Palin says efforts to lay blame 'reprehensible'

Sarah Palin receiving unprecedented level of death threats
(ABC News)- An aide close to Sarah Palin says death threats and security threats have increased to an unprecedented level since the shooting in Arizona, and the former Alaska Governor’s team has been talking to security professionals. Palin has taken much heat for her “crosshairs” map that targeted 20 congressional Democrats in the 2010 mid-term election, including that of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was the main target of Saturday’s attack. ...

Demonizing opponents for supposed "hate speech" is itself a form a hate speech
We pray for the families of those who were gunned down indiscriminately in Tucson last week. Some will survive their wounds and we are grateful for that. I am grateful for the heroes we've heard about as the story of what happened trickle out. Dorwan Stoddard protected his wife Mavy by throwing himself over her as the bullets flew. She survived. He did not. The intern Daniel Hernandez used his medical training to support Congresswoman Giffords in the crucial few minutes after she was shot an...

My reaction to the Presidents Tucson memorial speech
…was noted here last night in the comments: [...] you’d think Lowry would’ve known exactly how this was going to play out. Obama and his handlers essentially orchestrated a minor Sister Soldjah moment. It was planned this way. We know this because yesterday Obama was on the phone with Sheriff Dufus commending him for his fine (dirty) work, which in castigating the Tea Party (YAY!) and right-wing radio (YAY!) set Obama up for tonight, allowing him to appear above the fray even as he w...

Krauthammer: Palin’s Statement on Tucson ‘Unfortunate and Unnecessary’
He mainly laments that Palin gave the Speech at all. Sure, it might be a sensitive issue given that Gabrielle Giffords is Jewish, and she's fighting for her life while the rest of the nation debates allegations of "blood Libel"? I'm personally not bothered by the use of the term as it's applied to the libelous attacks on Palin and Tea Party Conservatives. Frankly, Glenn Reynolds' essay at WSJ the other day has been one of the most penetrating: "The Arizona Tragedy and the Politics of Blood Libel...

Mourner-in-Chief's Eulogy Puts Palin to Shame (The Daily Beast)
NEW YORK – The president got an arena; Sarah Palin was stuck at home—and the comparisons of the two speeches Wednesday on the Arizona tragedy get worse from there. Lloyd Grove on the Obama-Palin disparity. Plus, more commentary on Obama's Tucson Speech. Sarah Palin was the reigning queen of Wednesday’s Cable News cycle for most of the day—the object of adoration or opprobrium, depending on which talking head had the microphone. And then Barack Obama went and ruined it ...

Sarah Palin says blaming rhetoric for shooting is 'a blood libel'
Sarah Palin ended her near silence on the Arizona shootings yesterday, saying that critics had manufactured a "blood Libel" by blaming her Rhetoric for contributing to the shooting rampage in Tucson in which six people died and 14 were wounded, including Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords. • In her video message, Sarah Palin said she and her supporters would not change their Rhetoric because of the Arizona shooting In an eight-minute address posted online, the prominent Republican...

Michael Russnow: Media Pundit Sarah Palin Says She's Not Responsible: Oh, Yeah? I Don't Think So
The subject of the tragedy in Tucson has perhaps been talked to death on the major networks, but having watched the give and take on both sides of the political spectrum, as well as those who preach moderation, it's my view regarding Sarah Palin and her ilk, that they doth Protest too much. I'll let slide Sarah Palin's use of anti-Semitic terms such as "blood Libel" in her desperate attempt to cast aside aspersions to her integrity, because I honestly don't believe she has the intellectual dep...

Don't Tone It Down, Tone It Up: Make Debate "Worthy of Those We Have Lost"
The crowd of 14,000 that had gathered to celebrate the lives of the six people who died Saturday and to pray with Obama for the recovery of those who were wounded -- including Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford -- cheered the reference to a simpler, more innocent and more humane Patriotism that stood in such stark contrast to the vitriol of contemporary politics. It has been said that Obama strives for a post-partisan balance. But this was Obama speaking as a pre-partisan, as an idealist re...

Obama strives to comfort mourners and unite a nation
"We can be better," he said, striking a familiar refrain. "What we cannot do," he said, "is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on each other." What's required now, he said, is that we "expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy." Obama, interrupted repeatedly by cheers from the crowd, eulogized those who died and praised the people who rushed to the scene of the shooting --the two men who wrestled suspect Jared Loug...

Palin says efforts to lay blame 'reprehensible'
Sarah Palin spoke out on the Arizona shootings Wednesday, calling the events "tragic" and sharply chastising those who have suggested charged Rhetoric from her and others on the right may have motivated the killings. "Like many, I've spent the past few days reflecting on what happened and praying for guidance. After this shocking tragedy, I listened at first puzzled, then with concern, and now with sadness, to the irresponsible statements from people attempting to apportion b...

A Brief Remark On Sarah Palin
Jon Chait is defending her: Okay, it’s a little over the top for Sarah Palin to accuse her critics of “blood Libel.” But she does have a basic point. She had nothing to do with Jared Loughner. He was not an Extremist who embraced some radical version of her ideas. And her use of targets to identify districts Republicans were, um, targeting is not exceptional or prone to incite anybody. What’s happening is that Palin has come to represent unhinged Grassroots Conservatism...

Palin e-mail intruder imprisoned
A man who broke into Sarah Palin's e-mail has been imprisoned - despite being told he might be spared jail. David Kernell, 23, was found Guilty last year of illegally accessing Mrs Palin's e-mail during the 2008 Presidential Campaign. At the time, a judge suggested he should serve his year-long sentence in a halfway house. But after intervention from US government officials he is now in federal Prison, the BBC has learned. Officials confirmed that Mr Kernell reported on 10 January to b...

