CNN Convicts Palin and Tea Partiers of ‘Inciting Violence’ and Stoking Racism

Newsbusters ^ | 28 March 2010 | Brent Baker

[Lorianne]

CNN put “INCITING VIOLENCE?” on screen under video of Sarah Palin earlier in the day Saturday in Searchlight, Nevada, as anchor Don Lemon announced:

Sarah Palin takes on one of the highest ranking Democrats right in his own backyard, all while causing another uproar by urging tea parties to quote “reload.” And the question is, are comments like that inciting violence and name-calling over the health care bill and the like?

In the subsequent segment, titled “DANGEROUS RHETORIC: When heated words incite threats & violence,” CNN’s panel agreed Obama’s political opponents are inciting violence and are motivated by racism -- undeterred by Palin’s assurance, which CNN played:

When I talk about it's not a time to retreat, it's a time to reload, what I'm talking about -- now, media, try to get this right, okay? That's not inciting violence. What that's doing is trying to inspire people to get involved in their local elections and these upcoming federal elections. It's telling people that their arms are their votes. It's not inciting violence. It's telling people, don't ever let anybody tell you to sit down and shut up, Americans.

Lemon demanded: “Is it responsible for someone to say that? Especially a leader, considering the anger that's going on right now?”

[Dilbert San Diego]

Somebody had a thread here the other day, showing all of shootings and vandalism against Republican political offices, including the arson at Sarah Palin’s church, in recent years.

Can a reasonable person believe the MSM, in that, talking about “reloading” and “firing” Democrats is obviously metaphorical? Yet this offends the sensibilities of the MSM? The same MSM which said nothing about similar rhetoric used against Bush???????

Can a reasonable person watch without laughing at the MSM taking words literally, when it’s obvious political rhetoric?

[Kartographer]

CNN has finally gotten a cue, when you've belittled, besmirched, ridiculed people standing up for their God give rights and then helped and cheer as they are stripped of those rights then this is the result.

The guys you really got to be afraid of are the ones with nothing left to lose. ... From the TV show 'Flash Forward'

[AliVeritas]

What was the name of that Bush murder movie again?

All those protests in DC, Pravda must have missed them.

They were busy doing body counts I guess.

[hstacey]

Well I think it’s totally responsible to say something like that to the drive-bys...They are a waste of human flesh...

[dsc]

People should do something about CNN. Something effective.

[PowderMonkey]

"This is well orchestrated. 0 got the message out. I’m signing this HC bill, and the best defense is a good offensive."

Indeed. Well, the Obamanite bloggers have launched the next phase, calling on followers to report to the Central Committee for State Security the "known terrorist organizations...the Republican Tea Party Terrorists and their minions. Go get 'em G Men!"

See: Blue Ridge Data

This was my friend since grade school. The change that has come over him is like a nightmare. It breaks the heart. I can no longer speak to him or trust him anymore. He would now gladly don the brown shirt and send his friends and neighbors to the gas chambers. We are a house divided.

[SmokingJoe]

CNN may need to read this:
“Most Say Tea Party Has Better Understanding of Issues than Congress
Sunday, March 28, 2010

In official Washington, some consider the Tea Party movement a fringe element in society, but voters across the nation feel closer to the Tea Party movement than they do to Congress.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 52% of U.S. voters believe the average member of the Tea Party movement has a better understanding of the issues facing America today than the average member of Congress. Only 30% believe that those in Congress have a better understanding of the key issues facing the nation.

When it comes to those issues, 47% think that their own political views are closer to those of the average Tea Party member than to the views of the average member of Congress. On this point, 26% feel closer to Congress.

Finally, 46% of voters say that the average Tea Party member is more ethical than the average member of Congress. Twenty-seven percent (27%) say that the average member of Congress is more ethical.

As you would expect, there is a wide divide between the Political Class and Mainstream Americans on these questions. Seventy-five percent (75%) of those in the Political Class say that members of Congress are better informed on the issues. Among Mainstream Americans, 68% have the opposite view, and only 16% believe Congress is better informed.

By a 62% to 12% margin, Mainstream Americans say the Tea Party is closer to their views. By a 90% to one percent (1%) margin, the Political Class feels closer to Congress.

“The gap between Americans who want to govern themselves and politicians who want to rule over them may be as big today as the gap between the colonies and England during the 18th century,” Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports, says in his new book, In Search of Self-Governance. “If we had to rely on politicians to fix these problems, the outlook for the nation would be bleak indeed. Fortunately, in America, the politicians aren’t nearly as important as they think they are.”
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/march_2010/most_say_tea_party_has_better_understanding_of_issues_than_congress

[dsc]

“What happened to responsible journalism?”

I was born more than half a century ago, and the only place I’ve ever heard it is in “right-wing hate radio.”

[FrankR]

[jeffc]

Well, Zero and Congress are guilty of inciting violence in me by passing the healthcare boondoggle. What do you think CNN would think of that?

So when someone is "incited" to violence, who is really guilty?

[Sarah Barracuda]

Don’t worry about Apple, I wouldn’t buy a Mac anyway, they are SO overpriced. That is why I stick with PC. The only thing I got from Apple is an Ipod Touch but I got that a few months ago. Screw CNN, who watches CNN, 5 people. I figured out what CNN was many years ago when the Israeli/Lebanon war was going on and CNN took the side of the Arabs, that’s when I figured out what CNN was, the Al Jazeera network

[Obadiah]

Good! I don't care what the corrupt MSM says. It's too late for caring what they say or what they might say. They are in collusion with the Democrats and the sooner we get over worrying about what they say the better. We need to get on with the business of saving this country and not worrying about CNN or MSNBC or anybody else.

[AliVeritas]

It’s a miracle their news offices weren’t burned to the ground during Iraq up to now.

Some don’t know when to quit.

Why go to J school, only to spout what you’re told.

And they wonder why they’re close to extinct...

[Oceander]

Isolate and polarize; isolate and polarize. CNN is doing nothing more than following the rules of Alinsky for fomenting violence against conservatives.

[laconic]

I don’t know why CNN is so worried about it. After all, this is the same “news” organization that reported only a few dozen people were there yesterday and everyone knows that handfuls of people can’t cause too much trouble — just who would be there for them to “incite”?? I guess the 4-mile long traffic jam into this desert town was either due to: 1) hordes of people itching to see Harry Reid’s birthplace out of gratitude for his role in passing this gargantuan mess; 2) lines of new “robotic” cars without drivers that GM and their chief lobbyist, Mrs. John Dingell (wife of the congresscritter who now says “they can CONTROL us” due to this bill), were testing in the desert; or, 3) thousands who had heard CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Christiane Amanpour going to be reporting in the desert and just had to see these two “Beautiful People” in person.

[Irish Eyes]

Is that the same CNN that said that “there were dozens or maybe many dozens” at the Searchlight rally?

[LibertarianLiz]

I’m sorry, but I thought I read yesterday that it was Reid supporters who were throwing eggs at the vehicles of the Tea Party people? Is that not incitement?

[Servant of the Cross]

In CNN's world (up is down, black is white), this is "inciting violence and stoking racism":

and "progressives" are the 'religion' of peace:

[Irish Eyes]

What a day, First Apple ban’s Fox, and now CNN says I’m inciting violence.

WHAT ?

[antceecee]

Hey CNN: "We're not going to sit down and shut-up!"