Shhhh! Howard Kurtz Doesn't Want Us Talking About Sarah Palin's Crosshairs Map!!

[sabrina 1]

Poor Howard. It's always so hard for him when his buddies on the right get themselves in trouble. Sometimes it's just impossible to defend them, but no one can say he doesn't try.

As far as he's concerned, 'everybody uses military lingo in politics, even reporters' and 'Palin is just using her 'hunting heritage' to express herself politically, which is perfectly normal, according to Howard.



Don't Blame Sarah Palin for Gabrielle Giffords' Shooting

One of the first to be dragged into this sickening ritual of guilt by association: Sarah Palin. Last March, the former Alaska governor posted a map on her Facebook page with crosshair targets representing 20 Democratic lawmakers she was singling out for defeat after they voted for President Obama's health care plan. One of them was Giffords. Palin, who touts her caribou-hunting heritage, also tweeted, "Don't retreat, RELOAD!"

This kind of rhetoric is highly unfortunate. The use of the crosshairs was dumb. But it's a long stretch from such excessive language and symbols to holding a public official accountable for a murderer who opens fire on a political gathering and kills a half-dozen people, including a 9-year-old girl.

Amazing. To Howard, slamming violent rhetoric and imagery targeting political opponents is 'unfortunate rhetoric'. Trying to stop it, is 'unfortunate', but actually using maps targeting political opponents by putting crosshairs over where they live and work, that, to Howard is 'normal'.

Howared goes on to list how 'Liberals' get upset every time someone goes on a killing rampage when they find out that the suspect was a Beck fan or an O'Reilly fan etc. Ironically he writes about at least three instances of how rightwing rhetoric actually did influence the perpetrators, but still doesn't get it:

When George Tiller was murdered at a Kansas church in 2009, liberal critics savaged Bill O'Reilly for having attacked the abortion doctor more than two dozen times, labeling him "Tiller the Baby Killer." The Fox News host called the criticism "nonsense," saying "evidence shows that Tiller was a gross human rights violator. Yet, because most media people are pro-choice, they looked away. Now they are trying to justify their apathy by attacking us."

Last summer, after an unemployed carpenter named Byron Williams shot and injured two California police officers, we learned that he had told investigators that he wanted "to start a revolution" by "killing people of importance at the Tides Foundation and the ACLU." Some commentators blamed Glenn Beck, who had repeatedly attacked the obscure foundation, which calls for economic justice—especially after Williams's mother told the San Francisco Chronicle that the ex-felon watched television news and was upset by "the way Congress was railroading through all these left-wing agenda items."

And 'here we go again in Arizona', says Howard. But he's not complaining about the tragedies themselves so much as he's complaining about Liberals daring to point out that in most of these cases, the influence of the Right's violent rhetoric seems to be a common thread.

Sorry, Howard. We knew it wouldn't be long before the apologists for Sarah Palin would heard from. But trying to defend this kind of abusive, dangerous rhetoric right now, especially when Palin herself is scrubbing here website, just makes you look like a pathetic enabler.

[butterfly77]

1. He will be on tomorrow..

blaming the left and protecting Sarah and the right.

[spanone]

2. howie wasted no time defending palin, did he

howie, that ain't military...it's hunting lingo as in....stalk and kill

[truebrit71]

3. Howie Kurtz is a useless right-wing apologist..

..

[AlinPA]

14. Well said. Exactly. nt

[suffragette]

4. He can't spin this away

no matter how like a top he tries.

[sabrina 1]

18. Lol!

Nice graphic. Kurt is so biased. I will never forget him when he made fun of John Conyers after the Republicans would not give Conyers a room to hold a hearing in and turned out the lights to try to stop him. Kurt is always on the side of the small-minded and petty rightwingers.

Hi Sufragette ~ :hi:

[suffragette]

24. As Sheriff Dupnik said:

" Inflaming the American public by those who get paid to do that. It might be free speech but it does not come without consequences."

This is a consequence of inflaming hate with violent rhetoric.

Apologists like Kurt need to be held accountable for condoing this as well.


Thanks for the post and hi there.

