Democrats were in major meltdown when John McCain tapped Sarah Palin as his running mate just days before the Republican National Convention in 2008, in large part, because Sarah Palin was the change agent Barack Obama claimed to be.  As governor of Alaska, she actually took on entrenched interests, worked across party lines and shook up her state’s political establishment.

No wonder Democrats (and their allies in the MSM) chose to ignore her actual record of accomplishment and dwell on her occasional verbal gaffes.

She has become better at handling the media today than she was in the campaign.   She’s won every round with them since she stepped down as governor July 2009.  But, in winning, she has made herself less presidential.  She has gone toe to toe with the media rather than let others challenge their malicious (and often inaccurate) reporting.

On Wednesday, she released a statement on the shooting in Arizona and, as she put it, “the irresponsible statements from people attempting to apportion blame for this terrible event.”  On the whole, it was a sound statement, but save for her vigorous defense of America and its ideals, entirely unnecessary.  Long before she released this video, she had, thanks to countless pundits and bloggers (including some on the left) already won this round — and decisively.

With no evidence to tie her to the mentally unbalanced men who shot Congresswoman Giffords and murdered six innocent civilians, those accusing her were quickly exposed and denounced.

She didn’t need to say anything.

The problem with her video was not its content, but that she entered the fray when others were already defending her against the malicious attacks from Paul Krugman et al.  And even after beclowning themselves with said attacks, they went on the rampage again on Wednesday attacking her for using the expression “blood libel” in her video message.  They just can’t help themselves; they’re just looking for an excuse to attack her — as if they need vent against this charismatic conservative in order to quiet some demon plaguing their psyches. (more…)

Ever noticed the nastiness of the tone of some folks on the left when they accuse conservatives of being haters (or, in the case of some of our readers, self-haters).  Over at Powerline, John Hinderaker offers an explanation:

I think there is a considerable amount of projection going on among liberals. That is, they are attributing to conservatives the hate that they themselves feel.

These folks come from what James Taranto dubs, “the Manichaean wing of American liberalism: those who mistake political disagreement for enmity“, yet the enmity they discern on the right may well be something they feel in their own hearts. (Latter quote via Ed Driscoll via Instapundit.)

As some of you may know, a number of social conservative organizations on the fringes of the conservative movement are boycotting CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) next month because of the participation of our friends from GOProud.  In addition to the social conservative organizations, the Heritage Foundation has also announced that it won’t participate.  I will have further thoughts on that in a subsequent post.

For now, I’ll just say I believe it’s a cynical move on Heritage’s part which, in the long run, could make the think tank’s leadership seem opportunistic.  They do seem to be pandering to social conservatives on this one even if they haven’t said as much in their public statements.

Jennifer Rubin reports today that one potential Republican presidential contender is boycotting the boycotters:

Senator John Thune (R.-S.D.) has much the same dilemma as Tim Pawlenty: He’s a fine conservative but not well-known and not instantaneously a stand-out in the crowded primary field. But he is, it seems, going to make a go of the 2012 presidential race. He has announced he is now appearing at the Conservative Political Action Conference gathering next month.

This is a rebuke, of course, to the boycotters.

Doesn’t seem the boycott is having much impact outside the fringes of the conservative movement and among those seeking to score political points with social conservatives.

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.

This sounds very promising…

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords reached an important step in her recovery from a bullet through her head, breathing on her own for the first time and moving both arms, doctors said Tuesday in what was expected to be a long recuperation. Giffords still has a breathing tube in place as a precaution, said her neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Lemole.

“I’m happy to say that she’s holding her own,” he said.

Giffords, a three-time Democrat, remained in critical condition at Tucson’s University Medical Center since Saturday when she was shot during a meeting with constituents outside a grocery store. The attack killed six and injured 14 others. Six remained hospitalized.

Doctors previously reported Giffords raised two fingers with her left hand and gave a thumbs-up when responding to verbal commands. Now they say she is moving her arms.

Although her condition has remained virtually unchanged the past few days, doctors were hopeful.

My prayers continue to go out to Rep. Giffords, her family and all of the victims of Saturday’s attack by the lunatic.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Ugh, I just can’t stand the comment thread on the last post… so I needed something else to put at the top here.

