smear their critics, is beyond me.
Look as far I'm concerned this is clearly a coordinated effort by Fox not just to duck responsibility, but shame the left into leaving them alone by whining. All anyone is really saying is that death threats aren't funny or acceptable metaphors and shouldn't be part of our discourse, but rather than admit that and agree with it Fox wants to pretend their being singled-out and victimized for political reasons. It's classic bully cries to the REFs strategy. I'd be happy not to have sit here for hours and debunk their bullcrap point by point and instead focus on something more positive and uplifting but that would be forfeiting the field of debate to them alone and I don't think any of us want to do that.
In all of this back and forth, the people who actually were the front-line first responders in this situation have been completely obliterated. The heroism they displayed, the courage and selflessness literally while under fire is being over-shadowed with finger-pointing, political posturing and back biting and it's a GOD DAMN SHAME.
There have quite a few stunning interviews of the principles, but I don't think it can be ignored that this country has changed and perhaps lost quite a bit of it's character and moral fiber since we last had a tragedy that affected us on nearly this level - and that would be September 11th, 2001. Even the Death of a Nine-Year-Old who was Born on 9-11 hasn't been sobering enough for us to focus on what really matters, supporting those who were wounded and those who left loved ones behind.
So far the only person I've seen that even attempted to capture these elements, was a comedian.
Stewart: Many are working feverishly to exonerate their side from blame. Did the toxic political environment cause this? I have no Fucking Idea. We live in a complex eco-system of influence and motivations and I wouldn't blame our political environment any more than I would blame heavy metal music for Columbine - and by the way - that's coming from someone who truly hates our political environment.
It is toxic, it is unproductive. Boy wouldn't that be nice, to be able to draw a straight line from this horror to something tangible because we could convince ourself that if we just stop "this" then the horrors can be stopped. You can't outsmart Crazy. You don't know what a troubled mind will get caught on. Crazy will find a way, it always has.
I do think it's important for us to watch our rhetoric. I do thin kit's a worthwhile goal not to conflate our political opponents with enemies, if for no other reason than to draw a better distinction between between the manifestos of paranoid madmen and what passes for acceptable political and pundit speak. It would be really nice if the ramblings of crazy people didn't in way resemble how we actually talk to each other on TV. Let's at least make troubled individuals easier to stop.
To see good people like this hurt. It is so grievous and it causes me such sadness, but again I refuse to give in to this feeling of despair. There is light in this situation. I urge everyone to read-up on these people. You will be comforted by how much anonymous goodness there is in the world. People that you don't even know, that you never even met are leading lives of real dignity. Add you hear about crazy but is rarer than you think.
If there is real solace in this, for all the hyperbole and the vitriol that's become a part of our political process, when the reality of that rhetoric - when actions match the disturbing nature of those words - we haven't lost our capacity to be horrified. And please, let us how we never do - let us hope we never become numb to what the real blood of patriots looks like when it's spilled. Maybe this helps us to match our rhetoric to reality more often.
Someone or something will shatter our world again. Wouldn't it be a shame if we didn't take this opportunity, to take the pain that we're going through now to make sure that the world we are creating now - that will ultimately be shattered by an act of lunacy - that that world isn't better than the one we already have.
I'm actually sorry I got to this video last, because it completely cleanses the palate for every thing that has come before.
In the wake of the Gifford's shooting I suspect the number one thing we're going to hear is how the poor Tea Party has been so unfairly smeared with allegations of connections to this shooter and how when it comes to Violent Rhetoric - "Both Sides Do it".
Frankly, that's a load of crap.
Anyone remember this?
Glenn Beck Fantasizing about Killing Michael Moore, Micheal Reagan saying the 9-11 Truthers "Should be Shot", and Neal Boortz arguing that the victims of Hurricane Katrina were "Useless Parasites..."
Beck "Jokes" about Poisoning Nancy Pelosi.
O'Reilly "Jokes" about Decapitating Dana Milbank.
Fox Debates whether "Killing Liberals" should be a Crime?
Bernard Goldberg: If NY Times attacked me like it attacks O'Reilly, "I probably would have gotten a baseball bat and gone down to the New York Times with it and found the person that wrote the editorial, but that's me."
Right now on SarahPalin's Facebook page we've just had a post like this - which hasn't been deleted.
“It’s ok. Christina Taylor Green was probably going to end up a left wing bleeding heart liberal anyway. Hey, as ‘they’ say, what would you do if you had the chance to kill Hitler as a kid? Exactly.”
