*
Mark Hemingway of the Washington Examiner:
"While Paul Krugman and other liberal commentators continue to exploit this weekend's tragedy by making hay out of supposedly extreme rhetoric on the right, perhaps they would do well to examine some of the rhetoric that has come from the left. On October 23, The Scranton Times reported that Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., said this about Florida's new Republican Governor Rick Scott... 'Instead of running for governor of Florida, they ought to have him and shoot him. Put him against the wall and shoot him.' ... One wonders what the reaction would have been if a Republican congressman had called for a Democrat to be put against a wall and shot."Michael Knox Beran at NRO's The Corner:
"It is no more rationally justifiable to blame [Sarah Palin] for inciting political violence... than it is to arraign President Obama on the same charge (on the basis of the Univision interview in which he urged voters to 'punish' their 'enemies')."John at Verum Serum:
"Loughner’s fixation with Giffords predates the existence of the Tea Party. It also predates Sarah Palin’s entrance on the national stage. It’s doubtful he was a fan of hers or of any politician in any party. His specific targeting of Giffords seems to have had more to do with proximity than anything else. She was the one 'authority figure' he had had some contact with, the one face to which he could connect his rage at the system which judged him insignificant... Arizona is a long way from the mean streets of New York City, but in Jared Loughner I see a Travis Bickle figure, one who never found his Jodie Foster."Barbara Walters via NewsBusters:
"To blame Sarah Palin as some are doing I think is very unfair to her."Rush Limbaugh:
"What an embarrassing weekend it has been for the media. I mean, utterly, childishly, silly embarrassing. I knew it was going to happen the minute I heard about the shooting... Don't kid yourself. What this was all about is shutting down any and all political opposition and eventually criminalizing it... Their first objective and first priority was to try to make an association between this nut and Sarah Palin. What? That's absolutely... You talk about insane? This guy doesn't know Sarah Palin. She doesn't know him. The really weak, flimsy, balsa wood-type attempts to link this guy to Sarah Palin? The difference is that a majority of the American people don't buy it. The difference today and 15, 20 years ago is these people on the left are now seen by a majority of Americans for who they are and what they are. They can't sell what they have to sell."Ace at Ace of Spades HQ:
"Sherrif Dupnik Pre-Emptively Blaming Sarah Palin Because He Knows True Blame Lay In His Office?"Daniel Hannan at The Telegraph:
"How can you condemn hate speech while ranting about blood-drenched conservatives? ... Michael Daly in the New York Daily News writes that Sarah Palin may now have 'the blood of more than some poor caribou on her hands' ... There is something repulsive about attacking your opponents for their intemperate language and in the same breath accusing them of complicity in murder. There is something blindly narcissistic about calling for a calmer debate while at the same time attacking Sarah Palin in terms that come close to incitement."Kay B. Day at The US Report:
"Progressives and media are seizing a crisis with the objective of limiting freedom of speech. This tactic suggests great disrespect for the dead and injured and a lack of morality in fabricating information about a shooter whose political concerns have nothing to do with Palin. Shame on anyone who claims it did."Matthew Vadum at NewsReal Blog:
"Just 24 hours after the horrific attempted murder of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) by alleged gunman Jared Loughner, MoveOn.org tried to rev up its membership to wage war against the forces of darkness in America today, i.e. Sarah Palin and the Tea Party movement... [Kos founder Markos] Moulitsas then blamed Sarah Palin for the shooting, tweeting, 'Mission accomplished, Sarah Palin' ... Matt Yglesias slyly insinuated via Twitter that Sarah Palin was somehow responsible for the shooting because her group electorally targeted Giffords on the 2010 election cycle... Remember that John Hinckley shot Ronald Reagan because he was crazy and wanted to impress a movie actress. Perhaps Loughner also acted to appease his inner demons... But none of this matters to MoveOn, Moulitsas, Sirota, and Yglesias because to them discrediting Sarah Palin and the Tea Party is more important than anything else."William A. Jacobson at Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion:
"Palin has acted appropriately in expressing condolences, and in not further making the story about her. Frum has his sights (no pun intended) set on the wrong person. Frum should be going after the liars, not the innocent."Jedediah Bila at The Daily Caller:
"Any member of the media who deemed it appropriate to speak about Sarah Palin’s map or the Tea Party in the context of the Loughner tragedy has no business holding the jobs that they do. They created a phony link with no basis in reality... Saturday was a tragic day. The fact that any member of the media chose to politicize what happened in an attempt to blame Sarah Palin and/or the Tea Party is repugnant. I’ve always known that our media is a sad state of affairs, but this went above and beyond that description... And to those in media who played dirty and/or nodded your heads in silence because speaking out against unfounded, outrageous links was just too hard, shame on you."ReagantoPalin.com:
"As doctors gallantly waged a battle to save the injured, and before the blood on the pavement [was] even dry, the usual suspects on the left found eager determination to pin this whole sad event on, who else, but Governor Sarah Palin."Andrew Klavan at City Journal:
"The Left’s sudden talk about incendiary political rhetoric in the wake of the Arizona shooting isn’t really about political rhetoric at all. It’s about the real-world failure of leftist policies everywhere... But all that might be tolerable to leftists if they weren’t starting to lose control of the one weapon in which they have the most faith: the narrative... If they can blame George W. Bush for the economic crisis, if they can make Sarah Palin out to be an idiot, if they can call the Tea Party racist until you think it must be true, they might yet retain power in spite of the international disgrace of their ideas. And though they still mostly dominate the narrative... nonetheless Fox News, talk radio, the Internet, and the Wall Street Journal have begun to respond in ways they can’t ignore. That’s the hateful rhetoric they’re talking about: conservatives interrupting the stream of leftist invective in order to dismantle their arguments with the facts."The Editors of Investors Business Daily:
