Maybe it's a coincidence, but just yesterday I put up a blog post on truth. This weekend, in response to the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (and the killing of six others in Tucson), Leftist media and politicians have launched a major offensive to lay the blame for the violence at the feet of conservatives such as Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Fox news, Glenn Beck and others.
Andrew Klaven points out:
The Left—which has been unable to discover any common feature uniting acts of Islamist violence worldwide—nonetheless instantly noticed a bridge between the Tucson shooting and its own political opponents. The Chicago Sun-Times ran a slavering editorial blaming “the right.” MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann and the Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson suggested that the killings were inspired by right-wing rhetoric. Politico’s Roger Simon did the same.
The narrative is what leftists believe in instead of the truth. 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 on the three broadcast networks, most cable stations, most newspapers, and much of Hollywood, 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. As for leftists’ reaction to the Arizona shooting, call it Narrative Hysteria: a frantic attempt to capitalize on calamity by casting their opponents, not merely as racist or sexist or Islamophobic this time, but as somehow responsible for an act of madness and evil. Shame on them. (Read Klaven for much more)
There's been a flurry of pronouncements from left and right. Victor Davis Hanson points to the hypocrisy of the Left blaming Sarah Palin's language when President Obama himself has used extremely inflammatory rhetoric to a pronounced degree: (my bolding follows)
There is much talk that Sarah Palin’s “crosshairs” ad pushed Loughner over the edge. But if sloppy use of gun metaphors can drive anyone to shoot congressional representatives, think what we are up against when the president of the United States invokes violent imagery to galvanize his supporters. What are we to make of Obama’s warning of “hand-to-hand combat” if the Republicans take over; or his comment that one of his supporters could “tear [Sean Hannity] up”; or his Untouchables boast that “if they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun”; or his advice to supporters of his presidential campaign to argue with Republicans and independents and “get in their face”?
Why would a president boast about figuring out “whose ass to kick,” or, in a climate of fear about terrorism, call his opponents “hostage takers”? In a post-9/11 world, is it prudent for the commander-in-chief to say of his political opponents, “Here’s the problem: It’s almost like they’ve got — they’ve got a bomb strapped to them and they’ve got their hand on the trigger. You don’t want them to blow up”? What about, “But you’ve got to kind of talk them, ease that finger off the trigger”?
Excellent and frequent reporting throughout the day can always be found at Jim Hoft's ever-helpful Gateway Pundit blog. He has covered the story with a series of posts including the one below which I have yet to see reported on any newscasts.
"MAKESHIFT SATANIC SHRINE Found at Loughner’s Home"
Jim Hoft writes:
Shame on the state-run media!
Shame on them for plotting to exploit this tragedy.
This troubled anti-Christian, anti-Constitution, left-wing, pro-Marx, antiflag, “quite liberal” lunatic was no tea partyer.
This troubled killer was possessed!
Weird. Mass murderer Jared Loughner kept a satanic altar in his backyard.
The New York Daily News reported:
A sinister shrine reveals a chilling occult dimension in the mind of the deranged gunman accused of shooting a member of Congress and 19 others.
Hidden within a camouflage tent behind Jared Lee Loughner’s home sits an alarming altar with a skull sitting atop a pot filled with shriveled oranges.
A row of ceremonial candles and a bag of potting soil lay nearby, photos reveal.
Experts on Sunday said the elements are featured in the ceremonies of a number of occult groups.
Investigators have focused on Loughner’s online anti-government ramblings as the chief motivation for the shooting Saturday of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).
The discovery of the shrine raises the possibility that Loughner, 22, may have been driven by other forces. Students and faculty at Pima Community College, which he attended until his suspension last summer, said Loughner was clearly at odds with the world.
“He was one of the last kids to come in, and he sat down and almost immediately started laughing to himself in a way that was just kind of creepy,” a classmate, Alex Kotonias, 20, told USA Today.
“As soon as the teacher started going over the syllabus, he had this outburst out of nowhere, didn’t even raise his hand, and started asking the teacher some sort of weird questions about whether he believed in mind control.”
Truth be told, Franklin Graham made a profound statement when he observed:
“For some on the Left to try to place blame before an investigation has properly occurred is itself ‘inciting hatred’!
The Tucson shooting will be in the news for a long time. It will be interesting to see who the genuine "truth-seekers" turn out to be (i.e. those interested in evidence), and those whose agenda overrides any concern for truth. As of now, Leftists have shown themselves to be solidly in the latter category.
For further reading:
John Podhoretz - The Rush to Blame
Glenn Harland Reynolds - The Arizona Tragedy and the Politics of Blood Libel
Byron York - How Clinton Exploited the Oklahoma City for Political Gain
Rush Limbaugh - An embarrassment for the Media and Sick, Desperate American Left
Roger Kimball - Conservatives in the Crosshairs
Karl - Don't think of an elephant: Giffords, ghouls, and gimmicks - THIS IS THE BEST ARTICLE YET. NOT TO BE MISSED!!!
Additional commentary (1/11/11):
- David Brooks - The Politicized Mind
- Ed Morrissey on Al-Jazeera TV - (Note: Morrissey is one of the top bloggers around and his Hot Air website should be visited frequently. He shares blogging with "Allahpundit." Of the two, I prefer Morrissey's posts.)
Update 1/12/11
| Jame |