Following the attack on Republican congressmen on Wednesday by a virulently anti-Republican, anti-Trump Bernie Sanders supporter, The New York Times published an editorial titled “America’s Lethal Politics” so egregiously dishonest that even many on the Left called foul. The Times has now issued a correction to the story.
In the regrettable editorial, after trying to use the shooting, which has left Republican Rep. Steve Scalise in critical condition, as a means of pushing yet again for more restrictions on Second Amendment rights, the Times made the following comparison between James T. Hodgkinson‘s heinous actions on Wednesday and Jared Lee Loughner’s shooting of Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords in 2011. Loughner’s actions, the Times dishonestly suggested, had a “direct” connection to a “stylized cross hairs” symbol Sarah Palin’s PAC used on its website. Here’s the original passage:
Was this attack evidence of how vicious American politics has become? Probably. In 2011, when Jared Lee Loughner opened fire in a supermarket parking lot, grievously wounding Representative Gabby Giffords and killing six people, including a 9-year-old girl, the link to political incitement was clear. Before the shooting, Sarah Palin’s political action committee circulated a map of targeted electoral districts that put Ms. Giffords and 19 other Democrats under stylized cross hairs.
Conservatives and right-wing media were quick on Wednesday to demand forceful condemnation of hate speech and crimes by anti-Trump liberals. They’re right. Though there’s no sign of incitement as direct as in the Giffords attack, liberals should of course hold themselves to the same standard of decency that they ask of the right.
After a flood of criticism and mockery (including from Palin herself) for the flagrantly false claim that Loughner was inspired by Palin’s “targeting” of Giffords, for which there is not a shred of evidence, the Times revised the passage. Here’s how the passage now reads (deleted phrasing marked with a strike-through, significant phrasing additions in bold):
Was this attack evidence of how vicious American politics has become? Probably. In 2011, Jared Lee Loughner opened fire in a supermarket parking lot, grievously wounding Representative Gabby Giffords and killing six people, including a 9-year-old girl, the link to political incitement was clear. At the time, we and others were sharply critical of the heated political rhetoric on the right. Before the shooting, Sarah Palin’s political action committee circulated a map that showed the targeted electoral districts of Ms. Giffords and 19 other Democrats under stylized cross hairs. But in that case no connection to the shooting was ever established.
Conservatives and right-wing media were quick on Wednesday to demand forceful condemnation of hate speech and crimes by anti-Trump liberals. They’re right. Though there’s no sign of incitement as direct as in the Giffords attack, Liberals should of course be held to the same standard of decency that they ask of the right.
The editorial also now includes a correction note at the bottom:
Correction: June 15, 2017
An earlier version of this editorial incorrectly stated that a link existed between political incitement and the 2011 shooting of Representative Gabby Giffords. In fact, no such link was established.
As Daily Wire editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro succinctly explains, the notion that the psychologically unstable Loughner was inspired by a target symbol on the website of Palin’s PAC was debunked years ago, yet the Times tried to use it as “the ultimate example of political rhetoric prompting violence”:
The long-repeated lie that Sarah Palin was somehow responsible for the assassination attempt on Gabby Giffords was debunked years ago. Jared Lee Loughner wasn’t a conservative. He wasn’t a Republican. He wasn’t sane. There is no evidence whatsoever that he ever saw the infamous Palin targeted district map. None. The rumor was discredited within hours of the shooting. But six years later, The Times is still repeating the lie as true — and not just as true, but as the ultimate example of political rhetoric prompting violence. Remember, The Times isn’t just mentioning the Palin-Giffords lie in offhand fashion — they’re saying that there is “no sign of incitement as direct as in the Giffords attack.” Oh f***ing really? Loughner was a paranoid schizophrenic. The shooter in this case plastered his social media with messages ripping Republicans and Trump and mirroring the most extreme excesses of the hard Left.
This is fever swamp territory from The New York Times. The facts don’t match the narrative, so the facts must die a gruesome, slow death.
More from The Daily Wire on the Times’ Palin hit-piece:
NYT Says Palin Is Responsible For Giffords Shooting. Palin Destroys Them.
The New York Times Runs The Worst Editorial In Human History