After much soul-searching I decided I would do it: I would comment on the shooting that took place this month in Tucson. The reason for my reticence in writing about this crime is because it IS a crime, a random, isolated incident, mishandled from the start, yes, but NOT a politically relevant item. The only “political” element is that one of the shooter’s victims happens to be United States Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. The absurd attempt by the liberal press to associate this very troubled man’s act of violence with anyone in our American political arena should be seen for what it is- a red herring promoted by a desperate Left to distract the American public and our newly elected Congressional delegation from doing what we sent them to Washington to do, to repeal Obama Care, to curb the illegitimate activities of agencies such as the EPA, to bring the national debt under control and myriad other urgent projects.
It is not unreasonable that individuals targeted by the media (yes, I used that deliberately) to take blame for this vicious attack on innocent people by a madman, should answer in their own defense. Sarah Palin obviously had nothing to do with this, nor did Rush Limbaugh or George Will or Glenn Beck or Mark Levin. It is fair enough that they reject the charges and take a swing at the accusers. That said, they should not move on. To do otherwise is to do exactly what the liberal press and the establishment WANTS us to do – focus on someone’s aberrant crime and not on the important work we should be getting done in Washington. Why is it necessary for Obama to burn precious fossil fuel flying to Tucson to “console” the distraught American people? Why do we need to hear from John Boehner? Why a hiatus in Congress to neglect responsibilities on the excuse of “honoring” the fallen in this attempted/successful murder? It is proper that congress should take a moment to wish Giffords a speedy recovery and to abhor the violence that took place and express our sorrow to the families who lost loved ones. But who is helped by derailing repeal of Obama Care? Only the Left. I cannot help but feel that this event is being used, much as was the funeral of Senator Paul Wellstone, several years ago, to affect politics. This is beneath us.
Firstly, the people of America are not morons. The last election proved that. Even those who disagree about the outcome of that election recognize that the event in Tucson was in no way politically grounded. I’ve had numerous conversations, many of them with people with whom I’ve never discussed politics and not one of them was laboring under the delusion that this attack was politically motivated or connected. The perpetrator’s closest acquaintances have stipulated that he never cared about politics and had no political views to speak of – neither “right” nor “left”. There was also nothing particularly polarizing about Congresswoman Giffords’ record or statements. She is “for” maintaining our Mexican border but she “favors” Obama Care; she supports the Second Amendment, voted against Nancy Pelosi for Speaker (one of 17 Democrats to do so). She is regarded as a “blue dog” Democrat. She’s far from the most liberal Democrat in Congress, but she’s no conservative either. Except that Loughner had sent her a note indicating that he wanted her to “die” and failing to specify exactly why (yet another clue to his mental state and another missed opportunity on the part of the Sheriff to prevent a terrible crime), it is unclear what he was trying to prove.
In 1981, the recently elected President Ronald Reagan was the object of an attempted assassination by John Hinckley, Jr., another mental case. Only back then we didn’t waste time trying to pin the attempt on innocent people who expressed differing g political views from Mr. Reagan’s. Hinkcley himself admitted that it was a Martin Scorsese movie, Taxi Driver, which inspired him, together with his lunatic fascination with actress Jodi Foster. No one jumped in to blame Miss Foster, or even Director Scorsese. Certainly no one pointed the finger at Jimmy Carter (actually Hinckley had also planned to assassinate him previously), Reagan’s recent opponent in the election, or his supporters (if, in fact, he still had any). We all recognized that those in public life, whether politicians or entertainers, must cope with crazy people. We try our best to protect the innocent. We cannot do this by filching away the rights of expression and free speech guaranteed to American citizens. This does nothing whatsoever to protect anyone. In fact, this makes all of us victims of people like Loughner or Hinckley. For all the effort to place blame on the so-called “hate-filled rhetoric” of the Right, does anyone recall who urged whom to “bring a gun to a knife fight”?
More to the point, it takes our attention away from the necessary focus on our new Congress and just what it intends to do about the problems within its jurisdiction – the debt, health care, energy policy, national defense, etc. And this is why we should call upon Rush and Mark and Sarah and Glenn and George and all the rest of the commentators to let it go now.
It seems that in America we have lost our manners entirely. Since when has it been seemly to cluster abut a tragedy and personal loss and heartbreak such as we have here, like flies on jam? The prime offenders in this, people like Geraldo Rivera and various news reporting organizations (which, by the way, didn’t even get basics such as who was killed and who wasn’t, straight) started this feeding frenzy. I suppose we have to hear from the objects of their vitriol, in their own defense. We have. Now let’s quit listening to this, quit wallowing in what is a very traumatic event for everyone, quit preying on the victims’ misfortune. Because that is all that these accusers are doing. When are we going to turn off Geraldo when he starts spewing his hate-filled diatribes against those who happen to disagree with his agenda? It is hard to see this as anything but hate speech directed against innocent people who have merely exercised their right to disagree with him. His behavior and that of his fellow travelers in the media and the political gallery is just plain lacking in class.
If we are to spend one more minute on Jared Loughner, let’s spend it looking for the truth – what in his past, whether it was drugs, prescription or otherwise, or what in his experience had the power to derail him mentally and send him into whatever twilight zone he was in when he thought up this whole sordid and tragic episode, and how might law enforcement have prevented his acting out? Let Sheriff Dupnik do the job he was hired to do – find out how this happened on his watch and bring all of the reacts to bear on this case – not his opinions. At least let those opinions not be clothed with official status. Having failed to deal with Mr. Loughner in time to spare the lives of the victims perhaps now Sheriff Dupnik should see where he went wrong. We should not blame Congressman Giffords, although she is the one whose speech and actions would seem to have caught Loughner’s attention. She was right o promote and discuss her political views. So is Sarah Palin. The beauty of a nation where we enjoy free speech is that we can try to find solutions and hear them out and give them a chance to work. If we react to an isolated personal act of an unhinged mental case such as Loughner, by abridging this right, aborting political discussion and disrupting our civil society, we will truly be lost. We cannot surrender our rights and in effect allow ourselves to be dictated to by the insane few in our midst who commit acts of violence.
Sally Morris is a member of the Executive Committee of the Valley Tea Party Conservative Coalition and of the Americans for Constitutional Government
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