Daly: Media Can’t Bring Themselves to Detach Palin from Giffords

Really? Is it customary for someone falsely accused of a crime to reach out to the victim?
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John Daly, in an opinion piece published at BernardGoldberg.com, ranks the attempt to connect Sarah Palin to the Gabrielle Giffords shooting as one of the most egregious and "bone-headed media indictments of my lifetime":

Now, it’s lame enough when the media speculates on influences to murderers based on who authored the books that sat on their shelves at home, or who sang the songs they enjoyed listening to. But this was far more of a stretch. At the time the Palin connection was being suggested, the media knew practically nothing about the shooter. They had absolutely no idea of his political leanings. They had no idea if he even had access to the internet, let alone had ever visited the website of Palin’s political action committee.

And despite the concept of targeting districts being used for decades by numerous political strategists (often accompanied with visual representations off cross-hairs, targets, and bulls-eyes), its metaphorical context was selectively disregarded by many in the mainstream media for the purpose of creating a link to Palin. In their well-documented disdain for the former Alaska governor, many despicably went ahead and suggested that she could have been some sort of spiritual accomplice to the shooter.

In the end of course, Loughner was found to be a complete nut-case who former friends actually described as a “liberal” who regularly welled up in anger at the sight of George W. Bush. His longstanding, dangerous fixation on Congresswoman Giffords predated the Tea Party and Sarah Palin’s introduction onto the national scene. Palin was of no influence on him, nor was any coherent political ideology.

One would have thought that the revelation would have put to rest the reckless and politically-motivated media assault on Palin, but as we’ve found out over the last two weeks, it didn’t.

[More]

h/t: Conservatives 4 Palin

- JP

Unbelievable: Democrats Using Gifford's Shooting For Fundraising

-By Warner Todd Huston
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An extreme, left-wing Democrat group calling itself 21st Century Democrats has had the gall to send out an email blast using as a fundraising tool Saturday’s criminal shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona. Judge John Roll and four others were killed in the incident, one of them a 9-year-old girl, but these Democrats are ignorant enough to be using this incident to try and squeeze donations from its supporters. Some might think the action of 21st Century Democrats is itself a crime -- a crime against decency.

The email blast sent out Sunday morning to its supporters tells members that "we don't know yet" why Jared Loughner shot Gabrielle Giffords but goes on to lay the blame on Sarah Palin and Gifford's opponent in the past election for using "violent imagery" in his campaign.

The email goes on to ask members to "join us in sharing your thoughts and prayers to the Congresswoman and her family by visiting our website where we have set up a page for you to do so." Naturally once you click on the link you are redirected to a page that prominently displays the group's DONATE NOW button. It is not in the slightest way discreetly designed. As soon as you go to this so-called prayers page you see a large button asking for donations and another one underneath it urging visitors to "sign up" for email blasts and information.

Disgustingly, 21st Century Democrats is using this crime in a fundraising effort.

Gauche is hardly a strong enough word to describe this action.

21st Century Democrats is no unheard of fringe group, either. Styling itself as one that is "building a progressive majority from the grassroots up," it is interesting to note that some major top-down players in the Democrat Party founded the group. The group was created in 1986 by Senator Tom Harkin, a powerful Democrat from Iowa, and was co-founded by left-wing pundit Jim Hightower and former Illinois Congressman Lane Evans. These folks are hardly "grassroots" sort of folks.

Worse, even as this email blast accuses Sarah Palin and former candidate Jesse Kelly for using "violent imagery" and for "targeting" Giffords, this group is associated directly with The Daily Kos, run by Markos Moulitsas who used precisely that same sort of "targeting" rhetoric last year during the campaign for the midterm elections.

In 2009 21st Century Democrats joined the Service Employees International Union, The Daily Kos and others in a new political action committee (PAC) called Accountability Now PAC.

Will 21st Century Democrats quit this PAC now that it has become aware that Markos Moulitsas used the same "violent imagery" and "targeting" rhetoric against Gabrielle Giffords? Will this purported "grassroots" groups founded by powerful members of Congress avoid charges of hypocrisy and stand on its supposed principle?

I'll bet you'll know the answer to that already.

CLICK HERE to see a screen capture of the email message sent by 21st Century Democrats.

(Originally posted at BigGovernment.com)

-WTH

Warner Todd Huston is editor of Publius' Forum and a contributor to Texas for Sarah Palin as well as Big Government, Right Wing News, and a number of other websites.

Sarah Palin: On the tragedy in Arizona

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From Gov. Palin's Facebook Notes page, a prayerful expression of sympathy:

On the tragedy in Arizona

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

- JP