Last September, Glenn Reynolds linked Shannon Love’s post, Palin and the Left’s Status-Anxiety where that blogress observed:

The left’s obsession with Sarah Palin is one of the most interesting political and social phenomena of our time. The degree and volume of venom directed at her staggers the imagination. It is unprecedented in recent times especially for someone who does not currently hold office.

I saved the link for a post on how Sarah Palin merely by opening her mouth causes a number of lefties to bunch up their panties.  This weekend, we learned, she doesn’t even need open her mouth for that to cause certain left-wing pundits to get their panties all in a bunch.  Some left-wing pundits were blaming her for the Arizona shooting before she had even offered her opinion on the horrific act.

As Blogress Diva Regent neoneocon put it,

What the left has done to Sarah Palin has been disgusting right from the start. But the accusation that she is responsible for the Tucson killings might just be a new low.

It seems Palin-haters have been heading toward this low for some time.  This sage blogress also defend Palin from the attacks against her for her use of the expression blood libel in her video message on the shooting and its aftermath.  (Read both posts.)

Wondering again at the power the former Alaska Governor has over various left-of-center pundits, bloggers and elected officials.

UPDATE:  In a similar vein, Glenn Reynolds quips, “She’s living in their heads, rent-free, 24-7.”

Jim Geraghty echoes my thoughts:

You’ll notice I rarely write the gunman’s name. This is deliberate. I remember the Weekly Standard writing an editorial about the Columbine killers back in the 1990s, focusing on the abominable irony that we so often remember the names of the perpetrators of mass murder but rarely recall the names of the victims. At the end, I lamented that the editorial perpetuated the killers’ fame by naming them, only to reread it and find that the writer had artfully avoided mentioning either one. News coverage requires specific names, but afterward, when we digest and analyze, it is good to forget the names of evil men who killed in order to be remembered.

(You’ll notice that I have yet to use the shooter’s name in this blog.)  I try to avoid using it in conversation as well and encourage you to do the same.

Let’s remember instead the names of the victims: Judge John Roll ,63; Dorthy Murray, 76; Dorwin Stoddard, 76; Christina Greene, 9; Phyllis Scheck, 79; and Gabriel Zimmerman, 30.

And the heroes:  Colonel Bill Badger.  Daniel Hernandez.

FROM THE COMMENTS:  Reader Jesse reminds us of a heroine of the day:

You also forgot the Lady Hero (Patricia Maisch, a 61-year-old), who stopped him from Reloading, which would’ve caused even more victims during this Atrocity.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12154398

In the immediate aftermath of the attempt on the life of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), many (but fortunately not all) on the left were quick to blame conservative rhetoric.  They thought hoped this shooting would prove to be their silver bullet in their war on the right, proof of their creed that conservative rhetoric breeds violence.

They intended to use it as a defining moment of the currently re-ascendant conservative movement.  Instead, their reaction has made it a defining moment of the left.

“New Media“, my friend John Nolte writes, has soundly defeated the “Left-Wing Media’s Political Witch Hunt.” (H/t Instapundit.)

Americans increasingly see through this rhetoric of blame.  The antics of Paul Krugman et al. are already putting the mean-spirited nature of him and his kindred left-wing pundits, bloggers and yes, even elected officials into sharper focus.  So ready are such folk to blame the right that they seek to use the horrific actions of a very troubled young man for political gain.  People are beginning to recognize how politicized they are that they refuse to see the actions of a madman for what they are.

To be sure, not all those on the left have joined the mad rush to fault conservatives in general and Sarah Palin and the Tea Party in particular.  Some have even criticized the “narrative” as recited by their ideological confreres.

These sensible voices on the left reflect the opinion of an overwhelmingly majority of Americans.  According to a CBS poll, “Nearly six in 10 Americans say the country’s heated political rhetoric is not to blame for the Tucson shooting rampage that left six dead and critically wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords“.  Only 32% believe such rhetoric had anything to do with the shootings.  And the CBS poll tends to skew left.

The “public”, Ed Morrissey contends, has apparently “been able to separate the spin from the actual facts, which show that Loughner was a loon acting out of insanity and a personal grudge against Giffords, one completely of his own making.”

In the world of the new media, folks like Krugman can no longer shape the narrative.  Indeed, they may well find their attempts to so spin the news backfiring as they put themselves in the position they wish to place their ideological adversaries:   as foes of civil discourse.

Ill. lawmakers pass 66 percent income tax increase:

Democrats in the Illinois Legislature on Wednesday approved a 66 percent income-tax increase in a desperate and politically risky effort to end the state’s crippling budget crisis.

The increase now goes to Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, who supports the plan to temporarily raise the personal tax rate to 5 percent, a two-thirds increase from the current 3 percent rate. Corporate taxes also would climb as part of the effort to close a budget hole that could hit $15 billion this year.

If you read further, you’ll see Illinois Democrats doing what national Democrats have been doing: blaming Republicans. Um, Mr. Madigan (the state’s Democratic House Speaker), your party controls all the levers of power in the Land of Lincoln, that means the buck stops with your guys.

Guess he’s just upset that Republicans voted against the package so that his Democrats have to take the blame.

And with corporate taxes rising, Illinois businesses may consider relocating in other jurisdictions.  I hear the new governors of Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin are working on plans to attract entrepreneurs.  Looks like the Illinois way of closing the state’s deficit may be the way forward for job creation in Midwestern states where Republicans rule.