Patterico's Pontifications

1/9/2011

Left and Media (But I Repeat Myself) In a Fact-Free Frenzy to Blame Palin for Giffords Shooting

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 11:36 am



The facts are simple.

Jared Loughner was a lunatic.

Ben McGahee, a third-year instructor at Pima Community College, taught Loughner in an elementary algebra class last summer. McGahee said that while Loughner never threatened him directly, he was concerned by his behavior.

“I always felt, you know, somewhat paranoid,” McGahee said. “When I turned my back to write on the board, I would always turn back quickly–to see if he had a gun.”

More:

One Pima Community College student, who had a poetry class with Loughner, said he would often act “wildly inappropriate.”

“One day [Loughner] started making comments about terrorism and laughing about killing the baby,” classmate Don Coorough told ABC News, referring to a discussion about abortions. “The rest of us were looking at him in shock … I thought this young man was troubled.”

If anything (not that it really matters), he was a leftist. But really, his political philosophy can best be described as incoherent.

Much like Sarah Palin put cross-hairs on districts including Giffords, Markos Moulitsas said a bulls eye should be put on districts including Giffords’. [UPDATE: And Kos was hardly the only one. Via Verum Serum and reader Cheryl L. come these images of leftists targeting Republicans, before Sarah Palin’s map ever appeared:

Verum Serum has much more.]

And let’s not forget about the left’s long and storied history of violent political rhetoric.

So.

Given the lack of connection between Palin’s map and the shooter’s actions, together with the presence of identical rhetoric from the left, the talk today is, of course, about how it’s all Sarah Palin’s fault. And the left is exploiting this shooting to the hilt — facts be damned.

Here are Democrat operatives talking about using the Oklahoma City bombing strategy to “pin” the shooting on Tea Partiers:

One veteran Democratic operative, who blames overheated rhetoric for the shooting, said President Barack Obama should carefully but forcefully do what his predecessor did.

“They need to deftly pin this on the tea partiers,” said the Democrat. “Just like the Clinton White House deftly pinned the Oklahoma City bombing on the militia and anti-government people.”

Another Democratic strategist said the similarity is that Tucson and Oklahoma City both “take place in a climate of bitter and virulent rhetoric against the government and Democrats.”

Here is a screengrab of a Democrat PAC using the shooting to build a mailing list:

Here is a columnist writing a column titled Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ blood is on Sarah Palin’s hands after putting cross hair over district.

We’re going to see this for days, folks. Here you have a guy with communist books who posts videos of flag-burning who everyone says was an unstable kook, shooting a bunch of people for reasons having nothing to do with Sarah Palin, and the left impatiently waves aside the actual facts and blames her anyway.

All part of the playbook. You have to “pin” this on someone.

As a reminder, here is what they are politicizing:

Words fail.

126 Responses to “Left and Media (But I Repeat Myself) In a Fact-Free Frenzy to Blame Palin for Giffords Shooting”

  1. Between this and the animal Fred Phelps, I have had it.

    Patterico (c218bd)

  2. patterico

    i like the workaround for the politico reference.

    Aaron Worthing (1a6294)

  3. I am deeply worried about this. The left’s and media’s words are putting a bullseye on certain people in a way that a rhetorical electoral map bullseye never did.

    elissa (2f1e5c)

  4. there’s a poll at the columnist’s site where it’s about even among NY Daily News readers whether or not Sarah is at fault

    I voted she wasn’t just for the record.

    happyfeet (aa4bab)

  5. As daley pointed out, Markos Moulitsas (Kos) explicitly put Gabrielle Giffords on a bullseye list because she is a Blue Dog Democrat. But Paul Krugman wet his panties linking this murderous rampage to Palin’s bullseye list because of Giffords’ Blue Dog status, and didn’t even mention Kos.

    Nice job, you deceitful hack Krugman.

    Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (fb9e90)

  6. B-b-but deceitful hack Krugman is a Nobel Prize winner, Brother Bradley!

    elissa (2f1e5c)

  7. Just added this line for accuracy: But really, his political philosophy can best be described as incoherent.

    Patterico (c218bd)

  8. The morning talk shows were disgusting.

    JD (822109)

  9. _____________________________________________

    If anything (not that it really matters), he was a leftist.

    But it does, Patterico. If only because I’m quite aware that throughout society there is the type of person who, as one example, several years ago turned Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone’s funeral into a grotesque pro-liberal, pro-Democrat-Party spectacle.

    I wasn’t totally sure how the horror of the Congresswoman’s and federal judge’s murders would play out, although I hoped that liberal activists — who generally get the sympathies of the MSM — wouldn’t politicize the matter. But I’m also fully aware of the existence of people like New York’s Michael Bloomberg (ie, his originally believing that Tea Partiers were behind the attempted bombing of Times Square), the sheriff in Pima County, Obama and his crowd, etc, etc, etc.

    So fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

    Mark (411533)

  10. Just as last year, the left’s attempts to use any excuse to stifle speech they do not like continues apace. Blaming and politicizing this shooting by a teabagging leftwing pothead without any demonstrable linkage to the right just reinforces that there are no depths to which they will not stoop.

    Obama lecturing the Supreme court over the Citizens United decision, regulating the internet, attempts to regulate talk radio and reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine, show the totalitarian side of our supposedly tolerant liberal overlords.

