Posted by Nicky D.
I dislike Sarah Palin. I could go into a big long paragraph about how she is a genius at manipulating the American public, how her addition to the republican ticket should have made every single woman in America (no matter what your party preferences are) say “Really? Is that what you think of me? That my brain is so tiny and incapable of understanding the big bad world that you think you can get my vote by just by saying ‘look she has girly parts just like you’? or how she preys upon the simple minded by spewing one over-simplified, socially irresponsible, folksy catch phrase after another designed to make herself seem more like you, but I won’t.
She is though, like all of us everyday folks, just the worst possible versions of ourselves we could ever be. Mean, racist, intolerant, misinformed, cruel, and socially and environmentally irresponsible. Odd that these are the qualities she chooses to highlight so that she seems relatable. Makes you wonder who exactly she thinks we ARE. See, I didn’t write a paragraph about how much I dislike her. I wrote two, but only two. Very conservative of me I think.
Now that I have made my position on Sarah Palin clear let me just say I think it’s horrible that any of the blame of this awful event is being directed at her. Should she have put other politicians in metaphorical “crosshairs”? Nope. It was stupid, but she’s hardly alone in her poor judgment It’s the political environment today. Acrimony over harmony. Hatred and fear are part of the political process these days. Is it her fault? Nah. It’s ours. They didn’t put the McRib on the menu cause nobody eats it honey. Do we find it vile and disgusting? Do we contemplate how any good could possibly come of it? Do we recognize that its harmful and unhealthy? Oh yeah. But it’s so deliciously easy to swallow.
We love to be angry. We are mad as hell, even if we can’t really articulate what it is we are so mad about. Funny thing is, I think people are scared more than mad. We are being manipulated to respond to our fears with anger. And I have to disagree with anyone who says fear mongering and inciting hate haven’t primarily been the go-to tools of the far right.
Now that’s not to say that I think this particular trend is the reason this individual set out to kill a person whose political beliefs he did not agree with, if it is determined that was actually his motivation.
The man who walked out of his home with a loaded weapon with the intent to wreak this type of havoc clearly had some mental illness and his choice was a product of that. But we have to stop allowing ourselves and others to be manipulated with blind fear and ENCOURAGED to allow our fears to manifest as anger instead of solutions or it stand to reason that we will continue to see tragedy.
The View From We2 
I do not agree with the hatred spewing forth in the first two paragraphs, but I do agree that no one is responsible for the actions of another. This person's actions are their responsibility and only their responsibility. God gives us a will to choose our actions and we must be responsible and quit blaming others.
Well said, Sara.
I agree that it is way to easy in this day and time to lay blame on others for your actions. The choices you make are your choices, not those of someone else. It seems every criminal act now a days is the fault of someone other than the per…petrator. Every criminal seems to have an excuse of they were spanked by their parents, they were bullied, they were pushed by violent video games, movies, cartoons etc. People need to own up to their own mistakes, their own demons, their own skeletons. You make your life what it is, you decide how you are going to behave; though there maybe other factors involved in your decision, ultimately it is YOUR decision. Although Sarah Palin is a total nincompoop, she did not advise the social cretin to kill innocent people. He did that on his own! Patty Rolan
I could be wrong, but my guess is that Nicky D voted democrat in the most recentpresidential elections. If so, then he, and a majority of Americans, bought into anunqualified candidate spewing one over-simplified, socially irresponsible, folksycatch phrase after another (see "Hope" and "Yes we can"). It seems he's ok with onebut not the other. Which is fine. That's why we are given a choice at the ballotbox. It does not, however, make me feel better about him viewing this tragedy as anopportunity to espouse hate for another person. The left would have us believetheirs is a party of tolerance and Kum Bay Yah, but their words prove otherwise.
This is a typical post from the Left. They call conservatives racist, hate mongerers, cruel, misinformed and intolerant then go on to lecture us on the evils of hate speech. Racist? Really? That is an awfully strong accusation to through around. Surely you have something to back that up with. Obama can encourage his supports to "argue with their neighbors, get in their face" and it's ok. The double standard is amazing. However, CoachBRJ I will correct one thing. I believe Nicky D is a young lady.
That's another thing. They try to confuse you with tricky names!! 😉
Comment emailed to me by Kevin R. I am posting this for him:"I am so impressed that you know Sarah Palin well enough to call her Mean, racist, intolerant, misinformed, cruel, and socially and environmentally irresponsible without citing even one example of how she is any of these. This is the exact difference between the right and the left. The right runs on issues. The left calls the other side names like the ones listed above because they can never win an election on issues alone. Their campaigns are fear based. The Republicans are racist. The Republicans will take your social security away. The Republicans are all fat rich white guys(who eat McRibs) and don't care anything about the people who struggle with money. You can disagree with a politician all you want but I am sick and tired of every Republican being dragged through the mud. I find Sarah to be a charming, energetic person who represents the everyday values this country was founded on. Would she be a good president? I have no clue. But she is just as qualified(if not more) as the community organizer who is destroying our country with his actual policies. But what do I know. I'm sure Sarah has used her Jedi mind tricks on me because I'm simple minded. If being smart is using the logic of the left then I pray to God that I am simple minded. How about this for a commentary on the shooting. Some people are crazy and they take guns and shoot people. There is NOT anyone else to blame. The blame falls on the NUT who did it."
To be clear, I wasn't saying all CONSERVATIVES are racist, cruel, misinformed and intolerant. I am saying that we ALL are. To some degree. It's inside of all of us no matter what your race or background or political affiliation -just in varying amounts. It's part of what makes us human. Thankfully, we possess love, compassion and a true deep desire to see peace and harmony as well. Again-just in varying amounts. I think Sarah Palin has chosen to highlight the very worst aspects of human nature and market herself directly to them. She preys upon the fears of the American people and instead of offering any real leadership she simply stokes the fire.It's not hate speech to say that I dislike the way my fellow Americans are being manipulated, or that i don't appreciate the way it's being done, or that I'm dumbfounded that so many people don't recognize it or just refuse to acknowledge it. I don't consider myself far left, and i think that many of my conservative friends would be amazed at the issues we probably agree on. But I'm going to call a spade a spade. The FAR RIGHT HAS chosen anger as a platform, to deny it is absurd. Does that mean im sitting around with the only other registered Democrat in Wetumpka singing "Kum Bay Yah" in some sort of tree hugging love fest, smoking a peace pipe as we read over our sure-fire plan for world peace and the saving of the planet because we have all the answers in our camp? Because thats not whats happening. Not by a long shot. If you want to get into a discussion about how throughly disappointed I am with my own party, I can clear out a space on my calendar.
Yeah, about that. Don't bother. I'm too busy working three jobs. Not all of us are living on union boss salaries and government bailouts.
This comment has been removed by the author.
So Sarah Palin was judged for the actions of extremists? Maybe she could ask the Imam trying to open a Muslim community center two blocks from the WTC how to deal with misplaced blame.
Sorry about the double post, I had to fix a typo.