The Arizona Shooting is Palin's Fault (at least from the media's perspective)

In the days since the shooting in Arizona there has been a whole lot of blame cast around.  Most of it has been at Sarah Palin.  This is probably the most ludicrous connection I have ever seen.  In fact to suggest it borders on evil.  

How dare the media twist and contort a tragedy to create imaginary villains in a case that deals with real families experiencing pain!  Yes, Sarah Palin made an ad that had cross-hairs on the districts that they were targeting for change.  So what!  It is figurative.  She is known as a hunter and it goes well with her persona. If there was a shooting at a Target store would the media blame the store for inviting the massacre since there is a target on the front of the store.   When the media relates elections to long hard fights and even use the rhetoric of round 2 and so forth are they inciting politicians to get into a literal fight.  The argument over whether the ad was in poor taste was fought back in the election.  It has nothing to do with this situation.

I have watched many in the media (ahem, CNN) ask questions of conservatives and liberals with the intent to demonize Sarah Palin on this issue and it is infuriating.  Though I am not a fan of Sarah Palin and have never been, she does have the right to free speech and to be free from defamation of character.  

I want to review the REAL facts of this case: 

1. The shooter Jared Loughner cannot stand the government

2. He believes that our government uses mind control

3. His community college would not let him return until he had had mental evaluation

4. He is an atheist

5. Two of his favorite books are Mein Kampf and The communist Manifesto. 

The bottom line is that atheistic, communistic, fascist leaning individuals are not even remotely followers of Sarah Palin.  In fact they are the least likely people on the planet to take her up on shooting anyone even if she out right asked for it.

Should we blame atheists, or communists?  No, this guy is crazy.  Just a quick search of his videos on YouTube will show you that he is unstable.   If we want to blame someone let's blame the shooter.  If we need to debate whether a person should have a mental stability test before owning a gun then let's have that conversation.  But I would not be surprised if that test quickly became political with questions relating to views on abortion and homosexuality to determine whether one is mentally sound.  

Maybe the criminally insane should not get a pass after the fact.  If the legally insane get the death penalty then it will automatically cut down the murder rate since everyone nowadays is insane for at least the time of the murder.  However, this is a conversation for another day.  The media want Palin to beg forgiveness, admit guilt, and urge her followers to tone down the rhetoric.  Jared Loughner wasn't her follower, but even if he had been he was clearly nuts and would be so with or with out an ad from Palin.