# Sarah Palin takes no responsibility for the Tucson shootings? Really? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 10, 2011, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-takes-no-responsibility-for-the-tucson-shootings-really/567104 "2011-01-10T16:09:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-takes-no-responsibility-for-the-tucson-shootings-really/567104/21 "2011-01-10T17:02:48Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > I’ve seen centrifuges that can spin at something like 90,000 rpm generating more than 500,000 g, and they make faster ones that that. So that would be some massive spin indeed. Yes. Wouldn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-takes-no-responsibility-for-the-tucson-shootings-really/567104/22 "2011-01-10T17:04:35Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Of course Palin takes no responsibility for the shootings. > > And of course there are plenty of reasons she might take down her page without taking responsibility for the shootings. It’s in incredibly poor taste to leave a cross-hair target up ona person that was shot, even if your target was political removal and not actual shooting, in much the same way the DNC might [use targets](http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=253055&kaid=127&subid=171) to demote political aims and not bullet aims. > > The obvious lie by Palin’s camp about surveyors marks is pretty stupid, I grant, but when inferences of such foolishness as the OP are in play, panic results in stupidity. I this is exactly it, actually - the site was taken down out of a sense that it would be in poor taste now, and the lying happened because, well, the people involved panicked. I’m not sure that the fact their panic led to stupid lying says particularly nice things about their character - but it doesn’t make them complicit in Loughner’s violence, or responsible for it. Look - populist politicians have _always_ used militant language in their rhetoric. It’s not always particularly pretty, but it’s always understood by sane people to be just that - rhetoric. And in a free society, it isn’t sufficient to say that people are believe whatever they want, and speak for their positions - they also need the freedom to make rhetorical choices when they engage in speech. Loughner’s a madman. Madmen sometimes do horrible things. Even if Loughner were to _say_ that yes, he was indeed inspired by Sarah Palin - I wouldn’t blame her for the shooting, because I don’t believe it’s reasonable to expect public speakers to anticipate the effects their words will have on madmen. How could they? I suppose they could, if they were so inclined, carefully strip all public speeches and advertisements of any militant language that could be interepreted by a crazy person as an actual call for violence. But this seems an excessively onerous restriction to place on our political speech. I don’t like Sarah Palin. I blame her for lots of things - not least, I think she’s politically mobilized and empowered some fairly nasty people. But no American politician wants to see other politicians getting shot - if for no other reason than that it could start a very unpleasant trend. Sarah Palin isn’t to blame here. Loughner is. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-takes-no-responsibility-for-the-tucson-shootings-really/567104/23 "2011-01-10T17:08:20Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > I suppose they could, if they were so inclined, carefully strip all public speeches and advertisements of any militant language that could be interepreted by a crazy person as an actual call for violence. Yes, let’s start there. > [@](#): > > But this seems an excessively onerous restriction to place on our political speech. Why? What’s so onerous about saying “vote them out of office” instead of “reload”? (Again, I don’t want to legally restrict their speech, I simply think public opinion can/should sway them to realize that it’s not worth it. If they don’t care about the loss of life, maybe they’ll care about the loss of elections.) ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-takes-no-responsibility-for-the-tucson-shootings-really/567104/24 "2011-01-10T17:08:37Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > The obvious lie by Palin’s camp about surveyors marks is pretty stupid, I grant, but when inferences of such foolishness as the OP are in play, panic results in stupidity. Who is panicing? This isn’t the post labor day buildup to the conquest of Iraq, it’s a simple acknowledgement that a campaign of violent rhetoric such as the right has engaged in has real world consequences. Acknowledgement isn’t panic. Worrying about Saddam murdering your babies in their beds, in 20 minutes or less, _is_ panic. Some people actually did get murdered this time, after a Republican led hate campaign was aimed at them. (of course you murdered a bunch of Iraqi’s after your last hate campaign too, but who counts non-Americans). It’s not panic to notice that conservatives are a bloodthirsty lot, and to point out the identity of the more egregious bloodlusters. Coinkydink does not cut it as an explanation the second time around. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-takes-no-responsibility-for-the-tucson-shootings-really/567104/25 "2011-01-10T17:10:48Z")
Don’t retreat, regrade! ---
**Author:** ![Walmarticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Walmarticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walmarticus)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-takes-no-responsibility-for-the-tucson-shootings-really/567104/26 "2011-01-10T17:10:52Z")
I’m infuriated by the jackasses who, instead of rallying against the lack of any system to prevent an obvious psycho from doing obviously dangerous shit, use mass murder as a card to be played in their petty political battles. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-takes-no-responsibility-for-the-tucson-shootings-really/567104/27 "2011-01-10T17:12:50Z")
What system would you suggest could be put in place to prevent this kind of thing? If we’re going to have a 2nd Amendment, this is the price we’re going to pay for it. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-takes-no-responsibility-for-the-tucson-shootings-really/567104/28 "2011-01-10T17:14:17Z")
Seriously, one of the funniest comments I’ve heard coming out of this tragedy is that the Kennedys could have thought up eight better lies than this one before breakfast and they actually killed people! Survey marks. Indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-takes-no-responsibility-for-the-tucson-shootings-really/567104/29 "2011-01-10T17:17:05Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > It’s in incredibly poor taste to leave a cross-hair target up ona person that was shot, even if your target was political removal and not actual shooting, in much the same way the DNC might [use targets](http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=253055&kaid=127&subid=171) to demote political aims and not bullet aims. Clearly those are archery targets. If he had used a bow and arrow this rampage would not have been so deadly.\* \*this is of course a joke ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-takes-no-responsibility-for-the-tucson-shootings-really/567104/30 "2011-01-10T17:17:21Z")