    There are some things in which politics have no place. Unfortunately these people have no shame.

    daleyrocks (e7bc4f)

  11. Headline now on ABC website: “Palin’s now in crosshairs of Giffords debate.” Just despicable. The article itself is somewhat more balanced if you can have a balanced article without mentioning KOS.

    http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/sarah-palins-crosshairs-ad-focus-gabrielle-giffords-debate/story?id=12576437

    elissa (2f1e5c)

  12. colonel must repeat
    once again… liberals don’t
    embarrass easy

    ColonelHaiku (15abe7)

  13. Apparently Fox News is saying he had ties to “American Renaissance”, which American Renaissance vigorously denies.

    aphrael (fe2ce4)

  14. Isn’t “pinning” something on someone also violent rhetoric? I have this image of putting an actual thumbtack through a piece of paper and into a person’s flesh… And that’s no more ridiculous than the claim that Palin’s targeting Giffords’s district was somehow a call for violence against her.

    Milhouse (ea66e3)

  15. Then there’s this from CBS. Be sure to note the date involved that greatly predates the heat of the 2010 campaign:

    CBS News Justice and Homeland Security correspondent Bob Orr said on “Face the Nation” Sunday, “We do know from our sources and from our national security analyst Juan Zarate that Loughner had an interaction once before with Congresswoman Giffords back in 2007, where he apparently posed a question to her, kind of a benign question. “She answered the question; he didn’t find it acceptable, he didn’t like the answer,” Orr said.

    “In the time since then, investigators believe perhaps he was tracking her and targeting her in a very loose way,” Orr told CBS chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer.

    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/09/ftn/main7227843.shtml?tag=stack

    elissa (2f1e5c)

  16. Headline now on ABC website: “Palin’s now in crosshairs of Giffords debate”

    Talk about irony. Or about stupid journalists not understanding the very stories they write.

    Milhouse (ea66e3)

  17. My opinion of the left, due to this henious crime, has gone from one of polital policy disagreement to stomach wrenching disgust.

    Never mind that DailyKos “targeted” Congresswoman Gifford. Nevermind that the DNC created a map with “bull’s eyes” on certain Republican districts. None of that matters. All that matter is not the destruction of human life, or the destruction of families who lost loved ones, the sole purpose of the left wing media is not longer in the closet. Personal destruction of those the hate (yes, hate) at any cost.

    I remember how the left said “We should not jump to conclusions.” when Nidal Hassan was shooting up Fort Hood and killing 13 of my fellow Texans. Nevermind that Hassan’s purposes were clear, with his shouting “Allahu Akbar” as he murdered his comrades in arms. Please, don’t jump to the conclusion that it was his religion that drove him to do what he did. The MSM told us to seek ALL the facts first. Even the DoD report failed to mention that Hassan is a Muslim. Surely he was picked on as a kid. Yeah, that’s it.

    Why is all this happening? It is simple, really. The loss of power is driving the left wing media into a psychotic frenzy. Americans are rejecting what they have to say, with their ratings swirling down the perverbial toilet. What better way to build ratings that to say something so outlandish, so irrational, that we are all talking about it?

    I would like to take the time to remind you of the incident when a lunatic flew his plane into the IRS building in Austin, Texas. Of course, being the left wing rag it is, the Austin American-Statesman blamed the TEA Party until it was learned that the lunatic was a Marxist and had left his manifesto on the internet. Did the Statesmen apologize for jumping to “conclusions”. Nope, and the left never will. That is the way the game is played, boys and girls. Left = right, Right = wrong. Blame, blame, blame and maybe next elections we will take our power back.

    And let us not forget the disgusting actions of Linda Lopez (LaRaza Linda) who told Shepard Smith this shooter was an “Afghani” war vet. He’s not, but that didn’t stop Smith from reporting it as fact. But hey, if it meets with your opinion of our military, Shepard, go with it. Facts be damned.

    Call, write, email these publications that allow their “reporters” like Paul Krugman to make the disgraceful statements they do. If there is no penalty in allowing that to pass as journalism, they will continue with their depicable behavior.

    retire05 (e0b7e7)

  18. OMG – Didn’t Bill Clinton call his campaign headquarters the “War Room?” Think of the genocide that caused!!!!!

    daleyrocks (e7bc4f)

  19. There are many more sources of information than there were in 1995 when Clinton had some success in blaming “right wing radio” for the Oklahoma City bombing. The existence of the tea party movement shows that the public is wise to the antics of politicians.

    Mike K (568408)

  20. retire05–

    Excellent post. Only consolation here is that hopefully the same American public who saw through much of the 111th Congress’ agenda as pushed strongly by the leftist media, will also see through the irresponsible babble and false accusations they are trying to foist upon the public over the shooting in AZ.

    elissa (2f1e5c)

  21. Retire05, minor nibble: Paul Krugman is not a reporter. He’s a columnist. The rules for the two professions are wildly different.

    aphrael (fe2ce4)

  22. What’s really upsetting to me about this is that this woman seems like a really nice, sincere person and instead of talking about her, we’re having to fight back against this vile garbage. I’m guessing she’s the type of person would not appreciate her tragedy being used to sling mud at the right or Sarah Palin or whatever.

    These people are sick.

    Evan M (6539d2)

  23. To those of us who would like to see a Republican candidate for President in 2012 that can beat Obama, isn’t this a good time for us to throw Palin under the bus? I’m just asking so save the vitriol. 😉

    That’s the great irony here is that the Obama crowd really wants the Republicans to nominate Palin. But this whole debate over Palin’s responsibility in the shooting may keep that from happening.

    I still blown away over Byron York’s analysis and comparison to the “let’s-don’t-jump-to-conclusions” Nidal Hasan shooting.

    Arizona Bob (e8af2b)

  24. Rushing to politicize tragedy by blaming the right for violence is SOP for the left and media. I hate making a list like this after an event like yesterday’s, but the dishonesty needs to stop. The following is just a partial list of people or incidents in which the fact free rush to blame the right overcame any sense of judgment. Other names and events were already mentioned on other threads. The perpetrators ultimately turned out to be leftists and ordinary screwballs, but I repeat myself.

