Poll: Americans smarter than Democrat politicos, MSM

Glad to know that the 24-7 hyperventilating, sensationalizing, and demagoguing by MSM outlets and talking point-led Democrats aren’t persuading the American people in the aftermath of the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ8), the murder of 6 others, and injury of 11 others that happened in Tucson, AZ this past Saturday. Via CBS News (hat tip):

Nearly six in 10 Americans say the country’s heated political rhetoric is not to blame for the Tucson shooting rampage that left six dead and critically wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, according to a CBS News poll.

In the wake of the shooting, much focus has been put on the harsh tone of politics in Washington and around the country, particularly after a contentious midterm election. Rhetoric and imagery from both Republicans and Democrats have included gun-related metaphors, but the majority of the country isn’t connecting the shooting to politics.

[…]

Overall, 57 percent of respondents said the harsh political tone had nothing to do with the shooting, compared to 32 percent who felt it did. Republicans were more likely to feel the two were unrelated – 69 percent said rhetoric was not to blame; 19 percent said it played a part. Democrats were more split on the issue – 49 percent saw no connection; 42 percent said there was.

Independents more closely reflected the overall breakdown – 56 percent said rhetoric had nothing to do with the attack; 33 percent felt it did.

MediaI was just thinking this morning how sickening it was that it hadn’t even been two hours that the shootings had happened before the some in the MSM, and the likes of NYT columnist Paul Krudma, er, Paul Krugman and other left wing elites were blaming the Tea Party and Sarah Palin without one shred of evidence. The emphasis was not on the conditions of the victims, but rather “how quickly can we blame the right” and score cheap, partisan political points, evidence – and common decency – be damned.

And in light of the fact that the information we continue to learn about the shooter, including how he became obsessed with Giffords in 2007 – well before Sarah Palin’s “target map”- and how his reading material was not exactly a staple in any Tea Partier’s library, you’d think the MSM and their allies in the Democrat party would change their harsh, angry tone – considering it is “vitriol” they blame for the shootings in the first place. But of course, they won’t. In their cold, calculating and unfortunately predictable way, it’s “game on” – who cares about the facts anyway?

So we’re now having a “renewed discussion” about the state of political discourse in this country, when it becomes more obvious by the day that the shooter was not motivated by vitriol in the first place. And the people who are “leading” this discussion are people who themselves have spewed some of the nastiest venom you’ll ever hear on any news outlet, opinion page, talk radio segment, etc: the uber left.

Ed Morrissey on the poll:

Getting back to the poll, it seems as though the media spin of the first 48 hours failed to even convince the predisposed. Only 42% of Democrats in the survey believed that the shootings were a political act, and independents broke out at about the same ratio as the overall sample, 56/33. That is very good news for America, and bad news for those in the media and in Congress who hoped to leverage the shooting to pass gun-control and speech-control legislation and bully grassroots conservatives into silence.

Amen.

Flashback – 3/31/10:

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