Journalists urged caution after Ft. Hood, now race to blame Palin after Arizona shootings

[lostinblue 1,989]

Reading what this unbalanced person wrote makes it quite clear that he had no coherent ideology! The problem is not that he might or might not be a 'fan' of Palin. The real issue is the general milieu of violent rhetoric and imagery that people like (but certainly not limited to) Palin use so regularly to whip up mob-like hysteria. This rabble-rousing can have real consequences and, while it may never be known for certain, this is exactly the sort of incident that responsible people fear when we hear and see what Palin says and posts on her sites. The ideas and imagery are planted in these unbalanced minds. And the imprimatur of respectability for harboring these views is lent by her position as a former VP candidate. If it was not a problem why did she so quickly take down her 'target' graphics from her site that listed this congresswoman as one of her targets?

http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=253055&kaid=127&subid=171

Look at the map on this democrat web site. also the date.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

I don't see much evidence Sarah had anything to do with this nutjob and his actions either. But there has been a lot of menacing and violent rhetoric flying about and Sarah has done her fair share of that. This case appears early on to be based on crazy not ideology though.

[luckytxn 2,265]

Journalists urged caution after Ft. Hood, now race to blame Palin after Arizona shootings

On November 5, 2009, Maj. Nidal Hasan opened fire at a troop readiness center in Ft. Hood, Texas, killing 13 people. Within hours of the killings, the world knew that Hasan reportedly shouted "Allahu Akbar!" before he began shooting, visited websites associated with Islamist violence, wrote Internet postings justifying Muslim suicide bombings, considered U.S. forces his enemy, opposed American involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan as wars on Islam, and told a neighbor shortly before the shootings that he was going "to do good work for God." There was ample evidence, in other words, that the Ft. Hood attack was an act of Islamist violence.

Nevertheless, public officials, journalists, and commentators were quick to caution that the public should not "jump to conclusions" about Hasan's motive. CNN, in particular, became a forum for repeated warnings that the subject should be discussed with particular care.

"The important thing is for everyone not to jump to conclusions," said retired Gen. Wesley Clark on CNN the night of the shootings.

"We cannot jump to conclusions," said CNN's Jane Velez-Mitchell that same evening. "We have to make sure that we do not jump to any conclusions whatsoever."

"I'm on Pentagon chat room," said former CIA operative Robert Baer on CNN, also the night of the shooting. "Right now, there's messages going back and forth, saying do not jump to the conclusion this had anything to do with Islam."

The next day, President Obama underscored the rapidly-forming conventional wisdom when he told the country, "I would caution against jumping to conclusions until we have all the facts." In the days that followed, CNN jouralists and guests repeatedly echoed the president's remarks.

"We can't jump to conclusions," Army Gen. George Casey said on CNN November 8. The next day, political analyst Mark Halperin urged a "transparent" investigation into the shootings "so the American people don't jump to conclusions." And when Republican Rep. Pete Hoekstra, then the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, suggested that the Ft. Hood attack was terrorism, CNN's John Roberts was quick to intervene. "Now, President Obama has asked people to be very cautious here and to not jump to conclusions," Roberts said to Hoekstra. "By saying that you believe this is an act of terror, are you jumping to a conclusion?"

Fast forward a little more than a year, to January 8, 2011. In Tucson, Arizona, a 22 year-old man named Jared Lee Loughner opened fire at a political event, gravely wounding Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, killing a federal judge and five others, and wounding 18. In the hours after the attack, little was known about Loughner beyond some bizarre and largely incomprehensible YouTube postings that, if anything, suggested he was mentally ill. Yet the network that had shown such caution in discussing the Ft. Hood shootings openly discussed the possibility that Loughner was inspired to violence by…Sarah Palin. Although there is no evidence that Loughner was in any way influenced by Palin, CNN was filled with speculation about the former Alaska governor.

After reporting that Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik had condemned what Dupnik called "the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government," CNN's Wolf Blitzer turned to congressional reporter Jessica Yellin for analysis. The sheriff "singled out some of the political rhetoric, as you point out, in creating the environment that allowed this kind of instance to happen," Yellin told Blitzer. "Even though, as you point out, this suspect is not cooperating with investigators, so we don't know the motive. President Obama also delivered that message, saying it's partly the political rhetoric that led to this. So that's why we want to bring up one of the themes that's burning up the social media right now. On Twitter and Facebook, there is a lot of talk, in particular, about Sarah Palin. As you might recall, back in March of last year, when the health care vote was coming to the floor of the House and this was all heating up, Palin tweeted out a message on Twitter saying 'common sense conservatives, don't retreat -- instead reload.' And she referred folks to her Facebook page. On that Facebook page was a list of Democratic members she was putting in crosshairs, and Gabrielle Giffords was one of those in the crosshairs."

