Palin: Journalists incite hatred after AZ shooting

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Sarah Palin posted a nearly eight-minute video on her Facebook page early Wednesday, accusing journalists and pundits of inciting hatred and violence in the wake of a deadly Arizona shooting that gravely wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Last spring, Palin targeted Giffords' district as one of 20 that should be taken back. Palin has been criticized for marking each district with the cross hairs of a gun sight.

In the video, the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate said vigorous debates are a cherished tradition. But she said after the election, both sides find common ground, even though they disagree.

"But, especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible," she said.

The term "blood libel" is the false allegation that Jews kill non-Jews, especially Christian children, to acquire blood for the Passover or other Jewish rituals, according to the Jewish Virtual Library. It has been used in other contexts, and Palin's meaning was not clear. Her aides did not immediately respond to an e-mail early Wednesday.

Jared Loughner, 22, is accused of trying to assassinate Giffords, wounding 12 others and killing six people.

"There are those who claim political rhetoric is to blame for the despicable act of this deranged, apparently apolitical criminal," Palin said. "And they claim political debate has somehow gotten more heated just recently. But when was it less heated? Back in those 'calm days' when political figures literally settled their differences with dueling pistols?"

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Comments

mainebob's picture

sign

http://hiphopwired.com/2011/01/13/rush-limbaugh-criticized-for-‘straight-shooter’-billboard-near-arizona-shooting/

Matt's picture

Not his billboard

The billboard was erected prior to the incident by the local station that carries his show. Nice try. Maybe Rush is to blame! Maybe you're to blame because you once ordered a shot of whiskey.... zealot

mainebob's picture

well ya

its probably been up for awhile... so whats your point ?

mainebob's picture

Matt

- I know she didn't say shoot em .... you're going somewhere else on this one... you need to connect the dots .. the atmosphere that Sarah Palin created (along with others) was one that could incite a weak minded individual to commit the crimes that he did. How many people believed in the death panels and still do ...

Matt's picture

Connect what dots??????

HE DIDN'T WATCH THE NEWS...DIDN'T LISTEN TO TALK RADIO...DIDN'T VISIT PALIN'S WEBSITE...HE'S A DERANGED PARANOID SCHIZO WHO THINKS THE GOVERNEMENT CONTROLS MINDS THROUGH THE CONTROL OF GRAMMAR!
What about Obama's contribution to the "amosphere"?
"They bring a knife, we bring a gun"
Or my personal favorite, that others on this thread have stated was referring to Al Queda (a laugh when read in full!) “If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, ‘We’re gonna punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us,’ if they don’t see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it’s gonna be harder and that’s why I think it’s so important that people focus on voting on November 2.”
What does he mean by "punish our enemies? Isn't this the guy telling us we need to cool the rhetoric?
Now I don't think he was instructing people to go out and shoot people. I am a rational individual. But by the same token, I'm not the one on here saying that
Palin's MAP was somehow a coded message for Jared to start shooting. It's a freakin' MAP. A COPY of a DNC map. Liberals always want to have it both ways.

mainebob's picture

again

I never said that the map was a direct instruction to shoot . Why would you think that I said that ?

Erin's picture
verified

Please read the link

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/voices/medred/8264-palins-response-to-the-...

This was the point I was trying to make but he said it better.

mainebob's picture

Erin

This is a wonderful article ....

Erin's picture
verified

Like I've said before, get to

Like I've said before, get to know the real Sarah. Ask people who know her...who knew her before her VP run. I know Sarah, her dad, mom, sister....I've was in Wasilla when she was mayor and worked as a city employee. A lot of us up here have a very different few of her than most. Alaska Dispatch, Mud Flats, Shannyn Moore......all good people to follow if you want to know more.

mainebob's picture

Sarah 'Reload' Palin

she uses a gunscope images on the web ... how can anyone make nice about that or make excuses 'Oh its just politics' didn't really mean it -its still vicious ... Thankfully she will wither away and will be just a vague memory ...

