An insane young man goes on a shooting rampage. With his legally purchased semiautomatic, he fires a bullet point-blank into the head of a popular young Democratic congresswoman—the wife of an astronaut—and then fires into the crowd surrounding her. His victims include a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl, born on 9/11, who had just been elected to her school’s student council. Thanks in part to the quick thinking of a 20-year-old gay Hispanic intern, the congresswoman survives the assassination attempt. The nation’s first black president leads the nation in a moment of silence.
No author could get away with putting that sequence of events into a novel or movie; the symbolism is too heavy-handed, the drama too hackneyed. It’s too unrealistic for anything but real life. But it really happened: On Saturday, Jared Lee Loughner allegedly shot Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others, fatally wounding six, including federal judge John McCarthy Roll and 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green.
Also unrealistic: the reactions to the shooting. In an editorial published at 4:00 a.m. on Monday morning, conservative magazine National Review quickly moved to apoliticize the shooter: “Jared Loughner is clearly deranged, his fevered mind drawn to irrational extremes, whether those of Adolf Hitler or Karl Marx.” Not our fault, they’re saying, and how dare you even try to make it political by implying it was political? By Tuesday morning, “thoughtful” right-wing hack David Brooks was saying in the New York Times that “the evidence before us suggests that Loughner was locked in a world far removed from politics as we normally understand it” and that charges that Loughner’s actions were political “were made despite the fact that the link between political rhetoric and actual violence is extremely murky.”
But an attempted assassination of a member of the United States House of Representatives is by definition a political act. Though the murder of Judge Roll appears to have been a terrible misfortune—he just happened to be in the shopping center parking lot and wandered over to say hello—the assault on Giffords was premeditated.
Loughner kept a three-year-old form letter from Giffords in a locked safe in his room; he had complained to friends that she didn’t live up to his expectations; he didn’t find her smart or authentic enough, and she was presumably not willing to listen to his incoherent ideas about currency and mind control. In that safe, he also had documents referring to “my assassination,” along with the phrase “I planned ahead” scrawled on an envelope. On some level, Loughner knew the attack was a political choice, even if his twisted ideas didn’t align with any reasonable person’s idea of a consistent ideology.
Do you know what else is a political act? Sarah Palin publishing a map with Democratic congressional districts in crosshairs. Palin ordering her followers “Don’t Retreat, Instead – RELOAD!” on Twitter in March of 2010. Giffords’s opponent in the 2010 election, Jesse Kelly, publishing an ad promoting an M16 shooting party at a firing range to “Get on Target for Victory” in order to “remove Gabrielle Giffords from office.” One man was arrested after he dropped a gun on the ground at a Giffords rally in 2009; another coward smashed her Tucson office’s window on March 21, 2010—the night the health care reform bill was passed.
More political acts: thousands of teabagger signs at rallies across the country in the last two years promoting armed insurrection against Democrats who dared to pass legislation—health care reform—that they had campaigned and won on.
When writing political copy or giving a political speech—or tweeting a political tweet—you are speaking not just to “real Americans” but to crazy Americans. Any elected official who has ever sat through a town hall meeting knows this. Crazy people gravitate toward politics. Politics is the discourse of the people, and it’s the one public sphere where all have to be heard, even the nuts. Attend any town hall meeting or call for public comment on even the most mundane public policy issues—a new park, an addition to a children’s hospital—and you will see at least one clearly crazy person step up to the microphone to say crazy shit (the barbecues at the new park give off carcinogens that will render the whole neighborhood barren, say, or the children’s hospital is funded by the Freemasons). The elected official politely thanks the crazy person for his question and changes the subject. Even brand-new elected officials understand this: Don’t confront the crazy. Don’t affirm or deny anything they say. Don’t feed the crazy. And most importantly, don’t be
crazy yourself.
And here’s why: because when politics goes crazy—when politicians go crazy—the crazies go crazier.
