Gary Bauer: Left Trying to Blame Conservatives for Arizona Tragedy

Conservative leader Gary Bauer, best known for leading the Family Research Council and running for the Republican presidential nomination back in 2000, offered his take on the mass shooting in Arizona that took place on Saturday.

As millions of Americans heard the news of this vicious attack, the natural reaction was to pray and be concerned for the dead and wounded. But on the ideological left, there was an immediate, shameless attempt to exploit the incident and smear conservatives, wrote Bauer to supporters on Monday. MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, whose own vitriolic rhetoric against conservatives is legendary, blamed Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly for the assassination attempt. Within an hour of the shooting, left-wing websites like the Democratic Underground and Daily Kos were filled with comments from left-wing activists suggesting that the Tea Party, Rush Limbaugh and anyone opposing Barack Obama were responsible.

Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., blamed conservative Sharron Angle, who lost her race against Harry Reid. Congressman Robert Brady, D-Pa., used the murder spree as an excuse to promote legislation that would criminalize certain criticisms of elected officials, continued Bauer. New York Times left-wing columnist Paul Krugman intoned that violent acts are what happens when you create a climate of hate. And it's long past time for the GOP's leaders to take a stand against the hatemongers. The Washington, D.C., newspaper Politico quoted an unnamed Democratic political consultant as saying that President Obama and his operatives needed to hang this event around the necks of the right.

To blame conservatives for the action of this assassin is to engage in exactly the kind of hate speech the left claims it wants to end. In fact, it has been the political left that has regularly tried to demonize millions of Americans who hold conservative views, insisted Bauer. The smear campaign against conservatives in the wake of the shooting spree is beyond disgusting. It is a part of the ongoing campaign to demonize, delegitimize and ultimately silence millions of Americans who want constitutional government, lower taxes, less power concentrated in Washington, life to be protected and marriage to remain the union of one man and one woman. To Krugman, Olbermann and the rest of their ilk: You should be ashamed of yourselves!