Monday, January 10, 2011

That awful, violent, Palin/Tea Party rhetoric

I've been reading a number of UU bloggers writing about how right wing rhetoric lead to the tragedy in Arizona. They may have a point- listen to this exhortation: "You Have the Power: How to Take Back Our Country and Restore Democracy in America" Take our country back from whom? Why, obviously from the black man in the White House- just another example of racist Tea Party rhetoric, with that extra little "restoring democracy" dig as a reference to Obama's non-citizen status that the TP types all believe, that democracy has been subverted and they must "restore" it by throwing him out. I've had it explained to me at length a number of times.

Of course, "You Have the Power: How to Take Back Our Country and Restore Democracy in America" is actually the title of Howard Dean's book. I will grant that it was written by a white man, though.

Well, ok, but what about the map with the targets on it? There I have to agree; that's irresponsible at best and incitement to murder at worst- I mean c'mon, look at it:


Oops, my mistake, that wasn't Sarah Palin's map with the surveyor's targets on it, that was the Democratic Leadership Council's "Targeting Strategy" map, with shooting range bull's eyes on it. That's a relief; it's ok when Democrats do it.

At least that's not as bad as when Glenn Beck said he'd cut Obama's nuts off! Oh, wait, my mistake again; that was Jesse Jackson
Hmm. This is getting complicated; why don't we try to find out if Jared Loughner is sane enough to have even had a coherent political stance, then try to sort out whether that stance is left or right from all the conflicting nonsense before we start saying whose rhetoric is to blame?
UPDATE:

1 comment:

Bill Baar said...

Many many examples of Progressive rhetoric including President Obama's quote from the untouchables about bring a knife, then bring a gun.

Mark Penn told Olbermann a while back Obama needed another Oklahoma bombing to reconnect with America voters and some Progressives sure seem to be using the murders that way.

It's beyond tragedy that some UUs find the same need. I lay the blame squarely on the Standing on the Side of Love campaign (campaign just as martial a word as target FYI)... a campaign that casts a whole swath of Americans on the wrongside of G-d's love.