Matt's picture

bob

are you really that numb? By your reckoning there are 19 more Congressmen who are about to be assassinated. Do you not read or watch the news? The kid "didn't watch the news", didn't listen to talk radio", was "a liberal potsmoker".
The Palin image was a copy of an image put out by the DNC. It's called a metaphor. Even the term "campaign" comes from war.

mainebob's picture

Matt

If someone was in an auditorium and yelled 'Fire ' when there was no fire ....and some people died in the stampede . Is the person who yelled fire somehow responsible. ? (This is from the site that Erin mentioned below)

Matt's picture

The person who yelled "Fire"

is most assuredly responsible bob. The anaolgy is weak at best. Did Sarah Palin (or any other Republican) yell, "shoot"?
Let me take it astep further. If everyone in the theater was deaf would anyone have stampeded? This more closely fits the analogy since it has been proven that the psycho did not.....1. Listen to talk radio.....2. Watch the news much...... 3. Had not visited said Palin website....
Instead he was .... 1. A paranoid schizophrenic..... 2. An avowed atheist... 3. a druggie...
HIS OWN writings express (confirmed by associates of his) his motives, deranged as they are, as.... 1. Anger at Giffords' "stupidity" because he was unsatisfied at the response she gave to a question he asked her in 2007.... 2. Fear of government mind control through the control of grammar.

How the hell can you come up with "Palin did it" because she put a map of the US on her website with target sights on various locations? Look at the RELEVANT facts and be reasonable!

Erin's picture
verified

Both of you are kind of over

Both of you are kind of over exaggerating the map. I really doubt if the map had much to do with the killer in Arizona. I do however believe it is helping to fuel others, including militia groups. You can doubt me but do some research on these groups and see who they want as their queen...its Sarah. Do a little more research and see the properganda they are pushing...civil war. Where law enforcement and their families are considered collateral damage in a fight to win the country back. These groups exist and in larger numbers than you would like to think. Matt your right Sarah didn't put a target over Giffords face....she put a target over the district and included Giffords and hit list of other policiticans underneath the map. Some details on both sides are being left out and it ticks me off to no end. It like persons who take clips from bible verses to prove their point but totally miss the message of the passage they took it from. Heres a better thought, there is a group of us up here who have discussed making T-shirts with "Sarah Who?" on them. Lets make her a mute point and move on to more legitimate politicans on both sides of the fence.

AllarieLarsen's picture

"Don't retreat, instead RELOAD" Sarah Palin

What kind of metaphor is that Matt? Are you saying any American citizen can create a map with sights on various citizens and one of those citizens and shot, several others are murdered, they are not responsible in the least? Sarah ought to say, now is the time to rethink inflammatory remarks! Tea party events with gun carrying zealots calling for the death of our President? I've never heard her say these things are wrong. Got a link I may have missed?

Matt's picture

You obviously

have not even seen the site you are referring to. The "targets" are on various locations on a map of the US. No pictures of people. This map is an exact COPY of a "target" map put out earlier by the Democrat Nat'l Committee....only targeting Dem DISTRICTS instead of Repub. No pictures, no names.

mainebob's picture

liberal potsmoker

I think that your trying to make excuses for Palin

rumforddude's picture

Why?

To establish the truth, accuracy, or reality of.....

armorin's picture
verified

Enough

Tron, Boehner made his appropriate remarks earlier today. I consider myself a liberal. I believe the time has come for us to treat each other with respect. The time has come for us to act as one nation. Use this opportunity to act responsibly and with civility.

jmyoung's picture
verified

Rumfordude please get

Rumfordude please get verified. Immediately

Erin's picture
verified

He would never, it goes

He would never, it goes against his core beliefs

Matt's picture

All thinking people please respond

Rank these potential factors in order of their contribution to this weekend's tragedy:
1. Paranoid schizophrenia
2. Atheist upbringing created a child with no regard for human life
3. Sarah Palin used a map in a campaign which had targets over different states, a virtual copy of a map used by the DNC earlier.
4. Bad grammar

AllarieLarsen's picture

Poor poor Sarah always the victim

1,3 and the other two don't even make the list.

ConservaMom's picture

1. 2. 4. 3.

