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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Orwellian: Big Government Establishment, including corporatist Fox News, lines up to scapegoat tea party movement for actions of a deranged Leftist

From:
Politicizing Ariz. Mass Shooting to Demonize Guns, Conservatives

(The New American) -- by Alex Newman --

After a mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona, left at least six dead and more than a dozen wounded, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), the politicization of the tragedy has already begun. And despite an absence of much concrete information on the shooter’s motives — who at this point appears to be a deranged leftist — efforts to demonize the Second Amendment and conservatives in general are already taking flight.

According to news reports, Rep. Giffords’ office was vandalized in connection with her vote for ObamaCare. She was also one of the politicians targeted for defeat by former Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin on a website using an image of crosshairs, a fact which has been repeated in countless news reports about the attack. Tea Party efforts to replace the Congresswoman have also received a great deal of publicity, as if those were somehow related to the shooting.

An Associated Press story claimed that the shooting had “left Americans questioning whether divisive politics had pushed the suspect [Jared Loughner] over the edge.” Later on in the same story, the AP alleged: “It is not clear whether the gunman had the health care debate in mind.” The piece also referenced a narrow electoral battle between the Congresswoman and a Tea Party candidate who raised campaign funds with — gasp! — target-shooting events.

In a report on Fox News, the Washington correspondent made sure to demonize allegedly lax gun-control laws. He also claimed the tragedy would revive the debate on gun control in America. Leftist MSNBC personality Keith Olbermann also hysterically attacked guns and rhetoric in a “special comment” segment.

Speaking of threats against Arizona’s top federal judge, who was among those killed in Saturday’s attack, popular leftist website DailyKos wrote that “his story is instructive of the increasingly — and obviously —dangerous and violent rhetoric of the far right, fueled by hate radio and rightwing media.” The founder of the website, Markos Moulitsas, sent out a message reading “Mission accomplished, Sarah Palin” shortly after the attack.

Ironically, the same website had also placed Rep. Giffords on a “target list” — in bold letters — for supposedly being a “blue dog” democrat, exemplified by her support for gun rights and tougher border control. The day before the shooting, a DailyKos writer even published an article about Giffords headlined: “My CongressWOMAN voted against Nancy Pelosi! And is now DEAD to me!” Commentators have suggested the piece might be “evidence” in the shooting case, but what is certain is that the leftist site’s hysterical blaming of conservatives for the tragedy is at least misplaced and hypocritical.

But even some law enforcers joined in, too. Pima County Sherriff Clarence Dupnik — responsible for Tucson — for example, tried to link “anti-government” rhetoric to the tragedy. "When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government — the anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous," he was quoted as saying. "And unfortunately, Arizona, I think, has become the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry."

Politicians from all over the political spectrum condemned the attack and offered condolences and prayers for the victims. But at least some were already making the rounds trying to politicize the murders before anything was even known. State Senator Linda Lopez, for example, went on Fox News to point blame at the Tea Party. She said the Congresswoman had been threatened by right-wing activists and that the shooter was an Afghanistan veteran, an allegation disputed by the army...

A woman claiming to have gone to school and played in a band with the shooter wrote a series of messages on the social-networking site Twitter that have attracted a great deal of publicity. She claimed that Loughner was a leftist. “As I knew him he was left wing, quite liberal,” wrote Caitie Parker, noting that the shooter was also “oddly obsessed with the 2012 prophecy.”

Parker described her former schoolmate, who is now 22, as a very philosophical “pot head” loner who enjoyed rock music. She also noted that he was popular until an episode of alcohol poisoning in 2006, after which he dropped out of school.

A MySpace social-networking account linked to the shooter, taken down minutes after Loughner was identified, reportedly featured recent posts reading "Goodbye friends" and "Please don't be mad at me." It also contained the same list of favorite books including the Communist Manifesto and Mein Kampf.

But despite the immediate (and disingenuous) efforts to link what appears to be a deranged leftist to the Tea Party movement, local conservative leaders announced they would not change their rhetoric. "I did feel, you know, very like 'why are they jumping to this conclusion before they even knew the person's name?' They're jumping to this conclusion that it has to do with the hotly contested Congressional race," said Pima County Tea Party Patriots founder Allyson Miller in an interview with Talking Points Memo. "Well, apparently, from what I've seen so far ... it's looking like that's not the case."...MORE...LINK

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