A moderate "blue dog" Democratic congresswoman from Arizona (where the badge "moderate" makes her a flaming radical) has been shot and gravely wounded. Gabrielle Giffords was one of the Democratic officeholders on Sarah Palin's "sarahpac" campaign poster with crosshairs denoting the members who needed to be, um, eliminated. The shooter, who killed several other people in his attack on a public event at which Giffords was to speak, is one Jared Loughner. He has not been tied (yet?) to any political group. Tellingly, apparently the above graphic has now been scrubbed from the Sarahpac website.
Arizona is one of the most right-wing states in the country, with local government and law enforcement firmly in the hands of racist vigilantes trying to figure out how to preserve white privilege and superiority from Hiapanic immigrants. Lately they have even been trying to figure out how to deny citizenship to children of Hispanic immigrants born on U.S. soil. So I'm not surprised a political assassination would take place there. Whether the shooter is a right-winger or just a lone lunatic, it's clearly a place where both groups would feel empowered to turn Palin's crazytalk rhetoric into reality.
(Thanks to Joe.My.God. for being one of the internet sources not letting Palin and the teabaggers get away with removing from memory this poster virtually calling for the assassination of Giffords.)
Update: There's an absolutely chlling clip of Giffords herself discussing Palin's threatening poster with its gunsight crosshairs over at MSNBC. "We're on Sarah Palin's targeted list, but, the thing is, that the way that she has it depicted, has the crosshairs of a gunsight over our district. When people do that, they've got to realize there's consequences to that action."
Oh you write this stuff so much better than I do, Ish!
ReplyDeletePalin had the nerve to post/tweet her "prayers" to Giffords and her family. I believe she has done enough already!
Oh you write this stuff so much better than I do, Ish!
ReplyDeleteNonsense! I love your writing. Just different.
Anyway, being able to say "I Told You So" is only so satisfying... surely rightwingers in Arizona will continue to oppose gun control and continue to support Palin. Not that I understand that alternate reality.
Hi, if you accept independents here I am. SP has made me sick from day one, she was the nail in the coffin if I ever had a doubt about voting for Obama (and I really didn't). After the election I thought it would be over and done with and yet her influence grows like a cancer. She scares me to death. She didn't pull the trigger today, but there's no doubt she aided and abetted a sick mind. Thanks
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by Annie, I enjoy reading your comments at Casey's.
ReplyDeletePalin is indeed scary. I think this marks the end of her being just a bad joke. Doesn't matter who the shooter turns out to be, she laid the groundwork.
this is a good example of the difficulty in separating events from influence. sarah palin, insane loony toon though she is, probably did not actually wish for giffords to be literally shot. i think we can all understand that the crosshair poster was simply a metaphor, albeit a completely tasteless one.
ReplyDeletethis does not mean sarah palin is absolved of wrongdoing in my book, but i think we are treading dangerously close to outright blaming her for this tragedy, and i think tactics like that are frighteningly... teabaggish.
its good to show how lightly someone like palin, a big gun totin' advocate, treats such subjects though. so good on you for that, ish.