Posted on 01/12/2011 5:42:46 AM PST by reaganaut1
Sarah Palin, who had been silent for days, on Wednesday issued a forceful denunciation of her critics in a video statement that accused pundits and journalists of blood libel in their rush to blame heated political rhetoric for the shootings in Arizona.
Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own, she said in a video posted to her Facebook page. Especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence that they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible.
Ms. Palins use last year of a map with crosshairs hovering over a number of swing districts, including that of Gabrielle Giffords, had increasingly become the symbol of that overheated rhetoric. In and interview with The Caucus on Monday, potential 2012 rival Tim Pawlenty, the former Republican governor of Minnesota, said he would not have produced such a map.
But in the video, Ms. Palin rejected criticism of the map, casting it as a broader indictment of the basic political rights of free speech exercised by people of all political persuasions.
She said that acts like the shootings in Arizona begin and end with the criminals who commit them, not collectively with all the citizens of a state.
Not with those who listen to talk radio, she added. Not with maps of swing districts used by both sides of the aisle. Not with law abiding citizens who respectfully exercise their first amendment rights at campaign rallies. Not with those who proudly voted in the last election.
(Excerpt) Read more at thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com ...
Well magritte, it's been used in the same context Palin uses it here many times in the recent past.
Words, phrases are used for many different uses as society evolves.
Heck, pervert homosexuals co-opted the word "gay", but I agree let's take that one back.
Catch up magritte.
Her use of the phrase fits perfectly in the way she used it.
So sorry then.....I misread your post!
Nice try though.
From your link...
Dershowitz: The term blood libel has taken on a broad metaphorical meaning in public discourse.
It certainly does, thanks.
Oh, watch out for the sycophantisizers!
: > )
The Left is worried in a different way about Romney...he’s not far enough Right to attack as a Tea Party guy, but he’s too close to the middle and left to call an idiot since he holds some similar positions to Obama and the Left cannot afford to drive any Independent votes to a “safe” candidate like Romney...the knives will be out later for him ... magritte
when your argument consists of mind-reading and fortune-telling, you probably aren’t going to win the day.
You think it's hard to draw a sharp distinction between the use of military metaphors in political argument and accusing your opponents of promoting murder? This is a muddled message? Talking about campaigns, battleground states and targeting vulnerable incumbents isn't the same thing as saying someone is responsible for a spectacular mass murder. It's hard to imagine anyone who ever has or ever might vote for a Republican would confuse the two in these circumstances. Are you confused?
The left will try to use the phrase “blood libel” to portray Palin as clueless and shrill, but it probably won't work because she is neither clueless nor shrill. The next campaign cycle will be two years long and it will reveal the truth about Sarah Palin. As today's speech clearly demonstrates, she is not the person conventional wisdom portrays her to be. It may turn out to have been an epic strategic mistake to paint her as a clown when everyone can see that she's anything but.
__________________________________________
Do you even know what point I was making? I bet you don't.
Bravo !
"Few" being the operative word.
Probably so ! I sure miss Mr. Reagan ! Just looking at the electoral college map for 2012 ... it’s going to be close, but the question is...can Palin turn enough states away from Obama to be elected or is it better to sacrifice up all of our also-rans for 2012 and leave the field clear for 2016 for Palin? Time will tell! ... magritte
CharlesWayneCT,
I, for one, *AM* talking about her excellent speech. The speech that is given by a leader. But, you keep following what’s told to you by the same media that convicted the Duke Lacrosse players, the same media that convicted Richard Jewell, the same media that looks the other way when a creepy stalker moves within 10 feet of the Palin house. You keep doing that, CharlesWayneCT. I have her back. So do millions of others who are totally fed up with being lied to and lied about by the media. You go ahead and follow the lead of that media.
I believe we need to make a clear distinction between “death threats” and “threats of violence”, versus acts of violence.
There are plenty of examples of both threats of violence, and of acts against property that suggest threats of violence. Three people were arrested last year for threatening congresspeople.
But there are very rarely any actual attacks. Threats are serious and should be dealt with, but our political rhetoric lends itself to threats that are just part of the discussion; our system lets people get things out of their system without resorting to violence.
BTW, Jim Geraghty over at National Review has found some recent uses of the term “blood libel” which support the idea that it is in more common usage. And better still, they include uses from the left.
No problem, FRiend.
The sinister chutzpah of the Left shushes us while it slowly drives a knife through our heart.
The lightning rods get all the lightning! And they hate her for that too.
Thanks, and I no longer lurk, although I find myself backspacing a lot and just not posting for fear of ending up in an argument, lol.
You are just parroting MSM viewpoints on the tea party.
Despite the best efforts of the liberal media, polls suggest tea party is view favourably.
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