Yeah, both sides say shit like that!.
We'll now they're complaining that Jared Loughner is being blamed on them not that anyone serious actually has - Right Wings pundits haven't resisted to accused him of being a "Far Left Radical".
Pam Geller: This is from his youtube channel. Total lefty loon.
[...]
FOX News reports the shooter's favorite books: Communist Manifesto and Mein Kampf
Newsmax: Shooter "Fascinated By Leftwing Politics," His Favorite Books "Hardly The Reading List Of A Palin Supporter."
He also read Ayn Rand and The Wizard of Oz - so what does that tell you?
In response to criticism of the right on Loughner that hasn't really occurred we've already this kind of whining from Beck and Palin.
Beck: It is pervasive, everywhere - this opinion. I wrote Sarah Palin. I'm going to read my part and a little of her response. I said, "I know peace is always the answer, I know your feeling the same heat if not much more on this. Please, look into protection for you and your family. An attempt on you could bring the Republic Down.
...
There are nut jobs on all sides. Tomorrow I'm issuing a challenge to stand together to reject all violence. If people truly believe that America can become a some version of al Qeada, I will not stand in the shadows as too many did after 9/11. Terror is Terror. I don't care if it's for you party or allah, you're not a freedom fighter - but a killer. There's a difference between a hard fought political battle and violence. It's time for politics to stop and sanity to begin.
...
How many believe the worst can actually happen? Only those that do, and believe that peace and love is the solution will stand together. Everyone else will just continue to play politics"
Palin: "I hate violence. I hate war. Our children will not have peace, if politicos capitalized on this to succeed in portraying anyone as inciting terror and violence."
Rep. Tom Perriello's (D-VA) brother's address was erroneously posted online by a Tea Party blogger who invited activists to descend on the house. A gas line outside the brother's house was cut.
Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) was the target of threatening faxes and phone calls, including death threats. (Ed. Which is why Stupak retired from the House)
A brick was thrown through the window of the Democratic Party office in Rochester, New York.
Rep. Anthony Weiner's office in Kew Gardens, New York, had to be evacuated after suspicious white powder was found in an envelope mailed to the office.
A thrown brick smashed a window at Rep. Louise Slaughter's district office in Niagara Falls, New York.
Slaughter also received a message claiming that "snipers were being deployed to kill those members who voted yes for health care," according to Politico.
The FBI arrested a California man for making threatening phone calls to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
A tossed brick demolished a window at the Sedgwick County Democratic Party headquarters in Wichita, Kansas.
A devoted Glenn Beck fan left a serious of death threats (“Kill the fucking Senator!“) on the voice mail at the office of Sen. Patty Murray
At the same time what acts of violence have really occurred against the right wing? The Kenneth Gladney Brawl and the vicious Egging by Harry Reid supporters?
Oh, the Humanity of "Both Sides".... Libs throw eggs, Repubs throw bricks, threaten peoples lives, call them "Nigger" and "Faggot", show up with guns and plot mass murder. Yeah, that's "Equal".
The issue isn't really whether Loughner himself was inspired by either the left of the right - the truth is it's the fact that he wasn't politically movited is a shocking Surprise! after everything that's already happened and attacks that have already occurred.
It wasn't anyone on the left wing that threatened Rep Eric Cantor or sent Fake Anthrax to Keith Olbermann and Jon Stewart - it was a guy from Red State.
Interesting that after all this Beck now wants to "Come Together" and stand against violence because when David Brock of Media Matters ask him and Sarah Palin to do exactly that after one of Beck's fans attempted to assasinate members of the ACLU and Tides Foundation - they laughed at him and said Brock was like the "sad kid in third grade".
BECK: Did you ever think you'd see the day, Sarah, when Media Matters would be calling you the only hope for America? I mean, that's incredible. It's sad. We were deciding-- We were trying to decide if it was laughable or kind of sad, pathetic, kind of like that smelly kid in third grade that everyone looked around and looked at and went, "That's kind of sad."
PALIN: Yeah, it's a little bit of both, I think. I see more humor it in though, and it shows, though, how pathetic their argument is that they would be that desperate as to reach out to me to say, you know, that you need to stop Glenn Beck, you know, you need to stop what they perceive as incitement to violence. Glenn, you know I abhor violence. I know you do. Hating war, hating civil war, and praying for peace, and wanting peace and freedom for our kids in a civil society. That is the mission here, is explaining to Americans what the threats are to our peace and to our opportunities and to our freedoms in America.
