Never Let a Tragedy Go to Waste

The Las Vegas Sun presents an editorial this morning on the Tuscon shooting. While they admit the alleged shooter "wasn’t cooperating so a motive had not immediately been established", nevertheless they couldn't help themselves but to perpetuate the left-wing meme associating it with the rhetoric of their political opponents.

Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, a Democrat, told the media after the shooting, in reference to Loughner’s alleged mental health issues, that people who are unbalanced are susceptible to political hatred. As quoted by the Associated Press, Dupnik said: “When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And unfortunately, Arizona, I think, has become some sort of the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry.”

Dupnik said what many people likely were thinking after they first learned of the shooting. Arizona, which has become a cauldron of anti-illegal immigration fervor, has also fermented anti-government rhetoric.

The only people who were thinking that, absent any evidence, were those who were pre-determined to think the worst of their political opponents and those who were willing to exploit it for political advantage.

This was a senseless tragedy/atrocity. None of us should ever forget its victims nor should we rest from efforts to bring justice to the perpetrator(s).

But as far as anyone knows, its only connections to politics are that some of its victims were politicians and that it occurred at a political event. Yet, political opportunists have attempted to turn it political.

Those types of inflammatory statements and many others that are aired daily do nothing to advance the reasonable political discourse that is needed to address issues such as high unemployment, affordable health care and education. All that language does is to create more divisiveness and an increased likelihood that some individuals will get carried away and take their emotions too far.

The only statements the Sun cites are those of Sarah Palin and Sharron Angle, two of the paper's favorite targets. No mention, of course, of the use of similar statements and imagery by Democrats.

This is a continuing theme for the Sun - to condemn its opponents for their incivility or inflammatory statements while dutifully ignoring those of its political allies and even employing them themselves.

They were not concerned with inflammatory rhetoric when President Bush was the target. There was nary a negative condemnation of the vitriol and hatred directed at him. In fact, the paper often printed letters to the editor with appalling levels of inflammatory rhetoric and hatred.

Worse, it is not above them to themselves engage in demonization and casual slander of their opponents. The Sun has approvingly referenced Jimmy Carter's baseless smearing of opponents of President Obama as racists and has twice penned editorials repeating the unsubstantiated allegations that members of the Congressional Black Caucus were peppered with racial epithets near the Capitol. Is this not divisive? Apparently, only conservatives can divide.

We don’t know whether tougher gun control laws would have prevented this rampage, nor whether political vitriol contributed to the shooting. But if Congress is truly serious about rallying this nation together in the wake of the Tucson massacre, it should do more than pay mere lip service. Its members should set a new tone in Washington, one that tackles all pressing issues with moderation and reason.

This is nothing more than a partisan attempt to silence the Sun's political opposition. They continually condemn their opponents for incivility while ignoring and excusing that from their allies and also not being above incivility themselves.

There is no politician or pundit - right, left or otherwise - who bears any culpability for the vile actions by the perpetrator of this atrocity. If there is a lesson to be taken from this heinous act it is not about "inflammatory rhetoric"; it is a lesson about "political opportunism" and the disgusting willingness of some to exploit tragedy for their own political gain. This editorial is just one example out of many in these last few days of just that.

(Images linked via Verum Serum)