Free Republic

Attack on Arizona Congresswoman Giffords The attempted murder of Congresswoman Giffords and the tragic killing of six others in Arizona has again exposed the political left. Before the assailant’s weapon had cooled off, leftists from all corners were scrambling to try to connect the madman’s act to Conservatism, talk radio, the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, the Tea Party and Sarah Palin. They have since been exposed as misinformed at the best, liars at the worst; the gunman has been shown to be one of their own. Yet their assault on the First and Second Amendments continues unimpeded by...

Like Rahm Emanuel, who didn't to waste a crisis, Frank Rich doesn't want to let a murderous rampage pass without trying to wring political advantage from it. By now, even most ardent liberals have had to admit that there was no nexus between conservatives and the manifestly psychotic AZ shooter. But there was Rich, in his New York Times column of this morning, still bitterly clinging to the accusation. To be sure, Rich recited some disclaimers that by now have become standard. But by unlucky paragraph 13, Rich could restrain himself no more. Fulminated Frank: "Much of last week’s televised...

A new national study among 1,437 self-reported Democrats, Republicans and Independents revealed that Americans indicated that Sarah Palin was more sincere and believable after viewing her speech in response to the shootings in Tucson. The study was conducted during January 13-14 by HCD Research and reported on its MediaCurves.com® website, to obtain Americans’ perceptions of Sarah Palin after viewing a video of a speech she gave in response to the shootings in Tucson. Respondents were asked to rate Sarah Palin on a scale from 1-7 regarding likeability, believability and sincerity, with 1 representing “not at all strong in this attribute”...

Irresponsible media types began blaming conservatives for the Tucson shooting almost moments after it happened. But one conservative talker is not going to sit still and take the abuse. Newsbusters' Noel Sheppard reports Friday that conservative talk show host and attorney Mark Levin issued a stern warning to liberal media personalities. Anyone who tries to tie him to the shooting will get sued. Levin said it was time for conservatives to stand up for themselves and draw the line against those in the media who deliberately smear conservatives for any act of violence: Now I’m going to tell you something....

Joe Scarborough did invite folks to "rub it in my face if I'm wrong," and there will surely be many who would like nothing better than to oblige him . . . Today's Morning Joe saw considerable consensus around the notion that Sarah Palin's response to the Arizona shootings "probably ended her political career." Donny Deutsch was first to float the notion. Joe Scarborough embraced and elaborated on the idea, and Jon Meacham briefly signalled his assent. View video after the jump.

Call it a libel squared . . . Ed Schultz has suggested that Sarah Palin employed the term "blood libel" to describe the way her critics have tried to hold her responible for the Arizona shootings "as an appeal to an extreme Christian conservative base for 2012." Citing no evidence for his grotesque allegation, Schultz first floated it during his opening monologue. He raised it again with his first guest, Dem congressman Jan Schakowsky, and took things a despicable step further. Schultz suggested that Palin "got help from the speech from somebody who knows exactly what 'blood libel' means." Put...

NewsBusters has exhaustively documented the way in which the liberal media and Dem politicians have sought to exploit the Arizona shootings, seeking to pin blame on a range of Republicans and conservative media figures. It was thus nothing short of surreal to listen to MSNBC analyst Mark Halperin this morning. Surveying the situation, Halperin praised the media and politicians for their reaction to the shooting . . . while condemning Fox News and conservative pundits for treating the tragedy like "war and fodder for content." When Joe Scarborough rightly suggested that Halperin had it backwards, the Time man wouldn't back...

It seems hard to think of a person less qualified to hop on his moral high horse with a gigantic chip on his shoulder and lecture conservatives on the subject of violence than WILLIAM RIVERS PITT. Remember, it was only months ago, last May, when Pitt was tombstoned from DUmmieland for threatening physical violence on a homeless woman...bobolink. Why did he do that? Because Pitt has absolutely no control over himself. This hasn't been his first time making violent threats yet here is is lecturing conservatives about violence in his THREAD, "THE WRATH OF FOOLS: An Open Letter To...

The photo shows Ed Schultz literally pointing the finger at Fox News. On his MSNBC show this evening, Schultz suggested that Fox incites political violence and justified his own heated rhetoric as necessary to combat Fox's supposed dishonesty. Schultz levelled his accusation in the course of rambling, show-opening, remarks on the Arizona shootings. Schultz also denied that there has been anything violent about his remarks. After the jump, view the video--and review Schultz's record of violent rhetoric .

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...

"What a markedly different situation from 15 months earlier when, in the face of actual evidence that Maj. Hasan was inspired by Islamist convictions, many media commentators sought to be voices of caution. Where was that caution after the shootings in Arizona?"

Citing no evidence that the Arizona shooter had ever heard of Sharron Angle of Nevada or her remarks about Second Amdendment remedies, a top Dem leader has nevertheless tied the shootings to Angle's statement. Rep. James Clyburn, third in the House Dem leadership, made his allegation on Fox News Sunday today. He began with a general statment, then made a specific accusation. JAMES CLYBURN: I think that what is happened here is that the vitriol has gotten so elevated until people feel emboldened by this. And people who are a little less than stable, and people aren't thinking for themselves...