“If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.” – Barack Obama
For many in the States, who are convinced that the Obamessiah’s agenda is madness, their solution has been to join the Tea Party, which is not a violent or terrorist group. The Tea Party is a legitimate, grass-roots coming together of individuals to propose alternative programs to those of the Obama-led government. The Tea Party is a bona fide element of the democratic process in the U.S. — and to suggest that U.S. citizens shouldn’t form groups like this because they might incite violence or domestic terrorism is tantamount to political blackmail: Don’t push back, folks, because something violent might happen.
As Glenn Reynolds wrote yesterday– If you’re using this event to criticize the “rhetoric” of Sarah Palin or others with whom you disagree, then you’re either asserting a connection between the “rhetoric” and the shooting — which based on evidence to date would be what we call a vicious lie — or you’re not, in which case you’re just seizing on a tragedy to try to score unrelated political points, which is contemptible. So which is it?
Damian Penny, a lawyer here in the Halifax area just had the quote of the day on this,
“When the last Che Guevara T-shirt has been thrown out, *then* the left can start lecturing us about violent political imagery.”
The left’s pathological hatred of the Tea Party movement stems from their knowledge that they’ll never contol those people. The progressive/regressive left were so close to abosolute power in the US via Obama and the Tea Party movement snatched their power away. Those Tea Partiers will continue to fight the socialists loons day after day the progressives can’t defeat them so they demonize them using Liberal Media to do their dirty work.
A really excellent comment by batb.
The left is openly declaring that questions, debate and dissent from their agenda is not permitted. They’ve made this declaration via their opposition to the Tea Party, Town Halls, their derision and hostility to any who argue against their radical socialism (Fox, Hannity, Beck, Limbaugh etc). All of the dissenters are promoting debate, dissent – and – non-violence.
Show us where any of them promote violence…whereas, we there is a constant litany of support for violence – and examplse – among the left.
We’ve seen this stance against dissent over and over in totalitarian societies, whether in the Third Reich, the Soviet Union or now, in the Islamic world. Is this rejection of dissent really going to be promoted within the USA?
And that’s a great comment by Glenn Reynolds.
Remember Obama’s insistence that the so-called Stimulus (which was in reality a pork-payback for Democrats and public unions) be passed without reading or debate – simply on ‘trust in Obama’. Same with the so-called Health Care which in reality is a Statist Act.
If you dissent, you are ‘unAmerican’ and, as Obama declared, an ‘enemy’.
uhm, both?
The difference in the media’s level of interest in this case vs that of the Fort Hood killings in which Major Nidal Malik Hasan murdered 13 is astounding but not surprising given their prejudices.
So, according to Reynolds would that SDA thread with 179 comments (last time I checked) be contemptible?
Unless, I’m mis-reading Reynolds, isn’t any comment at all, even those obsequious ones offering condolences to total strangers, contemptible.
Isn’t Jonah Goldberg’s comment (cited by Robert W) to the effect that he’s not commenting be in fact a comment to the effect that he’s purer and nobler than most.
As you can see, the pretty rhetoric doesn’t survive even the most cursory scrutiny.
There’s a shooting in Tucson. Several people are wounded; some are killed. Among the wounded is a congresswoman. She, understandably, becomes the main story; at least in the eyes of other public figures—the political class, including their enablers in the MSN.
But focussing on the congresswoman is only one step towards an objective. The political class seizes the opportunity to claim for themselves the mantle of the real victims. And they claim the real perps are … wait for it … those who speak intemperately about politics in general, and about their political adversaries in particular. Their remedy? Stop using “socialist” as an accusation! (I am not making this up.) Stop mentioning Hitler; stop accusing others of fascism.
So, let’s summarize: we have a class of people—the political class, which includes a large portion of the commentariat—who have earned our disrespect, even out contempt, for the destruction they have brought to our political institutions, and thereby to our very lives. When we, the people harmed by the actions of our rulers, respond with criticism—imagine, if you can, the insolence!—the political class, almost in unison, blames our criticism, our opposition to them, for the violence—for Oklahoma, for Times Square, and now for Tucson. That’s the hymn they’re all singing on the Sunday morning talk shows. Any suggestion, even, that the vitriol in our criticism may be justified, is not to be even considered. And their solution: Let’s all be more polite, more respectful, more measured in our criticism of those who lie, cheat and steal for a living. Translation: You little people have to learn to shut up and like it.