BECK: Sarah, I can't tell you how disappointed I am in you. I really - I thought you were going to take this moment to lead. I really did. But now, now Sarah -- and I want you to understand this -- now Media Matters is going to come out against you and they're not going to like you anymore. They like you so much, but now they're going to have to isolate you too. Oh boy.
PALIN: Yeah because here's the [inaudible] They were on my side.
Pardon me, if I don't take Palin's sudden calls for "Peace" all that seriously.
Now, one of the "Both Sides" do it attacks has been that during the 2008 Campaign Barack Obama once said "If they bring a knife to a (political) fight, we'll bring a gun".
Mobster wisdom tells us never to bring a knife to a gun fight. But what does political wisdom say about bringing a gun to a knife fight?
That’s exactly what Barack Obama said he would do to counter Republican attacks “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun,” Obama said at a Philadelphia fundraiser Friday night. “Because from what I understand folks in Philly like a good brawl. I’ve seen Eagles fans.”
Ok, if you shouldn't say that anyone is inciting violence then why did the McCain Campaign jump all over Obama for this?
“Barack Obama’s call for ‘new politics’ is officially over. In just 24 hours, Barack Obama attacked one of America’s pioneering women CEOs, rejected a series of joint bipartisan town halls, and said that if there’s a political knife fight, he’d bring a gun,” McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement.
Now, it's fair to criticize that statement - but it's also fair to say that this kind of language isn't a habit of Barack Obama's. In the case of people like Sarah Palin it really wasn't a one time event, it is A FETISH on her part, and the part of people like Sharon Angle and Michele Bachmann.
Angle: If the country keeps going the way it is, we'll have to look at "Second Amendment Remedies"...
And Angle didn't just say it once, she said it at least three times on tape or on camera.
After we heard this did we hear anyone in the Republican Party criticize this kind of talk when it happened? Nope. Nor did anyone on the right call on Michele Bachmann for this...
Bachmann: I'm like a foreign correspondant behind enemy lines. I want people in Minnesota Armed in Dangerous on this Energy Tax. Thomas Jefferson told us having a Revolution every now and then is a good thing.
Or when Joe Stack flew his plane into the Austin IRS Building and Steve King said he sympathized with hating and "getting rid" of the IRS.
It's not like there wasn't violent implications to this graphic, although Palin's people now proclaim that these were just "Survey Sites" - not "Gun Sites".
Yeah, right. If Palin didn't think this image was wrong - why did she scrub it from her site as soon as the Shooting Took Place?
Then there's here "Don't Retreat, Reload" comments.
Palln: Don't Retreat, Reload - and that is not a call for violence. Don't let the "Lame-stream" media change the conversation.
Look Sarah, if you need to immediate explain what you really meant after putting forth an inflammatory comment - then maybe you Shouldn't have said it.
And to the Tea Party, when you start complaining that you're being "Smeared" when people are simply quoting what you've actually said - maybe you should've THOUGHT about what you saying before you speak.
When Aaron Sorkin criticized Sarah Palin for committing Animal Cruelty on her TV Show, she turned around and accused the screenwriter of a "A Few Good Men", "The American President", "The West Wing" and "The Social Network" of advocating violence against people through his films and movies. How does it work that she doesn't think politicians should be held accountable for their use of violent imagery and words but somehow writers of Fictional TV Shows and Movies Should?
Then after that she accused him of advocating hunting animals for their fur while sitting 5 feet from a Bear-Skin Rug!
Palin: I'll bet in his shows he's had some of the self-same high-powered rifles used - only they were pointed at people, not animals.
He said it would be ok, if it were for "Fashion" and I was shocked, I couldn't believe he would be so hypocritical to suggests it "Ok" to kill an animal for it's fur.
Having an occasional mis-statement is understandable and excusable - by anyone - but doing it over and over again and then repeatedly trying to deflect responsibility for your own statements onto to everyone else is a dangerous PATTERN AND PRACTICE of deliberate incitement, and calling out the people who do this is a requirement in maintaining a civil society - it's not an example of "Both Sides Doing it".
I did a music video about this a year ago - It's still relevant.
Vyan
Update: FNC's Brit Hume complains that "Disagreeing with Liberalism" is being called "Hate".
