A Dark Day, Thanks Sarah Palin

I hope as you are reading this, you realize the enormity of what I am about to say, and how hard it is for me to say it.

On this day, January 12, 2011, I agree with Sarah Palin.

I promise you that you just read that right. I’m feeling the pain as well. But I said it, published it, and now it is a fact for the world to see.

Let me start off by saying, as if those who know me don’t already know, I find Sarah Palin an the rest of her family useless, homophobic, mindless, (I can’t think of a nicer word for stupid, so think of that and insert it here), degenerate fame-whores who care nothing about politics only getting themselves in the media as much as possible. The issue of Sarah Palin to me is neither Democratic nor Republican; she doesn’t get on my nerves because of her political beliefs but because of how little she knows of her own beliefs or our country.

That said, I have to get to the part where I agree with something she’s said. I may need counseling after this.

This past Saturday, our nation added another tragic event to its history with the shooting in Arizona that left six dead and others wounded, including the supposed target Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. There are no words to describe how I feel anytime something this tragic happens. I’ve been trying to blog about it since Saturday, but I had a hard time putting the words together. I don’t know what to say in these moments because these are moments I never prepared to see. But, sadly, they happen, and it feels like it only takes mere hours before the speculation, blame, and conspiracy theories take heed.  

I can dismiss most of them because we will never really know the full story until the man who committed this heinous act of violence tells us why he did it. Trying to speculate just leads us to a whole lot of nowhere. But, the theory blaming Sarah Palin is what really caught my eye. In March of 2010, Palin showing her extreme intelligence and political know-how, posted a map on her Facebook page of vulnerable House Democrats. The map showed crosshairs over the contested Democratic districts, one of which was the target Rep. Gifford. Accompanying the map was a post by Palin, using gun rhetoric along with the map of targets in order to “take back Washington.”

Gifford responded, "The thing is, the way that she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they've got to realize there's consequences to that action." (CNN)

On Saturday, she was targeted, and she was shot.

I get that it is easy to place the blame on Palin given the circumstances. Posting the map last year was probably the most politically irresponsible thin she has ever done, and further proof that she does not have what it takes to be the leader of our country or keep us safe. She should have known better. When die-hard republicans are even echoing that sentiment, it’s a big deal. The map should have never been published. Now, there is a focus on violent rhetoric in our news programs (Bill O’Reilly anyone?) and I couldn’t be happier. We need to get away from the name calling and the bull and get back to what I watch the news for: news.

But to blame Palin for this tragedy? Unless she had the gun in her hand and pulled the trigger, she is not to blame. She released a statement today via her Facebook page and this excerpt rings true:

“President Reagan said, “We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.” Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. They begin and end with the criminals who commit them, not collectively with all the citizens of a state, not with those who listen to talk radio, not with maps of swing districts used by both sides of the aisle, not with law-abiding citizens who respectfully exercise their First Amendment rights at campaign rallies, not with those who proudly voted in the last election.” (CNN)

I can’t disagree with this at all. Unless the gunman says that he was pushed to try and assassinate Gifford because of Sarah Palin and this specific map, it seems like the media is again reaching for someone to blame other than the person who actually committed the crime. If it turns out that he was influenced by Palin, she deserves all of the heat that will come to her and should have the death of those six people, including a nine year old girl, forever on her conscience. But for those who have actually watched the shooter’s YouTube videos of his political rants, he was in no way shape or form a Tea Party enthusiast. He had his political thoughts, and he felt a little more strongly about them apparently than most people do.

Regardless, that man pulled the trigger (I am purposely not writing his name because I don’t care to see it). Palin did not. Nor did she tell him to. The map was in terrible taste, but she did not tell anyone to kill anyone. And while I blame her for being an idiot, I don’t blame her for the dead and the wounded from Arizona, and I won’t until the killer says that he did it because Palin told him to. If that is ever the case, I hope that she as well as all politicians realize the enormity of the words that come out of their mouths and work to change the way politics works.  

It is about time that news media gets back to the facts and steps away from the mud-slinging and the insane theories. Let the justice system do the investigation, and quit dragging both popular and unpopular public figures through the mud while you're figuring it out. 

It pains me to say this, but leave Sarah Palin alone.