The Boston Globe's Eliminationist Rhetoric

Past performance is no guarantee of future results:

The last few days have surely been uncomfortable for Sarah Palin. As much of the nation now knows, her PAC put a bullseye on Gabrielle Giffords’ district, and Giffords herself had expressed concern about using such violent imagery. There is no reason to believe that Jared Lee Loughner, the shooting suspect, knew of Palin’s map, but it’s not implausible that he was influenced by the overall culture of incendiary images and rhetoric, of which Palin’s map was another log on the fire.

—“After Arizona, advice for Sarah Palin,” the Boston Globe, January 10, 2011.

“Would Anyone Have Noticed if an Ohio Bartender Managed to Poison Boehner?”

Headline, the Boston Globe’s homepage, yesterday. There is no reason to believe that any Ohio bartenders have seen the Globe’s headline yesterday, or similar anti-GOP eliminationist rhetoric that’s an hour-by-hour occurrence on other left-wing rabble-rousing blogs such as Vox, BuzzFeed, and the New York Times, but it’s not implausible that others could be influenced by the overall culture of incendiary images and rhetoric, of which the Globe’s headline is yet another log on the fire.