Palin Calls Criticism of Her Rhetoric "Blood Libel"

Anyone can use 'blood libel' even Sarah Palin | Alan Dershowitz
As a lifelong Liberal Democrat, I am no political supporter of Sarah Palin. I also oppose her use of rifle sight crosshairs as political symbols. Yet, I have no problem with her use of the term "blood Libel" to characterise what she perceives to be false charges that her Rhetoric and symbols were partly responsible for the deaths and mayhem in Tucson. The term blood libel has taken on a broad metaphorical meaning in public discourse. Although its historical origins are rooted in theologically ba...

Palin defends her bloodlust politics
Sarah Palin: Does she even give a damn? Prominent Republican Sarah Palin defended her fiery Rhetoric on Wednesday but ignited a fresh Controversy by accusing critics of “blood Libel” in linking her to a deadly Arizona Shooting Spree. A defiant Palin, leaping into a roaring debate on the consequences of overheated political rhetoric, said her critics had been irresponsible in rushing to blame Saturday’s gun rampage on vitriolic campaign Speech. “Especially within hours of ...

Palin cops flak for term offensive to Jews
Provide feedback to the multimedia producers. Thank you. Your feedback was successfully sent. Video will begin in 5 seconds. What type of connection do you have? Your video format settings have been saved. Sarah Palin on Wednesday defended her fiery campaign Rhetoric and took issue with critics for indirectly linking her to a deadly Arizona Shooting Spree. Los Angeles: In saying her critics ''manufactured a blood Libel'', Sarah Palin used a phrase linked to the false accusations made for centuri...

Backlash Grows Over Palin's 'Blood Libel' Claim
Sarah Palin's use of the loaded phrase "blood Libel" is attracting more attention and condemnation as the day goes on. The former Alaska Governor used the words to describe the claims of critics who said Palin deserved some of the blame for the Arizona shootings because of her fiery Rhetoric and her target-marked election map that put the sights on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), among others. But the phrase most often refers to an anti-Semitic myth that's been used to justi...

The Politics of Insinuation
David Warren: While it did not quite rise to a blood Libel, the headline in Monday's Guardian (U. K.) did not fail for want of trying: "Gabrielle Giffords shooting reignites row over right-wing Rhetoric in U.S." Elsewhere in the Guardian, the distance was bridged. Consider this heading (over a piece by Michael Tomasky): "In the U.S., where hate rules at the Ballot Box, this tragedy has been coming for a long time: The shooting of Gabrielle Giffords may lead to the temporary hibernation of right...

Palin's words reach back to sordid history
When Sarah Palin accused Journalists and pundits of "blood Libel" in the wake of the deadly Arizona shootings, she reached deep into one of medieval history's most sordid chapters to make her point. The term "blood Libel" is not well known, but it is highly charged - a direct reference to a time when many European Christians accused Jews of Kidnapping and murdering Christian Children to obtain their blood. Jews were tortured and executed for crimes they did not commit, emblematic of anti-Semitis...

"Blood Libel"
Yes many people have used the phrase "blood Libel" - including yours truly - but I nodded to the term's history when I wrote: Paladino speaks of “perverts who target our Children and seek to destroy their lives.” This is the gay equivalent of the medieval (and Islamist) blood-libel against Jews. Not many people use the anti-Semitic meme of Jews sucking others blood about a Jewish financier - but Fox News put it right up there, thanks to Glenn Beck. Adam Serwer contends that b...

Sarah Palin proves shes not presidential
When nations mourn, leaders heal. Sarah Palin, the darling of the right and self-appointed standard-bearer of appropriate political Rhetoric, demonstrated she is incapable of rising above a tragedy or Controversy to project the kind of leadership that brings Americans together in times of crisis. Too bad. I had hoped for more from her. Earlier this week I was talking with my colleagues at the office and we were discussing how unfair it was that Sarah Palin was linked to the tragic and sensel...

