Clearly there was a PR campaign afoot to stir the pot. These two images were not a coincidence in their violent tone or message. We know that they pay consultants to come up with these graphics, slogans, and marketing. We know what audience they were "targeting," and we can be pretty sure that they knew what they were doing when they stirred this pot.
There should be an investigation into these similar campaigns to "target" and "remove" Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords to find who was behind them both.
Sarah Palin's facebook page:
20 House Democrats from districts we carried in 2008 voted for the healthcare bill...IT'S TIME TO TAKE A STAND. Let's take back the 20, together!
with a map showing 20 crosshairs aimed at the Democrats' locations
...the innuendo pretty obvious.
Republican opponent Jesse Kelly's webpage:
Get on Target for Victory in November. Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office. Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly."
...leaving no doubt what was meant by this violent PR campaign.
Wendell Potter wrote the book, "Deadly Spin," in which he disclosed how the healthcare industry wanted to "push Michael Moore off a cliff." Keith Olbermann aired a segment on how the health care industry via American Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) hired APCO, a public relations firm, to vilify Michael Moore, which in turn funded "Health Care America" for whom Sarah Berk was employed. She spoke on CNN and wrote Op-Eds to discredit Moore's Sicko without being identified as working for the health care industry.
The so called Tea Party itself has dubious origins. Who started this movement? Who finances it? Why are their piddling little protests front and center on the teevee, just like Sarah Berk, procuring valuable air time to promote their propaganda?
Let's face it, Congresswoman Giffords was voting for healthcare reform. The concerted effort to "target" Giffords in both Sarah Palin's facebook and Jesse Kelly's website is not an amazing coincidence, but likely another vicious PR attack campaign launched by special interests, similar to the one against Michael Moore and the vitriolic PR campaign waged against climate scientists, who also have been receiving death threats.
Special interests contribute to both Democrat and Republican candidates alike to trash the opponent who doesn't toe their line of hooey.
There should be an investigation into why Sarah Palin posted that terrifying map pocked with crosshairs. Who actually constructed the map? I doubt Sarah did the graphics. Was it her idea to post the image? I doubt it. If not, whose idea was it and how did they put her up to do it? What PR firm? What contributor? What about the gimmick Jesse Kelly employed to "fire up" his constituency? Was the M16 event his idea? If not, whose idea was it?
In the documentary, "Bush's Brain," we saw the dirty tricks used to malign the opposition and how the TV news shows aided and abetted the PR schemes by airing accusations and innuendo, but not the conclusions, to destroy the opponent's chances at the polls. When I volunteered for Ned Lamont, I witnessed this collusion between the smear machine and the MSM first hand in Connecticut, when the news media reported how Joe Lieberman's computers crashed after allegedly being hacked into by Lamont's campaign, but the results of the FBI probe that exonerated Lamont's campaign workers wasn't reported.
In the documentary, "Who Killed the Electric Car?" we learned about how the oil and automobile industries worked in tandem to put an end to this energy efficient alternative that threatened their bottom lines.
Listen up, Congress! Convene a Congressional hearing, please.
Gabrielle Giffords was one of your own.
For once, let's put partisanship aside and find out who is behind these dangerous PR campaigns.
Our lives and our democracy depend on it.
Listen up, talking heads! Who is that "expert" you're interviewing? Is he or she lying? Is he or she manipulating public opinion? Is he or she trying to whip up vigilantes and assassins? Why are you putting him on your show and giving him so much air time to mislead the public? Why aren't you giving the other side equal time?
These PR firms couldn't stir the pot nearly so vigorously without the MSM's complicity.
Your reputations are on the line. Do the right thing. Search your souls and come clean.
It's gone too far. You are now going to have to make a choice...do you really want to continue to stir this pot or do you want to do what is best for all of us as a nation?
Think about that 9 year old girl shot in a supermarket parking lot while meeting her Congresswoman.
No matter what they pay you to get along and go along, is this the America you want for your children?
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In the following clip, Congresswoman Giffords answered a question about violent rhetoric and averred that Palin's language does have consequences. The news station interviewed Giffords after her headquarters were vandalized subsequent to her vote for the health care bill.
After this interview, in which Congresswoman Giffords, publicly made the point that she was on Ms. Palin's targeted list with the crosshairs of a gun site on her district and that when people do things like that it has consequences, it was incumbent upon Palin to cease and desist posting threatening images on her facebook page targeting Giffords. The fact that Palin didn't do anything to calm down her followers and remove the map with Giffords in her crosshairs after Giffords publicly addressed the vandalism and repeated harassment by people who were reacting to hateful and violent rhetoric speaks volumes about Ms. Palin's intent.