Yellin noted that Palin had "posted a statement on Facebook saying that 'my sincere condolences are offered to the family of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and other victims of today's tragic shooting in Arizona. On behalf of Todd and my family, we all pray for the victims and their families and for peace and justice.'" Yellin continued: "And I should point out that Republican leaders in Washington have said that this is not a partisan issue, this is about violence, as have some tea party groups. But clearly this is a moment to talk about our political rhetoric."

"It certainly is," Blitzer agreed. "But the question is, is there any evidence that the suspected shooter in this particular case was a Sarah Palin fan, read Sarah Palin's website, was a member on Facebook, watched her tweets, or anything like that?"

"None at all," Yellin responded. "And there is no evidence that this was even inspired by rage over health care, broadly. So there is no overt connection between Sarah Palin, health care, and the [shootings]."

Indeed, there is no "overt" or any other sort of connection between Loughner and Palin. If such evidence came to light, it would certainly be news. But without that evidence, and after a brief caveat, the CNN group went back to discussing the theory that Loughner acted out of rage inspired by Palin and other Republicans. Conclusions were jumped to all around.

And it wasn't just CNN. Other media outlets were also filled with speculation about the attack and pronouncements on the state of American political rhetoric. What a markedly different situation from 15 months earlier when, in the face of actual evidence that Maj. Hasan was inspired by Islamist convictions, many media commentators sought to be voices of caution. Where was that caution after the shootings in Arizona?

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexa...0#ixzz1Ab9NMNLo

Well the guy that did the Ft. Hood shootings was Muslim and performed a terrorist act but it should have been prevented as there were many signs he was unstable but they had to handle it as kid gloves as he was a Muslim. Afterwards he got a pass because he was a Muslim. If it had been a Christian then the Socialists would have loved it and gone into an uproar as USUAL.

This time they get a pass because they claim it is Palin. They hate Palin with an venom because she is a threat to them so they need to neutralize her and they think they have found an opening. They get a pass because they are Socialists and demand a pass on anything they want but of course they also demand the other side not get a pass. We saw them do this before they won the elections and now they lost they are going on another slash and burn and no care who gets wounded.

Let them grieve here in Tuscon Arizona please. This was nothing more than a nutjob that did this. Palin was not involved one bit.

[james&olya 1,121]

Well the guy that did the Ft. Hood shootings was Muslim and performed a terrorist act but it should have been prevented as there were many signs he was unstable but they had to handle it as kid gloves as he was a Muslim. Afterwards he got a pass because he was a Muslim. If it had been a Christian then the Socialists would have loved it and gone into an uproar as USUAL.

This time they get a pass because they claim it is Palin. They hate Palin with an venom because she is a threat to them so they need to neutralize her and they think they have found an opening. They get a pass because they are Socialists and demand a pass on anything they want but of course they also demand the other side not get a pass. We saw them do this before they won the elections and now they lost they are going on another slash and burn and no care who gets wounded.

Let them grieve here in Tuscon Arizona please. This was nothing more than a nutjob that did this. Palin was not involved one bit.

Who is giving a pass to the Ft Hood shooter?? Nobody I know!! And he is definitely a 'nut-job' just like this one! The problem is how do we lessen the violence. Within our predominantly christian culture there is not a lot we can do to stop the likes of the ft hood shooter other than try to de-escalate the attitude of confrontation that feeds the hatred and violent rhetoric coming from many in their culture. But they are not alone in producing 'nut-jobs'! We also have them and we need to understand why. Loose talk of using '2nd amendment rights' to correct problems in Washington leads to people at Palin rallies carrying all sorts of signs strongly implying violence may be an appropriate tool for them to achieve their objectives. And don't insult our intelligence here by pretending you haven't seen them! One I recall said "We came unarmed....this time" A responsible politician would have denounced strongly that sort of thing and would have encouraged them to leave. And it is not limited to the right but it seems much more prevalent there! Palin is very much involved in the attitude of violent rhetoric directed toward political adversaries here in the US. Whether that had significant direct influence on this idiot may never be known. But it certainly doesn't help!

