Conservatives are outraged -- outraged! -- that the traditional media has spent the last week blaming them and their violent rhetoric for the shooting in Arizona.
Just one problem: it's not true. According to the New York Times:
Last week, the reaction came from conservative politicians who bridled at suggestions in the media that Jared L. Loughner may have been influenced by right-wing rhetoric and talk radio when he killed six people and gravely wounded Representative Gabrielle Giffords in a rampage on Jan. 8 in Tucson. In her video address on Wednesday, Sarah Palin said that journalists and pundits should not manufacture “a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence that they purport to condemn.”
The question left unanswered: which journalists and pundits?
The Times goes on to report that contrary to the claims of Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, and of course Sarah "blood libel" Palin:
While there was plenty of debate in newspapers, and on radio and television about the effects of a toxic politic environment, most of the direct accusations against conservative talk radio and pundits were leveled by people online, not members of the mainstream media.
O'Reilly blasted the New York Times for its editorial that stated, "[I]t is legitimate to hold Republicans and particularly their most virulent supporters in the media responsible for the gale of anger." But he didn't mention this part of the editorial: "It is facile and mistaken to attribute this particular madman’s act directly to Republicans or Tea Party members."
Limbaugh also claimed that he was being blamed for the shooting, but the Times reports that his name was only mentioned twice on cable news shows. Even the blogosphere couldn't be bothered to blame Limbaugh for the shooting.
So while conservatives are busy whining about "blood libel" and "an ongoing pogrom" and "a lynch mob against Glenn Beck, against Sarah Palin, against Rush Limbaugh," turns out they are, as per usual, completely full of shit.