Joan Walsh
Salon.com Editor-in-Chief
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Salon.com Editor-in-Chief Joan Walsh, on Wednesday
night's Hardball, cited "conservatives" like Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Malkin
and Bill O’Reilly for "whipping up" a climate that sparks the likes of
alleged Holocaust Museum shooter James Von Brunn and Hardball host Chris
Matthews wondered if access to guns were to blame for the tragedy as he
cried: "It's easier to get your hands on a gun than to get somebody to
make you a waffle." Blaming Limbaugh while insisting she was not, Walsh
charged:
There is a very disturbing and disturbed element of political discourse. And I would, I would throw in Rush Limbaugh. Not blaming him, but when you say that our President is more dangerous than al-Qaeda you've gone off into crazy nut job land. You are off the charts crazy. And you are, you are whipping people up.
After her appearance from San Francisco, Walsh posted a blog item titled: "Can right-wing hate talk lead to murder?"
The following exchanges aired toward the end of the June 10 edition of MSNBC's Hardball:
JOAN WALSH, SALON: Well I wonder too, especially in the wake of the murder of Dr. George Tiller who performed abortions, another, another really unhinged right wing nut job. And, and I want to be very careful here Chris. The only people responsible are the people who pulled the triggers. Unless we find out that these guys had help, that may be a different story. But from what we know now the people responsible are the killers. However I don't think you can deny that there is a rising climate of right wing hate, a lot of it directed at Obama. You and I go way back to the beginning of the campaign and the level of craziness. He's a secret Muslim. He hates America. He wasn't born here. Now this guy, Von Brunn, he's, he, he was one of the birthers. He didn't believe in Obama's birth certificate and he was constantly online agitating about that. There is a very disturbing and disturbed element of political discourse. And I would, I would throw in Rush Limbaugh. Not blaming him, but when you say that our President is more dangerous than al-Qaeda you've gone off into crazy nut job land. You are off the charts crazy. And you are, you are whipping people up. If he's worse than our mortal enemy -- al-Qaeda who killed thousands and thousands of Americans – I don't know where do you go after that? It's awful.
WALSH: -about the DHS report too, that I think is relevant. Susan [Page] hits the high points. It also says that, you know, the single biggest danger, in their view, are lone wolves and that looks prescient today too. But what, if you look back at the way Janet Napolitano, who didn't even write it, it was commissioned by the Bush, by the Bush White House, if you look back at the way she was vilified, at Rush Limbaugh, and Michelle Malkin and that whole right wing echo chamber acting as though it was now open season on conservatives, they have this incredible capacity-
WALSH: And I will say, you know, I do hope that some conservatives do stand up. I don't blame them, I don't blame mainstream Republicans by any means for this. I want to be clear. But they could help in ratcheting down some of the rhetoric. When Bill O'Reilly goes on TV every night and calls Dr. Tiller a baby-killer and a Nazi and a Mengele and shows where he works I, why do we put up with that? Why is that entertainment in our culture? Demonizing a private citizen for doing a lawful job. Why, why, why, why are people doing that? Why is that acceptable? I would like to see a debate about that.
On Hardball: Journalist Links Rush Limbaugh
to Holocaust Museum Shooting
By: Geoffrey Dickens June 10, 2009 20:46 ET
http://www.mrc.org/biasalert/2009/20090610092214.aspx