:hi:

[sabrina 1]

28. That Sherrif was great today. He pulled no punches

about the problem of rightwing hate rhetoric. We need to hear more condemnation of it before it's too late. And Disney and other big Corps who hire and promote these people are equally responsible.

I really hope we don't start hearing from Democrats that 'both sides do it'. I fully expect them to do so. As a teacher I know how important it is to blame only the children who are to blame when they do something wrong. To try to minimize the guilt of those who actually are to blame by including everyone, is a totally failed technique. It just doesn't work. The guilty bask in the glow of watching others have to share in the blame. As long as we have a media and politicians who do this, the problem will never go away. They need to KNOW how angry and fed up people are with their dangerous, inciteful, hate speech.

Always nice to see you, suffragette .... btw, Rep. Gifford's father said that the 'whole teaparty' were his daughter's enemies.

[calimary]

39. Agreed. There have to be consequences for talking this way.

There have to be. And I do NOT want to hear anything about "both sides!" "Both sides!" "It happens on both sides"! "Both sides do it!" NO THEY DON'T. They just damned DON'T. That's like comparing a brick to a grain of aquarium gravel and calling them both equal. I have hated it for years. Part of an automatic reaction on the part of some reporters to TRY to project the image of being somehow unbiased because the media is stereotypically viewed as left-leaning (yeah, SUUUUUUUUUURE, anymore) and one MUST be magnanimous and MUST give the other side a break, now, mustn't one? Fair and balanced and all that.

[madamesilverspurs]

37. If memory serves, that's the sheriff

the wingers love to hate. Last summer he was speaking out AGAINST Arizona's immigration bill, called it wrong and dangerous, said it would put officers is the position of being required to break the law in order to enforce it. He's in the county where McCain filmed that ad where he's walking with a sheriff and ends with the grim line, "Build the fence." Ticked off Dupnik because the sheriff in the ad is from a county quite removed from the border, while Pima County (where Dupnik serves) is right next to the border. He's the real deal, been in law enforcement for decades. A genuine good guy, according to a friend who has lived there for forty years.

-

[suffragette]

38. Great points

I knew the first part, but not the other points.

[sabrina 1]

42. Yes, I remember that. The bald-headed Sheriff who's been running

around, speaking for McCain ever since. I do recall that the real Sheriff reacted to the ad. exposing the deception.

[Angry Dragon]

5. palin has no hunting heritage

she had to be shown how to hold the gun when she went hunting with daddy on her show

[eleny]

6. Chuck Todd's new best friend

[sabrina 1]

21. I noticed they both used the same excuse. It's 'common to use

military/war rhetoric in politics' in defense of Palin's target map. I wonder if Chuck called him and gave him the material, or do they have a dictionary of excuses to look up when one of their leaders goes a bit too far?

[BanzaiBonnie]

7. Hunting is about killing...

[NNN0LHI]

8. Then I wonder why Palin scrubbed the map right after the shooting?

Coincidence?

Don

[sabrina 1]

19. Trying to remove evidence.

But to Kurtz, she's only following a tradition of using 'military rhetoric'. Funny, Todd used the exact same excuse to try to defend Palin also.

[reformist2]

9. I think families of victims could sue SarahPac.

If it could be demonstrated that the shooter(s) were at all inspired by that "crosshair" ad, I think they have a case.

[baldguy]

10. Someone else said it here earlier: Charles Manson never killed anyone.

He just told his followers who the targets were.

[blondeatlast]

22. Exactly right. Howie, can you explain the difference in your own words without help from the

Heritage foundation's Press room?

[sabrina 1]

32. Good point. But do you have to prove someone intended their

rhetoric to cause someone else to commit a crime? Or is there a lesser charge like 'criminally, negligent incitement'?

[targetpractice]

11. Sane people have been warning about consequences for months...

And, Sarah refused to tone down her rhetoric. In fact, she seems to continue the language in defiance as if to prove that it's okay because nothing bad happened... It did. So yes, you CAN blame her.

[sabrina 1]

25. Sadly, Rep. Giffords warned about consequences to the kind tactics

Palin was using. And there were people in the media trying to defend it then, calling Gifford 'politically correct'.

