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After Giffords Attack: Many Lash Out Over Violent Political Rhetoric

Ryan Faughnder |
January 8, 2011 | 5:05 p.m. PST

Senior News Editor

Following the attack on a political event in Arizona that has left at least six dead and Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords critically injured with a gunshot wound to the head, the national conversation is exploding with speculation about the role of heated political rhetoric in the tragedy. 

Some Democratic groups, such as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, have denounced political language that they believe may have indirectly encouraged Jared Loughner, the man police have identified as the gunman, to attack Giffords.

The committee's chair Steve Israel called the situation"both a personal tragedy and a tragic reminder that we cannot remain silent when political rhetoric turns violent," according to The Hill. 

Sarah Palin is taking the most heat, especially through social media outlets, in which many are criticizing her frequent use of violent metaphors, particularly a map that she put on her website in the days leading up to the November elections. The map showed Giffords' district in crosshairs.

Also subject to criticism is her infamous "Don't retreat... reload!" statement, which she meant to encourage radio personality Dr. Laura Schlessinger in the controversy that ensued after she used the n-word on the air

Another frequently used example is Sharron Angle, who during her campaign for the Nevada Senate seat told an interviewer that the Second Amendment was intended to allow citizens to defend themselves against tyranny, and hoped aloud that "we're not getting to Second Amendment remedies." 

Marty Kaplan of the Huffington Post wrote Saturday that to defend such statements as metaphorical is insufficient. "The 'second amendment solution,' though, does something worse than make politics a branch of entertainment. It makes it a blood sport," he wrote in a blog post.  

The Washington Post reports that several Tea Party activists and organizers in Arizona have expressed shock over the tragedy but denied that their figureheads' war- and gun-themed statements had anything to do with it.

Fueling speculation is the fact that Giffords warned against such symbolic language in a TV interview after her Tucson campaign office was attacked after she voted for President Obama's health care overhaul. 

The debate has raged on, most ferociously on Twitter, where some accuse conservative leaders of encouraging violence, while others contend that these accusations are baseless.

"Mission accomplished, Sarah Palin," tweeted Markos Moulitsas, founder of The Daily Kos, provoking a massive micro-blogging backlash.

"Typical liberal stance is to blame someone else. The guy was obviously a mentally ill person..." wrote one responder.

Jonah Goldberg, in a blog post for National Review, bemoaned what he sees as "opportunism" on the part of those trying to draw connections between actual violence and the tone of political discourse, comparing it to the anti-gun outbursts that followed the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre

Time Magazine's editorial on the controversy states that "Sometimes, rumors of violence beget actual violence."

Reach reporter Ryan Faughnder here



 

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