According to a Palin aide, the former governor has received an uptick in death threats since the shooting massacre in Tucson, reaching an ‘unprecedented’ level. No details were provided as to the volume of threats, how they were delivered, how much have they increased or whether the threats are being referred to the authorities. Nevertheless, CBS dutifully reported the claims and USA Today picked up the story as well quoting Rebecca Mansour.
“There has been an incredible increase in death threats against Gov. Palin since the tragedy in Arizona, since she’s been accused of having the blood of those victims on her hands,” she said. “When you start to accuse people of having the blood of innocent people on their hands, it incites violence.”
The appropriate thing to do with credible death threats is to report them to law enforcement. On the other hand, filing false complaints to garner public sympathy is a crime. whereas using the media to trumpet cries of ‘wolf’, is not.
By repeating the Sarah Palin death-threat meme sans evidence, both major news outlets mislead the public, continue to lower journalistic standards, divert the country from more pressing issues related to the attempted Giffords assassination (gun control, violent rhetoric and its consequences; mental illness) and reward the right-wing bloggers who have been trying nonstop to legitimate this meme, sans evidence, all week long—again, with zero corroborating evidence.
This past week has been one long, painful reminder that bullies always make the biggest whiners when the time comes to own up to the consequences of their actions.
These claims of death threats in response to a series of really bad PR moves on her part, are meant to deflect attention from her horribly timed release of a whining video, yesterday. Dave Weigel has this to say about her chances of prevailing as a public figure.
How much does the video debacle matter for Palin in 2012? A cynic might say her chances at the White House went from 0.0 to 0.0. Maybe the video itself won’t be remembered. But the fumble that produced the video will be remembered. With four days to craft a response, Palin missed the moment, and who wants a leader who acts like that?