Among the most astonishing things to come out of the attempt on the life of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords have been the knee-jerk reactions and the efforts by the liberal establishment to pin the blame for this tragedy on conservatives.
On Fox News Channel’s “Special Report” Monday, senior political analyst Brit Hume challenged the left’s narrative.
“It has become a habit of the American left to equate disagreement with liberals and liberalism with hate,” Hume said. “So convinced do they seem of the virtue of their cause that the only possible explanation for resistance to it must be hatred.
What's being objected to is NOT criticism or disagreement of Liberalism. How is "Don't Retreat, Reload" a criticism? It's a threat. "Second Amendment Remedies" is not a disagreement. Fantasizing about killing Michael Moore & Nancy Pelosi is not a difference of opinion on policy. What people object too is the long litany of repeated calls for the use of violence, force and MURDER against Democrats by Conservatives, Tea Partiers and People On FOX NEWS.
How many times did we hear, when Liberals criticized George Bush that they were simply obsessed with Hatred and "Bush Derangement Syndrome?" In fact, didn't Fox News Contributor Charles Krauthammer Coin that Term? (Answer: Yes, he did)
So when Liberals criticize, it's not because they have a point - they just HATE. But when Liberals complain about being criticized (and threatened, sent fake Anthrax and SHOT AT), they can't respond to any legitimate concerns without Calling it "Hate"?. How many dead bodies - from Knoxville to the Holocaust Musuem to the attempted ACLU and Tides Attack - does it take before it becomes Hate?
Seriously, these people just can't help themselves from whining whenever they're being called out on their BULLSHIT.
Unlike a lot of people here, i'm not going to jump up on a stump and blame anything that happened yesterday on Sarah Palin, Jan Brewer, Glenn Beck, Sharon Angle or Michele Bachmann.
Truth is, they had nothing to do with it.
This wasn't their fault. They didn't inspire or incite this kid to do anything. One honest and serious look at his Youtube Page and Videos shows that he was clearly on the verge of incoherence and suicide.
He doesn't site any of these people, he doesn't quote any of these people, he had his own issues. So I think it's completely unfair to tar them with this particular brush, but when it comes to their apparent Crocodile Tears over this tragedy, that's another story.
When I first looked at that page based on an ABCNews Tweet about 17 hours ago it had a total of 300 hits, now as of 7am PST, it's has over 900,000.
I think a lot more people need to take a look at Loughner's various social media pages where he repeatedly refers to himself in the past tense.
Schools:I attended school: Thornydale elementary,Tortolita Middle School, Mountain View Highschool, Northwest Aztec Middle College, and Pima Community
College.
Interests:My favorite interest was reading, and I studied grammar. Conscience dreams were a great study in college!
Books:I had favorite books: Animal Farm, Brave New World, The Wizard Of OZ, Aesop Fables, The Odyssey, Alice Adventures Into Wonderland, Fahrenheit 451, Peter Pan, To Kill A Mockingbird, We The Living, Phantom Toll Booth, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Pulp,Through The Looking Glass, The Communist Manifesto, Siddhartha, The Old Man And The Sea, Gulliver's Travels, Mein Kampf, The Republic, and Meno.
In one online statement he says "You could consider me a terrorist", but the definition of a terrorist is someone who commits violence in order to push forward a political agenda. But what exactly is this guy agenda?
So even though we are still fairly early in this situation, less than 24 hours after the incident, even though he does make an strange incoherent set of comments about the Constitution and the Gold Standard, I really don't see any political TEA PARTY red flags coming from Jared Loughner. Yes, even though Sarah Palin had Giffords in her Cross Hairs there's still no evidence YET that this guy took any heed of what she, or anyone else had to say about it. It could be as simple as the fact that Loughner happens to live in Giffords' district, and her public event that day was as good a spot as any for his impending implosion.
Again, It's simply not fair or responsible to blame this shooting on the Rhetoric of Republicans or the Tea Party without a concrete link of some kind.
To prove that point contrast Loughner's incoherence with this guy... who was intercepted by Police on his way to stage a gun attack on the ACLU and Tides Foundation.
Williams: And it was the things that he did, it was the things he exposed that blew my mind. Beck would never say anything about a conspiracy, would never advocate violence, he'll never do anything like, of this nature, but he'll give you every ounce of evidence that you could possibly need.