Rant some about “Global Warming” and all of the inches of it in the South and Northeast.

Some of you need to take some Xanax.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

I support and stand behind this statement and pledge from Glenn Beck:

I challenge all Americans, left or right, regardless if you’re a politician, pundit, painter, priest, parishioner, poet or porn star to agree with all of the following.

• I denounce violence, regardless of ideological motivation.
• I denounce anyone, from the Left, the Right or middle, who believes physical violence is the answer to whatever they feel is wrong with our country.
• I denounce those who wish to tear down our system and rebuild it in their own image, whatever that image may be.
• I denounce those from the Left, the Right or middle, who call for riots and violence as an opportunity to bring down and reconstruct our system.
• I denounce violent threats and calls for the destruction of our system – regardless of their underlying ideology – whether they come from the Hutaree Militia or Frances Fox Piven.
• I hold those responsible for the violence, responsible for the violence.  I denounce those who attempt to blame political opponents for the acts of madmen.
• I denounce those from the Left, the Right or middle that sees violence as a viable alternative to our long established system of change made within the constraints of our constitutional Republic.

I will stand with anyone willing to sign that pledge.  Today I make a personal choice.  I urge leaders of both sides and all walks of life to join me as all Americans joined hands on 9.12.2001.

Pretty simple.  Do you support it too?

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

You ned only scan some of our critics’ commentary or Glenn Reynolds’s links to various left-wingers (or commentary thereon) to know that many (but fortunately not all) on the left are holding former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin responsible for the shooting this weekend in Arizona.

Okay, if Mrs. Palin is responsible, then, show me the evidence. Provide information showing that the shooter was familiar with her map targeting vulnerable Democrats including Congresswoman Giffords. Show us just how he looked up to the charismatic conservative and/or her followers on the right.  And also show us where she urged her supporters to use violence against political opponents.

And please let us know how he participated in Tea Party protests or otherwise expressed sympathy for the movement.

FROM THE COMMENTS: In learning of Sarah Palin’s responsibility for the actions of an unbalanced man in Arizona, Bill589 has determined that some musicians are responsible for other murderous rampages:

I read somewhere that if Palin is responsible for this murderer, then the Beatles are responsible for Charles Manson.

And to think, I thought they were just good musicians.

Let us hope there are more stories about the heroes who helped tackle the man who shot Congresswoman Giffords this weekend.  We know at least two of their names, one, a 74-year-old veteran of our armed forces, the other a 20-year-old gay college student, an intern for the Arizona Democrat:

74-year-old Colonel Bill Badger tackled Jared Loughner while he was reloading his Glock according to telephone interviews with Fox News. . . .

Col. Badger was also shot in the back of his head before he tackled Loughner. According to Col. Badger, someone whacked Louchner with a folding chair while he was reloading. That gave Badger an opportunity to grab his left arm while someone else grabbed Loughner’s right arm and they forced him to the ground.

Via Instapundit, emphasis added. While having only served as the Congresswoman’s “intern for five days, . .  on Saturday,” Daniel Hernandez “may have saved her life“:

The University of Arizona junior was standing 30 feet away from the Democratic congresswoman when she was shot in the head at a meet-and-greet event in her district, and he immediately rushed to her side. As everyone on hand waited for emergency medical support to arrive, Hernandez held Giffords’s head in his lap and applied pressure to her wound.

(Via Reader SoCalRobert in the comments.)

Colonel Bill Badger.  Daniel Hernandez.  Great Americans.  Let’s hear more about these heroes and less about the mentally unstable man who murdered six innocent Americans and severely wounded an elected member of the United States Congress.

Thirty years ago, when a mentally unstable man shot and nearly killed the then-incumbent president of the United States, there was no speculation about the amped up level of political discourse.  No one sought to pin the blame on left-wingers upset by Ronald Reagan’s landslide victory in the fall elections and the Republican (near-)sweep in contested Senate races.  They weren’t speculating that the heated level of anti-Reagan rhetoric may have spurred his shooter to act.

