The Washington Post has compiled the reactions of some editorial cartoonists to the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
Of the seven cartoons posted on its website, two are the work of Jeff Danziger.
Danziger's cartoons are syndicated by the New York Times Syndicate/Cartoonists and Writers Syndicate.
His two cartoons are clearly not based in reality. They're hateful. They're ugly. They're sick fantasies of a partisan hack.
Is Danziger's brand of vitriol the sort that Pima County Sheriff Clarence W. Dupnik is railing against?
[H]ours after an assailant shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six bystanders, there was a new Arizona sheriff in town. His name is Clarence W. Dupnik. He's a Democrat and a Rachel Maddow fan. And when he linked the Tucson shooting rampage to harsh conservative rhetoric, he drew cheers from some and brickbats from others.
...On Saturday, Dupnik, a friend of Giffords and a federal judge killed in the attack, spoke during a nationally televised news conference:
"When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And unfortunately, Arizona I think has become sort of the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry."
Dupnik hasn't backed down from his remarks, even though no ties have publicly surfaced between the suspect in the shootings and conservative political groups. In an interview Sunday, Dupnik had the air of a man who had reached his limits and couldn't remain quiet any longer.
Dupnik is a disgrace.
He knew that Jared Loughner had a history of making death threats. Dupnik knew that Loughner was mentally unstable and posed a potential danger to society.
Nonetheless, Dupnik went before the cameras on Saturday and preached about the Right's rhetoric, accusing conservatives of inciting violence. He continues to focus on the rhetoric of the Right as the cause of the deranged Loughner's murderous acts. Even though more information is being learned about Loughner and it's apparent the man is seriously disturbed, Dupnik is sticking with his anti-Right agenda.
On Monday, Dupnik came disgustingly close to holding Rush Limbaugh personally accountable for the shootings.
From ABC News:
"The kind of rhetoric that flows from people like Rush Limbaugh, in my judgment he is irresponsible, uses partial information, sometimes wrong information," Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said today. "[Limbaugh] attacks people, angers them against government, angers them against elected officials and that kind of behavior in my opinion is not without consequences."
This is absurd.
Dupnik is being irresponsible and spewing vitriol as he claims to be calling for civility.
This man is behaving terribly unprofessionally, inexcusably unprofessionally.
Actually, I think Dupnik shares a few traits with Jared Loughner, the shooter.
Both Dupnik and Loughner appear to crave attention and long to be in the spotlight. Both are stunningly selfish and thoughtless and disrespectful.
To be clear, I am NOT equating the irresponsible remarks of Dupnik with the deadly actions of Loughner. Of course, murdering and wounding 20 people is exponentially worse than what Dupnik is doing.
I'm just saying that Dupnik, rather than fulfilling his duty as sheriff and being a pacifying presence in the aftermath of these horrific events, is showing some instability himself through his shameless politicization of the shootings and his denial of reality.
It is not acceptable for Dupnik or Danziger or others on the Left to continue their baseless attacks on conservatives.
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Dana Milbank, in his column today, considers Dupnik to be a hero. He condemns what he considers to be the vitriolic rhetoric of Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck, lecturing the Right to tone it down.
Milbank wants even more than a toning down of the rhetoric. He's exploiting the tragedy to silence them.
Milbank says, "Maybe Beck and Palin will be good enough to show us what a real moment of silence is - by having themselves a nice long one."
Shameless.
2 comments:
I had the same reaction when I saw that WaPo gallery. Danziger submitted the only two partisan entries. They're disgusting.
"To be clear, if you're using this event to criticize the "rhetoric" of Mrs. Palin or others with whom you disagree, then you're either: (a) asserting a connection between the "rhetoric" and the shooting, which based on evidence to date would be what we call a vicious lie; or (b) you're not, in which case you're just seizing on a tragedy to try to score unrelated political points, which is contemptible. Which is it?"
- Glenn Reynolds
That's right. Some of the other cartoonists comment on the level of political discourse in the country but they do not blame the Tea Party or Rush Limbaugh for the violence.
Danziger is a disgrace.
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