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New Republic Editor: 'The Arizona Shooting Is Not a Product of Right-Wing Rage'
NewsBusters ^ | January 10, 2011 | P.J. Gladnick

Posted on 01/10/2011 10:24:45 AM PST by PJ-Comix

Although your humble correspondent has crossed swords (nanny note: "crossed swords" is strictly a metaphor) with the senior editor of the The New Republic in the past, he highly recommends Jonathan Chait's latest article in The New Republic, "The Arizona Shooting Is Not A Product Of Right-Wing Rage," as required reading for those members of the mainstream media who have blamed the "right-wing" for the shootings of Congresswoman Gabrille Giffords and others in Arizona on Saturday.

Despite the fact that most of Chait's article displayed some refreshing mental clarity I do have some caveats about it because he does revert to slamming conservatives for supposed extremism on other matters. However, those problems with the article aside for the moment, let us first take a look at Chait correctly chastising those quick to blame "right-wingers" for the Arizona shootings:

Conservatives are furious that the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords is being pinned on them. Their indignation is justified....

...The rhetorical attempts to connect Jared Loughner to mainstream politics take two forms, neither convincing. One is to condemn the use of combat metaphors in politics, such as Sarah Palin's web page superimposing gunsights upon Democratic districts targeted by the GOP. Glenn Reynolds persuasively notes that this is a well-established, bipartisan practice:


(Excerpt) Read more at newsbusters.org ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Politics/Elections; US: Arizona
KEYWORDS: arizonashootings; gabriellegiffords; giffords; newrepublic
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Although Chait relapses back to silly slaps at conservatives, most of his article is refreshingly on target (metaphor, got that? metaphor).
1 posted on 01/10/2011 10:24:49 AM PST by PJ-Comix
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To: PJ-Comix

“One is to condemn the use of combat metaphors in politics, such as Sarah Palin’s web page superimposing gunsights upon Democratic districts targeted by the GOP. “

They don’t look like “gunsights” to me.


2 posted on 01/10/2011 10:27:50 AM PST by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
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To: USFRIENDINVICTORIA
“One is to condemn the use of combat metaphors in politics, such as Sarah Palin’s web page superimposing gunsights upon Democratic districts targeted by the GOP. “

They don’t look like “gunsights” to me.


The Democrats had previously put a bulls eye on Gifford's name and state.
3 posted on 01/10/2011 10:29:20 AM PST by aruanan
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To: PJ-Comix

Who knows how many gun control laws were passed anywhere in US within 2 years after Lincoln`s assasination?


4 posted on 01/10/2011 10:32:05 AM PST by bunkerhill7
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To: PJ-Comix

bump


5 posted on 01/10/2011 10:32:20 AM PST by Uncle Ike (Rope is cheap, and there are lots of trees...)
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To: PJ-Comix

YEs, even a broken clock is right twice a day, but I think these liberals got a quick whiff that he was a lefty and decide to play cover-yer-ass with this story

No matter how it turns out they come up smelling liek roses.

And they did it by...surprise.. saying what conservatives have been saying.


6 posted on 01/10/2011 10:34:44 AM PST by Mr. K
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To: aruanan

Parents, remember when your kid was crying and you looked at the poor, irrational tyke and said, “If you don’t stop, I’ll give you something to cry about!”

It might be time to do this to the left. I am getting tired of their juvenile antics and their babysitters in the media just give them more juice instead of sending them to bed.


7 posted on 01/10/2011 10:35:04 AM PST by EQAndyBuzz ( Happy Freeping New Year)
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To: PJ-Comix

Maybe one Leftie in ten cares about the truth. All the rest are willing to use any Lie if it helps their cause.


8 posted on 01/10/2011 10:36:16 AM PST by arrogantsob
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To: PJ-Comix

It’s a product of left-wing rage.


9 posted on 01/10/2011 10:37:04 AM PST by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: Mr. K

“but I think these liberals got a quick whiff that he was a lefty and decide to play cover-yer-ass with this story...”

They blew it. Hugh and series.

No fair-minded person wanted to play the gotcha game. Everyone just wanted to know who was hurt or killed and they drowned that out by spades.