First of all anyone who thinks that the political rhetoric on either side is the cause of this insane person killing people should be in the same asylum as the shooter.
That being said the vast majority of political violence is perpetrated by leftists. Simple logic should tell you why. You don’t conserve by destroying. You don’t progress by passively sitting by.
Darn fat fingers. “both” is the answer to the question “so which is it?”
They’re not just liars, they are contemptible, vicious liars, and we as a culture need to stop pandering to their insane demands.
The Tea Party literally could not be less violent if it was composed of little girls in princess dresses and elderly nuns with walkers. Everybody knows this.
Unless, I’m mis-reading Reynolds, isn’t any comment at all, even those obsequious ones offering condolences to total strangers, contemptible.
You should have stopped at “unless”.
MeNo @ 11:17:
You have started at the end, with “the most cursory scrutiny”. Then stopped.
Dragging the Tea Party into this act of madness shows how low the Leftists will go into the gutter of desperate politics. Their viciousness is palpable.
Sorry: “You _should_ have …”
Where will this left right cold war end?
It’s beginning to look more and more like the original Star Trek episode where two men (the same man, one from each side of a parallel universe) are locked in eternal mortal combat at the gateway that was accidentally opened up between them.
Both men are named Lazarus, they coexist, but … One of them cannot stand the fact that there is another ‘him’ with a different point of view and values, so he wants to kill his other self, but if he succeeds, he will destroy both universes … but he doesn’t care, he is blind with hate and rage .. just like our present day leftists.
The other Lazarus, has taken the cause to fight off the evil Lazarus forever so the rest of us can continue to exist.
The episode name is “What of Lazarus”
I consider Rush L, Mark S, Bill O, Glenn B, Hannity, Sarah P, … and our own Kate M, as our Lazarus, but where will it all end?
It’s the crescendo at the end of the Beatle song “Day in the Life” Waiting for the pause, then the big hammer-down piano chord to end the tune.
Those were your pop-culture references for today.
It’s a good thing we have the CBC here in this country who will present the story to us in a neutral fashion with a strong emphasis on remaining objective. (maximum sarcasm on!)
From the increasingly despicable P. Krugman:
…for those wondering why a Blue Dog Democrat, the kind Republicans might be able to work with, might be a target …
Now that is puzzling, isn’t it, ‘cause everyone knows violence can only come from Republicans, right?
Maybe it’s just me – but I see nothing wrong with taking up arms against people that have run your country into the ground, spent your grandchildren into pennury, and plan on taxing you to death.
I’m sorry, but you leftie morons are a clear and present danger to the nation, and if Darwin takes you out with a bus, or a fall UP the stairs – or guns you down because you are too dumb to take precautions with security – adios! Anything that gets you idiots away from the levers of power is a good thing.
Which is one of the main reasons I hold nothing but contempt for the minions of the “progressive” left………..
File this under knowing one’s enemies.
Well, Kate, believe it or not, I was painfully, excruciatingly aware of the contradiction …
X-posted at Readers Tips:
Jonah Goldberg suggests he’d like a ban on punditry for at least 24 hours after a mass killing. He knows, of course, that this wouldn’t be possible.
But I can fantasize too: I’d like to see NO news coverage of the murderer’s background for clearly we are unwittingly consipiring in his sick quest for Ophrahellian Warholian Glory and nudging on the next TV-Tabloid-Facebook-Twitter hero.
Continuing my fantasy, I’d like to see “social” networks banned or, rather, as a libertarian, a-ban-doned by an enlightened people who’ve come to see the sickness of it.
batb: Forgot to say, great comment!
People like Van Jones call for violence in the streets. The MSM don’t call him/them on it.
When something like this happens it adds fuel to the fire omn all sides, nothing good can come from it.
The guy obviously has a screw missing, now his actions will fester an already explosive situation.
The Chicago way…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ScvAJG51V4
How many people have been rushing to blame Sarah Palin?
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/arizona-shooting-suspect-may-be-linked-to-anti-semitic-group/story-e6freuyi-1225984713213
An internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memo quoted by FOX News Channel revealed the gunman – named by the media as Jared Loughner, 22 – is “possibly linked” to American Renaissance.
The group subscribes to an ideology that is “anti-government, anti-immigration, anti -ZOG (Zionist Occupational Government), anti-Semitic,” according to the DHS memo.
