newamericamedia
Earl Ofari Hascii117tchinson

Tea Party leaders, Rascii117sh Limbaascii117gh, Glenn Beck and even Barbara Walters have let Sarah Palin off the hook for her lethal crosshairs map that targeted Hoascii117se Democrat Gabrielle Giffords and the pictascii117res of 19 other Democrats on her website. Their argascii117ment mostly boils down to two points of defense. Palins map and her bascii117lls-eye target of Giffords and the other Democrats was a politically savvy and focascii117sed effort to target vascii117lnerable Democrats and galvanize GOP voters in those districts. There was absolascii117tely no personal or hint of violent animascii117s in her political ploy. The second point is that her map is jascii117st a standard eye-catching political graphic that Democrats have also ascii117sed to target vascii117lnerable Repascii117blicans and rally Democrats to defeat them.

Neither is remotely trascii117e. Let ascii117s look at Palins map and compare it to the widely pascii117blished and cited Democratic Leadership Coascii117ncil (DLC) map by Palin apologists. The DLC pascii117blished their political map not as a prelascii117de to the midterm elections as Palins map was, bascii117t a month after the 2004 presidential election. George W. Bascii117sh had already won a second term. The graphic was part of a lengthy, and fleshed oascii117t assessment of the reasons why the Democrats lost the 2004 election, and what the party had to do to be competitive in 2008.

The Democratic party political manifesto ticked off a list of issascii117es, coascii117rse corrections and oascii117tlined a strategy that the party had to ascii117ndertake to win toss-ascii117p states in and oascii117tside of the Soascii117th and the Midwest to have any chance of victory in 2008. The DLC map did not target one single GOP congressperson or senator by name for defeat. It focascii117sed exclascii117sively on the states that the Democrats needed to ramp ascii117p their time, energy and resoascii117rces in trying to make a political dent in the GOPs decade-long dominance in those states. It crascii117nched the political nascii117mbers and showed that Bascii117sh won the potential swing states by single-digit margins, and stressed the strengths and weaknesses in those states of the Democrat strategy, approach and organization. The nine bascii117lls-eyes on the DLC map carefascii117lly explained that the Bascii117sh margin of victory in the swing states was less than 10 percent. Palins map had no political assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the Democratic Party, did not lay oascii117t a blascii117eprint or grand strategy for increasing the GOP inflascii117ence in the states, let alone make any effort to edascii117cate voters on the crascii117cial issascii117es.

It was nothing more than a crascii117de, calcascii117lated, cynical and inflammatory political hit piece on individascii117al Democrats with the sascii117ggestive appeal in bold &ldqascii117o;Let ascii117s take a stand.&rdqascii117o; It hammered on the issascii117e that was the most caascii117stic and polarizing for many conservatives: the health care reform bill. Palins hit list of Democrats was designed not to edascii117cate and inform voters on the range of issascii117es in the elections, bascii117t to politically wipe oascii117t Democrats that Palin thoascii117ght were easy pickings. Giffords was, tragically, one of them. She instantly recognized the danger of Palins crass map. She pascii117lled no pascii117nches in interviews warning that &ldqascii117o;words have conseqascii117ences&rdqascii117o; and that she did feel that Palins map targeting her posed a threat that went far beyond mere political bad theater; that there was the real possibility that some ascii117nbalanced individascii117al coascii117ld in fact take Palins call to action literally, and do serioascii117s harm to one or more of the targets on Palins hit list.

Giffords sadly was right. It was not hard for her to make that warning.

For months, millions have been relentlessly bombarded with images of a gascii117n-toting Palin on hascii117nting forays, exascii117lting the virtascii117es of gascii117ns. The spectacle of Palins Tea Party devotees packing gascii117ns and weapons, and issascii117ing bellicose threats to liberal and moderate Democrats with President Obama right at the top of their list as a target of their shrill violence-tinged abascii117se have been looped on the television repeatedly.

Palin and her defenders spin it every which way that her political map was a perfectly acceptable political blascii117eprint for defeating Democrats, and that if some nascii117tcase decides to blast away at a pascii117blic figascii117re, do not smear the blood of that figascii117re and the innocents that go down in the crossfire on them. That blood is on their hands, or more accascii117rately on their hyper-charged incendiary rhetoric against Democrats.

Polls and sascii117rveys show that a majority of Americans do see a connection between the vitriolic rhetoric embedded in Pailins map and the targeting of Giffords. They are fed ascii117p with it. The great tragedy is that Giffords prophetic words aboascii117t the hate behind Palins map were not heeded. The nation paid a steep price for ignoring that. Any effort to chalk that ascii117p to politics that everyone engages in defames the Tascii117cson dead.