Posted on 01/10/2011 11:38:41 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
I loathe Sarah Palin as much as anyone else, but I'm not blaming her for inciting Jared Loughner to go on his shooting spree in Tucson. I'm equally unimpressed with the argument that the nastiness of political debate in America inspired Loughner to pull the trigger.
I welcome the discussion of America's toxic political culture – the quality of debate there, especially around health care, has been distressingly low. Time for media reps to do a little soul-searching. But, sorry, FOX news didn't give Loughner the tools to carry out his tragic plan.
And I'm amazed at how quickly analysts jumped to the conclusion that there's a connection between Palin's aggressive politicking on the Tea Party website, which puts liberal elected representatives – including shooting victim Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords – in a graphic representing crosshairs. Hard-core journalists should know better. Until the contents of Loughner's computer are examined, we don't know whether Loughner ever looked at the site or if he's even a Tea Party supporter.
Don't get me wrong. I'm glad the Tea Party's seen fit to pull down the famous map targetting liberal politicians and I'm appalled by Palin's personal celebration of guns and their metaphors – as in her slogan "Don't retreat. Reload".
But Loughner is a product of gun culture and so is Palin. America's problem is not its politicians, it's all about guns and the Second Amendment. The right to own guns is deeply embedded in American life. There is no process in place to prevent unhinged characters like Loughner from packing and there won't be any until the National Rifle Association and its trigger-happy gang lose their influence and the constitution's Second Amendment is reconsidered.
Ironically, Giffords herself, though she received only a D+ rating from the NRA, voted for legislation that praised the NRA and its feeble Eddie Eagle Gun Safety program. And, as she commented fearlessley, when her constituency offices were threatened last year, "I own a glock pistol, and I'm a good shot."
Pointing to Palin does as much good in explaining this tragedy as dismissing Loughner as a crackpot. Opinions don't kill people, mental instability doesn't kill people. A poisonous political environment doesn't kill people. Guns do.
If Americans want to do some soul searching, they should take a good long look at their constitution.
I blame it on the nut case shooter.....
What a slough of unsupported assertions, incorrect facts, and poor logic.
Idiot.
First off, all of the bad “political climate” comes from the left.
Guns don’t pull their own trigger.
Yep, let’s ban guns. Then the nut jobs will just build bombs. Great thinking there folks. Better think hard about the consequenses of your actions. You can’t ban the components that go into making bombs. And a bomb could kill a LOT more people than a gun.
Sometimes liberals just don’t get that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. They sure are working overtime to pave it.
Wow! That's a pretty classy intro there, Susan.
Guns kill people.
They jump right up and shoot you. No human being is attached to the trigger. Them damn guns.
Canadian moron.
Maybe she thinks baseball bats kill baby seals. They just flop up there on the ice and a Louisville Slugger shows up out of nowhere and slams that little critter’s brain out for some Canadian’s fur coat.
Damn bats.
The real culprit here may be Sheriff Dupnik’s own incompetence.....READ THIS THREAD:
Jared Loughner is a product of Sheriff Dupnik’s office
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2654389/posts
At least they acknowledged that it’d take a Constitutional Amendment to legally make the change. “You have the right, but shouldn’t” is markedly different from “you don’t have the right”.
That, in and of itself, is a victory for those of us that support the RTKBA.
SnakeDoc
I loatth Susan G Cole more than any person on earth, but I’m not going to blame her for being the dunbest POS that’s ever breathed air! What a dumb-ass Canuck bitch! Stay out of my country you POS!
What?
Mental instability certainly kills people.
Bring back the booby hatch. We need to go back to the days where families would occasionally resolve to have a crazy family member committed to a mental institution, and then men in white coats throw a butterfly net over the crazy person's head and quietly drag them off to an asylum. I've said that for years around here.
Liberals are against this because how can anyone tell someone who is mentally unstable from any other liberal walking around?
Bring back the booby hatch.
“I loathe Sarah Palin as much as anyone else”
but not as much as I loathe Canadian libs. Molon Labe, y’all.
To Canada: Molon Labe.
Blame guns....what an F’in idiot.
Is Susan Cole related to Juan Cole?
While you're down here getting that bypass that you'd have to wait 9-12 months to get up there, why don't you MAKE me look, ay?
Not at all, of course they have it wrong.
the more that comes out, if one WOULD want to play the blame game,
you’d have to a) BLAME THE SHERIFF - who knows the guy is crazy and has been stalking Giffords since 2007; b) blame the teachers and friends of the guy for knowing he’s nuts and not doing anything about it, but fearing one day he’d crack and blow away the class; c) his parents who obviously knew the kid was crazy with the shrine in the backyard with the skull in it.
This particular similarity (everyone in the know around the guy knew he was crazy including law enforcement, NOBODY DOES ANYTHING), is exactly the same as the Ft Hood shooting. They knew Hassan was unstable and going to militant radical islam websites and knew he was doing nutty things and nobody did anything. Their sitting on their hands allowed Hassan to do what he did. Just like everyone around this nutjob in Arizona.
I’ve been waiting for this. That idiot could have just as easily driven a car into the Congresswoman’s table and crowd of onlookers, and created even more casualties.
Liberals just don’t get it. Its people, not inanimate objects that are to blame.
“There is no process in place to prevent unhinged characters like Loughner from packing and there won’t be any until the National Rifle Association and its trigger-happy gang lose their influence and the constitution’s Second Amendment is reconsidered.”
Typical leftist muddled thinking...assuming that nutballs like the AZ shooter would be paying heed to the law. If that were true, he wouldn’t have shot anyone.
As far as attacking the Second Amendment? Get off it, Canada. You’ve pretty much screwed up your own country. Leave mine alone. You don’t count.
Yes the guns are the problem.
Criminals and crazies will ALWAYS get their hands on them. SO, whats needed is more guns in the hands of the people. It serves as a greater deterrent for most situations and the halfway sane people. How many people willingly break into houses knowing that they more than likely will not come out alive?
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