And now they are trying to say that 'both sides do it'. No way is there the equivalent of the hateful speech coming from the right to be found on the left.

[targetpractice]

29. More than speech...

The visuals in Palin's poster are very suggestive... The phrase "targeting a district" is one thing... Putting a hit list and gun-sight crosshairs on a map is an order of magnitude more violent.

[sabrina 1]

34. I agree and it bothered a lot of people at the time.

She should be asked to explain what she was thinking by using that kind of imagery, knowing her following is mostly from fringes and more than a little unbalanced.

[Bozita]

12. His wife's a GOP operative. He's got skin in this battle!

Sheri Annis

[sabrina 1]

30. I never could stand him. He loved to get people riled on his

Wapo blog, liberals mostly. I think he's left the Washington Post, but stopped reading him long ago, so I'm not sure why he left. Not surprised to hear he's married to a rightwing operative.

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. Palin yelled, "Fire" in a crowded theatre.

She needs to take responsibility for this.

[Kingofalldems]

15. Howard Kurtz claimed Fox News was not biased in an email to me

True story. And he is the official media critic.

[sabrina 1]

26. Maybe he's a comedian! No sane person, unless they

were trying to get a laugh, would claim that Fox is not biased.

He's a terrible reporter. I always wondered how people like him manage to get jobs with big publications like the WaPo. In a fair world, he would fail journalism 101.

[JustAnotherGen]

16. He's Pathetic

And so is Sarah Palin. I hope they are both happy now.

[DeschutesRiver]

17. But Howard - we all know now that Palin is NOT a hunter. See SP's AK on TLC. nt

[Kurovski]

20. Somewhere next to a glowing hearth his owner is scratching his belly,

and giving him an extra cup of kibble.

[blondeatlast]

23. I can almost see his contented little face--"Did I do good, master? Huh? Did I?"

:puke:

[Supersedeas]

27. Howie Kurtz is first and foremost a RW apologist for Repuke beltway interests

[Iggo]

31. Sarah Palin killed a 9 year old girl.

It's really that simple.

[Rex]

33. Funny, I wasn't pointing any fingers at Palin...projection much Howard?

I swear the million dollar pundits and the politicians they lick clean every night are going to destroy this country. They are sick in the head and want disaster.

[Jamastiene]

35. I say tough shit.

We should talk about it until the MSM/political/propaganda machine talking heads realize they are contributing to the violence.

[sabrina 1]

36. Absolutely. The media coddles these peoples, treats them with

kid gloves, like Breitbart, and O'Keefe eg. In a sane country no one would have the slightest interest in talking to these nut cases. But here, CNN et al invite them on to 'get their views' and show how 'fair and balanced' they are. Even knowing what liars they are.

Not to mention the horrific meme we are constantly exposed to when they can't excuse them after they are caught breaking laws, 'there are two sides to this story'. NO, there is a right side and wrong side. I am so sick to death of that pretext to try to diminish their crimes.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

40. He can always point to where a liberal killed because of left wing rhetoric

Oh, yeah -- there hasn't been any, has there?

[sabrina 1]

43. If he could have, he would have. But notice the three examples

he DID give, all rightwing violent incidents. He's not too smart. He used them to try to show that each time there's a tragedy like this liberals blame the right! Lol! And then he gives three perfect examples of why they do so.

[FlyByNight]

41. Anything for access, eh Howard?

Those crosshairs were/are there for a reason.

As contentedly ignorant as Sarah Palin is (dumb, really), she knows how to tap into the fear and hate of the fascist right wing. (And for her own personal enrichment by the way. You think she actually gives a shit about anyone other than herself and her immediate circle?)

Kurtz is a political whore. He's a fine and vulgar example of what's wrong with Beltway punditry: bland, meaningless and overwhelmingly pro-establishment (which is at best center-right).

Shame on you Howie.

:puke:

[walldude]

44. Normal. Thats what he's calling it.

Normal. Yeah because once again those "far lefties" were wrong. Once again all that rhetoric was just a joke and nothing bad ever did or ever will happen because SarahPAC couldn't come up with a better metaphor for defeating her opponents than "take them out".