Williams: Soros has got himself a little system where rich people can donate and remain anonymous
Williams: Beck is going to deny everything about a violent approach. He's going to deny conspiracies, but he'll give you everything you need to believe them. He's protecting himself, and you can't blame him for that.
Beck: To the day I die, I'm going to be a progressive hunter. And drive a stake through the heart of the blood suckers.
Let's recall that when this happened - WE DID NOT see Glenn Beck stand up and say "This is wrong, and I repudiate what this guy did and any connection to him". Let's recall what happened when Media Matters begged Sarah Palin to step forward and say something about this...
Brock: I"m going to personally call Sarah.
We all know the showman Glenn Beck and his Fox News bosses have no incentive to call a halt to this dangerous rhetoric and demonizing of enemies on their own. Recently addressing a NewsCorp shareholder who questioned whether Murdoch was comfortable with what Beck is doing on behalf of shareholders, Murdoch said that he does not agree with everything said on Fox, and called the channel "simply unstoppable." It appears, as suggested in various media reports in recent weeks about what a divisive figure Beck has become even within the company, that Beck can't be controlled either by Murdoch or Roger Ailes, who recruited Beck as part of his strategy to declare war on the Obama administration.
However, as one of Beck's biggest boosters, is a respected leader in the GOP and conservative movement, and Fox's own star contributor, we think Palin is well positioned to pull Beck back from his current course, to hold him accountable for his reckless words. Palin's credibility as a leader relies on more than just endorsing candidates and an uncanny knack for making headlines. It requires a moral compass she repeatedly says she possesses to make this country a better, safer place to live for all Americans.
And what did Sarah do? She went on Glenn Beck's Radio show and Laughed at David Brock...
BECK: Did you ever think you'd see the day, Sarah, when Media Matters would be calling you the only hope for America? I mean, that's incredible. It's sad. We were deciding-- We were trying to decide if it was laughable or kind of sad, pathetic, kind of like that smelly kid in third grade that everyone looked around and looked at and went, "That's kind of sad."
PALIN: Yeah, it's a little bit of both, I think. I see more humor it in though, and it shows, though, how pathetic their argument is that they would be that desperate as to reach out to me to say, you know, that you need to stop Glenn Beck, you know, you need to stop what they perceive as incitement to violence. Glenn, you know I abhor violence. I know you do. Hating war, hating civil war, and praying for peace, and wanting peace and freedom for our kids in a civil society. That is the mission here, is explaining to Americans what the threats are to our peace and to our opportunities and to our freedoms in America.
BECK: Sarah, I can't tell you how disappointed I am in you. I really - I thought you were going to take this moment to lead. I really did. But now, now Sarah -- and I want you to understand this -- now Media Matters is going to come out against you and they're not going to like you anymore. They like you so much, but now they're going to have to isolate you too. Oh boy.
PALIN: Yeah because here's the [inaudible] They were on my side.
Oh really? Sarah Palin: Princess of Peace?
You had your chance to stand up against rhetorical violence and you BLEW IT Sarah, instead you decided to choose sides and sarcastically argued that you weren't on the side of Media Matters when they asked for your help. You and Glenn did exactly what Byron Wlliams SAID you would do - which is to Play Dumb and Innocent. Your reaction here was to double-down on the rhetoric just like Mark William's did when the NAACP called out the Tea Party allowing Racism.
Palin and Beck's response then was to Pour Rocket Fuel on the Bonfire so there's frankly no reason to expect that their real feelings are much different now. What I expect them to do is run away from any responsibility for this saying that any criticism of them is an "attack on their free speech and political activism", then turn around and blame the Left for the Shooting. (Both of which, at least for rank and file Tea Party, have already occurred).
Isn't it funny how the Tea Party loves and endorses Profiling the actions of few individuals within a group and assigning responsibility to everyone else in that group - until they themselves happen to be the group in question? In fact their reflexive blame shifting is so deep I'm expecting any minute that Andrew Breitbart is going to claim that the Shooting "Never Happened" because no one caught it on video tape, and offer $10,000 to anyone who can prove the Rep Giffords and 17 other people really did get shot!
So, as a result I think the really valid Criticism of Palin, Beck and the Tea Party isn't that they may have sparked this attack on Rep Gifford's yesterday with their words -- because IMO they didn't -- it's that their Crocodile Tears today after the fact ring hollow as an empty bass drum since they FAILED to respond to so many events over the past two years, a list of which I compiled just two months ago after NPR received a Bomb Threat in response to the firing of Juan Williams.