Yet more than forty-seven years after John F. Kennedy was assassinated by a Communist sympathizer, conspiracy theories abound about the Democrat’s death.  The theorists have no evidence to go on, just some shadow of a penumbra on a grassy knoll.

We are seeing the same thing yet again this weekend.  Within moments of the shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), left-wing bloggers and pundits just knew that conservatives, particularly Tea Party protesters and their idol Sarah Palin (and probably also Christine O’Donnell for good measure) just had to be involved, well, because they had to be, because you see, they’re guilty of revving up crowds with inflammatory rhetoric.  ”Progressives,” Donald Douglas observed, “started laying blame before even a fraction of the facts were known.”  (He wasn’t the only one to observe as much; at Pajamas, Ed Driscoll has a round-up of commentary about those who leapt to similar conclusions.)

Only problem is is that, well, the nutjob who shot the Congresswoman and murdered six innocent individuals, including a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge (appointed by a Republican president) doesn’t seem to have identified with the Tea Party movement or have followed Sarah Palin’s web posts.  Even the New York Times acknowledges as much.  That paper even reports that the shooter was “left wing” and “quite liberal”, but most of all that he was “troubled,” his recent behavior offering “hints of alienation.”  Dr. Sanity believes he “was likely suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.”  (Read the whole thing for her explanation, via Instapundit.)

So, like the man who shot the Gipper, this young man had some pretty severe mental issues.  And yet, in reporting on the incident, CNN, for example, as Ed Morrisey noted, “repeatedly kept insisting on a link between the shooting and political activism on the Right, especially Palin’s:” (more…)

Byron York contrasts the media reaction to the Fort Hood shooting in 2009 and the Arizona shooting in 2011.  In the recent shootings, 

. . .  media outlets were also filled with speculation about the attack and pronouncements on the state of American political rhetoric.  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?

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE:  As expected, the Jewish Athena gets it:

The horrific shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), the death of six (including a 9 year old and a federal judge) and the injuring of a total of 18 revealed the best and the worst in American politics.

First, let’s look at the best. President Obama issued an eloquent statement as did Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor. . . . 

Then there are those who conducted themselves with far less dignity, namely partisan leftists and a segment of the blogosphere. (more…)

It is not the time nor the place to make political hay out of the shooting yesterday of U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ).  House Speaker John Boehner appropriately condemned it:

I am horrified by the senseless attack on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and members of her staff. An attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serve. Acts and threats of violence against public officials have no place in our society. Our prayers are with Congresswoman Giffords, her staff, all who were injured, and their families. This is a sad day for our country.

It is indeed a sad day for our country.  Like the Speaker, our prayers are with the Congresswoman.  May she have a speedy recovery and return to work in short order. 

Details are trickling in about the creep who shot her.  May he be speedily brought to trial and punished to the maximum extent allowed by law.

He seems to be quite a troubled young man.  According to the Daily Caller, “On his YouTube page, he listed Mein Kampf and The Communist Manifesto among his favorite books.”

Our thoughts and our prayers today are with the families of those people he murdered in cold blood.   And our prayers and our hopes are with the injured.

UPDATE: (more…)

In a post on ice skater’s Johnny Weir’s comment in coming out as a gay man about “pressure” being “the last thing that would make me want to ‘join’ a community“, Ann Althouse gets at something that many, particularly gay activists, in conversations on coming out:

Some people think of themselves as, above all, individuals, and when others think the most important thing is their membership in a particular group, they resist. They don’t want to be defined by a single quality, especially when it’s a quality that makes other people see them in terms of the group stereotype, and not personal uniqueness. 

There is a lot in which this diva says, so I recommend you both read her post and ponder these words.

It often seems that the gay rights’ movement pursues the notion of group rights rather than individual ones.  That is is why I believe we need develop a conservative message on gays, independent to that developed by the left-leaning gay groups, organizations which are helmed by men and women who with a background in Democratic politics and liberal ideologies seem beholden to statist theories of rights.

Hopefully more on this anon, much more in the coming year.