Giffords “is the first Jewish female elected to such a high position in the US government. She was also opposite this group’s ideology when it came to immigration debate,” the note said.
Whoops!
People who become so obsessed with an organization that they become murderers are not shy about revealing their motivations – Allahu Akbar , ELF Elves, The Weather Underground, IRA.
You’d think a dumb-as-a-post, overwhelmingly white Tea-bagger fanatic would also make his affiliation clear. (I am using the rational, non-partisan MSM description of the Tea Party, of course)
“Apparently the young man avidly read Marx and Hitler and burned the American flag. To my way of thinking, those are not the values of the Tea Party.”
— Senator Lamar Alexander on CNN’s State of Affairs this morning.
I believe the show will be re-running some time today.
Warren certainly got sucked in, as usual.
http://warrenkinsella.com/2011/01/picture-thousand-words/
“Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. In conflict tactics there are certain rules that [should be regarded] as universalities. One is that the opposition must be singled out as the target and ‘frozen.’…
“…any target can always say, ‘Why do you center on me when there are others to blame as well?’ When you ‘freeze the target,’ you disregard these [rational but distracting] arguments…. Then, as you zero in and freeze your target and carry out your attack, all the ‘others’ come out of the woodwork very soon. They become visible by their support of the target…’
“One acts decisively only in the conviction that all the angels are on one side and all the devils on the other.”
Rule #13. From the Bible. Of the Left.
michale harkov – the group you refer to, itself says that it has no record whatsoever of Loughner.
Again, it is completely illogical to conclude that IF an individual, who may exhibit some signs of emotional and mental distress, carries out an act of violence, that this same individual’s actions are caused by his admiration for any ideology – unless (a) that ideology is defined by violence (as is Islamic fascism) and (b) unless that same individual declared this causality to be the case (as was the case in Ft. Hood).
If I admire the Tea Party movement AND kill my next door neighbour, a Democrat, you cannot link the two as causal. After all, my reason for that violence might have been because he was poisoning my ten cats.
Obama quickly dispatched the FBI to get all over the Arizona shooting.
In stark contrast the FBI was said to be only ‘advising’ local law enforcement, that they had no jurisdiction, to investigate the recent mysterious death of John Wheeler.
Obama said nothing. Bush 41 and 43 said nothing. Katie Couric, et all said nothing.
Wheeler was an adviser to 3 Presidents, a top cyber security expert, founder of the Washington Vietnam Memorial and former President of MADD.
He was also investigating the SEC.
ET, I know what you are saying. The point I was trying to make was that there were other possibilites than simply “blaming Palin” and other nonsensical, kneejerk “blame righty” theories for this tragedy.
But, I take what to me looks like one of your points that, in short, is that this person is probably simply crazy.
BATB nails it !!
The so-called “tolerant” and “all-inclusive” latte-liberals have one tactic and one tactic only. Smear !!
According to them;
– If you stand up for democracy and freedoms from the chains of the Ruling Class – you are inciting violence.
– If you do not believe in climate alarmism – you hate mother earth, you are a denier.
– If you think Teachers should be paid on merit – you are not thinking of the kids.
The only Only ONLY reason the smears work, at least initially, is because of the media.
NOTE: I want to make something abundantly clear. When I sometimes refer to the “left”, I am not! citing the working-class left. I am citing the Intellectuals, the latte left and most media save for a few brave Journalists.
Yesterday, I was wondering how long it would be before someone blamed Bush or Sarah. I wish she would invite Bambam to Alaska, and teach him a thing or two. God knows, he needs all the help he can get
Pure and simple: a critical mass of the left is comprised of intellectually challenged BULLIES. They’re now in charge, and have been for decades, of virtually all the institutions in the West, including the MSM. In the USA, leftie bullies have been in complete charge of the government for the past two years: the House, the Senate, and the Presidency—and, like the toddlers they are, they still blame their opposition for all and any problems.
Lefties always bring a gun to a knife fight: in fact, their repressiveness, which is increasing at an alarming rate, sets the stage for a permanent, very unpleasant fight. (And, in their wicked way of thinking, lefties would say the fight is all my fault because I dared to speak this inconvenient truth: to power too! Their hypocrisy is breathtaking.)
