Friday, March 29, AD 2024 5:52am

The Left and the Political Blood Libel

As indicated by the video above, many people on the Left have been relentless, since news broke of the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims, on trying to blame conservatives somehow for the actions of one crazed lunatic.  There is no evidence that the gunman was motivated by anything other than the severe mental illness that he seems to be afflicted with.  However, those on the Left seeking to demonize those they politically oppose will not let a little thing like the truth stand in their way.  Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit, takes a look at all this today in a column in the Wall Street Journal:

Shortly after November’s electoral defeat for the Democrats, pollster Mark Penn appeared on Chris Matthews’s TV show and remarked that what President Obama needed to reconnect with the American people was another Oklahoma City bombing. To judge from the reaction to Saturday’s tragic shootings in Arizona, many on the left (and in the press) agree, and for a while hoped that Jared Lee Loughner’s killing spree might fill the bill.

With only the barest outline of events available, pundits and reporters seemed to agree that the massacre had to be the fault of the tea party movement in general, and of Sarah Palin in particular. Why? Because they had created, in New York Times columnist Paul Krugman’s words, a “climate of hate.”

The critics were a bit short on particulars as to what that meant. Mrs. Palin has used some martial metaphors—”lock and load”—and talked about “targeting” opponents. But as media writer Howard Kurtz noted in The Daily Beast, such metaphors are common in politics. Palin critic Markos Moulitsas, on his Daily Kos blog, had even included Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’s district on a list of congressional districts “bullseyed” for primary challenges. When Democrats use language like this—or even harsher language like Mr. Obama’s famous remark, in Philadelphia during the 2008 campaign, “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun”—it’s just evidence of high spirits, apparently. But if Republicans do it, it somehow creates a climate of hate.

There’s a climate of hate out there, all right, but it doesn’t derive from the innocuous use of political clichés. And former Gov. Palin and the tea party movement are more the targets than the source.

Go here to read the rest.  In the hurley-burly of political battles it is always easy to become consumed with bitterness to those on the other side.  Those on the Left attempting to blame innocents they oppose politically for this terrible crime are an object lesson on what can happen to people when they allow such bitterness to become a consuming passion.

Update I:  These people truly know no shame.  A left wing Democrat group is using the shootings in a fund raising e-mail.  Of course they lay the blame for the shootings at the door of Sarah Palin.  Read all about it here at Big Government.

Update II:  The New York Times gets in on the act.  Read all about it here.  Hattip to Ed Morrissey at Hot Air.

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Spiro Chete
Spiro Chete
Monday, January 10, AD 2011 6:36am

Two absolutely horrible conclusions that could be drawn from this tragedy would be (1) colorful speech is bad and (2) personal eccentricity bad.

ISTM it would be detrimental for political life if bold, resolute, metaphoric, even hyperbolic speech is deemed unacceptable. There would be no more room for a Daniel Webster in public life, only for bland Hallmark greeting card sentiments of the Obama variety. Lawyers and sociologists would be the only acceptable candidates for office; soldiers and poets would be shut out. The country would suffer immeasurably.

Even worse would be if the Jared Loughner Rule were widely adopted in higher education, to whit: anybody who makes classmates feel “uncomfortable” must be expelled. “St. Jerome, dear, your outbursts make your classmates uncomfortable, we’ll have to suspend you until you learn to express yourself more temperately.” ” Johnny Milton, the other students say your hateful rhetoric intimidates them. You are simply not college material.”

Two terrible ideas. But don’t be surprised if they both catch on big with the “I’m OK, You’re OK” crowd.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Monday, January 10, AD 2011 7:28am

The ruling elites lost the debate.

Their dreamworld is falling apart.

So, they grasp at the AZ massacre as “salvation”, and expound vicious lies in disingenuous attempts to reverse tea party/GOP gains.

People (outside bankrupt/failed states like CA, MI, NY, et al) are rejecting the job killing agenda, e.g., ObamaCare, higher taxes, cap and tax, 300,000 additional rules and regulations, etc.