Well said, Ann. (H/t: Reader Leah)

When Republicans and Democrats lose elections, they do the same thing, albeit in a slightly different manner; they blame Republicans.  Shortly, after their loss of Congress in 2006, Republicans began engaging in a bit of introspection, introspection which was intensified when they suffered further setbacks in 2008, coupled with the loss of the White House.

Introspective, many Republicans asked what had they done wrong (AKA “blaming” Republicans).  This week, we learned (yet again) that Democrats were doing something quite similar, pointing to Republican actions which caused their defeat in the 2010 elections.  And former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi trotted out the standard villain from their catalogue of demonology:  George W. Bush.

The San Francisco Democrat showed just how in denial she is on the day she handed over the gavelto the new Speaker, Republican John Boehner, when she listed her accomplishments, without considering that perhaps it just might have been those “accomplishments” which cost her that gavel.

Fascinating how the party accused of lacking the capability to admit its errors is the party which engages in introspection and the party supposedly composed of such smart folk is the one that refuses to question the merits of its policies — or accept that its policies (rather than the failings and/or machinations of its adversaries) could prevent its election.  Or secure its defeat.

Seems we’re going to have to keep that Pelosi Watch category up.  She’s like the guest who won’t leave.  And our mainstream media seem fascinated the Minority Leader, doing their utmost to keep the big-spending Democrat center stage.

Now, blogging on MIchelle Malkin’s page, Doug Powers informs us the Ms. Nancy has pulled out the standard excuse of her party in the Obama era: it’s W’s fault:

“We still would have lost the election because we had 9.5% unemployment. Let’s take it where that came from. The policies of George W. Bush and the Republican support for his initiatives, tax cuts are for the wealth, recklessness by some,” Minority Leader Pelosi told CNN.

Um, Nancy, if W’s policies were so bad, how come the economy didn’t go south until nearly one full year after your party took control of the House, with you as Speaker.

If she keeps talking like this, she’s sure to remain in the minority for a long time.

A reader alerts me to an e-mail HRC President Joe Solmonese sent out yesterday (January 6), the day after Republicans took control of the United States House of Representatives.

Entitled “Hateful leaders take over”, the missive warned of dark days ahead:

Remember all those anti-gay candidates who ran for office this year? As of yesterday, dozens of them are now members of Congress and the House of Representatives is under their control. . . .

2011 opens with a new, more conservative, more deeply anti-gay House leadership – helmed by right-wingers John Boehner and Eric Cantor. Together, they tried to stop us from repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”They’ve opposed legislation on hate crimes, employment non-discrimination, responsible HIV/AIDS policy, and relationship recognition. And they just became very powerful.

Emphasis in original.  Guess ol’ Joe has determined that anyone who disagrees with his agenda must needs be anti-gay.  Not really the right way to address the leaders of one part of the legislative branch, especially if you want to lobby them on issues of importance to the gay community.

I agree that we need to change many Republican minds on “relationship recognition.”   Hinting that Republicans are “hateful” and their leaders “anti-gay” is not the way to do that.

With e-mails like this, HRC reveals itself (again) for the partisan organization that it is.  Its business isn’t so much helping gay people as it is trashing the GOP.

Given that the Constitution stipulates that spending bills originate in the House of Representatives and Republicans now control that chamber, it’s no wonder that government-subsidized radio has started to clean house:

The NPR executive who sparked a public outrcy in October by firing journalist Juan Williams is resigning from her job, the organization announced Thursday.

Ellen Weiss resigned as senior vice president for news on the same day that NPR’s board of directors completed its independent review of the dismissal of Williams. The directors recommended new internal procedures for personnel decisions and disciplinary action.

It’s all well and good that they have adopted new procedures, but given the size of federal deficits, methinks Congress should adopt new procedures and stop subsidizing NPR.

I’m with U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) who

. . . reintroduced two bills that would slash taxpayer funding from NPR to zero. Lamborn said that while he likes “much of NPR’s programming, the fact is, it is luxury we cannot afford to subsidize.”

“Congressional Republicans must show the American people that we are serious about cutting spending and reducing the size and scope of the federal government,” Lamborn said in a statement. “We simply cannot afford to subsidize NPR, or any other organization that is not doing an essential government service. The government must learn to live within its means.”

Via American Glob via Instapundit.