Political Assassination

I have been thinking for quite a while that in our super-heated political and media culture, violence and assassinations were inevitable, and now it has happened. Although the Arizona event looks like political assassination from the right, I am quite certain that we will see violence from the left too; if I was Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh, I wouldn't think that any amount of protection was enough.

Sarah Palin's connection to the event in Arizona is troubling:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/is-palins-crosshairs-map_b_806277.html

Howard Fineman believes this incident will hasten the "end of access" to our public officials:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/08/the-end-of-access_n_806249.html

I applaud Sheriff Clarence Dupnik of Pima County for speaking truth at a difficult time:

When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And, unfortunately, Arizona I think has become sort of the capital. We have become the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry. It's not unusual for all public officials to get threats constantly, myself included. And that's the sad thing of what's going on in America. Pretty soon, we're not going to be able to find reasonable, decent people who are willing to subject themselves to serve in public office....People tend to poo-poo this business about all the vitriol that we hear inflaming the American public by people who make a living off of doing that. That may be free speech. But it's not without consequences.

This kind of plain honesty is what is best about the American West, and in my eyes it makes Sheriff Dupnik a hero today.

POSTSCRIPT: More on Sheriff Dupnik here:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/1/8/20385/23284

He has been fighting this fight publicly for a long time; today's remarks were in his personal tradition. We need more public servants like this.

POSTSCRIPT: Representative Giffords was the first Jewish representative elected from the State of Arizona. Suspect Jared Lee Loughner's Internet list of his favorite books includes Hitler's Mein Kampf. So it is possible that there is a hate crime dimension here.

A second suspect is currently being sought, and it will clearly be a long while before we know everything about this event. But some commentators are already spinning that because Loughner may have been a seriously disturbed individual, this was not a "political assassination." That is ridiculous. As Andrew Sullivan has already noted, "some mental illness is probably a key part of this. But this does not exonerate violent or excessive rhetoric from the far right or far left: it's precisely the disturbed who can seize on those kinds of statements and act on them. The danger of violent rhetoric, especially involving gun violence, is its interaction with the disturbed." And a public killing, or attempted killing, of a political figure is a political assassination, plain and simple. James Fallows is very helpful on that point:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/01/the-cloudy-logic-of-political-shootings/69147/

POSTSCRIPT: Keith Olbermann was pretty amazing in a special Countdown tonight -- check out his "Special Comment: Violence and threats have no place in democracy."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/ns/msnbc_tv-countdown_with_keith_olbermann/

Of course, none of the changes that Keith calls for so passionately will actually occur. 9/11 did not make us thoughtful, and Tucson will not make politics and media more civil. In fact, the "debate over the debate," the spin/counterspin, has already started with a vengeance in this instance. But it was a vintage moment for Olbermann, channeling Edward R. Murrow -- "Good night, and good luck." We will need the good luck.

POSTSCRIPT: This timeline of incitement is detailed and sobering:

http://veniceforchange.blogspot.com/2011/01/becking-of-america-how-right-wing-media.html