Today is Day 4 of a furious attempt by Leftward thinkers to turn the horrific shooting in Tucson, Arizona, into political gain against those who are winning the nation's great policy debate.
A lone gunman, mentally disturbed, member of no militia but that marching within his troubled brain, opened fire in a public place, with great loss of life and injury. Jared Lee Loughner's political philosophy, to the extent that he has one at all, can best be described as nihilism. Which is not the same as libertarianism, much less conservatism.
Somehow, because the intended target was a blue dog Democrat, the shooting is proof of the scabrous and illegitimate nature of the conservative ascendancy. Tea partiers, Republicans, budget hawks, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Miss Vicki and the Squire -- all are in the crosshairs (if such term may be permitted) of Leftist vigilantism.
In Monday's blog, one James Jones -- presumably not the pot-boiling author nor the dropper of perfectly thrown passes -- personifies the Left's politicization of the tragedy in Tucson. Viewer discretion is advised as I here reprint his expletive-laden rants. Notice the name-calling, the attempt to delegitimize those with whom he disagrees.
All the vices that Jones claims are sui generis conservative he -- without apparent self-recognition -- exhibits in spades.
The entirety of his message is suffused with the self-endowed sense of privilege that he is the only rational human being. Something he has in common with poor Loughner.
From James Jones on 01/10/11 at 8:56 pm
Wow Isthmus.If you're goal was to hire the the lamest most stereotypical predictable right wing media tool then job well done. I thought you would have maybe tried to find a voice for the Right that wasn't sick with the same disease of disingenuous rhetorical horse shit that most "conservative" voices suffer. Clearly Blaska isn't interested in an honest dialog about a huge problem with our political discourse that has cost more lives than those in AZ. It's more important to stand your ideological ground than it is to take responsibility for your reckless hate filled lies.
David Blaska you have no respect for the truth. Your blog is vitriol and lies mixed in with a few lame attempts at humor from [another blog reader] who clearly has a 2nd grade level of the issues.
From James Jones on 01/10/11 at 1:54 pm
So you're just allowed to LIE in your column like all other righties? ... You're part of the problem Dave., You're part of the discourse that allows pychos like this to blame every single problem they have on The libruls and shoves these nutbags right off the edge. You know the Dems have put forth programs to help the unemployed. Just becasue you opppsed them doesn't mean they weren't there. How about some honesty? Doesn't that sell anymore? You can disagree without being a lying douche bag.
Whew! The obvious question for Mr. Jones is, can he?
McCarthyism of the Left
George Will (no doubt in one of the higher circles of Mr. Jones' vision of hell) writes in Monday's Washington Post:
This McCarthyism of the Left -- devoid of intellectual content, unsupported by data -- is a mental tic, not an idea but a tactic for avoiding engagement with ideas. It expresses limitless contempt for the American people, who have reciprocated by reducing liberalism to its current characteristics of electoral weakness and bad sociology.
The runic stone that proves the Jones prog-lib hypothesis is Sarah Palin's map of crosshairs over "targeted" congressional districts, including that of Rep. Gabby Giffords. Never mind that there is zero evidence that troubled Jared Lee Loughner ever laid eyes on such a map. Political activists of all persuasions use the word "targeted" to refer to legislative seats they believe they can turn over. Twenty years ago a political discussion program was a must-watch; its name: Crossfire.
Politics ain't a doctoral seminar
It might interest Mr. Jones to know that the history of our country is replete with rich and vibrant debate in colorful language (without resorting to his gutter language).
John Adams called Alexander Hamilton, "the bastard brat of a Scotch peddler."
Thomas Jefferson's opponents predicted that if he became president, "murder, robbery, rape and incest will be openly taught and practiced."
In the 1880s, Grover Cleveland's opponents taunted his admission of out-of-wedlock fatherhood with: Ma, Ma, where's my pa?" After Cleveland's election, his supporters could rejoin, "Gone to the White House, ha ha ha."
Of course, when Major Nidal Hassan yelled Allah Akbar as he sprayed bullets at Fort Hood, America was forewarned to not jump to conclusions. Now, our prog-lib acquaintances (for they ARE our acquaintances) are yelling JUMP!
What seems more likely is that Jared Lee Loughner is more John Hinckley Mark David Chapman than John Wilkes Booth. Chapman shot John Lennon because he did not like the his perfunctory attitude in signing his autograph. Loughner did not like Giffords' non-response to his syllogistic question ""What is government if words have no meaning?"
Blame the fundamentalist grammarians
Want to blame someone, blame Noam Chomsky, not Sarah Palin.
The friends said Loughner told anyone who would listen that the world we see does not exist, that words have no meaning - and that the only way to derive meaning was during sleep. -- Associated Press 01-10-11.
Perhaps Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, a Democrat, lost his professional perspective because he is a personal friend of Rep. Giffords. The Arizona Republic calls it correctly:
With each passing hour, we learn more about the 22-year-old suspect. And everything we learn adds to the profile of a deeply troubled young man detached from reality. There is nothing to date that suggests any partisan motivation for his crimes, whether right-wing or left.
Dupnik needs to recall that he is elected to be a lawman. With each additional comment, the Democratic sheriff of Pima County is revealing his agenda as partisan, and, as such, every bit as recklessly antagonistic as the talk-show hosts and politicians he chooses to decry.
Politically correct speech codes were tried in the 1990s and discarded. A national campaign is now underway to bowdlerize the First Amendment in order to deny citizens engaged in business their right of free speech. Crying "Racism" in a crowded theater remains effective in some quarters.
Why does the Left so hate free speech?
