WashPost reporter apologizes, admits to pushing totally fake news about the Gabby Giffords shooting
10/16/2018 / By JD Heyes
Publishing fake news is something the Washington Post does very frequently but apologizing for it doesn’t happen very often. That’s what caught us off-guard when one of the paper’s reporters apologized for making an incendiary accusation about conservatives that was completely and utterly false.
As noted by Mediate, various media types have insinuated or suggested outright that the origins of the Tea Party and, in particular, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, were responsible for the attempted murder of former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Arizona, in January 2011, even though there was never any evidence to suggest that.
In fact, the shooter – Jared Loughner – was found to be “Left-wing” and “quite liberal,” according to published reports at the time. Even so, no one ever established any political motivation for the assassination attempt anyway.
However, none of that mattered to the Post’s congressional reporter Paul Kane, who recently renewed the allegation that the Right was responsible for creating Loughner.
“This Nat’l Review editorial would have a lot more potency if NR owned up to the fact that 2010 right-wing anger/mobs played a role in dehumanizing Congress, helping lead to Gifford’s shooting in 2011,” Kane tweeted on Friday, quite irresponsibly. (Related: Giffords shooter shows pattern of psychiatric derangement; no clear political affiliation.)
This Nat'l Review editorial would have a lot more potency if NR owned up to fact that 2010 right-wing anger/mobs played a role in dehumanizing Congress, helping lead to Giffords shooting in 2011. https://t.co/7Nd37igSEg
— Paul Kane (@pkcapitol) October 12, 2018
So, by his standard, that must mean that the rise of Left-wing lunacy within the Democratic Party is what led a maniacal supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders to shoot and nearly assassinate Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., in the summer of 2017?
Actually, that was the motivation behind James T. Hodginson’s assassination attempt against Republican lawmakers practicing early one morning for the annual congressional softball game. In fact, he had a Republican “hit list” in his pocket when he was shot and killed by Capitol Police. In fact, before he started shooting, he asked a bystander if the players were Democrats or Republicans.
The violence is coming from the Left
Needless to say, Kane was taken to task for his baseless allegation.
“Seven years. It’s seven years and *a libel lawsuit* later, and reporters are still spreading this pernicious smear,” wrote Alex Griswold, a reporter and sports editor at the Washington Free Beacon.
Seven years. It’s seven years and *a libel lawsuit* later, and reporters are still spreading this pernicious smear https://t.co/wW0GLKaWjf
— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) October 12, 2018
“All the evidence I’ve seen points to it not being politically motivated and, unless you have evidence to back up this claim, you should really delete and correct this tweet,” seconded Stephen Gutowski, also of the Free Beacon.
All the evidence I've seen points to it not being politically motivated and, unless you have evidence to back up this claim, you should really delete and correct this tweet.
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) October 12, 2018
Eventually, Kane did apologize for making the claim.
“Sorry. This tweet incorrectly suggested that the tea party was to blame for Giffords shooting. Police never determined a motive for her shooting,” he wrote – without ever deleting the initial tweet, which got more than 100 retweets than his mea culpa.
Sorry. This tweet incorrectly suggested that the tea party was to blame for Giffords shooting. Police never determined a motive for her shooting. https://t.co/rrzwz4Hrp4
— Paul Kane (@pkcapitol) October 12, 2018
As to the overall level of violence being displayed today, the Left is clearly responsible for the vast majority of it. What began mostly as normal protests over POTUS Donald Trump’s nomination grew increasingly violent over time, leading even Obama’s Department of Homeland Security and FBI to conclude that some of the Left-wing protesters were domestic terrorists.
“It was in that period [as the Trump campaign emerged] that we really became aware of them,” said one senior law enforcement official tracking domestic extremists in an interview with Politico. “These antifa guys were showing up with weapons, shields and bike helmets and just beating the shit out of people. … They’re using Molotov cocktails, they’re starting fires, they’re throwing bombs and smashing windows.”
Though there have been no more assassination attempts against GOP lawmakers, violence against them has spread. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was attacked and severely beaten a year ago, while Republican lawmakers and Trump Cabinet members are being confronted nearly everywhere they go by the Democratic Socialists and other advocates of Left-wing political thought.
Sooner or later more violence will be visited upon Republicans. It’s a natural extension of the kind of perpetual rage the Leftist anarchists are demonstrating.
Read more about Left-wing violence against conservatives at Conservative.news.
Sources include:
Tagged Under: Alt-Left, antifa, false accusation, false narrative, Gabby Giffords, hoax, Jared Loughner, journalism.WashPost, lies, Paul Kane, political violence, propaganda, Rand Paul, Sarah Palin, shooting, Tea Party, Wapoop, Washington Post