Palin, "blood libel", Krauthammer and the lefthave we completely lost our minds?
What a mess. Watching the political world in the light of the Tucson tragedy has been disheartening and disgusting. While the President’s Speech last night was fine, the venue was awful. And T-shirts? Really? It wasn’t a pep rally, but it seemed like one (I’m primarily talking about crowd reaction). What a more somber Oval Office Speech wasn’t proper enough? And this Sarah Palin thing. Am I ever tired of Sarah Palin. That said, I’m even more tired of the left̵...

Did 'blood libel' hurt Palin for president?
Will Sarah Palin's use of the term "blood Libel" hurt her chances if she decides to run for president in 2012? That is the question being debated in political circles and the answers are mixed. Palin attracted Controversy by accusing her critics, particularly in the News Media, of committing "blood Libel" by blaming incendiary political Rhetoric by her and other Conservatives for the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. A new USA Today/Gallup Poll finds a majority of those surveyed say the idea ...

First Thoughts: Obama recaptures his 2004 voice
Obama recaptures his 2004 voice…. He addressed the civility debate head-on… The Incredibly Shrinking Palin… Boehner’s statesman-like Speech, then his unforced error… And Pawlenty’s big day. *** Obama recaptures his 2004 voice : The past two years have made the 2004 Convention Speech that helped launch Barack Obama’s national profile -- “There's not a liberal America and a conservative America; there's the United States of America” -- seem...

Two Addresses; Two Approaches; Which One Speaks To The Heart Of America?
Much is being written in the blogosphere about the difference between Sarah Palin’s reaction to the Arizona shootings and the approach taken by President Obama.  For Palin, it was an opportunity to define herself as able to handle a personal Political Crisis, and to display an understanding of nuance and tonality.  The qualities we seek in our leaders, after all, are undefinable. It is not just about promising legislative victories or  thrilling one’s base; it’s ...

New York Times: Salving a National Wound Is Presidents Responsibility
Thursday, January 13, 2011 By Susan Jones (CNSNews.com) - "It is a president’s responsibility to salve a national wound. President Obama did that on Wednesday evening at the memorial service in Tucson for the six people who died in last weekend’s terrible shooting," said a New York Times editorial. The newspaper pronounced it one of Obama's "Most Powerful and uplifting speeches" -- then contrasted Obama's words "to the ugliness that continues to swirl in some parts of the country." Sara...

2012: 'Blood libel' backlash
BARBOUR: After South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s swearing-in ceremony, Haley Barbour “convened something of a meet-and-greet with a handful of Republican legislators at the Palmetto Club in downtown Columbia,” CNN reports. “Among those planning to attend the closed-door meeting: David Wilkins, a former U.S. Ambassador and South Carolina House Speaker who remains a power broker in state GOP politics. Wilkins was also the chief of Haley's transition team.” The New Yor...

TNR rounds up the usual suspects The Israel Lobby and Seven Jewish Children
David Greenberg in the New Republic says the Arizona attacks are evidence of rising Anti-Semitism. He's better at spelling Francay than English. The news of the years since September 11 has been full of more anti-Semitism than any decade in my lifetime, from the murderous kind in Mumbai and the banlieues of Paris to the “genteel” variety espoused by Caryl Churchill and Stephen Walt and John Mearshimer. Much of it has been blithely tolerated. You must log in to post a comment. Previous pos...

WashPost Offers Al Sharpton a Peacemaker Op-Ed: 'Passion Without Poison'
On the very same day that The Washington Post is shaming Sarah Palin on the front page for using the phrase "blood Libel," The Post editorial page welcomed the shameless Rev. Al Sharpton to paint himself as a peacemaker in the post-Tucson political games. The headline was "Passion without poison." Nowhere in the article did the supposedly reformed Sharpton find the words to apologize for smearing innocent people with the Tawana Brawley Rape Hoax, something he's never apol...

