Archive for January, 2011

I haven’t commented on it here, but it definitely is a topic worthy of debate.

The main thing I’m interested in is the debate it’s sparked about political rhetoric and messaging. Liberals want to demonize Palin and Beck while conservatives argue they are not to blame. I, for one, think both groups have a point.

The shooter does not seem to have any discernible political ideology. After watching his videos and reading what I can, he just seems to have lost his mind. (Unless perhaps one party has a stronger stance on controlling grammar.) The right can say he read the Communist Manifesto, and the left can say he read We the Living (though not many people are mentioning the Ayn Rand book). The bottom line is that this act just seemed like a senseless bit of violence from a deranged person belonging to neither party.

I do not blame Sarah Palin for the shooting. I don’t think the guy was trying to carry out what he saw as her wishes. I am not sure it was the political culture they’ve created, however horrible it is. It’s another way to tie this together, but in this instance I don’t think it is to blame.

But that does not mean people like Beck and Palin need to tone down their rhetoric. In this case it wasn’t one of their followers, but what if it had been? And how horrible does the act of putting crosshairs on that map look now that one of the sites she targeted was actually the site of a shooting? It was a stupid thing to do and she’s getting exactly what she deserves for doing it.

The rhetoric about treasonous traitors taking over and running our country led to this. What if it had led to more? Remember Bryon Williams? He planned on shooting up an ACLU and an environmentalist foundation in that horrible liberal place called San Francisco to start a revolution and was a huge Glenn Beck fan. He nearly completed his perverted fantasy of taking out some unAmerican folk.

So in summary, I think it’s wrong to blame Palin for this particular incident, but I don’t think Palin or Beck (among others) have been responsible with their political rhetoric. Hopefully actually seeing this tragedy will help America bring it down a notch and show anyone considering this with some ability left to reason just how little this accomplishes.

Adam Feser

If you thought the last presidential election was nuts, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Michele Bachmann is considering a 2012 presidential bid. Oh glorious day!

I think it would do the country a lot of good to have Bachmann’s insanity paraded out in GOP debates. Other Republicans might even be forced to respond to it, and you know she wouldn’t have a problem going after less crazy Republicans. And the amount of support she would probably get would be great in exposing just how many people agree with her lunacy.

Perhaps seeing Bachmann’s candidacy would even convince some Republicans that Palin isn’t so bad. They could nominate her, all but assuring a second term for President Obama.

National politics would be hard to take if so much of it wasn’t so crazy. Bachmann definitely is about the craziest politician going. I think this would be hilarious. Do it, Michele.

Enjoy getting on those resolutions.

Adam Feser