Truth, Love, Peace, and...Targets?

Amidst the tragedy of the Tucson, Arizona shooting, of course someone has to leak out controversy about some ultra-famous politician.  And unsurprisingly, this perfect example of gun violence seems to have splashed blood on the hands of gun-enthusiast Sarah Palin.

I'm keeping this short, because I'm pretty miffed about the whole thing, and I just don't need to start pounding on my keyboard. But basically, in case you haven't heard, last year, Governor Palin's political action committee (SarahPAC) released a propaganda-style graphic outlining the twenty House Democrats who voted for the "ObamaCare" bill.  It, as shown below, placed gun targets over the states and included the names of the representatives.

 

And yes...that is Gabrielle Giffords' name on the left column.

The idea was that we need to "target" these representatives and try to remove them from the House.  I'm crediting this whole thing to an eerie coincidence...especially when you see this below:

Let's take a step back and look at this. The theme of the graphic was "targeting" liberal representatives and apparently, the 6/12/10 event advertised above was a gun-promoting fundraiser for a conservative cause.

I'm going to take a wild guess (read: common sense) and say that Sarah Palin did not have Giffords shot. That's ridiculous; we all know that the Palins are not like the Kennedys. I don't believe she has enough power to get away with that, plus she really does not seem like the kind of person to just pay to pick people off.  It's a ridiculous concept to say that this is more than a coincidence.

However, is Governor Palin a totally innocent party in this?

My answer is: no. The map graphic was totally offending and promotes anything but the "peace and justice" that Palin advertised on her Facebook statement about the shooting of Representative Giffords.  It is never okay to make a statement by putting a target (even figuratively, as SarahPAC did) on someone's name or on a map of America.  This is as much a slap in the face of liberals as her TLC show "Sarah Palin's Alaska" was.  Now, there is nothing wrong at taking a jab at the opposite party, but to promote violence in such a way as this is unacceptable.

I really hate playing the "If _____ did this" game, but here I go...

If President Obama released a graphic with targets on the map of the United States of America, he would have been immediately called a terrorist and a "radical Muslim."  Fox News wouldn't rest until they had statements from Megyn Kelly, Bret Baier, Glenn Beck, Shepard Smith, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Juan Williams, Geraldo Rivera, Rush Limbaugh, and Palin herself that all called Obama a radical.  Governor Palin should not be able to put targets anywhere on America or on people's names because it is, in my opinion, quite radical.

I'm not the most conservative thinker, and I'm not the most liberal thinker, but it is pretty obvious to me that Palin's graphics are not helping the Republican party.  Insensitive propaganda like this paired with the Tea Party's ignorant signs (see below) only further the Republicans' flawed reputation as war-mongers.

Of course, as soon as this controversy was whispered toward Fox News, Glenn Beck had to tackle it.  Governor Palin sent him a rather timely email (proving she can do it, ha) that read:


"I hate violence. I hate war. Our children will not have peace if politicos just capitalize on this to succeed in portraying anyone as inciting terror and violence. Thanks for all you do to send the message of truth and love. And God has the answer."

Governor Palin, with all due respect, maybe you could take time off from chopping down trees and hunting moose (we all know you do it because we all saw the "Sarah Palin's Alaska" commercials) to actually promote peace. You can make your PAC cut out the violent propaganda. You can start sending your own messages of peace, truth, love, and God.  You don't have to change your stance on the War on Terror or guns.  Just change your maps, graphics, and advertising of your name and opinions.  Oh, and while you're working on this, maybe you could talk to your buddy Glenn, who you claim "sends the message of truth and love."  May I remind you of the time he said he took his WWJD bracelet off because he thought of killing Michael Moore?

And while we're talking, can you send me a letter?  Glenn Beck gets an email, and I don't? I see how it is...

Only kidding, of course.  But I'm still waiting.  Maybe you can make it up to me by sending me a letter and telling your good buddy Glenn to send me one as well.  Now that would make for an interesting blog.

Finally...

Luckily, we still have some peace-minded people in America, as shown below.  Even if Giffords is an "ObamaCare Democrat", she should be admired for her dedication to national security and border security.  She is a true patriot and my prayers are with her as she recovers from this tragedy.  No matter how we feel about Palin, Beck, or the Tea Party, we should all remember the six deaths in Tucson, the other victims still recovering, and the representative who was unfairly targeted--both literally and figuratively.