1. 2. 4. 3.

Pericles's picture

Citation?

You can of course name where, when and in what context Obama spoke of "punishing our enemies" right? And no, the mass forwarded email your brother in law sent you does not count

ConservaMom's picture

apparently you missed it.

apparently you missed it. here's the link for your perusal. http://newsbusters.org/blogs/scott-whitlock/2010/10/27/abc-alone-feature...

mainebob's picture

newsbusters

Checked out that site conservamom... you should get a more reliable source /link . Thats like fox channel on the internet. Everyone knows that all just propaganda.Thats like getting your facts from Marvel comics .....

Pericles's picture

Context

Like I said, context. "in the voting booth" is a pretty important qualifier in that context. I love how that blog link manages to change "exhorting" into "extorting". Most likely the blogger in question does not realise that those words have different meanings

Erin's picture
verified

Oh don't knock down the

Oh don't knock down the defense they are making by brining out facts and details Pericles. Sarah said it best during her campaign run for governor during a debate with Andrew Halcro "
"Andrew, I watch you at these debates with no notes, no papers and yet when asked questions you spout off facts, figures and policies and I'm amazed. But then I look out into the audience and I ask myself, 'Does any of this really matter?" She said herself facts, figures and policies don't matter.

mainebob's picture

Palin

Sarah "Reload" Palin. Her political career is over. she's done .. Ring them bells ....... the Republican Party will distance themselves from her if they were smart.

rumforddude's picture

tron

Sorry this horrific act didn’t work in your favor (as you so un-eloquently pursued). I’m sure your not at least bit ashamed of your vicious attacks after learning that a nut is a nut. If this wasn’t such a sad story on our fellow American’s, I and many others would be laughing at you. But this is not funny! It is a tragedy and you just don’t get it.
You have once again proven how unintelligent and mean spirited you are! People like you are what make politics so divisive. You need to stop over reacting on your emotions and think things out. Your not doing yourself or your political agenda any favors…and for that I thank you.

rumforddude's picture

Who cries for the lost souls?

Hopefully now that the facts are coming out and the picture becomes clearer. You “accusers” can see the reality of what has happened. Political demagoguery has only damaged your already defeated agenda. Using a tragedy like the Tucson massacre to exploit a political position has only shown how desperate and pathetic a party can go. (I take that back), as the majority of Democrats retreat from there visceral statements that first followed this horrific act.

To pass such quick judgment, speaks volumes! Where is the sympathy, where is the mourning for the loss of life?

Our political environment historically has always been highly charged with militaristic verbiage. All parties have used it; all parties will continue to use it. It evokes emotion and riles the soul. That is why it is used; the percent that take it literally are minute. This disturbed individual is an anomaly and a very sad one at that.

However exploiting politics in emotional confusion only leads to more division, our country has become so divided, that it has come to “ who wins the argument “ rather than thinking of the souls we lost. Have we become that partisan and selfish to forget the loss of life? In the end no one wins only humanity loses. Now is the time to unite and mourn our fellow Americans that were taken. A nation dived will not stand!

Erin's picture
verified

I agree with almost

I agree with almost everything you said except "the percent that take it literally are minute". KKK is not a minute group, milita members are growing in numbers in every state, we are having more and more persons in America thinking that the way to take back America is by starting a civil war. Sarah has repeatedly cashed in on this demographic. They do take what many of their precieved kings and queens say literal. Before you jump to stand up for her consider this. Sarah has over and over again talked about how she trusts, listens, and learns from her husband. She trusts so much in his council that during her time as Governor he often sat in on meeting and was able to voice his opinion freely with state heads. Todd was a part of a group of Alaskans that were pushing for the state to succeed from the United States. Both of them attended meetings of the Alaska Independence Party. A group that was mainly made up of militia members. If you read into any of their properganda you can see an a close resemblence to groups who have bred violence in other states. Learn more about her and her past rather than just going off her sound bites and Facebook page.

tron's picture

Well let's see who cries for

Well let's see who cries for the lost soul, the President of the United States is in Tucson for the memorial service, the Weeper of the House John Boehner is hostly a cocktail party for GOP bigwigs in Washington. Nice huh?