Palin’s advisers tried to claim this week that those were “surveyor marks” on her now-infamous map, not crosshairs. But no matter how many aides Palin fires, no matter how furiously she backpedals, this shooting is her legacy. Sarah Palin did not put a gun into Jared Lee Loughner’s hands—though Republicans did make sure he could legally purchase a semiautomatic handgun, another political act—but Sarah Palin and her cronies have spent the past two years cranking crazies like Loughner up.
Palin is the monstrous love child of Lee Atwater and Karl Rove, and she long ago crossed the line between hateful rhetoric and incitement to violence. Palin was warned again and again that her violent imagery was getting dangerous, that she was stoking the flames of the fringes with language that insinuated a coup d’état was necessary. Pundits, politicians, and even the intended target of this weekend’s attack all tried to warn her. When Palin’s crosshairs map debuted in March of 2010, Giffords told MSNBC, “The way that [Palin] has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they’ve got to realize there are consequences to that action.”
When faced with the criticisms of Giffords and many others—way too many to list here—Palin rolled her eyes, shrugged it off, and ratcheted up her violent rhetoric.
If Republicans want to recover from this catastrophe, if they want to make amends for this tragedy, it’s going to take more than blame-shifting, responsibility-dodging opinion pieces. They have to do more than merely disassociate themselves from Palin and the violent language Palin has employed to “excite the base”—and crank up the crazies—for the last two years. They have to make Palin a pariah.
The general public is already disassociating from Palin: The day of the shooting, her 2012 stock at Intrade collapsed, predicting an even larger decline in Palin’s already-weak showing with moderates and independents. Palin’s stock will fall farther should she decide to run for president. Candidate Palin will have to come out of hiding—where the hell is she?—and she will be forced to answer for Loughner outside of the Fox News bubble.
Last weekend was spectacularly bad for Sarah Palin, but it was good for Mitt Romney. (Was that a dig against Palin in Romney’s one statement on the incident? It read, “Today’s horrifying shooting in Tucson shocks the conscience of decent Americans everywhere.” Any mention of “decent Americans” in the wake of the shooting feels directed at Palin.) The Mormon from Massachusetts is practically the only seeming moderate in the Republican Party, and his 2012 campaign, which has been endorsed by party elders like George H. W. Bush, will surely receive a bump when the last few “decent Americans” who support Palin slink away.
While Romney is just as guilty as every other Republican of engaging in the idolatry of Reagan-worship, he’s the only one in the current crop who has a chance to woo moderates with his small-government shtick. He’s Senator John Kerry to Sarah Palin’s Governor Howard Dean—he’s “electable,” she’s “hotheaded.” Nobody on earth has ever felt strongly about anything Mitt Romney has ever said, and that might be his greatest strength going into the Republican presidential race after last weekend.
But just because Sarah Palin should go away, that doesn’t mean she will go away. And begging for civility out of teabaggers is like trying to convince a treeful of chimpanzees to stop masturbating. In many ways, it’s up to the media to stop swooning over everything the extreme right wing says or does—we have to stop helping the people who are cranking up the crazy—which, ultimately, means it’s up to all of us to stop needlessly amplifying their hateful, violent rhetoric.
The bloodbath in Tucson opened the 2012 presidential campaign. If we don’t find a way to elevate the discourse, it’s all downhill from here. 
This guy was not crazy he was a Republican. He was part of the Tea Party and I am glad this article was printed here. His actions are a direct consequence of the violence incited by Sarah Palin. They both need to be made to pay for their actions.
Jared Loughner is not crazy he is a Republican. He was part of the Tea Party and I am glad this article was printed here. His actions are a direct consequence of the violence incited by Sarah Palin. They both need to be made to pay for their actions.
@1 ad @2 I agree with both of you.
I am surprised by the amount of conservative posts in here… The Stranger has apparently stirred enough of a nest to attract some conservative hornets. It is for the best. The only way one reaches compromise is when someone proposes an extreme position and then people settle for the middle.
Love the picture.