    The DC Sniper

    John Patrick Bedell, the DC Metro shooter from 3/10, a registered Democrat, Bush hater and 9/11 Truther

    NYC Cab Attacker during Ground Zero Mosque protests last year

    Joseph Stack, Austin, Texas IRS Center plane kamikazee

    Jim Sparkman, Kentucky Census worker who committed suicide

    Hutaree Militia, the only members registered with a political party were registered Democrats

    Obama as Hitler signs, appearing at Tea Party rallies and elsewhere, were actually created by LaRouchies, a left wing party

    Fred Phelps, Registered Democrat

    The infamous “n” word taunts before the final health care votes by the House were also proved to be completely bogus last March. Plus, who could forget the actual violence and intended violence at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minnesota which was hushed up by the media?

    daleyrocks (e7bc4f)

  25. Rushing to politicize tragedy by blaming the right for violence is SOP for the left and media. I hate making a list like this after an event like yesterday’s, but the dishonesty needs to stop. The following is just a partial list of people or incidents in which the fact free rush to blame the right overcame any sense of judgment. Other names and events were already mentioned on other threads. The perpetrators ultimately turned out to be leftists and ordinary screwballs, but I repeat myself.

    The DC Sniper

    John Patrick Bedell, the DC Metro shooter from 3/10, a registered Democrat, Bush hater and 9/11 Truther

    NYC Cab Attacker during Ground Zero Mosque protests last year

    Joseph Stack, Austin, Texas IRS Center plane kamikazee

    Jim Sparkman, Kentucky Census worker who committed suicide

    Hutaree Militia, the only members registered with a political party were registered Democrats

    Obama as Hitler signs, appearing at Tea Party rallies and elsewhere, were actually created by LaRouchies, a left wing party

    Fred Phelps, Registered Democrat

    The infamous “n” word taunts before the final health care votes by the House were also proved to be completely bogus last March. Plus, who could forget the actual violence and intended violence at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minnesota which was hushed up by the media?

    daleyrocks (e7bc4f)

  26. Thank you, retire05, for saying what I have been unable to over the last 24 hours. I’ve been unable to type one single, solitary word, for fear I would puke right on my keyboard. Journalism died in 2008. What is a superlative to describe deader than dead? That’s where we are, people.

    sybilll (112e7b)

  27. Every party has a few lunatics and every party can say that members have occasionally gone overboard HOWEVER any one with an ounce of sense can see that it is the far right hate spewers that have contributed mostly to this sorrowful event and they now seek to distance themselves from what they have created. Here are some of the statements that right wing candidates have made and no one here, that I ever saw ever repudiated them.

    “Don’t retreat, reload!” Sarah Palin, former Governor of Alaska

    “If this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies.” Sharron Angle, former member of the Nevada State Assembly Tea Party nominee for US Senate

    “If ballots don’t work, bullets will.” Joyce Kaufman, Radio host, Tea Party activist

    I am thinking about killing Michael Moore and I am wondering if I could kill him myself or if I would need to hire someone to do it.” Glenn Beck popular right wing talk show host.

    “I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous . . . The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Currently serving United States Congresswoman from Minnesota Michele Bachmann, leader of the Tea Party Caucus paraphrasing Thomas Jefferson

    And finally this bit of insight..

    “Sarah Palin has the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district and when people do that, they’ve gotta realize there are consequences to that action.” Currently serving Congresswoman from Arizona Gabrielle Giffords.

    Now deny it all you want but it is the right wing that has created this hate with all their talk of death panels, Muslims taking over, Obama a Hitler in the making,internment camps, secret police forces and on and on and on. Any one thing might be overlooked but the pattern tells me this is an orchestrated campaign of hate and fear.

    Of course, right wingers are not known for their reality based perception of things and with their paranoid self pity they cannot see how these things could possibly contribute to this event but I am posting this in the hope that just one person will awaken to what right wingers are creating.

    Vietbameravet (35c6c1)

  28. How about let’s make a list of Obama’s greatest threats:

    1) “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun., and;

    2) To the Hispanics to “punish our enemies.”

    Arizona Bob (e8af2b)

  29. Arizona Bob that is a shocking suggestion what you suggest

    happyfeet (aa4bab)

  30. daleyrocks you really ought to learn the difference between fantasy and reality.

    Vietbameravet (35c6c1)

  31. Difference between my posts and the laments of right wingers is that I am quoting major figures within the Conservative establishment that makes such statements on a daily basic not some minor fringe figures.

    Vietnameravet (35c6c1)

  32. “daleyrocks you really ought to learn the difference between fantasy and reality.”

    Oh William, is that you sockpuppeting again?

    daleyrocks (e7bc4f)

  33. Vietbameravet

    Vietnameravet

    OK, now you’ve got it right. Tell me about your fantasies.

    daleyrocks (e7bc4f)

  34. The Ruling Class (our credentialed elites) are bound and determined that they will change us from a Republic where all are equal before the law, into a New Aristocracy, where the peasants will have to genuflect to their betters in that Ruling Class, which will have atop it the Princes and Princesseson of the Legislature, plus the Dukes and Duchesses that administer our Government, all paying fealty to Their Imperial Majesty at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

    AD-RtR/OS! (7c91a7)

  35. Daley Rocks says

    The infamous “n” word taunts before the final health care votes by the House were also proved to be completely bogus last March. Plus, who could forget the actual violence and intended violence at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minnesota which was hushed up by the media?