And, if one dares to say, even politely, “Excuse me, I disagree with you, and even think you’ve gone outside the rules of fair play”: BANG! You’re figuratively dead—and it’s your own darn fault for daring to push back: think Oliver asking for more, and Jane Eyre and Mr. Brocklehurst. How dare we minions even think of questioning our betters?
Two year olds are the most dangerous human beings on the planet: narcissistic, and in possession of violent tempers, no self-control, and no ability to reason. We’re relatively safe because of their small size.
But imagine all these attributes in the body of a physically grown up person. Those are the people of the left. They’re dangerous, and had better get used to the idea that their hypocrisy and dirty tricks are now fully exposed and they’re not going to continue to get away with bullying those of us who have some different ideas about how our society should be run.
May God have mercy on us all.
CBC’s Kneel McDonald comments that ‘people were encouraged to show up at these rally’s with loaded weapons..some showed up with AR-15’s and other automatic weapons’…….then,they get the most lunatic-leftwing ex-pol,Alan Grayson on to comment!
You know when a little kid goes missing anywhere in the USA and a thousand plus people turn up spontaneously for the search party? Happens every single time.
Those people who turn up for the search come equipped with binoculars, cameras, boots, dogs, 4×4 pickups, sometimes airplanes or even helicopters…
That’s the Tea Party. Those same people finally got sick of the Dems and the Republicans failure to hold the Dems back, and they all showed up. That’s who the MSM is calling a bunch of mindless redneck scum. That’s who they are accusing of -causing- this shooting spree.
Going to be a very interesting year.
There was a 100% chance that Kinsella would put up a smear like that.
Why? Because he is simply just another troll. A troll in a suit.
Abe Froman said:
“Where will this left right cold war end?
It’s beginning to look more and more like the original Star Trek episode where two men (the same man, one from each side of a parallel universe) are locked in eternal mortal combat at the gateway that was accidentally opened up between them.
Both men are named Lazarus, they coexist, but … One of them cannot stand the fact that there is another ‘him’ with a different point of view and values, so he wants to kill his other self, but if he succeeds, he will destroy both universes … but he doesn’t care, he is blind with hate and rage .. just like our present day leftists.”
…-
It’s a re-run (cycle) of The Brothers: Joe vs Adolf. Left = Right = Left = Right >>>>>
“Even now, it is far easier to think of Stalin as an opponent of Hitler than as a partner. We like to tell ourselves that the virtuous side won the war, but what happened in the east confounds such notions.”
“The crimes of Stalin and Hitler are sometimes studied apart; Snyder, consolidating and amplifying the work of Holocaust scholars such as Raul Hilberg and Saul Friedlander, and Robert Conquest, the pioneering historian of the Stalin era, puts German and Soviet totalitarianism in a comparative framework.
Without conflating National Socialism and Soviet Communism, Snyder illuminates the terrible similarities between them.”
“Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin”
http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/books/bloodlands-europe-between-hitler-and-stalin?pageCount=0
This whole thing is extraordinarily bizarre. Nothing has emerged to suggest that the deeply psychotic, (apparently) unmedicated individual who shot these people has any interest in Sarah Palin or the Tea Party. It wouldn’t matter if it had, because some people are so crazy that there is no anticipating what they’ll fixate on, but the fact is that for all the evidence that’s emerged Loughner might never have heard of Sarah Palin. And yet the blame has been immediate, hysterical, paranoid and predicatable. It’s like elements of the left are desperate for a Reichstag Fire incident. The same meme, over and over: Opposition to the left is racist, opposition to the left is violent. No evidence needed. (Yeah, I pulled a Godwin.)
batb – great comment.
Here’s what Pat Sajak had to say:
“Why is it too much to ask for a reasonable period following these kinds of mad acts during which time we can sort out the facts, deal with the personal and collective grief and report on the aftermath? It seems to me there’s nothing more disrespectful to the victims of such tragedies than to use them as pawns in an effort to make points about various political and social issues. If there is political poison at work, it’s being administered by those who pile on with their pre-packaged analyses before we’ve had any chance to deal with the horror of the situation. The victims, their families (like our George Savage), their friends and all of the rest of us, deserve the chance to grieve before the lectures and recriminations begin. Have these people and no shame?”
http://ricochet.com/main-feed/The-Newest-Disgrace/%28comment%29/70483#comment-70483
The Tea Party has been singled out by the Democrats because they have the integrity to say that Obama’s $1 trillion plus per year Federal borrowing is ruining the future of millions of Americans, and to say that it must stop immediately.
