NATIONAL SECURITY Cooling The Rhetoric
It's not at all clear why 22-year old assassin Jared Lee Loughner acted. Some of his writings seem to indicate an
allegiance to far-right ideas, though much of the rest of it borders on nonsensical. Until it becomes clear why he acted, nobody should assign specific political motives to his violence. But what is clear is that this horrific attack occurs in the midst of a poisonous and dangerous political climate environment that's been fostered, in large part, by conservatives that have been too willing to paint political opponents as
existential enemies who must be eliminated, through violence if necessary. Now, some conservatives are reacting with hyper-sensitivity to any requests to tone down their rhetoric in the wake of the shooting.As the New York Times
reported today, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was "extremely concerned" about the rise in rhetoric, particularly after someone
left a gun behind at one of her events. "She was concerned about various threats that the office had received: they were general threats on the office itself, on her life," a friend said. Speaking at the Center for American Progress Action Fund this morning, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) said, "The question now is whether we're all going to end business as usual in the United States Capitol. Because even before this event shook us out of our slumber, it should have been clear that on bedrock questions of civility and consensus, discourse and democracy - the whole endeavor of building a politics of national purpose - the big question wasn't whose rhetoric was right or wrong, but whether our political conversation was worthy of the confidence and trust of the American people.."
QUICK TO DEFEND: At 1:34 p.m. EST on Saturday, only minutes after Giffords was shot and before there was any clue to whom the suspect might be, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) was on Fox News assuring the audience that the incident had nothing to do with politics, nor the incendiary rhetoric that had long been aimed at Giffords. "I have to believe this is an anomaly, a completely irrational person that has done this," he said. In the days since the attack, conservatives have loudly and dramatically defended themselves, even though much of the commentary surrounding the shooting simply questions whether a poisonous political atmosphere helped foster Loughner's violent motives. The National Review
crowed that any attempt to explore the political motives behind a political assassin is simply a "vile attempt to tar the opposition with the crimes of a lunatic so as to render illegitimate the views of about half of America." Fox's Brit Hume also
denounced any discussion of political motives and the current atmosphere: "It has become a habit of the American left to equate disagreement with liberals and liberalism with hate. So convinced do they seem of the virtue of their cause that the only possible explanation for resistance to it must be hatred." Sarah Palin wrote to Glenn Beck that, "Our children will not have peace if politicos just capitalize on this to succeed in portraying anyone as inciting terror and violence." Beck gave an hour-long, often emotional reaction to the shooting on yesterday's program, a majority of which was devoted to defending himself. He then
called for his viewers to "stand together against all violence." (This message became a bit muddled on his website when it
appeared next to a background image of Beck holding a gun). Tea Party Nation Founder Judson Phillips even blamed the left for the attack: "The shooter was a liberal lunatic. Emphasis on both words," he
wrote to supporters. Democratic strategist Paul Begala noted this trend of hyper-sensitivity on the right, and told the Washington Post that "[w]hat has been striking has been their defensiveness and lack of introspection. Even if this was simply the delusional act of a madman, there's no harm in reassessing, by saying, 'Holy smokes, what are we doing here?'" Ironically, even in defending their rhetoric, many conservatives continued to subtly endorse the idea that political violence is sometimes acceptable. "The tea party movement won in November. Winners don't go on shooting sprees," Erickson
wrote on Redstate this weekend, seeming to imply that violence can be an answer to losing.
AN ATMOSPHERE OF HATE : Over-the-top rhetoric targeting President Obama began before he even became assumed office. In the late stages of the 2008 campaign, Palin, then the GOP's vice presidential nominee, began accusing Obama of "
palling around with terrorists," and repeatedly
painted him as fundamentally opposing his own country. McCain-Palin rallies were quickly overtaken by hatred:
"terrorist!" "kill him!" and similar threats by campaign rally attendees were reported. "Getting ugly out there," ABC's Jake Tapper
wrote at the time. The Secret Service noticed too, and told the Obama family about "
a dramatic increase" in the number of threats against the candidate, "coinciding with Palin's attacks." The dangerous rhetoric only escalated after Obama took office and undertook major policy initiatives. Health care reform, which was frequently described as a potentially life-threatening danger, is just one example of the right's over-the-top, threatening political dialogue. When reform passed, Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO)
said that "[t]oday Americans are reacquainted with the danger of an arrogant all powerful government, a deadly enemy within, a clear and present danger in Washington." Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) -- who also said she wanted people "
armed and dangerous" to fight cap-and-trade laws -- spoke of Obama's "economic Marxism" and
said that "it's like Thomas Jefferson said, a revolution every now and then is a good thing." RNC chairman Michael Steele
said "let's start getting Nancy [Pelosi] ready for the firing line this November." Sarah Palin
urged her supporters "don't retreat, instead -- RELOAD!" and posted a
now-famous map showing gun sights over the districts of those Democrats that voted for the health care reform law. Conservative media aided this effort: Glenn Beck
directly compared health care reform to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and urged his viewers to act "before the plane actually hits the tower." Rush Limbaugh, who has casually called for a "
second American Revolution,"
warned his listeners that, after the passage of health care reform, "America is hanging by a thread." These words from powerful Republican politicians and media figures were spoken to an already volatile base: health care town halls were marred by violent disruptions, and people opposed to reform began
showing up with guns.
FIXING THE ATMOSPHERE: Again, it's not clear whether Loughner acted because he was influenced by the climate of hate created by conservatives. It seems unlikely that in a country where political opinions permeate the culture through a 24/7 news cycle and vast Internet media that Loughner was not exposed to the hateful rhetoric. Then again, it's becoming clear that Loughner is mentally ill and it's possible he simply could not rationally engage with the political dialogue, and would have acted regardless. Until these facts come out, both sides should be wary of assigning specific motives to his actions. But what is clear is that Giffords was shot in a climate of extreme political dialogue that most rational people should agree is out of bounds -- and needs to be toned down immediately. There has been a
300 percent increase in threats against members of Congress in the first few months of 2010, and a
400 percent increase in threats against the White House since January 2009. One anonymous Democratic congressman, who has been the target of death threats, emailed the
Huffington Post and said that certain signs and messages embraced by the Tea Party constitute a "threat of violence." He noted that it is still possible, for $21.80, to by a t-shirt that reads "we came unarmed (this time)." "There is no way to interpret that except as a threat of violence," he said, in an email, forwarding along a link to other images of the message being broadcast at rallies. "And those signs and shirts were not isolated or unrepresentative of the tone of the rhetoric. The signs and shirts were everywhere. You can buy that t-shirt on the internet today for $21.80. It's described as a 'Tea Party Rally T-Shirt.'" Giffords herself was long concerned with violent rhetoric. After Palin released her gun-sight map, Giffords
told MSNBC, "I can say that in the years that some of my colleagues have served -- 20, 30 years -- they've never seen it like this...when people do that, they've gotta realize there's consequences to that action."
