I hate Sarah Palin as much as anyone, but how the heck does she have anything do do with this?
The republican ad campaign featuring crosshairs on 20 congressional seats the party lost in '08 and wanted to regain in '10, one of them being rep. Giffords?
Advertisers and politicians have used crosshairs and targets to indicate goals or things they oppose for generations. Heck, we have Target department stores.
Here's Ted Thompson, manager of the Green Bay Packers. Some folks want him to be fired, so they put this image on their website
Here's an image from an anti-war group that opposes CNN's news coverage
A Philadelphia Flyers page features the Canadiens logo in crosshairs.
well my html failed for Ted Thompson. However, all I did was do a Google image search for "crosshairs" and got all manner of stuff like this.
Have you seen the shooter's Youtube videos? The man was an absolute NUTJOB. Not a "ah, these damn wingnut nutjobs" no I mean COMPLETELY BATSHIT INSANE.
Suggesting that Palin or the republicans or tea partiers had any sort of influence in this is no different than blaming video games and rock music for teen violence. It's a cop-out.
I've tried to write a comment out about three or for times, but I'm doing the online equivalent of confused hand gestures, stuttering silence and my brain shutting down to prevent the Stupid and the Evil from getting in.
Brb going to my happy place, where people like her and all her nut job followers and fellow minded people never existed.
I wonder how many people will actually think this is real.
The first picture is from a 2010 congressional election campaign with the "take back the 20" slogan referenceing 20 congressional seats the republicans lost in the 2008 election.
The 2nd picture is from March 2010.
The third picture is Mark Kerr's joking comment clearly screenshot shortly after it was posted.
I agree with your comments. The guy is a nutbag, but I wouldn't go so far as to say Palin is blameless. I think she helped start a movement using violent rhetoric that has begun to claim lives. Last summer there was a shoot-out a few blocks from where I was living with my parents in Oakland because a guy drove down from Toulumne County towards San Francisco wearing a bullet proof vest and carrying lots of guns, ammo, and explosives. The cops pulled him over because he was weaving around and he opened fire. Luckily, no one was killed. Later in an interview he cited Glen Beck as an inspiration. http://mediamatters.org/research/201010110002 This really is a dangerous movement and it condones, even seems to celebrate, and, yes, I'd say go so far as to encourages violence and death of one's political opponents.
I'm not sure what you mean by "think this is real." These pictures, I don't think, were meant to be read as all having happened simultaneously but that these photos are evidence of the violent rhetoric that I mentioned. You are right about the use of crosshairs to be symbols of something ending, not necessarily in a violent fashion. But the crosshairs plus Palin's use of gun and ammo imagery in her speeches and quotes plus the violence of tea party members in the past makes the crosshairs more sinister. An anti-war group may not blow-up CNN headquarters; no one will murder the Canadiens hockey players. We've never had that confidence when it came to the tea party and liberal/Democrat politicians.
This got me curious, so I looked up U.S. Politicians who have been shot since the 1970's.
Derwin Brown, 2000 - Ran as independant Tommy Burkes, 1998 - Democrat George W. Bush, 2005 - Republican (survived - attempt made by terrorist) Dick Cheeny, 2007 - Republican (survived - attempt made by terrorist) Bill Clinton, 1996 - Democrat (survived - attempt made by terrorist) James Davis, 2003 - Democrat (murdered by a fellow Democrat politician) Gerald Ford, 1975 - Republican (survived 2 assassination attempts) Bill Gwatney, 2008 - Democrat Russel Lloyd, 1980 - Republican Allard Lowenstein, 1980 - Democrat Robert MacNamara, 1972 - Democrat (assassination attempt made by Democrat) Jay Nixon, 2010 - Democrat (survived) Richard Nixon, 1974 - Republican (survived) Ronald Regan, 1980 - Republican (survived) John Thornton, 2010 - Democrat (murdered by a thief while driving alone at night through a violent neighborhood - most likely not politically motivated) Robert Vance, 1989 - Democrat John Wood, 1979 - Republican Leo Ryan, 1978 - Democrat George Wallace, 1972 - Republican
Removing people killed (or attempted to be killed) by people of their own party and foreign terrorists, the final tally is a tie.
...and I got so involved in researching that I left out the poor woman who was just shot, since she's not on the easily-searchable lists of assassinations yet.
But because of the atmosphere and the amount of people - not politicians - who make violent comments and 99.9999% of the time idle threats, it's easy to understand why she was assumed to be Democrat.
Democrat is tangential, though. I suspect the shooting was about her opinions on illegal immigration.
Interesting. Though with the flavour of the times having "dumbed down" Republicans - there was a time when they didn't actively have this extremist rhetoric.
Any other year it would have been a coin toss, but in the year of bullseyes and shooting metaphors against Democrat runners, that meme was out there to KILL DEMOCRATS FOR AMERICA!