10 posted on 01/10/2011 10:42:15 AM PST by OpusatFR
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To: PJ-Comix
And in reading the comments in response to Chait's article, you can see that the liberal readers at the NR could care less about logic and reason. They hate the Tea Party, they hate Sarah Palin, they hate Glenn Beck and they hate Rush, and they aren't about to allow anyone to hold them back here. Their emotions are all that matter to them. And as a result, they cannot be reasoned with.

But they are also in their own lame echo chamber. Plenty of reasonable people in this country can tell the perp is a nutcase. And they can also tell anyone who tries to politicize this tragedy is a slimeball.

11 posted on 01/10/2011 10:43:38 AM PST by dirtboy
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To: PJ-Comix

I credit Chait for recognizing the fact that many on the Hard Left were playing the blame game big time a mere two hours after the incident, and that it is extremely tacky (an understatement?).
This frothing, which Chait appropriately calls out, far outdoes the Wellstone Funerally. The Funerally backfired for the liberals even in liberal Minnesota, where even liberals voted for Coleman over Mondale. I heard comments from liberals (not-so-Kool-Aid-drinkers) that booing Trent Lott, who was paying his respects to a fellow Senate colleague, was in extreme poor taste. So the frothing Hard Left thinks, or wishes, that this would result in a crackdown on, or other action against, anyone who does not drink the Hard Left Kool-Aid. Yes, the Hard Left wants polarization. This knee jerk blame game may well bite the Hard Left even more than the Funerally did. This is beyond jumping the shark.


12 posted on 01/10/2011 10:44:04 AM PST by Fred Hayek (FUBO! I salute you with the soles of my shoes.)
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To: PJ-Comix
More lib pundits will be admitting it is wrong to blame Palin, now that reports say Loughner had a "Satanic-like" altar in his back yard.

Watch the libs trip over each other as they race to the microphone.

13 posted on 01/10/2011 10:45:24 AM PST by syriacus
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To: PJ-Comix

New Republic Editor: ‘The Arizona Shooting Is Not a Product of Right-Wing Rage’....[dang it].................


14 posted on 01/10/2011 10:46:32 AM PST by Red Badger (Whenever these vermin call you an 'idiot', you can be sure that you are doing something right.)
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To: PJ-Comix
...(nanny note: "crossed swords" is strictly a metaphor) ...

At least he knows his audience...............

15 posted on 01/10/2011 10:49:16 AM PST by Red Badger (Whenever these vermin call you an 'idiot', you can be sure that you are doing something right.)
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To: PJ-Comix

New Republic....hard to believe I used to read Marty’s lefty rag....

that from which some NeoConservatism sprang after they grew tired of the excesses of the Left.....Barnes and Krauthammer...PJ too...though PJ is more libertarian than Neo

I did like Kaufman’s(?) movie reviews though

I was ..ahem....an intellectual once..lol

anyhow...kudos to Chait...not familiar with him..guess he won’t be tinkling glasses of Pauillac in Georgetown anytime soon


16 posted on 01/10/2011 10:49:16 AM PST by wardaddy ("Out Here" by Josh Thompson pretty much says it all to those who will never understand anyhow)
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To: USFRIENDINVICTORIA

No, the left used the gunsights over the faces of republican candidates AND they also used the sights over red states. Let’s see if they get it right eventually.


17 posted on 01/10/2011 10:50:30 AM PST by 13Sisters76 ("It is amazing how many people mistake a certain hip snideness for sophistication. " Thos. Sowell)
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To: wardaddy
PJ too...though PJ is more libertarian than Neo

Don't try to exactly discern PJ's politics. In fact I might be more Leo than Neo since my Venezuelan friend, Leo, is an eccentric dude who actually claims to have invented Gyro sandwiches. Yes, Leo is somewhat NUts but entertainingly NUts.

18 posted on 01/10/2011 10:54:23 AM PST by PJ-Comix (The Coupon Whisperer)
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To: <1/1,000,000th%
It’s a product of left-wing rage.

Projection?

19 posted on 01/10/2011 11:12:35 AM PST by stayathomemom (Beware of cat attacks while typing!)
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To: arrogantsob

“Maybe one Leftie in ten cares about the truth.”

Based on my own interactions with them, I would be ASTOUNDED if the number is that high.


20 posted on 01/10/2011 11:13:34 AM PST by ZirconEncrustedTweezers (Regulation without representation is tyranny.)
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