The other day a Moveon.org activist was viciously curb stomped by a Rand Paul campaign volunteer.
A envelope of White Powder was mail to Rep. Anthony Weiners Office with a threatening note about Health Care.
Packets of White Powder were also sent to Keith Olbermann, David Letterman, Jon Stewart and Speaker Pelosi by Free Republic Poster, Ann Coulter & Michelle Malkin acolyte Chad Costanza.
Bricks were thrown through the window of Wichita Country Democratic Office after a "Nationwide Call to vandalize Democratic Offices" was made by the former head of the Alabama Constitutional Militia.
Selfstyled "Christian bin Laden" and Army of God member Justin Moose threatened to Bomb Women's Health Clinics
James Adkisson shot 5 and killed 2 "Liberals" at a Knoxville Unitarian Church, because he wanted to murder every person Bernard Goldberg said was "Destroying America".
If would be fair to include the Death Threats against Eric Cantor in this list as well, but not as an example of violent "Left Wing" rhetoric - because that issue was about his failure to stop the Health Care Bill which most on the Left Support, or want to see strengthened. It's not like these guys are above a bit of political fratricide.
But where exactly was Sarah Palin and the Republican Tea Party when all this - including the threats against Cantor - happened?
They were here... as I said in my post about the NPR Bomb threat.
The default position for all Republicans on issues like this are to duck, dodge and deflect that blame - accuse the perpetrators of simply being "insane", and then blame the victims for bringing all of this on themselves.
Oh yeah, and they'll whine about being linked or blamed for any of these - even when people from their own political campaigns are committing assault. Sarah's history is that she condemned Rahm Emmanuel comments about "Retards", then defended Rush Limbaugh for saying essentially the same exact thing. She attacked David Letterman for "insensitive speech" but defended Dr. Laura for "Nigger NIgger Nigger Nigger"! She's shown that Glenn Beck could talk about curb stomping a baby seal in her front yard, and she'd happily volunteer to help hold it down.
Think the curb-stomping reference is over the top? Not long ago a Republican Strategist connected to Dick Morris and Fox News tweeted this about Media Matters
Aside from the fact a gentleman doesn't hit women, explain to me why the MMFA boys don't get curbstomped fortnightly?
This is who they truly are. That's how they really feel.
My sincere condolences are offered to the family of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims of today’s tragic shooting in Arizona.
On behalf of Todd and my family, we all pray for the victims and their families, and for peace and justice.
– Sarah Palin
Sorry Sarah, no sale - I'm not buying it. When you were specifically asked to come out against violence you made a mockery of it. You've already shown you don't give a damn what happens to Democrats in this country.
And from Arizona Governor Jan Brewer we get even more Crocodile Tears.
Governor Jan Brewer released this statement on the shooting:
All of Arizona is shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific tragedy that transpired this morning in Tucson.
I have been in contact throughout the morning with law enforcement officials, as well as Tucson mayor Bob Walkup, and just a short while ago I spoke personally with President Obama. The President conveyed his heartfelt sympathies for our State, and our shared determination to ensure that justice is fully served.
I am just heartbroken. Gabby is more than just a colleague, she is my friend. She has always been a noble public servant. My thoughts and prayers are with Congresswoman Giffords and her family, the Congresswoman’s staff and their families, and well as the other victims of this senseless and cruel violence.
Where exactly was all this heartfelt emotion when two citizens of her state died as a result of being DENIED DESPERATELY NEEDED TRANSPLANTS because of her decision to cut a tiny sliver of money from the Arizona Budget?
Brewer: I believe that the media has blown that totally completely out of proportion. It's an unfortunate thing that people have passed away, that the two people that have died, but I do believe that it wasn't because of the funding at this particular time,
Hmm... Boo hoo?
Also where the "heartfelt condolences" from Sarah Palin the Death Panel Queen when this was going on in Jan Brewer's Arizona?
Nothing but Crickets...
It's easy to well up tears when something horrible happens to someone you know and can identify with. It's easy to offer condolences to those you think are "worthy" of your compassion - what's hard to do, is to reach past all that and offer condolences and compassion to people who actually need it regardless of whether you find them sympathetic, or appealing or ON YOUR SIDE!. It's easy to have compassion for your friends, but not your "Enemies".
It's easy to say the right thing after it's too late, and hard to do it when it means something and counts.
