Sully on Kurtz's Smears

As much as it pains me to say it, Andrew Sullivan concurs with me on Howie Kurtz's deliberate dishonesty. And he says it much better than I did.

And then there's the second straw man. No one is saying Sarah Palin should be viewed as an accomplice to murder. Many are merely saying that her recklessly violent and inflammatory rhetoric has poisoned the discourse and has long run the risk of empowering the deranged. We are saying it's about time someone took responsibility for this kind of rhetorical extremism, because it can and has led to violence and murder.

The facts, moreover, are these: Palin singles out Giffords as a "target" for attack, illustrated by cross-hairs in gun sights, and urges supporters to "reload". This is pointed out at the time and Giffords herself worries that it took things over the edge. Palin had a chance to apologize or retract or soften the rhetoric. She did nothing of the kind. An individual subsequently guns Giffords down. What more, in many relevant respects, do we need to know than this? Any humane person who had published the kind of material Palin published and used the langage she did would surely now regret it.

Kurtz is just another one of the scumbag wingnuts who has seized on a political assassination from a position of safety to claim victim status for himself and his political allies. And who is rewarded for doing so.