I wouldn’t feel bad if that dumb bitch got capped.
I was listening to Thom Hartmann yesterday and was given to understand that her own picture with the same “crosshairs” over-lay, made her feel scared and uncomfortable … hmmm … I was one of the many people on Facebook that held that as my profile picture for 24 hours in Facebook … fight fire with fire when all else fails …
So, why is the race of the congresswoman’s intern relevant? The Stranger wouldn’t be race baiting, would they? Not again!
So I guess Paul subscribes to the philosophy that if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. Pathetic and embarrassing that this seems to be the best that The Stranger can do. One of our leading mouthpieces of progressivism in Seattle can’t seem to rise above the level of discourse of a 12-year-old boy. It’s no wonder we can’t beat ’em…
If any of you really truely believe that a picture of crosshairs over an image is worthy of censorship, you should probably just wipe your ass with a piece of toiletpaper after writing “free speech” on it. This is the stranger, of course they’ve written a leftist opinion / news article complete with a matching graphic.
If you want to be pissed about something, how about a lack of mental health care in our culture. Maybe if being “crazy” was actually a condition we showed some compassion for and not one of the first social services to always be cut, there would be fewer incoherant violant people to be wary of.
I like Sarah Palin as much as most of the other Stranger readers and would love to see her fade into the woodwork and never hear her name mentioned again, ever. Her only saving grace is that she is totally unelectable.
That said, show me the direct link between Palin’s cross-hairs, I mean survey markers, and this psycho opening fire. They found in his safe letters stating that he was upset because he wasn’t being heard when he suggested that grammar and currency needed to be changed.
How is that relevant to the cross-hairs map discussing health care reform?
Then to add that image on the front of this article? It’s been mentioned in previous comments, why are we, the left, lowering ourselves to Sarah Palin’s level? I just assume be the bigger person in this situation.
The idea that people like Sarah Palin, Sharron Angle, Rush Limbaugh, etc., pushed Mr. Loughner over the edge I believe is incorrect.
I’m pretty sure it has already been stated, but the real troubling fact is that all of this violent rhetoric has desensitized us as a nation. Not in the way that folks blame video games and rap music. Rather, while ten years ago, hearing someone discuss killing a member of Congress would be so out of the norm, that any normal person, seeing a crazy make comments to that end, would act.
But it is to the point now where we are so used to hearing violent rhetoric, that it is hard to take anyone seriously when they make comments about actual violence.
And that is just sad.
“No author could get away with putting that sequence of events into a novel or movie . . .”
and yet, I’m reminded of “The World According to Garp”, which (like the movie “Network”) seems less and less scathing satire and more and more dead-on prophetic.
“I wouldn’t feel bad if that dumb bitch got capped. “
Irony is lost on lefties, isn’t it??
@51 to Descartes: Your ignorance of European history is as boundless as your apparent contempt for American history. Oceans of blood have been spilled in Europe — past and present. Before you start in with your whining about America and its problems, perhaps you should pass a basic European history class.
@51 you are right on I am with you bro!
i hate the image you have chose for this article. It is exactly the negative and violent rhetoric that causes problems. I understand it is free speech, but use power responsibly
His race is important because it’s Arizona and he’s Hispanic. Arizona has a law that can reasonably be interpreted to mean if someone looks “illegal” (ie, Hispanic), police are required to stop them and ask for ID. It is actually important in the context of the Arizona political scene.
What a hate-filled, inflammatory, child-minded, brainwashed-inspired piece of crap. And to top it off with that image. Yikes.
I forgot to mention intellectually dishonest and hypocritical. Hate speech has been flowing both ways for some time and I divorced myself from it long ago. You and many other liberal commenters here demonstrate that point from the loony left. I look at both you Democratic and Republic sheep with distain. Can’t you see the real differences between the two parties are too miniscule to matter? You are doing their biding, you cretinous lemmings. Fight on as I smugly judge you, and your little right-wing dogs, too. I see you as equals and I have assumed the smugness you once claimed as your own.
