Even violent rhetoric is still free speech

On the tragedy in Arizona, political rhetoric and fingerpointing
Since Saturday’s shooting in Arizona, my comments on the tragedy have been limited because there are a lot of things being said from all sides and I felt that I should wait until more information was discovered before making any comments. Unfortunately, others have felt the need to be reactionary, rush to judgment and blame the most convenient figure(s) or movement to take advantage of the situation in hopes to score cheap political points. Jared Loughner is mentally disturbed, it’s ...

FLASHBACK: Do you remember the Halloween display Leftists put up in 2008 showing Governor Sarah Palin hanged from a rooftop?
Drudge Report yanked this story from the Memory Hole…where Leftists in California put up a “Halloween display” depicting Governor Sarah Palin hanging from a roof, execution style, her hands tied behind her back. I’ve told you repeatedly about a bar here in Boystown named Sidetrack (which actually happens to be one of the best Gay Bars in the world).  Its owners are great guys 95% of the time, but have a weird and twisted obsession against Governor Palin that also man...

Dem leader: Alleged shooter sought 'Second Amendment remedy'
Rep. James Clyburn said it is impossible not to connect fiery campaign Rhetoric to the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).  The number three-ranking House Democrat invoked the Rhetoric of a Tea Party Senate Candidate in describing the actions of the man accused of shooting Giffords (D-Ariz.).  "He saw a Second Amendment remedy and that's what occurred here and there is no way not to make that connection," Clyburn said during an interview with the Charleston Post and Courier. 

Rhetorical Reality
In “A Few Words in Defense of Our Country,” Randy Newman’s wistful, Bush-era song about the end of the American empire, there is a line about “the leaders we have/are the worst we’ve ever had/but they’re not the worst this poor world has ever seen.” Words to take to heart as we debate whether or not Hate Speech on the right—above all, on Fox News, in the blogosphere, and on Talk Radio—has made events like the attempted Assassination of Congr...

Drawing the line
Drawing The Line by digby I see that Senator Rand Paul has weighed in and declared that Jared Loughner was mentally ill (which, as far as I'm concerned, doesn't take a medical degree to see.)But he also seems to think this means that the fact that he assassinated a Democratic congresswoman is irrelevant even though it was a political Assassination by a disturbed young man which happened in an atmosphere of violent threats against Democratic politicians. You can call that a coincidence if you ...

Another Democrat shamelessly politicizing the assassination attempt on Congresswoman Giffords: James Clyburn edition
I am disturbed by the events that happened in Tucson on Saturday.  I am even more disturbed (and disappointed) by the events that have happened since the massacre on Saturday. I am disturbed that the media immediately jumped in to politicize the whole gruesome affair.   Trying to blame Governor Palin and the Tea Party for this crazed killer’s actions is a new low (even for the main stream media). “ I’m disturbed but not surprised” ...

Hypocrisy Unending
One of the lines of Democrats is, “They mean and crazy, we nice and sane. Republicans are extreme and dangerous, and Democrats are good, well-meaning citizens.” I thought it might be timely to offer, or re-offer, a piece I did about a year and a half ago, called “All Wee-Weed Up: Protests on the right, hypocrisy on the left.” Go here, if you wish. The piece will remind you — if reminding you need — of the general stance of the Left during the eight years of Bu...

Sarah Palin speaks out on Gabrielle Giffords shooting
Sarah Palin broke her silence three days after a campaign ad drew ire - and threats - in the wake of the Arizona shootings. In an email to conservative Talk Show host Glenn Beck, she reportedly said "I hate violence. I hate war. Our Children will not have peace if Politicos just capitalize on this to succeed in portraying anyone as inciting terror and violence." The emails were first reported by Politico. According to the website, her comments were in response to an email from Beck that sa...

Video: Palin responds, I hate violence
Sarah Palin responded publicly to the accusations that she contributed to an atmosphere of violence with an e-mail to Glenn Beck, which he read aloud on his radio/video show this morning.  The Right Scoop captures the moment and the following discussion, while Politico gives its own account.  Click on the image to watch: I hate violence. I hate war. Our Children will not have peace if politicos just capitalize on this to succeed in portraying anyone as inciting terror and violence. What we w...

Up is down, black is white
Tommy is Rae Dawn…: Is America becoming less politically stable? A glance at some foreign Newspapers would certainly give that impression. This is an important economic question. The global primacy of Treasury Bonds and The Dollar stems mostly from the nation’s massive economic might. But confidence in U.S. political stability also plays a role. The shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, though tragic, shouldn’t alter those perceptions — unless Freedom of Speech suff

Clyburn Calls for Reinstatement of Fairness Doctrine
Clyburn said he thinks vitriol in public discourse led to a 22-year-old suspect opening fire Saturday at an event Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords held for her constituents in Tucson, Ariz. Six people were killed and 14 others were injured, including Giffords. The shooting is cause for the country to rethink parameters on free Speech, Clyburn said from his office, just blocks from the South Carolina Statehouse. He wants standards put in place to guarantee balanced media coverage with a re...

Second Democrat Comes Out in Favor of Banning Crosshairs in Political Ads
These people are morons, what else can I say? (Daily Caller)- Texas Democrat Rep. Rubén Hinojosa said Monday that he is open to joining Pennsylvania Democrat Rep. Robert Brady in support of a bill to curb Speech that could be perceived as “threatening” to public officials. “The level of discourse is out of control,” Hinojosa said. “Yes, I would certainly sit down with him and look at the wording and see how we could strengthen it. There’s a need to tone d...

