The Left quickly assigned blame for this weekend’s tragic shooting in Arizona to Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, conservative talk radio, and Fox News. Left-wing pundits are screaming for an end to the “heated rhetoric” surrounding immigration reform, tax policy, and health policy. According to the Left, this weekend’s mayhem is symbolic of the “culture of violence” the “right” inculcates.
Quite surprising to the Left must be the revelation by a former classmate of Jarod Loughner that he is actually “left-wing” and “quite liberal.” In fact, the would-be assassin’s Youtube page lists several diverse literary influences including George Orwell (socialist), Adolph Hitler (Nazi), Ayn Rand (objectivist), Aldous Huxley (humanist), Karl Marx (Communist), and Lewis Carroll (Christian). This list hardly reads like a library of one steeped in conservative political theory. From the initial evidence gathered, It turns out this killer wasn’t a young man motivated to act out on his bizarre fantasies by conservative thinkers. Rather, this tragedy appears to have been committed by a mentally unstable young man with somewhat Leftist political views juxtaposed with wild conspiracy theories.
Now let’s take a look at Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. The congresswoman is not the liberal Democrat the media are portraying her to be. In fact, she belongs to the Blue Dog Coalition which seeks to restrain the more radical Leftist elements within the Democratic Party. Congresswoman Gifford’s moderate and conservative stances so enraged the extreme Left, that the Left-wing blog site DailyKos actually insisted a “bullseye” be painted on her district, marking her as an incumbent worthy of defeat in this past Democratic primary. After winning re-election, Rep. Giffords was one of just nineteen Democrat representatives to oppose Pelosi election as minority leader in the House vote earlier this month. Far from a liberal Democrat, Congresswoman is one of the most conservative elected officials in her Democratic Party!
Considering a mentally unstable young man with mostly unknown, but possibly "liberal", views attempted to assassinate a Democrat so conservative that liberal activists attempted to defeat her in the Democratic primary, why are the media so intent on blaming conservative thinkers and speakers for motivating the killer to commit this heinous crime?
According to the Left the “heated rhetoric” must stop because such rhetoric is responsible for this madman’s heinous actions. While the evidence contradicts their analysis of this situation, let’s pause for a moment to reflect on who is actually guilty of morphing rational dialogue into incendiary rhetoric. Consider Keith Olberman’s daily "Worst Person in the World" segment where he launches personal attacks on those who oppose his political agenda. Of course, who can forget how Democratic Representative Alan Grayson shockingly compared his Republican congressional opponent to the Taliban? Grayson even delivered a stunning speech which summarized the Republican health plan for the poor as “die quickly.” How can we ignore the exchange on Journolist where an NPR affiliate producer joked about her fantasy of watching Rush Limbaugh die in torment? Then again, our President recently stated regarding his political opponents, “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.” How’s that for “violent rhetoric”?
If you actually take a moment to listen to just a few hours of conservative talk radio, read an issue of National Review, or process a few editorials in the Wall Street Journal, you’ll find that the alleged “rhetoric” on the right focuses on policy and constitutional issues. On the other hand, Left-wing blogs, MSNBC commentators, and Leftist speakers on the House floor often personalize their attacks. The harsh reality is that Left often replaces logic with passionate emotion.
In no way am I suggesting any leftist pundits are responsible for the attack. In addition, the information regarding this madman's views and motivation is sparse. However, these pundits should be ashamed for blaming this tragedy on conservative thinkers-- especially when the initial facts suggest this killer's political views were anything but conservative! It's disingenuous and misleading to insist otherwise.
I trust this killer will face the severest of punishments for this crime. He not only committed murder; he also tore the fabric of our republic. Let’s not dampen the exercise of our First Amendment freedom of political discourse in the righteous goal of seeking justice for the victims.