    Ha ha It was hushed up but luckily for the world Glenn Beck found out. is that what you are saying??. what typical right wing lies and paranoia.. I am outta this place.. why waste my time with fantasy dwellers

    Vietnameravet (35c6c1)

  36. Daley made a list of violent actions, VeV. You made a list of words that give you the vapors when spoken by a conservative, but overlook when yours do the same. Or, was your point that evil right win rhetoric causes leftists to commit acts of violence?

    JD (109425)

  37. Buh-bye, VeV. Don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya. And get your meds adjusted.

    JD (822109)

  38. Viet–

    Just curious. Did you even bother to read Patterico’s thoroughly documented post before you commented here? Did you bother to read any of the previous commenters’ thoughts and contributions? Or did some entity send you over on assignment to spread the sick talking points we’re seeing elsewhere, and to insult and demean the very people you so much want to “awaken”?

    elissa (2f1e5c)

  39. #22, please, do not be condescending. I spent ten years of my life working for the Wall Street Journal (then owned by Dow-Jones) and am fully aware of the difference between a “reporter” and an “op-ed writer”. But the problem is that the things written by those like Paul Krugman are misconstrued by the public as “journalism” no matter what the correct term may be. Those lines were blurred decades ago.

    That said, there is no excuse in what is happening, be they the words of reporters or op-ed writters. And the bottom line remains that as long as the public allows such vitriol to continue, unabashed and without consequence, we, not the hacks like Krugman, are to blame.

    Lives have been lost; families have been devestated and broken. The responsibility for the press is to report facts, not opinions before the bodies are cold. It is disgusting, and if you are not equally disgusted, you have become hardened to the tenor of discourse and probably need to do some deep soul seaching.

    Perhaps you should note that not too long ago a dedicated, and decorated Houston Police officer lost his life to an illegal drug dealer during a routine warrant service. Did the left blame the open borders crowd, or the Democrats who support amnesty? Did the right lay blame? Was that officer’s life any less valuable that those who died yesterday? Yes, it is tragic that Gabby Gifford was shot. It is tragic that others lost their lives due to a deranged gunman who had no value for their lives, or his own.

    My heart, and my prayers go out to those who are suffering. I wish for a speedy recovery for those who have managed to survive this carnage. Just as it does when any American loses their lives due to the senseless act of a coward.

    retire05 (e0b7e7)

  40. Vevian complaining of RW fantasists is the height of irony.
    Jared is the first person to exceed Vevian’s lack of ability to not only connect dots, but to discerne them.

    AD-RtR/OS! (7c91a7)

  41. Elissa – I would suggest googling that first comment from VeV. Sounds like a copy paste talking point from one of the usual leftist cesspools.

    JD (0d2ffc)

  42. Vietbameravet, once again you show up belatedly with long debunked talking points. Don’t you ever check the expiration date before buying crap?

    Your refrigerator must be quite a biowaste dump.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  43. His refrigerator pales in comparison to his mind.

    AD-RtR/OS! (7c91a7)

  44. ________________________________________

    I would like to take the time to remind you of the incident when a lunatic flew his plane into the IRS building in Austin, Texas. Of course, being the left wing rag it is, the Austin American-Statesman blamed the TEA Party until it was learned that the lunatic was a Marxist and had left his manifesto on the internet.

    Even I at first assumed the perpetrator in that case was probably of the right. Just goes to show that as aware as I am of the corrosive, corrupting nature of liberal sentiment — and how many problems stem from it — I’m still not fully aware of just how insidious and destructive it really is.

    Mark (411533)

  45. JD–

    Oh noes, you mean that diatribe by VeV was not a purely original composition based on original thought and fine tuned for this particular audience??! I’m stunned.

    elissa (2f1e5c)

  46. Vietnameravet – Thank you for not disputing any of the incidents I described. Why did you mention fantasies unless they are your own?

    daleyrocks (e7bc4f)

  47. There you go again JD insulting Vietnamera vets and all vets with your comment about meds..resorting to your often used slur that somehow Vietnam era vets are all drug addicts.. you are disgusting! and you wonder why people accuse the right of spreading hate.

    Yes Elissa I did see the opening remarks, if that is what you are referring to, and the laughable, but not unusual attempt to suggest that this shooter was an anti government liberal leftist!! That is nearly as funny as the posting that the Hucktree militia was filled with Democrats!

    Here is what you righties dont get. I will freely admit that the left sometimes does make remarks that should not have been made HOWEVER the right is making these remarks every single day and they are not made by only by some minor figures but by major figures within the party including the vice Presidential nominee Palin and the tea party darling Sharron Angle and Michele Bachman. Is there anyone with a louder voice or greater influence in the Conservative movement than Glenn Beck?
    Here are some of his rants..

    Beck rants against Progressives who, he assures us, are heirs to the legacy of slaveholders, tyrants, dictators, Nazis and Communists. In fact, Progressives fought for Social Security, Medicare, the public school system, Federal food inspection, voting rights for blacks and women, health and safety regulations for working people, clean water and air and if you go back far enough, against slavery and abusive child labor all broadly described as social welfare issues. Beck notes, however, that Nazis and Communists also claimed they fought for social welfare issues. Therefore, in a leap of twisted logic, Beck tells his viewers that Progressives and Communists, Nazis and even Churches that work for reform through governmental action are all one and the same. And, in a warning to viewers, Beck asks, “What happens if these Progressives don’t get their way?” According to Beck, “You get a bullet in the head.”

    While talking about the recent health care bill Beck compared it to the Nazi eugenics program. He also compared the National Endowment for the Arts to the German Propaganda Ministry under Joseph Gobbels, teaching kids about climate change was likened to the Hitler Youth program, ACORN was compared to the Brown Shirts of Nazi Germany that aided Hitler’s rise, and President Obama’s call for more volunteers for the Peace Corp reminded him of Hitler’s SS.