Now, the left claims the Tea Party is an accessory to the murders in Arizona.
When you reflect on the increasing violence of those on the left, and their traditional admiration for the likes of Che Guevara, one must wonder how far they will go in their war on these Americans who oppose their agenda, and what tactics they will use in the 2012 election.
Over at Power Line (“A Disgrace to Nuts Everywhere”):
http://www.powerlineblog.com/
“Byron York puts it this way: ‘Journalists urged caution after Ft. Hood, now race to blame Palin after Arizona shootings.”’ Greg Farrell, a Power Line reader and close student of the left, puts it this way:
“The murders yesterday in Arizona were a despicable act of murder. . . All condolences go out to the families of the deceased and the wounded. With that being said, a line must be drawn in the sand hard and fast against the slew of irresponsible journalists and left-wing political activists, in the rare case the two are different, and their attempts to pin blame on conservative Americans who advocate for the role of a smaller government.
“The party of ELF, ACORN, ECO-TERRORISTS, THE BLACK PANTHERS, THE NEW BLACK PANTHERS, THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND, THE WINTER SOLDIERS, MUMIA ABU-JAMAL and his supporters, CAIR, LAMONT HILL, VAN JONES, SAUL ALINSKY, CODE PINK , RASHID KHALIDI , REV WRIGHT, BERNARDINE DOHRN the cop killing wife of Obama confidant, proud domestic terrorist, cop killer accomplice BILL AYERS whose hero SIRHAN SIRHAN assassinated Robert Kennedy, must never get away with trying to blame a senseless isolated act of violence against an entire political group or advocates for a political group such as the Tea Party, Glenn Beck and/or Rush Limbaugh.
“This incident should not be turned into a political issue. That is the lecture we get from left-wing advocates every time an Islamic terrorist or left-wing soldier with obvious political connections commits or attempts to commit an act of murder, violence and/or terrorism. But right on cue, the first chance the radical left has to become hypocritical while constantly lecturing the majority of America not to jump to conclusions in most other incidents, left-wing soldiers in the media and in the national spotlight (again in the rare case that there is a difference) are out there putting the blame on conservative personalities and political parties. . . .”
*
majorly delusional 22 year-old with a criminal past shoots a bunch of innocent people…
didn’t stop ctv’s bob fife from throwing in a totally gratuitous reference to the tea
party on the 11 o’clock news the other night.
bias… what media bias?
*
ET, If I admire the Tea Party movement AND kill my next door neighbour, a Democrat, you cannot link the two as causal. After all, my reason for that violence might have been because he was poisoning my ten cats.
Henceforth, I will refer to this quote as the “10 cat logic.” 🙂
Oh, forgot, BATB – point well made.
Further to what Neo said, this morning on every half hour news on CKNW [radio in Vancouver] they told the facts of the shooting and then went onto loosely insinuate that Sarah Palin was to blame for the man’s actions. No proof of a connection, no substance, no nothing. But it fits into the Hate-Palin ideology of those in the newsroom. That’s how the mainstream media rolls – unprofessional & unethical. 🙁
Write CTV’s incoming anchorwoman (and others) with your complaints about the gratuitous smears by their news department. Be respectful.
Contact info here
Cross post: Well, well, well, what do we see (thanks to Pajamas Media) at the web site of the Democratic Leadership Committee, 2004?
http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=253055&kaid=127&subid=171
A map with Republican districts targeted—much more graphically than on Sarah Palin’s map.
BTW, on neither map is either the name or image of the politician to beat shown.
The mean spiritedness, moral bankruptcy, and utter hypocrisy of the left is altogether exposed—to everyone but them. (Emperor’s New Clothes redux.)
Here’s a very comprehensive examination of yesterday’s pathetic coverage by the MSM.
small c said “…one must wonder how far they will go…”
Dude, we’re looking at just the beginning of how far they’ll go.
The Lefties have been running this scam for 30+ years, every time some insane person runs amok with a gun. Up until the 2000 election they screamed GUN CONTROL. Algore lost so they switched targets and screamed BUSH!!! for eight years.
Now they switched targets again and its PALIN/TEA PARTY!!!
Great point BatB.
The left has monopoly on political violence in Europe(as resent events clearly illustrates).
I guess the same apply in America…