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January 8 2011, 20:39:47 UTC 1 year ago
January 8 2011, 20:47:16 UTC 1 year ago
January 8 2011, 21:00:14 UTC 1 year ago
January 8 2011, 21:11:40 UTC 1 year ago
January 9 2011, 06:55:24 UTC 1 year ago
January 9 2011, 07:01:06 UTC 1 year ago
1 year ago
January 8 2011, 21:32:00 UTC 1 year ago
watch Sarah Back peddle
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_iJanuary 9 2011, 02:28:19 UTC 1 year ago
Re: watch Sarah Back peddle
i shouldn't have gone there and read the comments.1 year ago
January 8 2011, 21:38:15 UTC 1 year ago
January 8 2011, 21:56:52 UTC 1 year ago
January 8 2011, 23:15:09 UTC 1 year ago
January 8 2011, 23:33:47 UTC 1 year ago
January 9 2011, 05:34:10 UTC 1 year ago
The republican ad campaign featuring crosshairs on 20 congressional seats the party lost in '08 and wanted to regain in '10, one of them being rep. Giffords?
Advertisers and politicians have used crosshairs and targets to indicate goals or things they oppose for generations. Heck, we have Target department stores.
Here's Ted Thompson, manager of the Green Bay Packers. Some folks want him to be fired, so they put this image on their website
Here's an image from an anti-war group that opposes CNN's news coverage
A Philadelphia Flyers page features the Canadiens logo in crosshairs.
January 9 2011, 05:37:14 UTC 1 year ago
Have you seen the shooter's Youtube videos? The man was an absolute NUTJOB. Not a "ah, these damn wingnut nutjobs" no I mean COMPLETELY BATSHIT INSANE.
Suggesting that Palin or the republicans or tea partiers had any sort of influence in this is no different than blaming video games and rock music for teen violence. It's a cop-out.
1 year ago
1 year ago
1 year ago
1 year ago
January 9 2011, 01:05:49 UTC 1 year ago
January 9 2011, 01:31:17 UTC 1 year ago
Brb going to my happy place, where people like her and all her nut job followers and fellow minded people never existed.
January 9 2011, 02:50:21 UTC 1 year ago
January 9 2011, 05:21:29 UTC 1 year ago
The first picture is from a 2010 congressional election campaign with the "take back the 20" slogan referenceing 20 congressional seats the republicans lost in the 2008 election.
The 2nd picture is from March 2010.
The third picture is Mark Kerr's joking comment clearly screenshot shortly after it was posted.
January 9 2011, 08:27:42 UTC 1 year ago
I'm not sure what you mean by "think this is real." These pictures, I don't think, were meant to be read as all having happened simultaneously but that these photos are evidence of the violent rhetoric that I mentioned. You are right about the use of crosshairs to be symbols of something ending, not necessarily in a violent fashion. But the crosshairs plus Palin's use of gun and ammo imagery in her speeches and quotes plus the violence of tea party members in the past makes the crosshairs more sinister. An anti-war group may not blow-up CNN headquarters; no one will murder the Canadiens hockey players. We've never had that confidence when it came to the tea party and liberal/Democrat politicians.
1 year ago
1 year ago
1 year ago
January 9 2011, 10:50:23 UTC 1 year ago
January 9 2011, 17:27:23 UTC 1 year ago
Derwin Brown, 2000 - Ran as independant
Tommy Burkes, 1998 - Democrat
George W. Bush, 2005 - Republican (survived - attempt made by terrorist)
Dick Cheeny, 2007 - Republican (survived - attempt made by terrorist)
Bill Clinton, 1996 - Democrat (survived - attempt made by terrorist)
James Davis, 2003 - Democrat (murdered by a fellow Democrat politician)
Gerald Ford, 1975 - Republican (survived 2 assassination attempts)
Bill Gwatney, 2008 - Democrat
Russel Lloyd, 1980 - Republican
Allard Lowenstein, 1980 - Democrat
Robert MacNamara, 1972 - Democrat (assassination attempt made by Democrat)
Jay Nixon, 2010 - Democrat (survived)
Richard Nixon, 1974 - Republican (survived)
Ronald Regan, 1980 - Republican (survived)
John Thornton, 2010 - Democrat (murdered by a thief while driving alone at night through a violent neighborhood - most likely not politically motivated)
Robert Vance, 1989 - Democrat
John Wood, 1979 - Republican
Leo Ryan, 1978 - Democrat
George Wallace, 1972 - Republican
Removing people killed (or attempted to be killed) by people of their own party and foreign terrorists, the final tally is a tie.
Democrats - 6
Republicans - 6
January 9 2011, 17:29:40 UTC 1 year ago
Democrats 7
Republicans 6
January 9 2011, 19:07:29 UTC 1 year ago
Democrat is tangential, though. I suspect the shooting was about her opinions on illegal immigration.
1 year ago
January 10 2011, 05:40:45 UTC 1 year ago
Any other year it would have been a coin toss, but in the year of bullseyes and shooting metaphors against Democrat runners, that meme was out there to KILL DEMOCRATS FOR AMERICA!
January 9 2011, 17:36:44 UTC 1 year ago