    On one show he exhorted his listeners, in a highly emotional rant, to “find the exit closest to you and prepare for a crash landing because the pilot (Obama) is intentionally steering it towards the trees!” Then he adds, “They are taking you to a place to be slaughtered!”

    In other shows he has claimed Democrats are vampires and we should “drive a stake through the hearts of the bloodsuckers!”

    Other Beck statements include, “Every night I get down on my knees and pray that Dennis Kucinich will burst into flames”, “ I am thinking about killing Michael Moore and I am wondering if I could kill him myself or if I would need to hire someone to do it”, “When I see a 9/11 victim family on television or whatever, I’m like ‘Oh shut up’ I am so sick of them because they are always complaining’, “The only Katrina victims we’re seeing on television are scumbags”’ and a segment of one program depicted the poisoning of Nancy Polosi. He called President Obama a “punk” for criticizing a Supreme Court decision during his State of the Union address apparently unaware that both George Bush and Ronald Reagan had done the same.
    Its day after day of fear mongering and its not surprising it has taken its toll.

    Now you can say what you will but this is from one of your biggest heroes so dont deny that these words have consequences. Hell all I have to do is come to this site and read the postings of some and its obvious that your only intention is to spread fear and hate.

    Stop denying that you have encouraged and supported the worst elements in the party and have done everything possible to spread this kind of garbage.

    Vietnameravet (35c6c1)

  48. Notice all the important stuff in bold.

    Stop denying that you have encouraged and supported the worst elements in the party and have done everything possible to spread this kind of garbage.

    Not just a lie, or a damned lie, but calumny!

    But, considering the source, expected.

    AD-RtR/OS! (7c91a7)

  49. Sarah Palin is to the Left what Emmanuel Goldstein was to the proletariat of Orwell’s 1984… someone to focus their hate upon, as directed by The Party – or in Palin’s case – the MSM and the Democrat Party.

    ColonelHaiku (15abe7)

  50. Sorry guys, but you can’t erase the last two years of threats from American history.

    Gabby Gifford had her office trashed after the health care vote. The Dem in the next district had his office sprayed with gun fire. A protester was arrested when he dropped his loaded weapon at a Gifford event last year. Tea Partiers openly carried weapons at events with the President. Republican Sharon angle demanded “second amendment solutions”. Sarah Palin literally put Gifford in her cross-hairs (and colored 3 resigning Dems blood red). The “tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants” quote was often found at Tea Party rallies. Her Republican opponent invited conservatives to play with M-16s at an anti-Gifford fundraiser at a shooting range.

    Tea Partiers openly threatened violence against Democrats: http://tinyurl.com/We-came-unarmed-this-time

    Everyone remembers this and knows that it happened. We all lived through it in real time. You can’t wish it away by raging at liberals or blaming Obama.

    Facts are facts (757588)

  51. Olbermann is predictably on the bandwagon blaming the right for this. In his diatribe is there any conservative he leaves out. He begins with Palin and then goes after O’Reilly, Beck, the Tea Party, the right…… So pathetic for him to use this tragedy to further his leftist agenda.

    http://videotodaynews.com/p.php?x=154160524

    Brett (368801)

  52. vietnamerrorvet… is that the coke or the agent orange talkin’?

    ColonelHaiku (15abe7)

  53. I like Glenn Beck he has a nice smile and almost every time I see him he’s smiling or laughing unlike those dour Olsen twins.

    happyfeet (aa4bab)

  54. Mark… post #45… we see evidence of this dismal tide every freakin’ day.

    ColonelHaiku (15abe7)

  55. I really dont expect anyone to really change their minds because of my posts..I have realize something the other day and its this.. I call it my roller-coaster example. I read where there is this roller coaster in Japan or somewhere which is located on top of some twenty story building. Now you can tell me all you want about how safe it is and how no one has ever been hurt on it.. however I will freely admit I would never go it it because i would be scared s***less if it did.. I admit this to show you that you cant reason away fear. And fear is what is gripping this country right now.. fear of terrorism, fear of job loss and fear of a black President. That is the prime motivator and no amount of reasoning can change that..
    That is why you think everyone is against you and why you cannot see how you are being manipulated and used.. and why it is really a waste for me to try to reach you.. but I keep hoping that just a few somewhere will see this campaign of fear and misinformation for what it is.. We need good sensible dissent but we are not getting it from the far right who have taken over the Republican party..
    But of course I am just a Vietnam era vet and as we all know they are just a bunch of druggies!!

    Vietnameravet (35c6c1)

  56. You cite many instances of people carrying weapons.
    Were any of these individuals arrested, prosecuted, and found guilty of any laws regarding their possession of firearms?

    You also fail to note the many instances of violence directed against the offices of GOP office-holders, or thos campaigning for office under the GOP banner.
    Why is that?

    Firing an M-16?
    Did that Congressional Candidate violate any laws?
    You do know that the possession and use (in a proper environment) of full-auto weapons is lawful, don’t you?
    BTW, ever hear of Knob Creek?

    AD-RtR/OS! (7c91a7)

  57. Wrong, vietnamerrorvet… you are an addled douchebag who never quite grew out of your nitwit faux-Marxism.

    ColonelHaiku (15abe7)

  58. Comment by Vietnameravet — 1/9/2011 @ 2:04 pm

    Many of us here served during the Vietnam Era, but most of us managed to retain our rationality.

    AD-RtR/OS! (7c91a7)

  59. BTW, #57 is directed at #51.

    AD-RtR/OS! (7c91a7)

  60. “BTW, ever hear of Knob Creek?”

