With apologies to England's King Henry II, I have taken words attributed to him and altered them just a little, to put them in the mouth of Sarah Palin.
Supposedly, during a fit of outraged annoyance at Thomas Becket, the King berated his court followers for not ridding him of the annoyance the cleric represented. Henry wanted to end the church's right to try clerics in its own court. Becket stood against him, feeling it to be the right thing to do. Upon hearing Henry's frustration, one of his courtiers promptly took the monarch at this word, and Becket was felled by a sword stroke.
Surely, these 900-odd years later, the lament is the right one to use when one thinks of Sarah Palin, and her annoyance at those like Congresswoman Giffords. She of the infamous cross hairs map has no excuse of piety behind which to hide, no right to claim moral standards when justification for her posting of the map is demanded. She named Giffords and pinpointed her on the map with cross hairs. It was a purely evil thing to do. There is nothing more to Palin than the belief that hers is the only way, no matter what the issue at hand. She doesn't hesitate to suggest violence to those less hesitant than she to use it against any who fail to see things her way. Apparently, Palin has no problem with drawing a bead on a buck, and enjoying the kill, but she draws the line at doing the deed herself when a human would be the one in the cross hairs. She has, however, no compunctions about suggesting to others that they might get the deed done. A spokesperson for the woman who feels herself to be justified in inciting violence tried to say that the cross hairs on the map were nothing more than symbols used regularly on maps to denote location. She denied that Palin was in any way suggesting the use of violence. I say, bullshit. She knew what she was doing.
One impromptu online poll of 1,779 respondents asked them simply if they thought of maps or of guns when they thought of cross hairs. Only 8% said maps. 91% said guns. Palin knew exactly what she was doing. Cross hairs are used to aim firearms. Firearms are not used in gentle ways of kindness. When aimed at sentient beings, they are generally used to abruptly aim the life of those beings. They are instruments of violence. Period. To do anything suggesting framing a human in the cross hairs is not to suggest tossing a bouquet of flowers at them. It is solely to suggest that the violent end of their life is a deed worth contemplating.
Palin knew exactly what she was doing when she posted her cross-hairs map. She knew very well that among those who saw it would be at least one like Jared Lee Loughner, who would take her at her word. That person would see to it that someone on that map would find themselves truly in the cross hairs of a weapon. They would rid Palin of her frustration at not being the one to dictate policy in the matter of health-care reform in the U.S.
How sad that Palin should mouth the trite words "our thoughts are with the victims". Those words have no meaning for her. If they had, Dorwan Stoddard, a 76-year-old retired construction worker who died saving his wife by using his own body to cover her on the ground as the gunmen shot, would still be alive. If they had any meaning, nine-year-old Christina Taylor-Green would still be alive. No, victims like Stoddard and Taylor-Green, among others, are nothing more to Palin than the "oops" that can happen when you miss that buck you've drawn a bead on.
Palin would love the monarchial power possessed by Henry II. She would love using the "royal we" while declaring her frustration at others not complying with her view of policy, and having those about her more than ready to dirty their hands with that person's blood, while Palin declared herself innocent of all culpability, and simply walked away from the evil deed.
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