TPM Guide to the Perplexed
In the aftermath of the Giffords shooting there's been a lot of talk about political Speech, politicians and whether there's a climate of violent political Rhetoric. And it's been clear that a lot of politicians weren't clear that certain phrases and statements -- like calling for armed revolution or target practice at Fundraisers -- might lead to misunderstandings. So in the spirit of ettiquette manuals, I thought I'd start putting together a list of things it's probably best not to say simpl...

What Riverdaughter said
There seem to be two major camps regarding this tragedy: Sarah Palin is a monster and the Tea Partiers must be blamed. Or, Sarah Palin is the scapegoat and her picture had nothing to do with this tragic incident. I prefer the third way. .... In the past 18 years, starting with the advent of Rush Limbaugh, we saw a ratcheting up of Right Wing Extremism. ... And it is into this environment that Sarah Palin steps as the champion of a new set of people. A group that even the Right Wing Republicans ...

Arizona Massacre Prompts Political 'Cheap Shots'
When Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords collapsed outside the Safeway in Tucson Saturday morning, felled by a hail of bullets that killed six and wounded another 13 innocent people that had come to see her, some were quick to claim that the carnage was the product not merely of the tortured mind and trigger-happy fingers of the alleged shooter, 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner. Rather, many on the American Left said the horror could be traced to the malign influence of American Conservatives; members...

Massacre in Tucson A Sad Day for America: Salzburger Nachrichten, Austria
How responsible is right-wing Rhetoric for the Assassination attempt against Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords? According to columnist Thomas Spang of Austria’s Salzburger Nachrichten, where to pin the blame couldn’t be clearer. For the Salzburger Nachrichten, Thomas Spang writes in part: For months, the political right has been turning up the heat in the United States. In this poisoned atmosphere, a young man reaches for his gun. In the political discourse of the United ...

Manufacturing false equivalencies
Remember how liberals are anti-abortion, spew Paulist Rhetoric on the gold standard, hate government, and stash guns and ammo so they can fight back against an evil government? They're not? Well, that's why Conservatives are desperate to create a climate of false equivalencies, where "both sides do it". And the media, of course, is always happy to play along. So on one side, we have this: Not to mention this stuff, from Gabby Gifford's opponent in 2010: That's all about peace and love and not v...

Manufacturing false equivalencies in the wake of the Giffords assassination attempt
Remember how liberals are anti-abortion, spew Paulist Rhetoric on the gold standard, hate government, and stash guns and ammo so they can fight back against an evil government? They're not? Well, that's why Conservatives are desperate to create a climate of false equivalencies, where "both sides do it". And the media, of course, is always happy to play along. So on one side, we have this: Not to mention this stuff, from Gabby Gifford's opponent in 2010: That's all about peace and love and not v...

Bad name; bad statement; bad vibes
Does the name "Tea Party Nation" have a negative sound to you?  No, I don't mean because it's a faction or organization within the tea party movement.  Conceptually, I don't have any problem with a well-meaning political or reform movement.  But -- and apart from what we know of the tea party movement's behaviors in town hall meetings and so forth -- "Tea Party Nation" has a belligerent sound.  It reminds me of something I can't q...

Libertarian Crybabies and Other Social Pathologies
Among the dumber reactions to the Saturday massacre in Tuscon is the outrage that anyone dare suggest that people tone down their Rhetoric!. For example, see Libertarian Jack Shafer’s childish Temper Tantrum at Slate. Some background — you might have heard that Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik spoke out against inflammatory political rhetoric after the shooting - “When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths ab...

We have seen times more violent than this
It has taken a while for me to wrap my brain around the Murders in Tuscon - and truth be told, I don’t really think I’m there yet. As a former Candidate for office - someone who did meet-and-greets, forums, and door-to-door campaigning - I never imagined a voter would decide my outstretched hand would be best met with a bullet. I was far less surprised that the conversation moved at warp-speed from praying for the Victims to scoring points against political opponen...

Could Anything Have Stopped Loughner?
The shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the killing of six and wounding of 13 others in Tucson is one of those American tragedies that threatens to be interpreted according to what one wants to believe. The shootings will be argued over and debated as more information comes forward, but what seems unavoidable is that the shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, was a nutbar through and through, and there was no way he could have been deterred. Arizona’s curious (to Canadians) Gun Laws that ...

Crosshairs and Political Violence
National Review's Rich Lowry, presumably in an implied defense of Sarah Palin's crosshairs (or, if you prefer, surveyor's) map, presents the cover of Saturday's New York Post. Chait approves. But I think there's an important distinction here. A long and terrible history exists of people resolving political disputes through violence and Murder. No such tradition exists in sports (beyond the carefully contained and controlled violence that defines a sport like football). That said, Brendan Nyhan i...

They Miss W.
Now is the time at SDA when we juxtapose! Paul Krugman; "You know that Republicans will yell about the evils of Partisanship whenever anyone tries to make a connection between the Rhetoric of Beck, Limbaugh, etc. and the violence I fear we’re going to see in the months and years ahead. But violent acts are what happen when you create a climate of hate. And it’s long past time for the GOP’s leaders to take a stand against the hate-mongers.." From DLC.org Jay Nordlinger Even before Bush

REVOLUTIONARY RHETORIC AT SALON? It must be admitted that there are some who have argued for some
REVOLUTIONARY Rhetoric AT SALON? “It must be admitted that there are some who have argued for some time that the Obama Administration is ‘radical,’ and that it operates without due regard for the Constitution. For instance, at least one writer at Salon. I trust Mr. Pareene and his colleagues can work this out among themselves, and I eagerly await Mr. Pareene’s clear ...