Connect dots

To the editor:

Only marginally less despicable than the shooting rampage in Arizona has been the unseemly but predictable rush by a certain class of politicians, pundits, and reporters to politicize the shootings. Under the guise of helping us make sense of senseless violence, they invite us to connect the dots, no matter how widely spaced, between Sarah Palin (among others) and the Tucson shootings.

Since connecting the dots seems to be the game of choice, let’s play along. First, let’s note that one of his former classmates described Jared Loughner as “left wing.”

Assuming that to be true, let’s identify some new dots. 1. Which prominent lefty political leader said this: “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun”? 2. Which leading lefty blog drew up a list of Democrats, including Gabrielle Giffords, a conservative “Blue Dog” Democrat, to be “targeted” in the primaries? (Hint: The same blog hosted a diarist who said that Rep. Giffords was “dead” to him because she had voted against Nancy Pelosi.) 3. And which lefty organization drew up a map with bull’s-eyes over the districts of political opponents?

The answers? 1. Barack Obama, 2. Daily Kos and 3. the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. So there you have it: Loughner was a lefty, and President Obama, Markos Moulitsas (“Daily Kos”), and the DCCC are all lefties who employed violent political rhetoric. Why the dots practically connect themselves. Do I personally believe this? Not in a million years — who could possibly believe such nonsense?