@64- Check Smitty’s comment history. He’s not a leftist, just an asshole.
What does Europe’s history of violence (five decades old, mostly) have to do with America’s rapid slide towards authoritarianism?
Just showed this article to my children who laughed and laughed at the hypocrisy of the piece. How can a 11 and 13 year old see it and not the author or his excrement slinging supporters.
“What does Europe’s history of violence (five decades old, mostly)”
Try 3000+ years. Ever open a book?
Paul, if you’re going to tit-for-tat with crazys, I suggest you school yourself with this website:
http://www.27bslash6.com/
cheers!
Paul, give this plea for sanity speech to Chris Frizzelle and Dan Savage, two people who consistantly published articals supporting gulf war II on the basis that it would “modernize” the Islamic world. Apparently irony and controversy sell more ads than civility and carefuly thought out editorials. That’s why Palin works for Fox news, she sells ad space. It’s too late to ask for space to breathe.
Now we have a dead 9 year old to look at when we make this shit up and publish it as edgy, hip and post-colonial. Make it up to her and go to lobby Olympia on MLK day.
I’m astounded at the shallow, fact free pseudo-analysis on display. “On some level, Loughner knew the attack was a political choice” Really Paul??
And just how do you know this 48 hours in exactly? Your vile, repellent article is devoid of any understanding that most likely (note, unlike you a supposed “journalist” I don’t speak with absolution and certainty when I don’t have it) most likely Lougner is a schizophrenic who has never been treated. Most of the facts that have come out support this.
I really don’t give a shit about the fact-free disgusting spew from Palin, Beck and Limabaugh et. al because I expect it from them. But as I’ve always been a strong supporter of liberal causes, you and your ilk are why I no longer will as I see there isn’t much difference in the shameless loose play with reality.
“Do you know what else is a political attack? Sarah Palin….” Yeah, fantastic debate there too asshole. Not much different then when Bush attacked Iraq after 9/11 right? They didn’t attack on that day–Hussein was a real bad guy but come on, let’s go to war with him! See where I’m coming from? Probably not because you already have figured out what happened. Not much different to me.
“he had complained to friends that she didn’t live up to his expectations” that’s pretty strong investigative work there. Can’t wait for more fine work from you.
I’m astounded at the shallow, fact free pseudo-analysis on display. “On some level, Loughner knew the attack was a political choice” Really Paul??
And just how do you know this 48 hours in exactly? Your vile, repellent article is devoid of any understanding that most likely (note, unlike you a supposed “journalist” I don’t speak with absolution and certainty when I don’t have it) most likely Lougner is a schizophrenic who has never been treated. Most of the facts that have come out support this.
I really don’t give a shit about the fact-free disgusting spew from Palin, Beck and Limabaugh et. al because I expect it from them. But as I’ve always been a strong supporter of liberal causes, you and your ilk are why I no longer will as I see there isn’t much difference in the shameless loose play with reality.
“Do you know what else is a political attack? Sarah Palin….” Yeah, fantastic debate there too asshole. Not much different then when Bush attacked Iraq after 9/11 right? They didn’t attack on that day–Hussein was a real bad guy but come on, let’s go to war with him! See where I’m coming from? Probably not because you already have figured out what happened. Not much different to me.
“he had complained to friends that she didn’t live up to his expectations” that’s pretty strong investigative work there. Can’t wait for more fine work from you.
