Kevin Williamson writes What Causes American Murders [1]in The National Review
Excerpts:
The shooting of Representative Gabby Giffords by a paranoid schizophrenic substance-abusing NASA-truther conspiracy theorist described by his friends as “quite liberal” was laid at the feet of Sarah Palin, who is not a paranoid schizophrenic substance-abusing (she admits to hitting the occasional spliff back when doing so was legal in Alaska) NASA-truther conspiracy theorist described by anybody as “quite liberal.” The cited reason, you’ll recall, was Palin’s alleged contribution to a “climate of violence,” putting pictures of crosshairs on maps of congressional districts in which Democrats were to be intensely challenged, and urging her supporters to “reload.”
Professor Krugman of the Times [2], before the identity of the Giffords shooter even was known, opined that the shooting was a probable political assassination attempt and abominated Palin’s “infamous crosshairs,” and further went on to abuse the former governor for calling the shooting “tragic.” Michael Daly of the New YorkDaily News insisted that Palin had “blood on her hands,” in the shooting, because “anyone with any sense at all knows that violent language can incite actual violence, that metaphor can incite murder.” Representative Raul Grijalva of Arizona insisted that “Ms. Palin needs to look at her own behavior,” in the matter. Markos Moulitsas, the idiot troll prince of the Left, headlined a take on the shooting “Mission accomplished, Sarah Palin.” Jane Fonda, who still exists, insisted that “Sarah Palin holds responsibility, as does the violence-provoking rhetoric of the Tea Party,” a bit much from a woman famous for posing merrily with the artillery of a homicidal dictatorship [3], an instrument with non-metaphorical crosshairs used to blast non-metaphorical American soldiers off the map in large, non-metaphorical numbers. Salon’s Joan Walsh also blamed the crosshairs map, as did many others.
The man who shot Giffords turned out to be much more interested in what he believed to be a series of conspiracies including the use of grammar as a government brainwashing tool, faked space flights, and something he called “infinite currency.” But President Obama insisted that the shooting showed the need for greater “civility” in our political discourse — perhaps Rahm F*****g Emanuel suggested that “civility” line — even though the objective fact is that the underlying issue was not civility but lunacy.
As it happens, I agree with my colleague Charles C. W. Cooke [4] that the instinct within some on the right to blame the crimes of Ismaaiyl Brinsley on the riff-raff shouting half-literate slogans around New York and other cities, and on profiteering race-hustlers such as Al Sharpton, is misplaced. But it was much more grievously misplaced when Palin was being put through the ringer, too: for metaphorical crosshairs. The mobs in New York, Ferguson, and elsewhere are not calling for metaphorical murders of policemen, but literal ones. (Literally, Mr. Vice President!) Palin was calling for energetic participation in the democratic process; the New York mobs are calling for energetic participation in mass murders.
Al Sharpton is a grotesque, anti-Semitic reprobatewho would be shunned in a sane society rather than given a television show and a podium at presidential debates.
HKO
Al Sharpton has a history of fraud and incitement, yet look at how he not held accountable for his words. He has his own show on MSNBC and is a frequent visitor to the White House. This is shameless blatant hypocrisy.