Pathetic: Husband of Gabrielle Giffords 'Targets' Sarah Palin

The husband of Gabrielle Giffords, the congresswoman who was shot last January, is shockingly playing politics with his wife's shooting and 'targeting' Sarah Palin. If you remember, the left began politicizing the shooting within a few short hours; Paul Krugman comes to mind. The left continued to fish for a narrative and found one to beat on. Before the 2010 elections, Palin's team released a map of congressional districts with targets on them to illustrate 'targeted districts.' One of those districts was Giffords. The left actually drew a connection between those targets and the motive of Jared Loughner.

Conveniently absent from the left was the fact that Loughner was not motivated by those targets at all; if he was in the least bit political, he was a leftist (communist manifesto was a favorite book).

Yet, Mark Kelly has decided nearly one year later to go after Palin instead of do the responsible thing and categorically reject that narrative. This is really disgraceful.

Via the Telegraph:

Mark Kelly has spoken candidly about the moment he learned his wife, Arizona congresswoman Gabby Giffords, was shot at a voting event in Tuscon - and his disappointment at not having been contacted by Sarah Palin following the tragedy. 

In a guest appearance on last night's CNN Piers Morgan Tonight show, the husband and father berated Ms Palin's irresponsibility, while Mr Morgan said he found her lack of contact 'extraordinary.' 

Recalling the horrific moments he learned of the fatal shooting in January - and the ensuing misinformation that led him to believe his wife had been killed - the co-author of Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope revealed that he believed his wife's strength saved her. 

But it was the lack of any contact from former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin that was 'surprising' said Mr Kelly.

In order for Kelly to be surprised by the fact that he didn't receive a call from Sarah Palin necessarily means that he accepted the absurd premise that she had any degree of culpability in his wife's shooting. Obviously, the media narrative was effective in this regard. It actually caused Kelly to buy into it to some degree.

No doubt, he was angry and wanted to blame someone; it's human nature, which is what highlights the irresponsibility of the media. The fact remains, however. Sarah Palin had absolutely nothing to do with Giffords' shooting. NOTHING. Logically, why would he call the Giffords? Wouldn't the media exploit that as an admission that she did?

Mr Kelly said that while he believes Ms Palin is not responsible for what happened that day, her actions were irresponsible. 

'You know, this was no surprise to us,' he said. 'Gabby even spoke about it before January 8th, during the election cycle, leading up to the election, in an interview... She made is very clear that, hey, this is what's going on, and this could ultimately incite people to do violent things. ' 

So it wasn't a big surprise on January 8th...having said that, you know, Sarah Palin certainly is not responsible for what happened. But I think the angry rhetoric in an election year is not - it's not helpful.'

Here's all you need to know. "Sarah Palin certainly is not responsible for what happened. But..." This is really, really shameful. The word "but" in that regard means that Kelly is implying Palin had a degree of culpability when she had NONE. Isn't he doing the same thing to Palin that she is allegedly responsible for doing to his wife - putting her in danger? This guy is an astronaut and obviously very intelligent, which is what makes his amazingly dumb behavior all the more troubling.

Here is the video of the exchange via GWP:



 h/t Weasel Zippers