What role did Sarah Palin play in the Arizona shootings?
Yesterday, Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head. Six others, including a nine year old girl, were killed in the same attack by the same lone gunman. The shootings took place as Congresswoman Giffords was meeting with constituents in the parking lot of an Arizona grocery store. In the wake of this attack, Sarah Palin’s role in inspiring this massacre has been fiercely debated.
Sarah Palin did not aim the gun or pull the trigger in yesterday’s attack. That act of murder was carried out by Jared Lee Loughner. Additionally, Palin and Loughner probably never knew each other. That being said, a strong argument could be made that Sarah Palin, and her brand of hate-mongering politics, played a key role in inspiring the attack.
This image, taken from Sarah Palin's website, lists Congresswoman Gifford's name next to a gun sight.
It’s a well documented fact that Sarah Palin isn’t smart. Indeed, in terms of intellect, she’s probably well below average. Really, she’s an idiot. However, Palin also has a huge ego and an unquenchable thirst for power. She got a taste of both when she was John McCain’s running mate in the last Presidential Election. So how does a low level mongoloid like Palin manage to get people to listen to and follow her? The same way simple minded morons have done it since the beginning of time. You spew hate.
Great leaders inspire and unify people. They help them achieve things collectively that they never could individually. Great leaders make everyone around them better. Hate mongers, on the other hand, rise to power by pitting people against one another. They point out a group of people and they encourage others to hate and attack them. Sarah Palin is a hate monger. That’s why she posts things to Twitter like, “Don’t retweet, reload.” and post pictures on Facebook listing the names of Democrats with gun sights next to each of their names. Congresswoman Giffords was on that list.
Congresswoman c was shot in the head yesterday and remains in critical condition at an Arizona hospital.
So what role did Sarah Palin play in the shooting in Arizona? You could argue that her brand of “leadership” both inspired and enabled the attack. Yes, the young man who pulled the trigger is the one that bares the brunt of the responsibility. He is the criminal, not Sarah Palin. However, when you encourage people to hate and fear their fellow citizens, and use phrases like, “Take a stand!” and “Don’t retweet, reload!” and “Let’s take our country back!” in front of crowds of people…you aren’t helping. Palin, and others like her, has helped create a toxic, fearful political environment. One so poisonous and volatile that maybe someone with a mental illness and access to a gun might see a need to assassinate a Congresswoman and anyone standing next to her. Sarah Palin wasn’t the assassin, she just gave him a target and a pep talk.
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