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Palin Calls Criticism ‘Blood Libel’
New York Times ^ | January 12, 2011 | MICHAEL D. SHEAR

Posted on 01/12/2011 5:42:46 AM PST by reaganaut1

Sarah Palin, who had been silent for days, on Wednesday issued a forceful denunciation of her critics in a video statement that accused pundits and journalists of “blood libel” in their rush to blame heated political rhetoric for the shootings in Arizona.

“Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own,” she said in a video posted to her Facebook page. “Especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence that they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible.”

Ms. Palin’s use last year of a map with crosshairs hovering over a number of swing districts, including that of Gabrielle Giffords, had increasingly become the symbol of that overheated rhetoric. In and interview with The Caucus on Monday, potential 2012 rival Tim Pawlenty, the former Republican governor of Minnesota, said he would not have produced such a map.

But in the video, Ms. Palin rejected criticism of the map, casting it as a broader indictment of the basic political rights of free speech exercised by people of all political persuasions.

She said that acts like the shootings in Arizona “begin and end with the criminals who commit them, not collectively with all the citizens of a state.”

“Not with those who listen to talk radio,” she added. “Not with maps of swing districts used by both sides of the aisle. Not with law abiding citizens who respectfully exercise their first amendment rights at campaign rallies. Not with those who proudly voted in the last election.”

(Excerpt) Read more at thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Crime/Corruption; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: accuracyaboutmsm; azshooting; bloodlibel; enemedia; freepressforpalin; giffords; leftchosis; libel; loughner; noaccountability; obama; palin; pds; sarahpalin; spotonanalysis; waronsarah
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To: Candor7

Agreed, this is a very presidential speech. The best I’ve seen by her yet, and that’s saying a lot. Her poise and diction is incredible, off the charts. The content is also, pardon my pun, right on target.


201 posted on 01/12/2011 7:45:57 AM PST by delapaz
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To: Travis McGee

You’re so right.

Words of the day: blood libel

They cannot be ignored the leftists and media will be scrambling to refute them. They cannot be refuted.


202 posted on 01/12/2011 7:46:10 AM PST by altura
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To: Travis McGee

[She has a way of crystallizing a meme.

Death panels and blood libel are perfect, like cut diamonds, in the war of words.]

Well said. As stupid as Palin (supposedly) is, she cuts right to the bone, and doesn’t necessarily stop there.


203 posted on 01/12/2011 7:47:08 AM PST by DaxtonBrown (HARRY: Money Mob & Influence (See my Expose on Reid on amazon.com written by me!))
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To: reaganaut1
excuse me EVERYONE...

I listened twice to the video and did a word search on the transcript and did not find the words 'blood libel'.

You trolls can all stop now, and move on to something else.

204 posted on 01/12/2011 7:47:17 AM PST by jimjohn
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To: se_ohio_young_conservative

golf cart


205 posted on 01/12/2011 7:47:26 AM PST by se_ohio_young_conservative (Palin or 3rd party... no exceptions !)
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To: r9etb
The Tea Party's public MEDIA CREATED image is that they're a bunch of hicks who march around and shout about what and who they don't like; and don't have any ideas worth speaking of.

That's just the fact.

No, your "fact" was wrong so I corrected it. The Tea Party is seen by a majority of Americans as a positive force. It's only seen by those who oppose it as what you describe.

I'd think you might want to change that, rather than whining to me about how mean the MSM is to the Tea Party. It's damned unmanly.

Frankly, making false statements is damned unmanly.

206 posted on 01/12/2011 7:48:31 AM PST by bcsco
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To: CharlesWayneCT; dirtboy; wtc911
As such, I agree that it was a bad term to use. Palin’s message is a good one, and whether it should be or not, it is obscured by what everybody understands or WILL be led to understand about the term “blood libel”. That Giffords was Jewish will only make the use of the term worse.

I think it's a good political move to refer to the actions of the media as a 'blood libel'. The term will massively inflame the left and their media lapdogs... and they *will* rally against her about her use. Which then gives her a forum to speak in about how their behavior is like a 'blood libel'. After all, the press really can't write much about Palin without having anything from her to write about.

Which then turns the whole media story away from the "TEA party and Palin caused the shooting of a Senator" storyline... to a "Is the media reaction a blood libel? We say No!"

Since so many people only really get their news from headlines or the TV, a story like that will make think a bit (if they are even following it at all). And the media (or libtards, for that matter) can't tolerate people forming their own opinions, you know.