"Palin's political metaphor was not an incitation to violence except in the fevered minds of those who think a tragedy is a terrible thing to waste."Marc A. Thiessen at the Washington Post:
"Left-wing bloggers and commentators blamed the attack on Tea Party favorite Sarah Palin because she had "targeted" Giffords for defeat during the 2010 elections. The New York Daily News published a column headlined 'Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' blood is on Sarah Palin's hands after putting cross hair over district.' And an hour after Giffords was shot, Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas actually tweeted: 'Mission accomplished, Sarah Palin.' He conveniently failed to mention that his Daily Kos had put a 'bull's eye' (their words) on Giffords in 2008 - including her on a list of centrist Democrats who should be 'targeted' in Democratic primaries. Mission accomplished, Markos?"B. Daniel Blatt at Gay Patriot:
"Okay, if Mrs. Palin is responsible, then, show me the evidence. Provide information showing that the shooter was familiar with her map... Show us just how he looked up to the charismatic conservative... And also show us where she urged her supporters to use violence against political opponents."Nicole Coulter at Conservatives 4 Palin:
"In the last two days, while grieving over a national tragedy, many of us have received irrational emails and messages from our liberal friends insanely blaming Governor Palin for the actions of a mentally ill young man who apparently stalked Arizona Congresswoman Giffords since 2007, well before Governor Palin ever arrived on the national political scene... Since Governor Palin seems to have the remarkable ability to travel back in time to inspire schizophrenia (and forward in time to ban books that haven’t been written yet), is it possible she caused the Titanic sinking as well?"Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit:
"Violent rhetoric on Sarah Palin from New York Times columnist Charles Blow: 'She’s like the ominous blob in the horror films: the more you shoot at it, the bigger and stronger it becomes.'"Robert M. Goldberg at The American Spectator:
"The Left's effort to link Jared Loughner's actions to conservative talk radio, hate speech, Sarah Palin's targets, etc. had nothing to do with urging us all to consider the consequences of political statements and symbols. Rather, it's part of a constant campaign to use the Web organize and energize its base around sensational narratives consistent with an ideological or cultural view as substitute for facts or events as they really unfold. The deliberate use of the Web to create instant mobs or spread fear has long-term consequences for our ability to function as a society. While the Left or liberal outlets are not alone in this using the Internet for such purposes, they are more likely to adopt and spread as 'truth' whatever fits their narrative, ignoring facts that conflict with the story line when they emerge."Wesley Pruden at The Washinton Times:
"This could be Barack Obama's finest moment... All he has to do is act like a president. He could tell the lynch mob to put down their rope and call off the hanging of Sarah Palin... But the president probably won't do that."Erick Erickson at RedState.com:
"For those still attacking Sarah Palin for daring to use the word 'targets' and maps against Democrats, including Gabrielle Giffords, please note that the DLC and DCCC, the D is for 'Democratic', also had maps with targets in earlier years. Likewise Markos Moulitsas of the Daily Kos targetted Gabrielle Giffords himself. The self-serving attack over the use of maps and the word 'target' is both dumb and hypocritical"The Editors of National Review Online:
"Martial imagery has been central to American politics for more than a century. Why do Palin’s critics think we say 'campaign' or 'rank-and-file'? We all use language of this sort, and no one ever before has thought it constitutes incitement."Jim Lakely at Somewhat Reasonable:
"Anyone who reads this blog has, by now, seen many examples of the left and the MSM pinning the blame for this [tragedy] on the Tea Party — which The Heartland Institute has proudly supported from the start. Readers have also seen where MSM/leftists say that Sarah Palin, in these very words, has 'blood on her hands.' No matter that the shooter was an insane 'loner' who did not have any ties to the Tea Party, or Palin, or even the Republican Party. There was zero evidence of anything the left was peddling … yet they peddled... The idea that Sarah Palin literally has 'blood on her hands' because she made a map that 'targeted' members of Congress for electoral defeat is too absurd to even discuss — yet the left and the MSM forces us to do so. I suppose the targets the left put out online don’t count."Robert Laurie at Big Government:
"If national Democrats are truly interested in eliminating the 'elevated rhetoric' they so despise, they need to stop trying to control conservative speech, and start looking within their own ranks. Of course it’s something they’ll never actually undertake, since this is all just an obvious excuse to use a violent tragedy to quiet their opposition."Derek Hunter at Big Government:
"Even Jane Fonda, always a potential medalist in the stupidity Olympics... blamed Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck for the shootings because of their words. Coming from her it really does beg the question, 'If their words inspired a lunatic to violence and they now have blood on their hands, does that mean we can blame you for dead soldiers in Vietnam since you inspired them with your words AND a visit?' Jane will never answer that question because she will never be asked it... Liberals are the people who’ve spent the better part of the last 20 years telling us that violent video games and movies have no influence on society, and I agree. Yet they turn around and expect us to believe a picture on a website most people have never been to somehow, miraculously had the power to cause a clearly disturbed individual to commit a heinous act of violence. Damn the torpedoes, full spin ahead. It won’t work."- JP
No comments:
Post a Comment