No doubt media influences attitudes and events, and it certainly played a role in the actions of the distorted soul who shot a member of the House, so why don’t we try distancing ourselves from the inflammatory left and right wing rhetoric and try thinking for ourselves for a change? Identify with issues rather than people and quit sucking up to people like Palin who play to the lowest common denominator. The scariest thing about this country is that we have so much power in the hands of so many who know so very little. Read, learn, make intelligent decisions, for a change.
i could not find a link to yr cover. that cover seals the deal. the constant piece is very good, but lacks an irrefutable chain of causality—which is what you need. the cover lists politicians killed, politicians shot, & party affiliations, & they are all verifiable facts. there is also historical record to show that the yawhoooooooos were ginned up before many of these assassinations. read thom hartmann’s legacy of lies. google the term “stochastic terrorism”…
Personally, I’m with those that say the “surveyor’s marks” are a poor choice. I understand the choice in the context, however it will still be used as justification for more GOP fund raising through scare tactics, as one commenter…er, commented. And changing it now would solve nothing, as Google caching will make sure it can still be found, and we all know what sticklers for accuracy Fox and right-wing talk radio are.
To those here in the comments (and elsewhere, I suppose) calling for Sarah Palin’s murder, I would ask that they first really think about the repercussions of such an event. We don’t want Sarah Palin murdered. Setting aside of course the fact that no decent person should say such and mean it, that would make her a martyr that people could rally behind. The conservatives in this country already venerate Reagan as the president who could do no wrong. Do you want Sarah Palin idolized in much the same way?
No, I think her living to a ripe old age and having to live with having been Sarah Palin is far crueler. When she’s telling her great-great grandchildren (and it looks like she may actually live to see them, if the family trend continues), it will be that much sadder, coming from the bitter, wretched husk she will no doubt become. The tragic story of the most mocked and most hated beauty queen/college dropout/politician/hockey mom/pit bull/trend-setter/author/pundit/”reality” TV star/mama grizzly/has-been that you ever heard. And she would be more than happy to share the story with you any time you meet her at the old folks’ home. She doesn’t get any visitors anymore.
That foreign rascal who pointed-out our violent history forgot to mention that we Americans are only continuing a long tradition we inherited from Europe. One can argue that Europe started to get tired of their violent ways after the spanking of WW2. We Americans are still going strong within our borders and without. We’ll finally slow down when we get our own spanking. Who’s going to do it and when? Where on earth can one go to lie low ’til it all blows over? Europe?
BTW, those are not crosshairs or surveyor’s marks. They are badly done symbols of the BMW! Everyone knows that liberals drink chablis and drive beemers…right?
Fuck Palin. That graphic is just fine. She deserves it. If she and her supporters can’t pull up their panties and take in the vitriol and hate that she dishes out, then they can go fuck themselves.
“Fuck Palin. That graphic is just fine. She deserves it. If she and her supporters can’t pull up their panties and take in the vitriol and hate that she dishes out, then they can go fuck themselves.”
You’re a hypocrite and an idiot. The Left has engaged in as much *or more* violent imagery and actual physical violence as the right. Just take a scroll through this page: http://michellemalkin.com/2011/01/10/the…
And then repeat what you just said to yourself in a mirror.
“She deserves it.” She deserves what? To be shot? Pot to Kettle: You Are Black.
I fully intend to keep masturbating. I also want point out that I am a gun owner and am an advocate for owning guns *and* I vote democrat at least part of the time.
Here’s my issue. With both parties I catch shit for having views that aren’t in lockstep with the entire platform, ergo I don’t consider myself to be either Democrat or Republican. Initially I liked the idea of the Tea Party until it was apparently hijacked by the GOP and subsequently marginalized if not outright derided by the Democratic contingent.
But I digress. The issue here is with a psychopathic murderer. While we are trying to pigeonhole him into the Republican camp maybe we should also say that since hs is a white male, his actions represent the ideals of all white males, Or maybe all twenty year olds, or maybe everyone in Arizona. The fact is he acted apparently alone and of his own volition and *that* is what needs to stand before the court.
It’s 2011 and it’s way past time for journalists to quit labeling people when it serves no purpose as in “quick thinking of a 20-year-old gay Hispanic intern”. If he had been white you wouldn’t have labeled a “straight male caucasian”.
You guys are massive hypocrites. Both sides of the phony left/right paradigm are shamelessly hijacking what ever random, dissociative issue they please to promote their own political agenda. Loungher did not go mad because of political rhetoric from our politicians. Loughner was not driven to kill because of Palin’s flier. He was a maniac who admitting didn’t watch televised news. Let’s not blame society, or attack free of speech because of the actions of one nut job.
