Politics: Blood Libel and Palin and Current Climate

Palin uses the phrase "blood libel" and the political world goes bananas. Alas, the phrase has been used on many other occasions by people on both the left and right. Perhaps the term is overused but the outrage over Palin sounds like "heads I win, tails you lose."

UPDATE: More uses of blood libel cited.

Memo to both sides: calm down and chill out.

Sadly, I had a feeling that the political dialog in the USA was going to go even further downhill when I first heard the horrible news about the shootings in Arizona. I heard the story on KNX1070AM radio here in Los Angeles. As part of the coverage, Orange County Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez was contacted. The interview began with Ms. Sanchez describing her relationship with Congresswoman Giffords as they served on some committees together in the House. From these comments I had a very good feeling about Ms. Giffords and all subsequent stories about her I have heard since support the perspective that she was one of the bright young stars in the House.

The reporter then asked, do you think the climate of political discourse in the country caused this event?

At this point Congresswoman Sanchez could/should have said, we are just a couple of hours after these horrendous shootings and we know nothing about the gunman. Our attention should be on praying for and comforting the family and friends of those impacted by this horrible situation. Law enforcement officials are investigating the gunman and we will all know more later. But for now, let's remember those who are hurting right now and praise the first responders who did their jobs so well in tending to Congresswoman Giffords and the others wounded today.

Instead, Ms. Sanchez politicized the shootings and blamed the rhetoric of the opponents of her political party.

As I heard her go on about this for a couple of minutes I knew the tone of the next few days was going to be poisonous.