Thankfully, my Saturday evening tweet referring to the ‘murder’ of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was premature. However, the sentiment of hope that Saturday’s shootings might lead to a calming of the right-wing politics of hate, from politicians and media alike, was not.
Why, some asked, did I only refer to politics of hate on the right? Answer, because in recent times in the US, that is where it is overwhelmingly to be found. For some time, reasonable public-spirited people have been growing more and more concerned about the angry, hate-filled, gun-laden rhetoric of the right’s attacks upon President Obama in particular and Democrat politicians in general.
The Tea Party movement has been a brilliant political operation masquerading as a democratic grassroots campaign, complete with its cheerleading media wing in Fox News and leaders like Sarah Palin.
Palin is a fascinating political phenomenon. In appointing her as his running-mate John McCain in my view destroyed any last vestiges of hope that he might beat Obama. His strategy, if not exactly defined in these terms, was experience plus ‘I’m not George Bush’. In appointing Palin he demolished both planks of his own strategy.
Alas he also propelled her immediately to a new league and she has exploited it brilliantly. The impact on American politics, however, has been putrid.
Her Facebook message of condolence, alongside a giant plug for her book, rang very hollow when her previous messages about Congresswoman Giffords included the now infamous ‘crosshairs’ targeting of 20 members of Congress complete with the message ‘Don’t retreat. Instead – RELOAD’.
Her spokesman said yesterday they ‘never ever ever intended’ the crosshairs to be gunsights and that attemps to link her to the shootings were ‘obscene’. So is a lot that has come from Palin’s mouth and pen. So is a lot that has come from the mouths of the shock jocks and the Tea Party activists busy telling each other Obama is, well, not really American.
Let’s imagine that a leading British Muslim had put out campaign literature ‘targeting’ 20 MPs in the last general election. Let’s imagine that at the weekend one of the 20 had been shot. … And now imagine how our media would be reacting, swiftly followed by the cops moving in.
What the right are now doing is trying to portray the killer of Tucson, Arizona as a crazed loner operating in some kind of vacuum. But even if it turns out that he had never heard of the Tea Party, did not know who he was shooting, and was in fact a card-carrying member of the Democrat Party, (all three unlikely) it is time for the right-wing prophets of hate, many of whom have grown rich and famous on the back of their bile, to recognise the harm they do to public discourse, and their possible role in the actions of those who follow and listen to them.
“If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun. Because from what I understand, folks in Philly like a good brawl.” – So who said that: Sarah Palin at a Tea Party meeting, or President Obama on the campaign trail in 2008?
Who organised an presidential election campaign in 2004 called ‘Behind Enemy Lines’, using a map of America with key States highlighted by a gun target? Was it: the Republicans or the Democrats?
The role of Fox News is not to be underestimated in what you rightly say is a politics of hatred fuelled by the Right. It is also a warning to you Brits not to let Murdoch’s empire grow any further. Your BBC may not be perfect but it is not Fox and be happy for that
If we get the media deserve then God knows what we have done …
Did you see in the Guardian front page story they said conservative bloggers accused liberals of exploiting the attack … perish the thought that conservative bloggers would ever exploit anything
Excellent blog AC. I would just say that Sarah Palin is an ignorant and quite dangerous woman and God help America if she ever gets to have real power.
Who in 2010 broadcast a television election commercial in which he fired a hunting rifle at a copy of Obama’s Cap and Trade Global Warming bill? Was it Joe Manchin, the Democrat Governor of West Virginia and candidate for the Senate; or Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men?
Would Britain and the USA be happier having a Government exchange?
I’m convinced we have somehow ended up with the Government each other would want.
We would probably end up having to keep Clegg, but he clearly isn’t too much bother for anyone.
I remember the personal campaign of Faux News’ Bill O’Reilly ‘Tiller the baby killer’ he trumpted night after night on Fox and what happened? A man loaded a gun and shot the abortion doctor dead. People like Beck, O’reilly and Palin(all sorry excuses for human beings) do not pull the trigger but certainly load the guns for red-neck yokels to fire by spouting their hate-filled rhetoric, day after day.
Yes, Peter, that quote does seem trite out of context. His comments concerning Palin and a pig with lipstick were not a highlight either, but referencing Sean Connery from the movie The Untouchables in a snappy campaign speech point, is hardly comparable to the right wing dogma, and hate propaganda espoused by The Tea Party.
It’s the intent behind words that matter.
I agree with every word.
This must be the first time I’v ever agreed with anything Alastair Campbell has ever written/said. The tea party/anti government rhetoric in the US inevitably heads towards violence in this way; the tea party folk allow conspiracies to flourish, myths become fact. Obama needs to take charge of the debate and make it clear that the discourse there is beyond toxic now; it stops being about ‘i’m right and you’re wrong’ once people start shooting.
You are saying then that the intent of the Tea Party is political assassination? I trust not. But then what about Democrats who parade with effigies of a lynched President Bush? [See above] What is stomach-turning is the instant and orchestrated endeavour of the Democrats to attempt to make political capital out of this tragedy.
