Sarah Palin is greatly slandered, and you should appreciate that.

*Transcript below.

I would be remiss if I did not point out that Sarah Palin has been pointed to as one of the people whose occasionally violent imagery in her political speech was pointed out over the past several days as potentially creating a fertile soil for tragedies like this one. In fact, Congresswoman Giffords was one of the people who expressed those very claims several months ago. She experienced, prior to this tragic shooting, threats, harassment, vandalism, and as a result, called for a cooling-off of the tone of political speech. And it is very true that Sarah Palin is famous for the "cross hairs" imagery regarding certain congressional seats, and for phrases like "Don't retreat, reload!"  She is also somewhat infamous now, for her claims of "death panels"--basically accusing the Democrats in favor of the Health Care Reform act of creating a mechanism whereby the chronically ill or especially disabled children, might be left to die to satisfy the financial needs of a government-run system.

None of these things that Sarah Palin has endorsed by words or deed, justifies anything along the lines of a "blood libel", however, which, to put it in historical context, was the slander against Jews beginning in the medieval times that Jewish people kidnapped Christian children for the purposes of murdering them and using their blood for matzoh.  This slander was used to murder many, many innocent people, and it was a total fabrication. It would obviously be wrong to accuse people of trying to murder children when they intended no such thing, and to then call for their being targeted for removal from, well, the rolls of the living.  So if anyone at all is "blood libeling" Sarah Palin--you just stop that right now!

On the other hand, if you merely think she probably does over-use violent imagery in her particular resentful, ax-grinding version of political speech, and mean to criticize her on the basis of that--you go on ahead, because that would be actually just exercising your opinion as a matter of free speech, and not any kind of censorship at all.

But again, calling people child-murderers or potential child murderers in order to slander the entire group, and then suggesting that because of this, they should be violently done away with--is one of  the very worst things ever.  So when you consider that some unpleasant individual actually stated on the Facebook page of Sarah Palin that the murder of a 9-year-old girl was only appropriate, because she was bound to grow up to be a liberal anyway--you should very well be shocked. As a mother, a patriot, and a human being, Sarah Palin would obviously support no such thing, any more than she would try to turn a national tragedy into a narrative about how she is the one who has been wronged, and try to make it all about her. Of course not.

Could you call Sarah Palin an incendiary figure?  I would say, sure. Sure you could. That is a huge part of her charm. Is she divisive? Perhaps! Certainly she has a very loyal following among people of her party, and aggravates people who are not of her party. But should she be persecuted for years and hounded unto death, as European Jews most certainly were, because of a lie about her actual responsibility for human beings being killed?

Oh no. No, Sarah Palin, you have my word. I would never persecute you for that. Criticize you--certainly. Probably hope you go no further in politics than your "success" as a former half-term governor--unquestionably.  But engage in "blood libel"?  That would be execrable.


*Full text here:

Like millions of Americans I learned of the tragic events in Arizona on Saturday, and my heart broke for the innocent victims. No words can fill the hole left by the death of an innocent, but we do mourn for the victims' families as we express our sympathy.

I agree with the sentiments shared yesterday at the beautiful Catholic mass held in honor of the victims. The mass will hopefully help begin a healing process for the families touched by this tragedy and for our country.

Our exceptional country—so vibrant with ideas and passionate exchange and debate of ideas; it's a light to the rest of the world. Congresswoman Giffords and her constituents were exercising their right to exchange ideas that day, to celebrate our republic's core values and peacefully assemble to petition our government. It's inexcusable and incomprehensible why a single evil man took the lives of peaceful citizens that day.

There's a bittersweet irony that the strength of the American spirit shines brightest in times of tragedy. We saw that in Arizona. We saw the tenacity of those clinging to life, the compassion of those who kept the victims alive, and the heroism of those who overpowered a deranged gunman.

Like many, I've spent the last few days reflecting on what happened and praying for guidance. After this shocking tragedy, I listened at first puzzled, then with concern, and now with sadness, to the irresponsible statements from people attempting to apportion blame for this terrible event.

President Reagan said, "We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions." Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. They begin and end with the criminals who commit them, not collectively with all the citizens of a state, not with those who listen to talk radio, not with maps of swing districts used by both sides of the aisle, not with law-abiding citizens who respectfully exercise their First Amendment rights at campaign rallies, not with those who proudly voted in the last election.

The last election was all about taking responsibility for our country's future. Now, President Obama and I may not agree on everything, but I know he would join me in affirming the health of our democratic process. Two years ago, his party was victorious. Last November, the other party won. In both elections, the will of the American people was heard, and the peaceful transition of power proved yet again the enduring strength of our republic.

Vigorous and spirited public debates during elections are among our most cherished traditions. And after the election, we shake hands and we get back to work, and often both sides find common ground back in D.C. and elsewhere. If you don't like a person's vision for the country, you're free to debate that vision. If you don't like their ideas, you're free to propose better ideas. But, especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence that they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible.

There are those who claim political rhetoric is to blame for the despicable act of this deranged, apparently apolitical criminal. And they claim political debate has somehow gotten more heated just recently. But when was it less heated? Back in those "calm days" when political figures literally settled their differences with dueling pistols? In an ideal world, all discourse would be civil and all disagreements cordial. But our Founding Fathers knew they weren't designing a system for perfect men and women. If men and women were angels, there would be no need for government. Our Founders' genius was to design a system that helped settle the inevitable conflicts caused by our imperfect passions in civil ways. So, we must condemn violence if our republic is to endure.

As I said while campaigning for others last March in Arizona during a very heated primary race, "We know violence isn't the answer. When we 'take up our arms,' we're talking about our vote." Yes, our debates are full of passion, but we settle our political differences respectfully at the ballot box—as we did just two months ago, and as our republic enables us to do again in the next election, and the next. That's who we are as Americans and how we were meant to be. Public discourse and debate isn't a sign of crisis, but of our enduring strength. It is part of why America is exceptional.

No one should be deterred from speaking up and speaking out in peaceful dissent, and we certainly must not be deterred by those who embrace evil and call it good. And we will not be stopped from celebrating the greatness of our country and our foundational freedoms by those who mock its greatness by being intolerant of differing opinion and seeking to muzzle dissent with shrill cries of imagined insults.

Just days before she was shot, Congresswoman Giffords read the First Amendment on the floor of the House. It was a beautiful moment and more than simply "symbolic," as some claim, to have the Constitution read by our Congress. I am confident she knew that reading our sacred charter of liberty was more than just "symbolic." But less than a week after Congresswoman Giffords reaffirmed our protected freedoms, another member of Congress announced that he would propose a law that would criminalize speech that he found offensive.

It is in the hour when our values are challenged that we must remain resolved to protect those values. Recall how the events of 9-11 challenged our values, and we had to fight the tendency to trade our freedoms for perceived security. And so it is today.

Let us honor those precious lives cut short in Tucson by praying for them and their families and by cherishing their memories. Let us pray for the full recovery of the wounded. And let us pray for our country. In times like these, we need God's guidance and the peace he provides. We need strength to not let the random acts of a criminal turn us against ourselves, or weaken our solid foundation, or provide a pretext to stifle debate.

America must be stronger than the evil we saw displayed last week. We are better than the mindless finger-pointing we endured in the wake of the tragedy. We will come out of this stronger and more united in our desire to peacefully engage in the great debates of our time, to respectfully embrace our differences in a positive manner, and to unite in the knowledge that, though our ideas may be different, we must all strive for a better future for our country. Yes, may God bless America.