[Danno 1,228]

Who is giving a pass to the Ft Hood shooter?? Nobody I know!! And he is definitely a 'nut-job' just like this one! The problem is how do we lessen the violence. Within our predominantly christian culture there is not a lot we can do to stop the likes of the ft hood shooter other than try to de-escalate the attitude of confrontation that feeds the hatred and violent rhetoric coming from many in their culture. But they are not alone in producing 'nut-jobs'! We also have them and we need to understand why. Loose talk of using '2nd amendment rights' to correct problems in Washington leads to people at Palin rallies carrying all sorts of signs strongly implying violence may be an appropriate tool for them to achieve their objectives. And don't insult our intelligence here by pretending you haven't seen them! One I recall said "We came unarmed....this time" A responsible politician would have denounced strongly that sort of thing and would have encouraged them to leave. And it is not limited to the right but it seems much more prevalent there! Palin is very much involved in the attitude of violent rhetoric directed toward political adversaries here in the US. Whether that had significant direct influence on this idiot may never be known. But it certainly doesn't help!

I asked for examples of people out on the airwaves fomenting violence, not some guy in a crowd with a sign.

The charge is: people on the radio and TV are ginning up violence..... what exactly are we talkjing about here?

[james&olya 1,121]

I asked for examples of people out on the airwaves fomenting violence, not some guy in a crowd with a sign.

The charge is: people on the radio and TV are ginning up violence..... what exactly are we talkjing about here?

Sarah is not on the radio or TV? And the idiots at her rallies aren't shown there either?

[Danno 1,228]

Sarah is not on the radio or TV? And the idiots at her rallies aren't shown there either?

Why are we waisting all this back and forth..... either you have some outrageous quotes or you don't.

Here we are in this so-called Climate of violence and you should be able to give me a half page of quotes.

[james&olya 1,121]

Why are we waisting all this back and forth..... either you have some outrageous quotes or you don't.

Here we are in this so-called Climate of violence and you should be able to give me a half page of quotes.

Sorry Danno, I have not been writing them down so I would have them for this moment! You don't seriously pretend not to know exactly what I am talking about I hope. You aren't that stupid I am sure. And of course they are not explicit exhortations to go kill this person or that group! But the undertone of violence in the tea partiers rhetoric is very real and any intelligent person knows it! I am sure if you want quotes somebody will be jumping in here with them.

[alienlovechild 75]

Within our predominantly christian culture there is not a lot we can do to stop the likes of the ft hood shooter other than try to de-escalate the attitude of confrontation that feeds the hatred and violent rhetoric coming from many in their culture. But they are not alone in producing 'nut-jobs'! We also have them and we need to understand why. Loose talk of using '2nd amendment rights' to correct problems in Washington leads to people at Palin rallies carrying all sorts of signs strongly implying violence may be an appropriate tool for them to achieve their objectives. And it is not limited to the right but it seems much more prevalent there! Palin is very much involved in the attitude of violent rhetoric directed toward political adversaries here in the US. Whether that had significant direct influence on this idiot may never be known.

The attitude of confrontation compelled Hasan, as a army officer, to shoot his fellow soldiers? How come we don't have thousands of Iraq and Afghan war vets with a chip on their shoulder spouting off nonsense and shooting people in this country?

The nut jobs existed before the tea party and Palin and given the number guns in America, I'd say there's little political violence but that politicians and celebs do get shot at by nuts wanting fame or their way of acting on the voices in their heads not just on the TV, radio or Internet.

BTW, the shooter, Jared Loughner, is alive so they can ask him what "direct influences" if any made him shoot up Tucson.

Edited January 10, 2011 by alienlovechild

[luckytxn 2,265]

Why are we waisting all this back and forth..... either you have some outrageous quotes or you don't.

Here we are in this so-called Climate of violence and you should be able to give me a half page of quotes.

There has never been violence associated by the Tea partiers ever. No matter how much the Socialists may wish it to be so it is isn't there. The worst they can be truthful about is saying to vote them out and take back the country. That may be violent talk to them.

[Danno 1,228]

There has never been violence associated by the Tea partiers ever. No matter how much the Socialists may wish it to be so it is isn't there. The worst they can be truthful about is saying to vote them out and take back the country. That may be violent talk to them.

Yeah I guess taking power away from some.... IS considered....violence for them.

[웃 910]

BTW, the shooter, Jared Loughner, is alive so they can ask him what "direct influences" if any made him shoot up Tucson.

He has known the congressman for several years....3 years ago she came to his college and he posed one of his psychotic questions to her ("What is government if words have no meaning?")...He didn't like the response she gave. The guy was a ticking time bomb

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=132766402

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Inflammatory sensationalist rhetoric has always been a staple of American politics. I don't see how someone can single out a particular person or movement. It does seem to have ramped up a bit over the last couple of years. Still I wouldn't blame this on Palin anymore than I'd blame videogames for columbine.