As nasty as ever Alastair.
This is a bit like blaming the Labour Partyy for Irish Republicans murdering three Tory MPs over the last 40 yaers in Britain.
(AC – sent this from my iPad but looks like it didn’t work for some reason. Therefore retyping it, just in case. If this is the tenth time you’ve received it, my apologies!)
This debate is another reason to remind ourselves of the dangers of News Corporation succeeding its bid to take over the whole of BSkyB. A letter in today’s Financial Times by a distinguished group of peers, academics and media experts warns of the dire potential consequences to UK news. The merged company would have a reach of 52 per cent of the adult population. They also remind us that Rupert Murdoch has said that the reason Sky News is not more like Fox News is because “nobody at Sky listens to me”.
And we shouldn’t dismiss the idea of there being a Fox type station here. Before Christmas, many people where shocked to hear Mark Thompson, Director General of the BBC, embracing “opinionated journalism”. Some wondered if he was angling for a job with News Corp.
In the end, Murdoch will do what makes the best commercial sense. His soon to be launched iPad Daily in New York is, we are told, likely to be more liberal. This is because the interest audience would be more receptive to that type of tone. My fear is that his business antenna has spotted a potential and lucrative right wing audience for a British Fox.
Hope you don’t mind the plug, Alastair, but if anyone shares these concerns, please follow DemocracyFail on Twitter and/or visit our site at http://democracyfail.wordpress.com
The hope that a calmer level of political rhetoric from the right-wing has (as yet) been unfulfilled is, in my view, attributable to the following (amongst other) factors.
Firstly, the right wing seem to believe that any high profile gun atrocity is an opportunity for the ‘liberal media and elites’ to start a campaign to erode their second amendment rights to bear arms. This right to bear arms seems to emanate from a distrust of big Government. Their trenchant attachment to the sacrosanct second amendment right seems to manifest itself in emotive rather than rational language.
Secondly, the right wing media (predominantly Fox News) play up to their core audience by garnering a siege mentality against the liberal news outlets. Should you dare watch MSNBC or read the New York Times you are most likely an America-hating Atheist Socialist who wants to see the lives of our elderly run by death panels. It is quite difficult, if not impossible to calm down what is standard editorial policy for Fox, Palin, Limbaugh and the likes.
Right wing media and politics is big business in America. The louder and more noticeable you are, the more lucrative this industry is likely to be for you.
So, when lone gunmen come along and commits an atrocity, those whose opinions he may have been following quickly wash their hands of his actions making them seem warped and depraved. But perhaps the system needs to examine its own depravities too.
Excuse my ignorance or forgetfulness, Guest666, (no relation, I hope, to the other AC – Aleister Crowley, self-designated ‘Beast666’ after the one in the Book of Revelations) but could you tell me who were the three Tory MPs murdered by the IRA, presumably when Labour was in government from 1964 – 1970, 1974 – 1979 or 1997 – 2010? Only Airey Neave (1979) springs to mind, and I’m not sure about which month that was – before or after the May 1979 General Election. Ian Gow was murdered in 1990, and the Brighton bomb of 1984 claimed other casualties. Tory supporter, Ross McWhirter, was murdered in 1975, but though a friend of Margaret Thatcher, he wasn’t an MP. Information only, please – I’m not making a point either way about the blog discussion!
Ian Gow MP was blown up ny a bomb planted by the IRA at his home, and Anthony Berry MP was blown up by the IRA bomb at Brighton.
I seem to remember that the Labour Party were wuite happy to invite Martin McGuinness to their party at the Grand Hotel in Brighton on the 25th anniversary.
“But even if it turns out that he had never heard of the Tea Party, did not know who he was shooting, and was in fact a card-carrying member of the Democrat Party, ”
He knew who he was shooting, but there is no indication that he had any right wing leanings. His friends seemed to indicate to the contrary that he was a bit of a leftie.
And I wouldn’t try to associate hime with the NRA/gun lobby nutjobs or hunting/shooting type. Even in America noone would think of going hunting for moose with a Glock semi-automatic.
“But even if it turns out that he had never heard of the Tea Party, did not know who he was shooting, and was in fact a card-carrying member of the Democrat Party…”
Really!?! If that were true it would make no difference? I think it would actually. Of course none of that is likely to happen. As far as your UK example for comparison, I bet you and the BBC would be saying ‘nothing here, move on.’
It is the likes of you and right-wing nutter on the other end of the spectrum that have destroyed faith in politics. Oh by the way, thanks to your lies while in government I will be able to tell my grand children that I personally was involved in the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. Thanks for that.
Let’s imagine that that the last labour government ran a public awareness (propaganda)campaign ‘targeting’ welfare recipients as (benefit) thieves.
Whilst you are quite correct in condemning the Tucson attack, the appalling Pallin and the utterly mad Tea Party it is a pity you have to turn it into a political attack. It would have been better to condemn political and, for that matter, religious extremism from whatever source – Right, Left, Christian Islamic or Jewish.