MSNBCs Ed Schultz Claims Palin Used Term Blood Libel to Appeal to Extremist Conservative Christian Base Video 1/12/11
Here is video of MSNBC’s Ed Schultz continuing the attacks on Sarah Palin. Here, he imagines that Palin’s use of the term “Blood Libel” to describe the Left’s manufacture of the idea that she helped inspire the Tucson Mass Shooting, is because she is trying to appeal to an “Extremist conservative Christian base.” I guess Schultz missed the memo that liberal attorney Alan Dershowitz said yesterday that there is absolutely nothing wrong with Palin’...

Palins Blood Libel Charge
Sarah Palin deserves a pass on the “blood Libel” bit. Yes it’s a phrase that originates in the extremity of human suffering, and yes it’s hyperbolic for Palin to use it as she did. But people often say: “sell me down the river.” That’s a phrase that originates in the forced separation of slave families. There’s enough to regret in Sarah Palin’s video address without blaming her for what is merely obtuse. ...

Left really hates it when people respond to their attack narrative
Image via Wikipedia Lori Ziganto: ... A pitch perfect response, both from the heart and smart. Naturally, that then caused the Left to lose whatever tenuous grip they had left on reality. See, Sarah Palin was bad for being “silent and on the lam” last night. But, today, she is super icky for responding and not remaining silent. After being accused for days of having “blood on her hands” and of being responsible for the acts of a madman. Who, incidentally, apparently did...

Obama Urges Americans to 'Stay United'
President Barack Obama called on Americans to stay united on Wednesday evening during a memorial service in memory of the people who were killed and to honor those who were injured in the Tucson, Ariz., shooting last Saturday. It was a chance for Arizonans as well as all Americans to remember and begin to heal. At times, the crowd of 14,000 was moved to tears and at other times they were moved to tears of joy, as President Obama remembered each of the six people killed and voiced America's ho...

Video: Charles Krauthammer On the Blood Libel Debate Have we completely lost our minds?
G.I. Wood Shop Inc. Mrs. Peel Oh…My Valve! V The K’s Caption This! An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later. “[T]he fact is that even the ADL, the Anti-Defamation League in expressing a mild rebuke to Palin for using this admitted itself in its statement that the term ‘blood Libel’ has become part of English parlance to refer to someone falsely accused,” Krauthammer said. “Let’s step back for a second. Here we have a brilli...

Team Sarah Points to Even More Recent Uses of 'Blood Libel'
As a follow up to yesterday’s post, Rebecca Mansour, Communications Director for SarahPAC, sends along even more uses of the term “blood Libel” in a non-traditional context: MSNBC’s Mike Barnicle: John Kerry Underwent A “Blood Libel By The Swift Boat People.” “The problem for Kerry here is that two years ago, Joe, he did not talk like that when he was undergoing a blood libel by the Swift Boat people. If he had stood up two years ago, in July of 2004, ...

Palin Accuses Critics of 'Blood Libel'
Far from backing down, Sarah Palin defended herself today against critics who linked her Rhetoric to the Arizona shootings, accusing them of the long-condemned anti-Semitic slur "blood Libel." Palin opponents noted soon after the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) that left six people dead that Palin had posted a map on her website last fall with gun sights on 20 districts, including Giffords'. She announced it with a tweet: "Don't Retreat, Instead - RELOAD!&quo...;

Palin Borrows Blood Libel from Israeli Far Right
“Journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood Libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible.” The “blood libel” was the false and outrageous accusation launched against Jews in medieval and early modern Europe by Christians that they stole Christian babies and used their blood in secret rituals. This bizarre obsession of European Christians resulted in attacks on and Pogroms against the poor Jews on...

Sarah Palin's 'blood libel' claim stirs controversy
Sarah Palin's newest Facebook page video scolds critics who say her high firepower Rhetoric could have contributed to Saturday's Arizona shooting rampage. But her use of an emotionally-charged phrase has spawned a Controversy all its own. Palin called herself the Victim of "blood Libel" — the original term for blaming Jews for the death of Christ and an anti-Semitic rallying call that led to countless Deaths of Jews, primarily in Europe and Russia. Many rabbis called her remarks insensitiv...