Attempting to connect invisible dots to link Sarah Palin and Jared Loughner, leftist conspiracy theorists continue to suggest that right-wing mayhem is on the loose.
The attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., by a lone 22-year-old gunman was seized on as an example of violence incited by tea party groups, conservative talk-show hosts and politicians like Palin.
Palin was dead in the sights of the critics, who noted that her political action committee website placed a gun-sight icon over Giffords' name. Two Florida Democratic congressmen -- Alan Boyd and Suzanne Kosmas -- received similar treatment on Palin's site.
Palin dismissed any rhetorical or logistical connection to the Arizona attack. In his writings, Loughner admitted stalking Giffords since 2007 -- a year before Palin burst onto the national political scene as John McCain's running mate.
Gun-sight iconography is common on political websites that figuratively target opponents. Former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., said his name was overlaid by a gun-sight image by his Democratic opponent.
FBI Director Robert Muller announced Monday that the profile of Rep. Giffords' assailant was that of a "lone, disenfranchised, angry young man." The bureau concluded that the attack was orchestrated and conducted by one gunman.
While some continue to accuse the tea party movement of complicity, one Democratic strategist is on the record as suggesting that President Barack Obama needed "a similar event" to the Oklahoma City bombing to reconnect with the public after the shellacking the party took in November.
Speaking on "Hardball" on Election Night, Mark Penn said it took the Oklahoma City tragedy to "reconnect" President Clinton with the American people.
Penn suggested that a "similar event" was needed by Obama.
But the facts on the ground in Arizona pointed away from politics and zeroed-in on a drug-using loner who maintained an occult altar in his backyard and cultivated an obsession with Rep. Giffords.
Loughner's parents, who on Monday hired the defense attorney who represented Unabomber Ted Kacsynski, have not been questioned by the media. But Loughner's peers described him as a "nonpolitical person" increasingly removed from reality.
In the absence of any verifiable political connection, speculation attempting to tie in Palin or the tea party movement seems equally out of touch with reality.
Yet mainstream media doggedly pursued a conspiracy fetish -- a marked contrast to the reporting of the Fort Hood massacre, in which President Barack Obama urged the press and public not to jump to conclusions about the motives of Muslim Maj. Nidal Malik Hassan.
In the aftermath of the Arizona rampage, radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh derided those who purvey "the premise of the tea party as a violent mob."
"They are accusing the majority of Americans of being accomplices to murder," Limbaugh said on his program Monday.
Far from being a talk-show devotee, Loughner listened to heavy metal and his eclectic reading list included "Main Kampf" and "The Communist Manifesto." Among the dope smoker's philosophical musings was a scheme to replace U.S. currency with marijuana.
Yet another blow to the leftists' conspiracy theory was the less widely reported death of U.S. District Judge John Roll in the Arizona shooting spree.
Roll was a Republican judge appointed by President George W. Bush.
Writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, Richard Roeper concluded, "Sarah Palin isnt responsible for the shootings any more than J.D. Salinger was accountable for the murder of John Lennon, Taxi Driver was the cause of the attempted assassination on Ronald Reagan or video games were the motivating factor behind the Columbine shootings.
"Maybe even less so. Mark David Chapman had a copy of 'The Catcher in the Rye' with him when he shot Lennon and the Columbine shooters were into video games such as Doom, and John Hinckley repeatedly watched 'Taxi Driver.'"
Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