    Wasn’t that where chris hooten was hatched born?… no, wait… that was Yohan Hill… or was it Hoser Holler?

    ColonelHaiku (15abe7)

  61. Vev – did you learn logic from epwj? I did not insult veterans, I insulted you.

    “Facts” is William Yelverton, Prfessor of Mendoucheity at MTSU. How many sockpuppets are you going to go through, little midget racist boy?

    JD (109425)

  62. The open carry incidents were never threats of violence. The open carry movement has a very specific purpose completely unrelated to threatening violence against any candidate. A fund raiser at a shooting range is not a threat either.

    These are all intentional brazen falsehoods.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  63. ==That is why you think everyone is against you and why you cannot see how you are being manipulated and used.. and why it is really a waste for me to try to reach you..==

    Here’s something you might wish to consider and think on: What if it’s you who think everyone’s against you, and what if it’s you who are being manipulated and used?

    elissa (2f1e5c)

  64. the left seethes about
    what they lost and Grim Reaper
    has come-a-croppin’

    ColonelHaiku (15abe7)

  65. nice try elissa
    such circumspection will not
    compute in vet’s mind

    ColonelHaiku (15abe7)

  66. Comment by elissa — 1/9/2011 @ 2:14 pm

    Once again, the mindless is being subject to mind-control.
    Rove, you Magnificent Bastard!

    AD-RtR/OS! (7c91a7)

  67. colonel come back with
    a vengeance and said his piece
    and will shut up now

    ColonelHaiku (15abe7)

  68. The “cross hairs of a gun sight” is a position indicator, a standard unicode character that lives unicode 2316. It probably seemed logical that the person who made the now-controversial map to indicate position using a position indicator, but who wants to concede that, because that would tone down the rhetoric. For more about the character, google “unicode 2316”.

    nohype (428b10)

  69. “Tea Partiers openly carried weapons at events with the President”

    Bill – How about a link for this one and was it illegal for them to do so. If not, what’s the problem?

    daleyrocks (e7bc4f)

  70. “Beck rants against Progressives who, he assures us, are heirs to the legacy of slaveholders, tyrants, dictators, Nazis and Communists.”

    VEV – Nothing you said proves Beck wrong. Why don’t you actually try making that argument?

    daleyrocks (e7bc4f)

  71. Patterico, if you can’t understand people can think there is a difference between a crosshair site on a particular person and a target on a particular district, then I am sorry for you. You are making a lame attempt at rationalization and politicalization.

    Jim (8de501)

  72. Bunnies! LOL. So transparent.

    Chris Hooten (2b9678)

  73. Comment by Vietnameravet — 1/9/2011 @ 1:22 pm

    I know that it has been asked before, but where exactly did you serve during Vietnam?

    Fort Riley, maybe? Sure as hell wasn’t in country…

    The Departed (d027b8)

  74. Some are reporting that she may not survive and she is blind and unable to speak

    EricPWJohnson (8a4ca7)

  75. I see the “gun nuts” on the left are out in full force. But you will notice they will NEVER mention the crimes that have been STOPPED because some responsibile citizen WITH A GUN stopped it.

    No, no, musn’t take about those people.

    And then we have vietnameravet, who makes claims about Glenn Beck (notice, he provided no links because I am sure he got them from some anti-right, anti-Beck website slug)but will ignore the bigotry and hatred that was shown on the left.

    Personally, I am sick of you people. You do nothing if it doesn’t benefit you politically. People are dead, people are suffering, and all you can do is try to push your political agenda. Crawl back into your hole. You are the problem, and not the solution.

    retire05 (e0b7e7)

  76. “Everyone remembers this and knows that it happened.”

    Yelverton – Just as everyone knows and remembers that 7 out of 10 incidences of violence at the 2009 health care townhalls were by Obamabots, not (as the Democrat leadershit was so fond of calling them)the gun-toting, angermongering, Nazi, racist Teapartiers.

    daleyrocks (e7bc4f)

  77. Well, it seems Sarah Palin’s been cleared, since on over at the WSJ is an article that says he’s been planning this since 2007. That’s quite a while ago and before she was prominently on the scene as a determiner of political direction.

    Tea Party at Perrysburg (cb0e17)

  78. Bill and VEV – Sidewalk Smoocher Randi Rhodes always has kind words for conservatives, Ed Schultz is a perfect gentleman, Ariana Huffington, if you can understand what she is saying, never utters a mean word, Keith Olbermann, apart from those Nazi salutes and spittle flecked rants, is perfectly rational, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid never utter disparaging comments about their opposition and President Obama has always taken the high road if you ignore giving the finger to people and calling people pigs and enemies and such.

    daleyrocks (e7bc4f)

  79. ____________________________________

    fear of a black President.

    I always laugh when a person of the left cites Obama’s race as the factor motivating fear (or “fear”) of him. That’s because if Obama were a conservative, these same liberals would start groaning “affirmative action, civil rights and Rosa Parks weren’t all they were cracked up to be!!!”

    It makes me think of the time a few months ago when a liberal in my workplace started sneering about how bad Clarence Thomas was to women. The hilarity is that this same liberal is a big fan of Bill Clinton and attended a lecture of his in LA awhile back.

    There’s something defective and ridiculously immature about liberal sentiment.

    Mark (411533)

  80. Bill and VEV – Oh, and Alan Grayson was my favorite. Teacups rivaled you two for rationality and I am very sorry to see him depart.

    daleyrocks (e7bc4f)

  81. daley…(more Obama)

    …and encouraging his troops to “get in their faces”, and telling them that if the opposition “brings a knife, you bring a gun”.