A Tale of Two Speeches: Sarah Palin and Barack Obama on the Tragedy in Tucson
The tragic events in Tucson this past weekend left the nation shaken, and sparked a divisive debate over the tone of our politics. On Wednesday, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin released a video address on the Mass Shooting, many hours in advance of President Obama ’s Speech at a memorial service in Tucson. In a guest column, John Ziegler , radio host, Palin confidante, and the filmmaker behind Media Malpractice: How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted, offers his unique perspective...

Sarah Speaks
Posted by John at 10:03 AM After being out of the public eye for a few days, Sarah Palin has released a video in which she responds to liberals' attacks on her and other Conservatives. The text is here; the video is posted below. Palin's statement is, I think, very good. It emphasizes, appropriately, the Victims and the nation's political process rather than politicians, demonstrating once again that Palin is less obsessed with Sarah than her enemies are. Overall, the statement comes across as ...

Sarah Palin Refudiates Sarah Palin
Everyone's all aflush with talk of Sarah Palin's invocation of "blood Libel," so this section of her prepared statement probably isn't getting the attention it deserves: President Reagan said, "We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions." Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. They begin and end with the criminals who commit them, ...

RI governor defends talk radio ban; says may be temporary...
PROVIDENCE — With his talk-radio avoidance policy making the national news and rating the second-highest placed headline on the Drudge Report at one point on Wednesday, Governor Chafee is defending his decision. In an interview Wednesday, Chafee denied speculation that the policy had anything to do with the harsh criticism that some of the state’s conservative talk-show hosts had been flinging his way in the wake of his move to rescind his predecessor’s Executive Order on illeg...

Sarah Palin vs. the media
The shootings in Tucson would seem to have immediately complicated any plans Sarah Palin still has to seek the Republican nomination for president in 2012. Wherever you stand on the question of blame — read Chris Selley’s excellent survey on the rush to judgment and David Brooks’ condemnation of  “the Mainstream Media”, among which his New York Times was pre-eminent — the keenness to roast Palin as the inspiration behind Jared Loughner’s madness dem...

I Can Hear The Civility From My House
Sarah Palin takes aim on her Facebook page; President Reagan said, “We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.” Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. They begin and end with the criminals who commit them, not collectively with all the citizens of a state, not with those who listen to Talk Radio, not with maps of swing dist

Capehart: Sarah Palin doesn't get it
Sarah Palin has emerged from the protective cloak of Twitter and e-mails to Glenn Beck to speak directly to the American People about the tragedy in Tucson. In a video, she expresses condolences for the Victims' families and concern for those recovering from Saturday's horrific events. But for nearly eight defensive minutes, the woman who has been at the center of a stormy national debate over our super-heated political discourse does her best to absolve herself of any role in that discourse. ...

On Faith: Will Palin regret using 'blood libel'?
In response to the tragic shooting in Arizona, Sarah Palin on Wednesday released a nearly eight-minute video that said that those who imply that she bears some responsibility for Jared Lee Loughner's act of violence are guilty of "blood Libel." "Journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn," Palin said in the statement. The term may come to haunt Palin. According to the Anti-De...

Sarah Palin: America's Enduring Strength
A few hours ago, Sarah Palin posted a Facebook Note and video in regards to the recent shootings that happened over the weekend in Tucson, Arizona. The sentiments expressed by Sarah are echoed by millions throughout our great, resilient country. Although the scars will remain, America WILL recover and come out of this horrific event stronger and even more committed to making our country the greatest it can be! Please click here to view the video of this statement. Like millions of Americans I...

It's Better To Keep Your Mouth Shut
As you've undoubtedly heard, Sarah Palin finally broke her silence today on the shootings in Tucson last weekend. Sarah Palin: "America's Enduring Strength" from Sarah Palin on Vimeo. [Transcript below the fold.] Anyone who's watched Ms. Palin over the last eighteen months knows that she didn't write this Speech. (And she didn't memorize it, either; you can see the reflection of the Teleprompter in her glasses.) But whoever wrote it for her either didn't know that the term "blood Libel" is cons...

Death threats against Palin increase
Death threats against Sarah Palin have reached an unprecedented level in recent days, an aide says. In the wake of Saturday’s shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others, the aide said that threats against Palin have spiked, ABC News reported. Continue Reading Text Size - + reset The aide did not offer further details on the threats or whether Palin has taken additional security precautions. Palin’s use of gun-related language and imagery, including a map that marked Giffords&r...;

Let's Go to the Confrontational
The videotaped confessional (or these days, it might be better to call it a "confrontational") is all the rage among those who believe they've been aggrieved. What better way to defend yourself uninterrupted or go after designated critics without fear of having your message diluted? The tactic is big on the political front. Exhibit A is Sarah Palin's nearly eight-minute commentary on Saturday's shooting in Tucson that injured Representative Gabrielle Giffords and killed six people. Palin spends ...

Palin, "blood libel", Krauthammer and the lefthave we completely lost our minds?
What a mess. Watching the political world in the light of the Tucson tragedy has been disheartening and disgusting. While the President’s Speech last night was fine, the venue was awful. And T-shirts? Really? It wasn’t a pep rally, but it seemed like one (I’m primarily talking about crowd reaction). What a more somber Oval Office Speech wasn’t proper enough? And this Sarah Palin thing. Am I ever tired of Sarah Palin. That said, I’m even more tired of the left̵...