More "Old Gray Lady" Wankery Over The Shooting (update)

Naive, filthy, unkempt liberal blogger that I am, I had seriously hoped that the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords and everyone else in Arizona yesterday would bring to a halt, among other things, the "false equivalency" game in our media.

Yep, silly me all right (here)...

Democrats have also pointed out cases where Republican candidates seemed to raise the prospect of armed revolt if Washington did not change its ways.

But many Republicans have noted that they too are subject to threats and abuse, and during the health care fight some suggested Democrats were trying to cut off responsible opposition and paint themselves as victims.

Proof? Specifics? Names? Dates? Places? Anywhere in sight? Hello?????

And it gets worse...

DeAnn Hatch, a co-founder of the Tucson Tea Party, said her group had never staged any rallies against the congresswoman elsewhere, and she did not believe there were any Tea Party protesters at the event Saturday.

“I want to strongly, strongly say we absolutely do not advocate violence,” she said. “This is just a tragedy to no end.”

But others said it would be hard to separate this shooting from the ideological clash.

“At a time like this, it is terrible that we do have to think about politics, but no matter what the shooter’s motivations were, the left is going to blame this on the Tea Party movement,” (Judson) Phillips, from Tea Party Nation, said on his Web site.

“While we need to take a moment to extend our sympathies to the families of those who died, we cannot allow the hard left to do what it tried to do in 1995 after the Oklahoma City bombing,” he wrote.

For the record, this member of "the left" does not blame the teabaggers for the shooting; we are still waaay too early into this story to know if the coward responsible for this atrocity (assuming Loughner was the only one involved) was affiliated with any particular group. And I don't have a clue as to what Phillips is taking about concerning the Oklahoma City bombing.

And I think Phillips doth protest too much on this anyway, seeing as how, as noted here, he called for the defeat of Minnesota congressman Keith Ellison merely because he is a Muslim (yes, I have no evidence that Phillips has supported violence against anyone, but he has certainly polluted what should be meaningful political discourse in this country).

This isn't a time for Phillips or anyone else to try and score cheap political points (and more fool Times reporters Carl Hulse and Kate Zerinke for letting Phillips get away with it).

(And as far as Lamar Alexander is concerned here, nothing to see, move along - sigh.)

Update: And by the way, here is a voice of sanity on this subject…

“There is a need for some reflection here - what is too far now?”…“What was too far when Oklahoma City happened is accepted now. There’s been a desensitizing. These town halls and cable TV and talk radio, everybody’s trying to outdo each other.”

Who uttered these sage words? Well, we don’t know – as Politico tells us, they came from “A senior Republican senator, speaking anonymously in order to freely discuss the tragedy…”

Oh yes, Heaven forbid that a Republican go on the record and say something even remotely confrontational to some of the more extreme elements of his own party, lest he or she be pilloried verbally and victimized by outrageous rhetoric and even more outrageous and theatrical demonstrations against them, to say nothing of threats of “second-amendment remedies.”

But of course this person can’t tell us who they are. Otherwise, how else could they “freely discuss the tragedy”?

And just remember, the left is as guilty as the right here. Sure.

I know this is “apples and oranges,” but I wish the Democratic “leadership” and Number 44 himself showed anywhere near this degree of circumspection when they decide to lambaste the “professional left” who contribute funds, walk precincts and run phone banks for them to help them get elected (here).

Violence against anyone regardless of political opinion is wrong, but it’s easy to attack the DFHs. But don’t you dare cross the right, who will cry “victimization” faster than you can say “lock and load.”