    AD-RtR/OS! (7c91a7)

  82. Tea Party, the letter was written to thank him for attending a 2007 event. It’s not clear when he wrote the words “assassination” or “I planned ahead” on the leter.

    Jim (8de501)

  83. I know that it has been asked before, but where exactly did you serve during Vietnam?

    I believe he served in the Phillippines – what on earth he actually did there I have no idea. How he ever got into the army I also have no idea – must have been in the late 60’s, when they were desperate for recruits.

    Dmac (498ece)

  84. v-vet spent his pay
    on the whores and whiskey and
    he blew reindeer remainder

    ColonelHaiku (15abe7)

  85. This vietnamvet fellow thinks conservatives have been brainwashed– “That is why you think everyone is against you and why you cannot see how you are being manipulated and used.” Apparently the killer believed that the entire U.S. population has been brainwashed too. According to these two nuts, I must have a very clean brain.

    Birdbath (8501d4)

  86. I won’t get into a pissing match about this, but some one needs to post a legitimate, verifiable where anyone ever openly carried a weapon at any presidential event unless they were law officers. That simply does not happen.

    Ag80 (e03e7a)

  87. Ag80, it occurred in Arizona a year and a half ago where a person associated with an open carry movement carried an AR 15 at an Obama event. Amusingly, the MSM theme was that the person who did so was a right wing racist who hated Obama … a claim that CNN backed up with a photo of him with the head cut off … because he was black.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  88. birdbath… my wife has never accused me of having a clean mind. 🙂

    Aaron Worthing (1a6294)

  89. AW…You Devil!

    AD-RtR/OS! (7c91a7)

  90. BTW, I’ve never seen a poster actually name himself after his service in the armed forces. Two of my friends saw action in Vietnam, and the thought that they’d use some kind of badge in order to squelch dissenters would repulse them. This guy has a legitimate problem, of what origin one can only guess.

    Dmac (498ece)

  91. dmac…
    Well, some would say that “AD” actually stands for “Airforce Dummy”!

    AD-RtR/OS! (7c91a7)

  92. Vietnameravet is right, Right-winger are the gun fetishists, the anti government nut jobs, the minority haters, the ones with 2nd amendment chips on their shoulders. Just look at some the bloggers who comment here and their gun porn. It’s a bunch of violent knuckledraggers… ignorant and hateful.

    Sharon (c00d8e)

  93. Looks like they’ve brought in the second-team to spell Vevian.

    AD-RtR/OS! (7c91a7)

  94. Sharon, all the hate we see is from you and your ilk.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  95. Yeah, those damn lefties were always going on about 2nd amendment remedies and the blood of tyrants.

    What a bunch of unmitigated bullshit.

    Keep going; I’m sure there are more crazies out there just waiting for right-wing encouragement.

    JEA (31549d)

  96. Yelverton is cross dressing again.

    JD (d4bbf1)

  97. But he looks good to goats!

    AD-RtR/OS! (7c91a7)

  98. There’s not a damn thing wrong with the Democratic website collecting messages of sympathy for the Giffords. Right wing sites have been squawking about it all day, first calling it a fundraising ploy, which it clearly is not. The same sites yelling about the “Donate” button on that site have Tip Jars and Donate Now! buttons on their own – there’s one on this page, right here! So I suppose YOU are exploiting this tragedy to raise money!

    Beth (7540e3)

  99. Haven’t you heard Beth, we don’t need the money because we’re all Rich, Robber-Barons!

    AD-RtR/OS! (7c91a7)

  100. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m sure not going to modify my positions or rhetoric, no matter what happens.

    The Dems/socialists/left wingers of any stripe are my enemies and that’s all there is to it, so everybody better get used to the idea.

    Dave Surls (ae4fca)

  101. WoW! the second string must still be in training. Very very marginal work. Beth and Sharon will never make tenure at this rate.

    elissa (2f1e5c)

  102. Beth, gee didn’t pass logic class did you?

    elissa, yep second string.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  103. Vietnameravet is right, Right-winger are the gun fetishists, the anti government nut jobs, the minority haters, the ones with 2nd amendment chips on their shoulders. Just look at some the bloggers who comment here and their gun porn. It’s a bunch of violent knuckledraggers… ignorant and hateful.

    Dear Sharon, I have never once fetished a gun. I do however believe in the 2nd Amendment. Along with Ms. Giffords,

    “As a gun owner, I am a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. In February, I was proud to sign the Amicus Brief in District of Columbia v. Heller asking the Supreme Court to uphold the lower court ruling that overturned the long standing DC gun ban,” Giffords said. “We have a long tradition of gun ownership in the United States. … It is a tradition which every law-abiding citizen should be able to enjoy.”

    Dana (8ba2fb)

  104. More inconvenient facts.

    And, with that, I now rejoin the Ducks (in progress).

    AD-RtR/OS! (7c91a7)

  105. There is so much opportunity to pick things you hate to blame here:

    –Marijuana,
    –Heavy metal music,
    –Catcher in the Rye.

    Arizona Bob (e8af2b)

  106. Wow Dana, putting in Giffords own words in support of the 2nd amendment, that’s going to leave a mark. Oh, no is that inciting violence or is it just saying that you made a mighty fine point in a discussion?

    As said at the beginning of this thread, isn’t all this blaming of Sarah Palin going to cause some wack job to try to kill her. I mean since nobody is responsible for their own actions, won’t someone be compelled to perpetrate an act of violence against Sarah Palin?

    Or is it just words from the right that are wrong and even if the words are exactly the same from someone on the left, the words from the right are violent, but the same words from the left are peace and unicorns and everything nice?