You guys are massive hypocrites. Both sides of the phony left/right paradigm are shamelessly hijacking what ever random, dissociative issue they please to promote their own political agenda. Loungher did not go mad because of mainstream political rhetoric. Loughner was not driven to kill because of Palin’s flier. He was a maniac who admitting didn’t watch televised news. Let’s not blame society, or freedom of speech based on the actions of one nutjob.
And, by the way, can we stop talking about Sara fucking Palin? She is being deliberately, and routinely injected into media discussions. Have you ever heard the expression that ‘their is no such thing as bad press’?
@84–I think the point was more that such a scenario (a young, gay, Hispanic man in immigration-crazy Arizona saves the life of the congresswoman) would be another reason that the whole scene would seem unrealistic in a novel.
Oh lordy…TheStranger had DAYS to see the over (READ WRONG) reaction by the liberal media, but they STILL ran a story saying Palin is to blame.
Ignorant and clueless is not a great way to run a paper.
Good for me, because I know what a rag it is, but to your readers…a disservice.
Hey 51, get the fuck out…have a great time in Europe.
Stupid mother fucker.
Osage
I applaud the content of this piece. However, the accompanying illustration–which may or may not be the author’s doing–is every bit as hateful and inflammatory as the right-wing rhetoric he condemns.
I agree! I applaud the content of this piece, but the illustration–which the author may or may not be responsible for–is every bit as hateful and incendiary as the right-wing rhetoric he condemns.
@78 — Sorry the cover isn’t easier to find on our website. If you scroll to the very bottom of any page on our site, the cover is in the far left corner. But just for you we’ve added the image to this article — it’s there on the right-hand side.
Holy SHIT, BATMAN!!!!WTF????
I DO NOT like Sarah Palin, Sam-I-Am, but I would neither shoot her nor vote for her (yeah, RIGHT!)
Has the entire universe gone nuts???
R.I.P. Common Sense.
@1 and @2: I agree with you, too.
Great summary of the situation.
The only thing to add is a shout out to all the gun toating monkeys out there. If packing armor makes the world safer then why didn’t you shoot the MFB? Leave your guns at home boy. Don’t take your guns to town. 🙁
This type of thing violates the principle used to make yelling “Fire!” in a crowded public hall illegal. Public figures have obvious influence over a large segment of population, including the crazies of 1%-3% that will violate any law and really aren’t part of “civil society”.
To use speech which by allegory, metaphor or outright hateful bigoted words on the public media carries with it the responsibility of free speech to not yell “Fire”, it’s not there to exploit an agenda, the guy wanting to burn the Koran in public is another example of where to draw the line, “cross-hairs” is over the line, except to tyrants and totalitarians … I have a new campaign slogan for sweetie Sarah: Prison for Paulin!
Hey 51, and Europe hasn’t? The Euros days are numbered as much as the dollar, but the euro’s going first. We have all been conquered by globalist bankers (Bank of England, Federal Reserve), and we will all feel the wrath together.
Ummmm…would all of you dumbshits whining about the illustration please go to Google Images and type in “surveyors mark” please. Did that help you calm down a bit? @8 states the simple truth and only 2 commenters out of the next 90 seem to understand that the image on Palin’s face is actually a surveyors mark. Pull your heads out please.
I will no longer read the Stranger. Been reading it since the first issue came out here in seattle.
The Palin pic is inexcusable. Period.
If she was shot today, would you run an apology for it? Maybe the media should take on more responsibility than Sarah.
@IFHTP Maybe since the mass majority still translate the “surveyor marks” as gun scopes, it should be noted.
Maybe that is also how crazies see gun scopes on photos. They may not be intended to incite violence, but if that’s how they are defined….
99.9 percent of the world would agree…. those are crosshairs. .01 are surveyors.