The left’s answer (THANK YOU deranged pot-head with no connection to Sarah Palin, the GOP or the DREADED tea party), “You are murderers. STFU, pay higher taxes, and allow us to tell you how to live your lives.”

Stephen E Dalton
Stephen E Dalton
Monday, January 10, AD 2011 8:21am

This accuse the right-wing of being behind violent acts like this one is old hat for the left. When JFK was shot, the blame was immediately fixed on a climate of hate created by the right. No matter if Oswald was a leftist who spent time in Russia and was involved in the Fair Play For Cuba group. It was the Right’s fault. No matter if nearly most of the polictical violence in this country was usually committed by leftist groups, it was the right’s fault, they created this climate of hate.

Phillip
Phillip
Monday, January 10, AD 2011 8:37am

An example of the left pushing for revolution:

http://creatingorwellianworld-view-alaphiah.blogspot.com/2011/01/democrat-congresswoman-victim-of.html

Sounds a bit like Morning’s Minion.

Phillip
Phillip
Monday, January 10, AD 2011 8:43am

Some more political hate from the left:

http://michellemalkin.com/

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Monday, January 10, AD 2011 8:43am

For many years, the evil right wing has created the climate of violence and hatred . . .

that likely caused the World Trade Center tragedies of 1993 and 2001, Fort Hood lead poisonings, USS Coles catastrophe, Lockerbie crash landing, . . .

it probably is the reason they hate us: evil, little Eichmanns . . .

Phillip
Phillip
Monday, January 10, AD 2011 10:34am

Of course, professional obfuscator and Catholic Democratic apologist Morning’s Minion is attempting to abuse the memory of Robert Kennedy by linking his murder to this event.

Unfortunately, reality is not a friend of this leftist revisionism. First, Kennedy’s assassin was angry at Kennedy’s pro-Israel stands. This position is usually associated with the left and not the right.

This link of Kennedy’s killer and the left is further backed up by leftist terrorist and friend of Obama, Bill Ayers, who in part dedicated a book to Sirhan. Ayers’ rationale? Sirhan was a political prisoner.

Robert Kennedy’s son was so incensed by this that he opposed Ayers receiving emeritus status from the U of Illinois.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/23/bill-ayers-denied-emeritu_n_737464.html

The sordid history of the left in relation to Kennedy’s murder cannot be airbrushed out like Stalin era photos. Sadly, MM thinks we can be duped by his own effort at revisionism and hate at the expense of a truly Catholic politician.

Darwin
Darwin
Monday, January 10, AD 2011 10:37am

First off, I agree with Donald’s point that it is despicable and shameless for the left to be attempting to use this repulsive act of violence for political gain by pinning it on their opponents. (They may well also be doing serious violence to the truth, as it is my no means clear the killer is a right-ist of any sort.)

That said, I’d advise folks in the comment box to also keep it cool in regards to blanket attacks on the left as the source of violence and wickedness in American politics. One can’t exactly accuse them of shamelessness in making use of this killing for political gain while at the same time trying to use the killing to score political points against them.

Joe Hargrave
Monday, January 10, AD 2011 1:43pm

Darwin,

Score political points?

At this point we are fighting for our political lives against a relentless lie and slander machine.

We are fast reaching a point at which we will have no choice but to pick a side and stick with it. When the truth no longer matters, war is immanent. Lies used in this way, Big Lie campaigns formed on a moments notice, are weapons of war. It’s psychological warfare right now.

I think certain elements want a civil war or at least martial law in this country, I think they view the Tea Party as the last obstacle to the “better world” they want to build, and want a pretext to destroy it.

DarwinCatholic
DarwinCatholic
Monday, January 10, AD 2011 2:01pm

Well, I agree that it seems like even some pretty normally-sane leftists want to go out and get them some conservative scalps at the moment, but I think they’ll calm.

