Cynthia Tucker implies GOP establishment wants Sarah Palin harmed

"Will no one rid us of this troublesome Palin?"
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Left wing columnist Cynthia Tucker, who writes regular hate screeds for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, has typed out another hit piece on Sarah Palin. Tucker, a liberal Democrat, presumes to tell the 2008 vice presidential candidate to stay out of the 2012 presidential primary because it "would be the right thing to do for her party."

Whenever liberal Democrats give Republicans advice, you can rest assured that they're in full "concern troll mode," as if they have the best interests of the GOP at heart. Tucker mostly just recirculates DNC talking points, referring to the Vichy GOP establishment as "rational Republicans." Well, of course she would! Any Republicans who do not betray their party's platform and fully submit to the Democrats are not "rational" in the Dems' view.

But as repugnant as her column is, it's just par for the leftist course. What we find more disturbing is her choice of a title for her slime job, "GOP: Will no one rid us of this troublesome Palin?" A little history, here:

When English King Henry II appointed his good friend Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry didn't count on Thomas taking his new job all that seriously. Or at least he didn't count on Thomas siding with Rome when it came to a conflict between the king and the Catholic Church:

In 1164, the first sign of a split between Henry and Thomas occurred. Henry passed a law which stated that any person found guilty in a Church court would be punished by a royal court. Becket refused to agree to this, and knowing of Henry’s temper, he fled abroad for his own safety.

It took six years before Becket felt safe enough to return to England. However, they quickly fell out again when Becket asked the pope to excommunicate the Archbishop of York who had taken sides with the king. This was a very serious request and a very serious punishment for someone who could claim that he was only being loyal to the king. Henry was furious when he found out what Becket had done. He is said to have shouted out "will no-one rid me of this troublesome priest ?" Four knights heard what Henry had shouted and took it to mean that the king wanted Becket dead. They rode to Canterbury to carry out the deed. The knights were Reginald FitzUrse, William de Tracey, Hugh de Morville and Richard le Breton. On December 29th 1170 they killed Becket in Canterbury Cathedral. After killing him, one of the knights said "Let us away. He will rise no more."

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Where Becket died quickly became a place of pilgrimage. The pope quickly made him a saint. Henry II asked the pope for forgiveness and he walked bare foot to Canterbury to pray at the spot where Becket was killed. Monks whipped him while he prayed.

A moral of that story is one should be judicious about what one says, lest others act upon it, regardless of the original intent and meaning. In Medieval England, Henry's lament cost Thomas Becket his head. This is a lesson which is seemingly lost on Cynthia Tucker. But as a leftist, she is no doubt better educated and in possession of a keener mind than ours, as liberals have been telling us poor, dumb conservatives for decades that theirs are the superior intellects.

Therefore, what is Tucker's excuse to use such an inflammatory title for her column? Doesn't she realize that there are loons out there on the far ends of both sides of political center just unhinged enough to act violently on her hateful headline and the contents of her column, just as four knights assumed that Henry wanted the Archbishop beheaded? No, Tucker is not King Henry, and Sarah Palin is not Thomas Becket, but deranged minds don't always make those distinctions which seem all but obvious to sane folks.

It's past time for the left, which is always the first to accuse conservatives of inciting violence, to take its own advice. And Cynthia Tucker not only owes Gov. Palin an apology, she owes one to the AJC's readers, along with a clear disclaimer that she is not recommending that anyone attempt to do any harm to the former governor.

- JP