The Absence of Civility, Conscience and Sensibility

I syndicate conservative columnist Susan Brown, who had this interesting observation on the Arizona shooting and the tendency to "blame Republicans":

 

Once upon a time in America, civility inspired citizens to pause from partisanship long enough to acknowledge horrific tragedies like the Tucson Arizona massacre for what they are rather than use the tragedy as an opportunity to twist, spin, distort, pervert and misrepresent facts and hurl unfounded accusations in a feeble attempt to gain political ground.

For the progressive pundit “journalists,” civility is a faint memory – if it ever existed at all – as they relentlessly hold Sarah Palin in their crosshairs and justify the politicization of the Tucson massacre by drawing an imaginary line between Palin and conservatives to the bloodshed.

 

Dismissing intelligent discourse that the suspect is allegedly a nonpartisan psychopath who was booted out of college and rejected from the military due to mental issues and drug addiction, the left strapped their saddle to their tired one-trick pony called “Blame Conservatives.”

The left seems to be grappling to hold on to their fading utopian dream and will do anything, hell or high water, to keep people in their column next election and to keep their delusion alive. The hollow attempt to pin the shooter’s inspiration on Sarah Palin’s now famous “target map” fell short and exposed the nastiness and desperation of the progressive “Do As I Say, Not As I Do” movement. In reality, “target” maps have been used by both sides - including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee - for a long time.

Nate Beeler / Washington Examiner

Writing about the massacre in his oxymoronically titled column, The Conscience of a Liberal, columnist Paul Krugman flushed any semblance of credibility when he wrote, “We don’t have proof yet that this was political, but the odds are that it was….And yes, she [Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford] was on Sarah Palin’s infamous “crosshairs” list…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.”

Certainly this is a time to stand against hate mongering, but knowingly casting false blame is a cold political maneuver that fails to consider the victims and their families, including a precious 9-year-old girl whose life was snuffed out. Slaughtered. Is it not time for the left to take a stand, Mr. Krugman? Palin haters have made statements like, “Let’s stone her, old school.” Madonna’s YouTube Palin-rant promised to “kick her ass,” and “comedian” Sandra Bernhard vowed Palin would be “gang-raped by my big black brothers.”

Where was the conscience of progressives, when people adorned themselves with “Kill Bush” t-shirts and donned “Bush the only dope worth shooting” signs? Why did they not stand against violence when the Obama supporter destroyed GOP signs while shouting “You f**cking House @!$%# white-black bitch?”

In his recent letter to Fox News CEO Rupert Murdock, Media Matters CEO David Brock wrote, “Beck and Palin are two of Fox’s most recognizable figures. Before this heartbreaking tragedy in Arizona, you were unwilling or unable to rein in their violent rhetoric. But now, in the wake of the killings, your network must take a stand.”

Taking a stand against violence is admirable, but it is unconscionable to bend reality in an attempt to politicize violence and disingenuously connect conservatives to a crime committed by an alleged mentally unstable drug addict. Like the Virginia Tech massacre, Tucson will be evermore scarred by the horrific act of a deranged madman. It is time for this nation to respectfully pause and return to civility.

Discuss this post

One question....When did Madonna. Krugman, and Bernhard lead a political party and run for a political office? Unlike Palin, or torture lover Allen West (who retired instead of facing crime charges equal to that of Lt. Calley), or Steve King et al? There is a fine line between art and entertainment as the lawsuit of Falwell v Flynt points out. But there is a clear line when it comes to politicians and violent rhetoric as the Civil Rights era of the 50's and 60's proved with the KKK and the rest of their ilk.

Now put on your Purple Heart bandaid, and stop you're piling of the bull@!$%#e, when you look back and see all of those who went and apologized for the comedians and the writers.

By the way most of us on the " left" were too busy watching from the freedom speech zone (without carrying guns) two miles away from events, or watching people being arrested by people impersonating themselves as Secret Service officials at Conservative Rallies (per Bush's White House Advance Manual), or watching the "We do not torture" turn into "Torture saved lives" as the evidence rolled out, along with the lies of the Iraq War, and the suspension of Habeas Corpus.

Besides we all know the only American that tries to kill other Americans and gets away with it, is Dick Cheney.

    Reply#1 - Wed Jan 12, 2011 12:59 PM EST

    Wait, some guy at a protest once wore a shirt that made a bad joke about killing Bush? Well, why didn't you say so? I mean, that totally balances the constant stream of violent rhetoric coming from elected or nominated right-wing politicians like Palin (too many examples to list here), Angle ("Second Amendment remedies"), Bachmann ("armed and dangerous"), and the rest.

    I concede the point to you, the Left is totally equally to blame in all of this. If the Left would stop clinging to their guns and cease their constant hurling of violent rhetoric from top officials like that guy at the protest once and the other dude at the other protest, then maybe they'd have a leg to stand on.

      Reply#2 - Wed Jan 12, 2011 7:11 PM EST
      You're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead.
      As a new user, you may notice a few temporary content restrictions. Click here for more info.