I don’t think we’re any more in danger of civil war or martial law than we were after the OKC bombing, which was similarly mis-used.

If I’m wrong… Well, I’ll come join you at the barricades and you can laugh at me then. 🙂

Art Deco
Art Deco
Monday, January 10, AD 2011 2:14pm

I think certain elements want a civil war or at least martial law in this country, I think they views the Tea Party as the last obstacle to the “better world” they want to build, and want a pretext to destroy it.

I think ‘certain elements’ would be Ted Rall.

Much of the political opposition has a proprietary sense about institutions: the legislatures are theirs, the newsrooms are theirs, the schools are theirs, the professional associations are theirs – by right. Possession by anyone else, even a beachhead in some circumstances, is illegitimate and a sort of fraud, larceny, or criminal trespass. They also define out of the circle of reasoned discourse what the opposition has to say. However, their self-image requires certain sorts of rubrics. It’s not going to be martial law. It will be court proceedings and such, as is going on in Canada, the Netherlands, and Sweden.

Phillip
Phillip
Monday, January 10, AD 2011 2:53pm

“If I’m wrong… Well, I’ll come join you at the barricades and you can laugh at me then.”

I’ll laugh at you now and keep quiet then. 😉

jonathanjones02
jonathanjones02
Monday, January 10, AD 2011 2:54pm

What a display of politicization we have seen since Saturday. Krugman especially turns the stomach. More than a few leftists, well before it was clear what the murderer was all about, were ready to pounce on their political enemies. Completely disguisting. And through the charge that “conservative hatred” ect. is in some measure responsible, is itself spreading hatred – actually doing to conservatives what it falsely accuses conservatives of doing to leftists! Unbelievable.

Joe Hargrave
Monday, January 10, AD 2011 2:58pm

Maybe we won’t get martial law, but we may get the death of the 1st amendment, which could lead to it anyway. Already Democratic congressmen are calling for restrictions on political speech. Soon I fear it will be a crime to criticize the government in virtually any way, and that those who do will be forced into corrupt psychiatric wards as they were in the Soviet Union.

Hank
Monday, January 10, AD 2011 6:34pm

Rather than a wholesale increase in the House to possible unmanageable size would be to split it in to two chambers.

One to deal with passing amending and repealing laws, and another to deal with the budget, both of the size of the current House. It would increase the representation with out making unmanageable chambers. These two functions require different sorts of legislative expertise. The boundary’s between the functions are well defines. Individual congressman would be able to better perform their duties since they had less scope while overall increasing Congress’s effectiveness. The states would not have to align the districts of the two house the same which could provide a means to see that different interests are accounted for without excessive gerrymandering of either house.

Elaine Krewer
Admin
Monday, January 10, AD 2011 6:36pm

Apparently, the Arizona shooter also dabbled in the occult and in a New Age technique known as lucid dreaming:

http://womenofgrace.com/breaking_news/?p=6573

So does this mean New Age thinking, occultism, or Satanism, was really to blame?

Well, it goes without saying that Satan was to blame in the same sense that the evil one is to blame for ANY act of violence. Perhaps more so in that the perpetrator in this instance seems to have deliberately invoked some kind of supernatural help from the wrong side of the tracks. (Although it seems awfully strange to me that someone who apparently denied the existence of God would believe in Satan or other evil spirits, but then, we are not dealing with a rational mind here.)

That said, while I have no use for New Age or occultism to say the least, and firmly believe those things are NEVER to be messed with, I also believe that to blame New Age spirituality as a whole for this crime might be just as rash as to attempt to fix blame on any particular political movement.

Elaine Krewer
Admin
Monday, January 10, AD 2011 8:59pm

Isn’t “if they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun” a line from the famous “Chicago Way” scene in “The Untouchables”? Which makes its use by Obama during the 2008 campaign all the more curious, since at that time, he was bending over backwards to distance himself from Chicago politics.

Also, Hank, I like your comment and think that’s a good idea, but it belongs on a different thread….

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