207 posted on 01/12/2011 7:49:20 AM PST by gogogodzilla (Live free or die!)
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To: jimjohn

Eighth papagraph:
“But, especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn.”

Link:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2655557/posts?page=40#40


208 posted on 01/12/2011 7:49:35 AM PST by RandallFlagg (Let this chant follow BHO everywhere he goes: "You lie. You lie. You lie.")
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To: wtc911

Do you want attention and a bunch of people to chide you?

You will probably get it. What you said is blood libel.


209 posted on 01/12/2011 7:50:21 AM PST by altura
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To: r9etb

Nice use of vitriol in public discourse...you win the Dupnik Award! Enjoy it./s


210 posted on 01/12/2011 7:51:22 AM PST by downtownconservative
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To: RandallFlagg
I stand corrected. (stupid windows search). MY APOLOGIES.

Still with that said, it was used in the correct context.

211 posted on 01/12/2011 7:51:24 AM PST by jimjohn
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To: cdcdawg

Sarah is stating the news media is a calumniator that maliciously and without reason imputes a fault on kindred Americans who are innocent.

It is as simple as that.


212 posted on 01/12/2011 7:51:35 AM PST by bushpilot1
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To: jimjohn

About 3:30 into the speech.


213 posted on 01/12/2011 7:52:26 AM PST by FreedomForce (A conservative 2012)
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To: se_ohio_young_conservative; wtc911

Just for future use, the term is spelled “anti-semitic” (more than one person has spelled it wrong, so it’s not a personal correction).

I agree that it isn’t an anti-semitic term; that’s why I said you should argue that point, rather than accusing the poster of calling her an anti-semite and trying to get the poster banned from the site.

And if you do want to get someone banned, you should use the abuse button, and explain the problem; the mods can ban people, or censor them, or take it to the site owner if they want.

I don’t agree with wtc911’s particular complaint about the word, but I do think it was the wrong phrase to use, and it will not be helpful, and trying to argue that it was the right word, or is helpful, simply because we like Sarah Palin, will do nobody any good.

Sarah is a smart person, and hopefully she will come out with something that explains and apologizes for the confusion over the use of the term. It won’t be easy for her, it’s hard to back down when you make a mistake — but it would show the mark of a real leader to be able to react to criticism and grow from it.

I just wish one of her speech-helpers had been a little more on the ball, or that someone would have picked up on the use of the phrase earlier and raised the complaints so it would have been clear before Sarah released her video.


214 posted on 01/12/2011 7:52:30 AM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: CharlesWayneCT

Personally, I would have had a hard time not using profanity. I mean top notch high quality profanity.

They have making the charge that she is responsible for murder. Come on. Snap out of the political correctless.


215 posted on 01/12/2011 7:52:34 AM PST by se_ohio_young_conservative (Palin or 3rd party... no exceptions !)
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To: jimjohn

No problem.
And yes it was. Sarah nuked ‘em yet again.


216 posted on 01/12/2011 7:52:36 AM PST by RandallFlagg (Let this chant follow BHO everywhere he goes: "You lie. You lie. You lie.")
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To: r9etb

But if you notice, the media story is no longer a ‘TEA party and Palin caused the shootings’.

It’s all about whether ‘blood libel’ is appropriate for what they’ve done. Of course, the media thinks it’s unhinged, but now they’re writing a different story.

She’s knocked them off-message in just one speech.


217 posted on 01/12/2011 7:53:31 AM PST by gogogodzilla (Live free or die!)
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To: Sans-Culotte
That is to say, "blood libels" are ridiculous, unfounded and over-the-top accusations like the ones being used against Palin and other conservatives.

Correct. Those that want to fault Palin, like our wtc911, will do it NO MATTER what she says or does.

218 posted on 01/12/2011 7:53:31 AM PST by TankerKC (Part of the Soros funded Blog Police.)
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To: r9etb

That statement is so ... you.

And I don’t mean that in a good way.


219 posted on 01/12/2011 7:54:23 AM PST by altura
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To: reaganaut1

“blood libel” reminds me a lot of “high tech lynching”. That latter phrase probably backed the Left/media off enough to get Justice Thomas confirmed. “Blood libel” will make a few of the right people stop in their tracks and think.


220 posted on 01/12/2011 7:54:42 AM PST by cdcdawg
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