Pirate's picture
verified

Typical democRATS...take a

Typical democRATS...take a memorial and turn it into a political pep rally.....classless buffoons.

ConservaMom's picture

Isn't that the President's

Isn't that the President's job? John Boehner isn't the President. And...if he were to travel to Tuscon to address the country would you not get your panties all in a twist that he's overstepping his Speaker of the House responsibilities? Honestly. You just aren't happy unless you are bitching about the Republicans in any way you can. How sad your life must be.

Pericles's picture

Not address

Not address the country. Attend the memorial. He is the speaker of the body she is a member of, so yes. It is his job. Thanks to the hyper-partisan atmosphere the Republicans started creating in Congress in 1994 he most likely barely knows her socially and so does not feel any particular compulsion to attend

burnell's picture
verified

I thought name calling wasn't allowed

Seems it depends on who is being called a twit.
I'm not at all surprised at the responses.
Funny, the perp is about as left wing as they get, but, of course that is irrelevant, because it doesn't fit the template of the lefties..

Pirate's picture
verified

You'll find, burnell that

You'll find, burnell that name calling abounds. Avoid it unless done to you first and then retaliate. But, in fairness, there are but a few who engage in the practice on a regular basis. You'll learn who they are soon enough. Welcome aboard, Matey... AARRGHH!!!

tron's picture

Sarah refuses to accept

Sarah refuses to accept respondsibility for her actions, she's showing her true colors. She targeted this district and this nut job obeyed her command. MAYBE she didn't mean for it to go this far, but it did and she should apologize.

Pirate's picture
verified

Ahh, we can all sleep well

Ahh, we can all sleep well tonight. We've finally been given the true facts about what REALLY happened. The parrot jumps with joy.

Erin's picture
verified

"In the video, the 2008 GOP

"In the video, the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate said vigorous debates are a cherished tradition. But she said after the election, both sides find common ground, even though they disagree."

Sarah, Sarah, Sarah....shall we pull out the old political history of Wasilla and your Alaska governership to show how little common ground you tried to obtain? I know most of my friends on the East Coast don't know where to look or are even aware of your ways. However, some of us living here in Alaska have yet to forget. I don't believe all sides in the debate about the shooting or tying it to you alone, but I still don't agree with the crap you spew either. Choose your words carefully Sarah, they can come back to bite you in the butt.

taxpayer's picture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?

Erin's picture
verified

Ummmm I was talking about

Ummmm I was talking about Sarah trying to pretend like she stands on the high ground after an election. Not about the blame placed on her about the shooting. Although I find it funny she talks of how great American history is about vigirious debates and pistol duels. If you want to parade behind her maybe you should do some research on her past political ventures in Alaska. The twit couldn't lead a pack of sheep if she tried.

Pirate's picture
verified

What's the matter, Erin?

What's the matter, Erin? Sarah not returning your phone calls?

taxpayer's picture

Believe me when I say that

Believe me when I say that I'm not "parading behind her". I'm merely pointing out that there is the same type of language being used on both sides of the political spectrum.

Erin's picture
verified

Agreed on that taxpayer. My

Agreed on that taxpayer. My opposition is with the fact that she will now use this to gain more sympathy and followers. Sarah likes to play the vicitim and always had. Its a huge ball of crap that was started by people opposing her and will end in her using it to benefit her and her alone.

Barry King's picture
verified

:-)

I agreed with you on this one, Erin, but in all honesty I don't know if she could lead a "pack of sheep". HOWEVER, I MOST DEFINITELY don't believe that she has what it takes to lead a nation!

taxpayer's picture

Our own president is using

Our own president is using words like "punish our enemies" don't tell me what Palin says is any worse.

mainebob's picture

punish our enemies

Think Obama is referring to Taliban Al Queda not the Republican party. The Republican Party are not Obamas enemy .

Pirate's picture
verified

Actually, he was telling a

Actually, he was telling a group of hispanics that they should punish THEIR enemies. The sound byte's out there.

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