COMMENTARY | Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, blamed the tea party for the shooting of Rep, Gabrielle Giffords, according to the Washington Examiner. She made this charge during a broadcast on C-Span2.
To be fair, Wasserman Schultz did not suggest a conspiracy among the tea party to take out the moderate Democrat from Arizona. Without apparent irony, she blamed the “lack of civility” in political discourse which she blamed on the tea party. She pointed to raucous town hall meetings where tea party members confronted their members of Congress over their vote to impose health care reform as evidence.
One could wonder what is so civil about accusing one’s political opponents of being complicit in the maiming of a member of Congress and mass murder. In the alternate universe in which Wassermann Schultz resides, calling one’s representative in Congress on a vote for a bill most Americans still abhor is “uncivil.” Accusing the same people of inspiring a mass shooting is just casual conversation on a morning talk show.
It should be noted, as it was when Sarah Palin was accused of being the inspiration for the shooting, that the crime was committed by Jared Lougnher, a mentally disturbed man with no obvious political agendas.
Wasserman Schultz was not just being goofy by slinging this accusation against the tea party. Her statement had two purposes.
The first purpose was to demonize the tea party as purveyors of political violence. If their cause, smaller government, less spending, and lower taxes can be associated with a crazy man shooting up a Safeway parking lot, then the said cause will be less likely to advance.
The second purpose is to try to shut the tea party up or at least distract its followers into defending themselves against the charge. The more time that the discussion is about whether or not the tea party is racist, sexist, homophobic, and violent and the less time is spent discussing how the government is bloated and unwieldy, the better from the point of view of Wasserman Shultz.
On the other hand, the statement makes the head of the DNC look silly. It is a sword that cuts both ways.
Source: DNC chair blames Tea Party for Tucson shooting, Joel Gahrke, Washington Examiner, Jan 11, 2011