By Mickey Walker-January 23, 2011
Jared Loughner, a psychopath without a trace of conscience,
shot Congresswoman Gabriel Giffords and 19 others in a Safeway parking lot rally
for the Congresswoman on January 8, 2011. Six people, including a 9 year old girl were killed and the others,
seriously wounded. Giffords, shot
in the head, survived the attack and is still in critical condition in the
University Medical Center in Tucson. Her wound is grave, and it appears that if she survives, things for her
will never be the same. Upon
hearing the news, I felt down and depressed at what had become of America, our
country. Knowing that the random
act was that of a crazy person did not seem to ease my depression for the rest
of the day.
After the tragic mindless shooting of many innocent victims
at had set in, Paul Krugman, Chris Matthews, and a few other reporters pointed
a finger at the violent rhetoric of Sarah Palin as a contributing cause. Though the heinous act was committed by
a deranged 22-year-old gunman and had no direct connection to Sarah Palin or
that what she might have said did, in fact, inflame the mind of a senseless villain,
Palin had used the gun talk words of “targeting” and “crosshairs” before when
describing how her supporters, be they Tea Partiers, Republicans, or
Independents, needed to vote Gabriel Giffords (and her kind in other targeted
states in her crosshairs) out of office. Palin’s crosshairs were posted online and fixed on the states during the
2010 Election that Palin said were “targeted” and in the “crosshairs” because
the wrong politicians (according to Palin’s beliefs) were incumbent Democrats
in those states. And according to
Palin, a housecleaning was in order. See
Palin’s gun talk rhetoric and Giffords’ video warning of such almost a year ago
Paul Krugman, columnist for the New York Times, may have
ignited the first GOP that caught quickly like wildfire that saw everyone from
Rush Limbaugh to Bernie Goldberg to O’Reilly, Hannity, (you know the crowd) to
cry foul. A
Krugman piece on the Tucson Shooting
Well, all the big league players used their broadcasting
Media resources (Fox News, for example) ‘round the clock for days after the
shootings, demonizing the Democrats and liberals for “politicizing” the
tragedy. They said in monotonous
repetitions that made your teeth hurt that this was the act of an insane
monster, and to “politicize” it all (like the Left-leaning Media was doing) was
horrific and shameful. It went on
and on and on for days. You got a
slant from Bill O’Reilly and his ghoulish backups like it was the number one
hog-rooting, hog-wallowing story that Fox News had to offer. Charles Krauthammer, a regular Fox News
contributor hashed it over with O’Reilly in their tandem trashing of liberals
about how much they “politicized” the shootings. Under the talking head of Krauthammer were the words,
“Harvard educated MD and psychiatrist.” Hmmm. I had had the
misfortune to listen to the cadaverous Krauthammer before when I was slumming
and flipped the channel to see what new untruth Fox was telling America, and
know what? Never did I see that
caption under Krauthammer’s difficult to view likeness. Was Fox saving his credentials for just
such an occasion that might seem credulous? Then there was Rush. The following piece by Sam Seder commenting on Rush Limbaugh’s comments
is pregnant with how violent rhetoric really does incite people to hurt
people: Rush and Sam Seder each
discuss the likelihood of whether violent hate rhetoric is dangerous
Then came Hannity and all the pig squeals and high-pitched
oinks expressing indignation at the Left for politicizing the shooting
tragedy. There was Dick Morris, of
course, perhaps the only face exuding more bile, dishonesty, and one-way
huckster talking points than the Huckster himself, Mike Huckabee. Yada, yada, yada, all day and all night
long.
So you take a drive to the post office to get away from such
vitriol, and up jumps Rush Limbaugh with his own spin on why people should not
listen to the awful Democrats who tried to implicate Palin and her violent
rhetoric as perhaps an inciter of such nut cases like Jared Loughner, the
Tucson shooter who shot 20 people, 6 of whom were killed.
The Right Wing groups, be they Tea Baggers, Republicans, or
just misguided Billy Bobs whose heroes are Toby Keith and George W. Bush have
engaged in non-stop, 24-7 blathering on the airwaves and on television. There has been a non-stop attempt to
defend Sarah Palin in order to exonerate her from any blame for her
“crosshairs” style of talking trash. These angry right wing groups have flayed the Democrats and Lefties,
non-stop for days at least 30 times an hour, or every 2 minutes. I got one question for them all:
Will the REAL politicizers of this national tragedy please
stand up?
I don’t think they even realize what projection truly is nor
would they really care if America might really benefit from a statement from
Palin that would bring us together and strengthen her chances for the
presidency in 2012. Palin could
become instantly popular with twice the voters she has now if only she would
utter something like:
“The time has come for us to put down our weapons of hate,
not to defend them. If I said
anything that might inflame a mentally-disturbed individual to commit such a
horrific act, I am sorry. I did
not mean it literally, the crosshairs thing, and I will strive to do better
just in case there might be a sliver of responsibility attributable to me or my
campaign rhetoric.” Former press
secretary for President George H W Bush said it best: "The strongest way to rise above would have been to
talk about suffering, tragedy, hope, strength and recovery," former White
House spokesman Ari Fleischer told Politico.
"But instead she (Palin) followed the more conventional political route
and made it about herself rather than the victims."
I tell you she would bring down the house of undecided
voters in America. People would
believe she is real. But look at
it another way: O’Reilly, Hannity,
and Rush would be robbed of just another bone to worry by trashing
Democrats. Maybe they would feel
cheated, who knows?
After 4 days of silence and lying low, Palin finally did
speak. On Facebook she posted a
video disclaiming any part of such an atrocity as the Tucson massacre. As I watched her words peel off her
lips with surgeon precision, I shuddered to think that she was interested in
herself, defending herself, denying any part in the shootings at Tucson, and in
taking the opportunity to slam dunk the Liberal Media and Liberals. She was right in saying that the
shooter acted on his own, but she did not seem to care that her violent remarks
in the past such as “lock and load” or “don’t give up (after losing races);
reload” might have played a part in inflaming a mentally-deranged person like
Loeghner to wound and kill so many innocent Americans.
For those in the News Media who said she might have some
responsibility in the incitement of mentally unstable individual like Loeghner,
she dumfounded many by accusing the Media of having a “blood libel” axe to
grind against her. Blood libel is
a term used to demonize Jews for the slaying of children to take their blood
and mix with their unleavened bread for purposes of worship. Damn! Can you believe she would use such a term? Her anger goes deeper for a Media who
challenges her and wants her to answer to charges, right or wrong, than I ever
could imagine for her to use a term such as “blood libel” against the
Media. Apparently her use of the
term also angered many in the Jewish community. Palin’s
use of the term “blood libel” disturbs Jews
So in Palin’s Facebook defense of herself, she says that the
influence the Media has is minimal anyway and not that important. But as a person whose whole career is
based upon media coverage how can we accept that? The Media is very powerful in determining events that affect
the lives of all Americans. And
those who use and abuse the Media to achieve their goals are, in this
reporter’s opinion, ultra sleazy. Just look at the contrast between Palin’s Facebook video and President
Obama’s address to the American people. The
difference between Obama and Palin
I, for one, cannot understand this infatuation with such a
dark and insensitive character as Sarah Palin. It is crystal clear that the overall good of America and the
American people is not her quest. She just doesn’t give a damn. She proves that she cares most about Sarah Palin. And should be taken at her word. Lest we all pay for it dearly in the
future.