    Tanny O'Haley (12193c)

  107. Dana, VEV is also ignorant of the many Democrats who sit currently or have sat on the board of directors of the NRA.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  108. Sharon – The Democratic Peoples Republic in which I currently reside does not allow me to own any hand guns. It’s almost like they pretend the 2nd Amendment does not exist or that the Constitution is alive or casting penumbras or something.

    Have you attended any Tea Party Rallies? They are peaceful, fun times, except for the leftist plants trying to disrupt the festivities to get on camera.

    daleyrocks (e7bc4f)

  109. p.s. I’m also a minority, Sharon.

    Dana (8ba2fb)

  110. Beth – Why does the Democrat Party hate black people?

    daleyrocks (e7bc4f)

  111. Others can judge if I am ignorant, but I don’t hate anyone, except some people who would like to see me dead. We don’t cross paths though.

    I do know people who I prefer not to associate with, but life is too short to hate.

    Ag80 (e03e7a)

  112. 15.Isn’t “pinning” something on someone also violent rhetoric?…
    Comment by Milhouse

    Well, Milhouse (not disagreeing with you), I always thought “pinning” signified deceit and blaming someone who is innocent, also not a good connotation.

    I believe in freedom of speech, but with freedom comes responsibility. I wish there was a better way of calling to account those who are being irresponsible. I suppose if one had real deep pockets you could “SLAPP” (a legal term not suggesting physical violence) a few prominent people and give them something to deal with if they want to be irresponsible.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  113. “Right-winger are the gun fetishists…”

    Not just guns. I also enjoy rocket launchers, and edged weapons.

    I never could get into the idea of wiping out whole cities with napalm or atomic weapons, though. Indiscriminate killing on that scale is more a liberal Democrat thing.

    Dave Surls (ae4fca)

  114. Jared Loughner Described by Classmate as “Left-Wing Pothead”

    A classmate of the man accused of shooting Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords this morning describes him as “left wing” and a “pot head” in a series of posts on Twitter this afternoon.

    Caitie Parker did not immediately respond to our request for an interview, but her “tweets” in the hours after the shooting paint a picture of Jared Loughner as a substance-abusing loner who had met Giffords before the shooting. She says, Loughner described the congresswoman as “stupid and unintelligent.”

    We’ve confirmed that Parker and Loughner went to school together at Mountain View High School in Tucson and that both attended Pima Community College, so her claims of knowing Loughner seem to be legit.

    Parker “tweets” that she and Loughner were in the band together and were friends until 2007 when he became “reclusive” after getting alcohol poisoning and dropping out of college.

    She describes him as “quite liberal” and as a “political radical.”

    Below is a log of “tweets” posted by Parker beginning around the time of the shooting.

    http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/01/jared_loughner_alleged_shooter.php

    DLKuzara (747f14)

  115. It seems fair to point out that the media has not been of one voice on yesterday’s tragedy. The lead editorial in this morning’s Los Angeles Times, for instance, is highly critical of purely speculative claims about the shooter’s motives.

    Angeleno (cf2b88)

  116. LA Times’s impartial media hack/critic James Rainey tweets words of wisdom from vile Sheriff Dupnik.

    [object]

    pidgintodamax (9fc768)

  117. Evidence is mounting that the shooter was very left of center in his politics, much like Sheriff Dupnik. We should follow the sheriff’s lead and speculate recklessly. Perhaps the hatefulness of Keith Olbermann or Chris Matthews is to blame?

    LeftListensToDemons (d4485e)

  118. Dave Weigel makes a good point here.

    This is stupid of Palin’s aid (and Tammy Bruce for buying into it). “Surveyor’s symbols”

    Cover-up worse than crime, etc.

    Crime (from Palin’s side): none. Cover-up: late-night comedy fodder.

    Christoph (8ec277)

  119. Brilliant post Pat. You took just what I was thinking and managed to focus it and put in words in ways I wasn’t able to. Posts like this are one of the many reasons this is such a great blog.

    CStudent (58188d)

  120. The Left is in full-throttle hate-lie frenzy because so many see a lot of themselves reflected in the form of this demented leftist pothead slacker. I live in Cambridge, MA and Jared Loughners are a dime a dozen here. They swarm the wi-fi houses. They swarm the poetry bars. They beg up and down Mass Ave and wander from flop to flop looking for highs. Often they are the progepy of pathetic hate-filled academics who of course love humanity in general but hate and neglect children humans in particular. A more querulous, arrogant and corrupt set of humans would be hard to find.

    LaFong (810b4b)

  121. Where do you suppose the killer heard fear and distrust of the gov’t over the gold standard? Where do you suppose the killer learned to hate immigrants and heard about voters that were illiterate?

    Where do you think the killer heard about 2nd Amendment remedies?

    How’s that 2nd Amendment remedy stuff workin’ out for ya teabaggers?

    TGF (c00d8e)

  122. A leftist shooting people seems to give “TGF” a woodie. You are a soulless arse.

    JD (d4bbf1)

  123. Assasinations never happened before the advent of Rush Limbaugh and talk radio.

    pidgintodamax (9fc768)

  124. I’m still trying to mentally overcome the stupidity of Palin’s aid (who, to point out the obvious, Palin chose).

    Surveyors’ symbols!

    Maybe Palin could and should escape all political damage by pointing out that bulls eyes and cross hairs are pretty standard graphic design and advertising devices.

    Fine. That makes sense to me.

    But for her aid to make it look like Palin’s got something to hide by saying they’re surveyors’ symbols, when Palin’s rhetoric and actions (including after Giffords challenged the poster) make it clear they are not … is such a terrible own goal.

    Palin should correct her aid, but even that draws attention to it.

    Christoph (8ec277)

  125. TGF, how is lying working out for you?

    SPQR (26be8b)


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