Sarah Palin Denies the Crosshairs Map and Weapon Based Rhetoric as Violent

Jan 9, 2011 · 1985 views

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Oh please! Shortly after news broke that Arizona Democrat Rep. Gabrielle Giffords had been shot at a congressional event in her district, everyone’s been saying that she has been literally Sarah Palin’s target. But a […]

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  1. mododavid says:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/09/arizona-shooting-news_n_806397.html#22_chilling

    Right on! Don’t forget her favorite phrase, “Don’t retreat. Reload!” Also, the right has been much more blatant than that even. See this add for getting rid of Giffords and learning to shoot an automatic rifle! – in the same day.

  2. And now Sarah Palin has a new political ally- Shirley Phelps! The Westboro Baptist Church plans on protesting at the 9 year old child’s funeral.

    Sarah Palin has already politicized it all, that’s why this crazy guy attacked Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and all the people around her.

  3. John says:

    Give it a rest! The AZ shooter stalked Giffords since 2007 — so he was somehow influenced by Tea Party & Palin before they were known?

    I was never a huge fan of George Bush, but come on– there was a movie made about killing him and the no one seemed to care.

  4. This guy wants to give the shooter a medal. To him, the guy is a hero!

  5. josh Hughes says:

    Okay, let’s look at it from a different angle… As someone working on the fringe of the advertising and marketing industry, with a marketing education background, what I know is that you can not repeat a rhetoric of “violence” al la “2nd amendment solutions” and “reload vs. retreat” and then claim surprised indifference when your “message” is received. This “tea party” movement is not some grass roots organisation trying to effect change through rallies and soapbox speeches, it is a well funded political machine, and you can bet that a fair amount of money was spent developing a particular branding style that would hit a certain portion of the population that makes for a very volatile and dangerous outcome. Really… No one saw this coming? Come on, americans do some dumb things but we’re not stupid… Are we?

  6. libhomo says:

    If an independent, Green, Libertarian, or Democrat had put a terrorist gun target map pointing to Republicans in Congress, that person would already be in prison. Yet, there hasn’t even been a criminal investigation into Sarah Palin, even though one should have been launched long before this terrorist attack.

  7. Tim says:

    Wow, I hadn’t seen that second graphic before. It’s violence is pretty explicit. It doesn’t seem fair to blame the Tea Party or Palin since the guy’s youtube rants are rather nonsensical (though the stuff about the gold standard sounds pretty Glen Beck-ish). However, the appropriate and mature thing to do would be to those conservatives like Palin who are using such charged rhetoric and imagery is to admit that they have been irresponsible. The removal of the map and tweets from Palin show that her team know better than what they would like to project and are definitely concerned. There is this false equivalency between extreme left and right; all this vile, toxic language is coming from the right! Fact.

    What this really is is terrorism – except these terrorists aren’t brown. People are using the threat of violence to frighten politicians and the public for political gain. The saddest thing that could come out of this is that, as the sheriff in Tuscan said, good people are unwilling to serve because of the risks. Also, it would be a shame if our representatives are made less accessible to their constituents. Moreover, I am afraid it is unlikely this horror will be the impetus for any sort of gun control.

    Prayers for all the victims and their families.

  8. seawall says:

    While responsibility ultimately lies with the gunman, I don’t think it can be denied that people are emboldened in their behavior by views that seem to validate their own. Something like this already happened back in 2008, when a man shot up a Unitarian-Universalist church in Tennessee, and among his effects were a screed against “liberals and gays” costing him his job and ruining America respectively, along with books by Michael Savage, Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly. And while I think freedom of speech is an important human right, people should always be mindful of the consequences their words could have, especially if they are in positions of power and influence like Sarah Palin, and especially if they frame things in such hostile antagonistic terms like she (and Michael Savage and Glenn Beck and their ilk) do. They’re clueless if they don’t think they could have such an impact, and they’re downright malevolent if they secretly don’t care if someone they disagree with gets knocked off.

  9. This isn’t a situation where there are two sides to the story, two political ideas in debate. This is about a very dumb woman from Alaska who represents a violent way of looking at the world. I would argue that Palin is actually pretty dumb, and a bully who thinks it’s cute to make jokes about pulling out her guns and shooting things, animals or people who get in her way.

    So when are we supposed to take her metaphorically? She advocates shooting down animals from helicopters.

    In politics and in life there are metaphors. Comedians say “I killed the audience” photographers “shoot people” — context is everything. And if I was talking to a person I knew had shot someone, who owned guns, I wouldn’t say “can I shoot your photo?” Sarah Palin’s followers own guns and say some pretty violent things.

    This shooting is disturbing because Palin owns guns, she advocates for less gun laws and brags about it. So why isn’t it political when her words, graphics and ideas come to bite us all in the ass when some people take action? Sarah Palin can’t say “I’m sorry” because bullies don’t ever apologize for anything.

    There is plenty of blame to go around, but I think in this case, Sarah Palin needs to quit politics. The world would be a better place without her tweets and facebook posts. I blame Sen. McCain for picking her as a VP running mate. I blame rich talk radio hosts who spend all their time and energy scaring their audiences. I blame CNN for giving voice to some of these right wing pundits as a legitamate point of view. When is bigotry and hatred legitimate? They wouldn’t give Charles Mason the time of day, why give these people any credence?

  10. seawall says:

    Bigotry and hatred have become more acceptable in a culture that feels under siege, as the US has felt (and been encouraged to feel) in the wake of the September 11th attacks. Not to minimize things by comparing real-life tragedy to young adult fiction, but Sarah Palin is like the real-life equivalent of Dolores Umbridge, whose prim simpering jingoistic ways mask a ruthless toxic personality that would bend the government to suit its own desires. A country full of people who feel scared and under attack is easier to control, and some people can be convinced that if only this mentality or way of life were discouraged or extirpated, we would all be safer.

    There are some people in the world whom you just can’t take at their word, because everything is manipulation with them, like people who claim to be against homosexuality because it’s unnatural, only to switch gears when presented with contrary evidence and come up with another reason to be against it. Sarah Palin strikes me as this kind of person; as Martha Stewart said, she is “boring”, “dangerous”, “confused”, and for all her flag-waving good-Christian hockey-mom posturing, she exists only to serve the dark god of her own ego.

  11. HRHJosh says:

    Okay… I’m glad some finnally said it… That thought keeps coming up in my head, and I thought I had obviously become to engrossed in pop culture…. Seeing someone else say it makes me realize that it’s true… She really is Dolores Umbridge!

  12. HRHJosh says:

    I knew this wand I got from Albus’ estate (read… Christmas present from my sister) would come in handy! I also love that I belong to a community of people that can find a way to muddle through the most tragic events of our time with only our laughter to console us! If I do say so my self, we’re some of the funniest smart people I know. 🙂

  13. HRHJosh says:

    LOL I also love that even 24hours later, there is still glitter all over me. 🙂

  14. Glitter is like Herpes. Impossible to get rid of, but you learn to live with it.

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