We often see the situation where the those who stir up trouble are only too happy to let others break the rules and then plead complete innocence. If you don’t believe me, ask any teacher. When it comes to political protest we only have to look at the recent student demos where the naive youngsters get pushed to the front, end up in conflict without the skills to avoid it and end up on the TV headlines.
The Tea Party campaigned against Gabrielle Gillards using a violent metaphor with particular resonance in what used to be the wild west. Are they, Sarah Palin and their apologists really surprised at the possibility that this metaphor was taken literally?
“Nick Clegg and Gordon Brown need to turn their guns on the real enemy”
Polly Toynbee, The Guardian, Saturday 17 April 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/17/clegg-brown-tory-big-society
Agreed. In addition to these comments I wonder if recent events indicate America is becoming politically unstable – particularly on the right.
Thanks Alex but that doesn’t answer my question. Ian Gow and Anthony Berry were murdered when the Conservatives were in government. Incidentally the Irish National Liberation Army claimed responsibility for Gow’s murder. I don’t go in for conspiracy theories but I am at least interested in the charge made by Kevin Cahill (author of ‘Who Owns Britain?’ (2001) that Airey Neave’s murder was an inside job, done by a section of the British Security forces. But the implication of Guest666’s post is that three Tory MPs were murdered when their was a Labour government, and I’m trying to ascertain who are these three Tory MPs.
A 9 year old child was murdered along with 5 other people. No one, and I mean no one should be making political capital out of this. Two things come to mind here:how is a clearly disturbed young man able to get a gun so easily and when can be expect political commentators and politicians from left, right and centre focus on improving our lives rather than their profiles?
I was thinking of Airey Neave, Anthony Berry and Ian Gow. My post wasn’t predicated on any particular party being in Government at the time. My point was that if you are robustly criticising your political opponents you shouldn’t be blamed if an evil/unbalanced force beyond your control kills them.
I don’t think anybody claimed that a Lbour government was in power simply that there were well known IRA suppoters in the Labour Party. He could just as eaily have said that weel known US Democrats were well know for their support of the IRA, or that some on the left of US politics (Black Panthers, Symbionese Liberation Army, Venceremos and the Weathermen) would resort toviolence, that Lee Harver Oswald spent time in the US because he liked the way of life there, that Timothy McVeigh may have been a survivalist, but as an atheist he doesn’t fit the Tea Party mould, or that in Europe, there were no right wing groups that used violence to the same extent as the IRA or the Red Army Faction (Baader Meinhof).
What we Brits cannot possibly comprehend is the gun culture that pervades Arizona.
I have three second cousins living in Tucson. One wrote to me today:
“I agree with our Sherriff Clarence Dupnik…Arizona is the Tombstone of America. Our gun laws allow people to carry a gun anywhere. I go into the market or into the mall and there are people walking about with their guns in their holsters.”
“The judge that was killed had won a civil case for our illegal immigrants against a rancher here in Tucson. The nine year old girl was born 9-11-01, one of fifty. Her father said last night that her life had book ends of tragedy.”
We just do not understand and we really do not want to go anywhere near there.
No, I’m not at all implying that the intent of the Tea Party is assassination. And I agree with you that no one should make political gain out of this tragedy. But I do distrust the far right, Fox News, mentality that leans towards extremism. An extremism that seems to be becoming ever more irrational (at least from this side of the pond). An extremism that also orchestrates it’s own narrative from the deaths of these people.
But, it’s clear that we stand on opposing sides of the political spectrum on this.
Thank you Guest666 – that’s a lot more clear than your original post and I think a good point. In the original post though the parallels are confusing – I don’t think Alastair was blaming the murders on the Republican Party (with the exception of one member) and I don’t think the equation of this particular lone gunman with Irish Republicans bears close scrutiny.
Thanks Alex. Two little quibbles – I think you mean Lee Harvey Oswald spent time in the USSR etc., and I doubt if there were any IRA supporters in the Labour Party, especially after the Birmingham atrocity (1974) – if there were it’s news to me.
“I seem to remember that the Labour Party were wuite happy to invite Martin McGuinness to their party at the Grand Hotel in Brighton on the 25th anniversary. “(of the Brighton Bomb).
I doubt if anyone was happy about anything on that occasion other than the prospects of saying goodbye to the Troubles. There’s nothing unusual about yesterday’s terrorists becoming today’s mainstream politicians – look at the history of the governments of Israel as an example – but that doesn’t mean that their previous actions are supported.
Alistair – I jog your memory to the outpourings of hatred visited by the Left on Hillary Clinton during the US primaries; followed by the mindboggling eruption of rage that greeted Palin after she was announced as VP candidate which continues to this day.
Not to mention the sustained vilification and hatred still being visited on Tony Blair. Truly the Left has nothing to learn from the Right on this issue.
A case in point:
http://huff.to/goe6Ov