The Oklahoma City bombing and this incident prove we can not trust white people. Therefore white people should all be put on the don’t fly list. The TSA should immediately investigate all white people because they have been proven to be dangerous and un-American. We should all back the profiling of young white males. ---
**Author:** ![Walmarticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Walmarticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walmarticus)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-takes-no-responsibility-for-the-tucson-shootings-really/567104/31 "2011-01-10T17:20:00Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > What system would you suggest could be put in place to prevent this kind of thing? > > If we’re going to have a 2nd Amendment, this is the price we’re going to pay for it. Maybe it’s more efficient to improve mental healthcare options. Maybe it’s more efficient to improve security at public events. Maybe the gunseller should have just looked at the guys Youtube account. Whatever. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-takes-no-responsibility-for-the-tucson-shootings-really/567104/32 "2011-01-10T17:22:00Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > If we’re going to have a 2nd Amendment, this is the price we’re going to pay for it. And if we’re not going to have any kind of public assistance for mentally ill people to get help, this is also the price we’re paying for THAT. Someone on another board was asking why Loughner didn’t get some kind of mental health care from the state. That’s hilarious. Arizona is the state where the second person who was refused state aid to find a transplant organ just died. They’re not even subsidizing transplants, let alone therapy. Welcome to Rightwingistan. ---
**Author:** ![Walmarticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Walmarticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walmarticus)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-takes-no-responsibility-for-the-tucson-shootings-really/567104/33 "2011-01-10T17:24:31Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > You’ve never seen a centrifuge that could spin as hard as the whole Republican/right-wing noise machine is going to spin in the next week or two. They’re left with little alternative, considering the kind of shit they’re going to be pinned with. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-takes-no-responsibility-for-the-tucson-shootings-really/567104/34 "2011-01-10T17:27:05Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > The Oklahoma City bombing and this incident prove we can not trust white people. Therefore white people should all be put on the don’t fly list. The TSA should immediately investigate all white people because they have been proven to be dangerous and un-American. > We should all back the profiling of young white males. Probably about 10% of white people are terrorists. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-takes-no-responsibility-for-the-tucson-shootings-really/567104/35 "2011-01-10T17:29:24Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Probably about 10% of white people are terrorists. Does that include all the terrorist supporters who filled money jars in bars across America for the IRA? ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-takes-no-responsibility-for-the-tucson-shootings-really/567104/36 "2011-01-10T17:29:38Z")
Palin shouldn’t “take responsibility”. But I wish she would publicly admit that the target list was in bad taste and that violent rhetoric has gotten out of hand among the mainstream right, and ask others to join her in toning it down. (Honestly, if she did that I’d suspect she had been replaced by Bizarro Sarah Palin, but it’d be nice nonetheless.) ---
**Author:** ![Walmarticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Walmarticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walmarticus)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-takes-no-responsibility-for-the-tucson-shootings-really/567104/37 "2011-01-10T17:32:16Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > Palin shouldn’t “take responsibility”. But I wish she would publicly admit that the target list was in bad taste and that violent rhetoric has gotten out of hand among the mainstream right, and ask others to join her in toning it down. > > (Honestly, if she did that I’d suspect she had been replaced by Bizarro Sarah Palin, but it’d be nice nonetheless.) That’s totally reasonable. If people are insistent that she “take responsibility”, it’ll just back up her claims that liberals are of supreme bad taste in trying to implicate her in tragic murder. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-takes-no-responsibility-for-the-tucson-shootings-really/567104/38 "2011-01-10T17:32:26Z")
Her personality disorder makes it impossible for her to ever admit any fault or flaw. She will somehow end up making herself the victim in all of this. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-takes-no-responsibility-for-the-tucson-shootings-really/567104/39 "2011-01-10T17:38:04Z")
> [@C3](#): > > Bolding mine. I assume that was a typo. Yes. It was the Democratic Leadership Council, DLC, not the Democratic National Committee, DNC. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-takes-no-responsibility-for-the-tucson-shootings-really/567104/40 "2011-01-10T17:38:24Z")
Isn’t it amazing that the right, who claim that the existence of gay people marrying will make children become gay and destroy an institution that has been around for more then 4,000 years, deny the possibility that their inflammatory rhetoric could influence anything? The right, who rants on about how people who can barely read English should have understood 50 page mortgage documents written in legalese doesn’t like to take responsibility for anything. The financial crisis? Barney Frank, not us! The absence of WMDs? How could we know? Doing nothing when warned of a potential terrorist attack using airplanes? Intelligence didn’t give the flight number, what could we do? You know **Bricker** , perhaps besides just taking down a clearly inappropriate site, perhaps Palin could go just a bit further and say something to tone down the rhetoric, perhaps even that maybe bringing guns to rallies of the opposition is not a good idea? Even McCain did that, before he got totally senile. Or is this too much to ask? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-takes-no-responsibility-for-the-tucson-shootings-really/567104.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-takes-no-responsibility-for-the-tucson-shootings-really/567104.md?page=3)