Above, 6/14/2017 image from Punditfact/Politifact
Loughner, the 22 year old Arizona shooter, began targeting Rep. Giffords in 2007. In 2007, Sarah Palin was virtually unknown outside of Alaska. Loughner wasn’t political, didn’t watch the news, but was emotionally disturbed. In Jan. 2011, Loughner shot Rep. Giffords and others, killing 6, at an Arizona mall.
Jared Loughner, CBS News photo
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6/15/2017, “No evidence Sarah Palin’s PAC incited shooting of Rep. Gabby Giffords,” Politifact, John Kruzel
“After a lone gunman opened fire on Republican lawmakers June 14 while they practiced baseball, the New York Times published an editorial that broadly condemned political violence but sparked controversy with a claim about the motive [Sarah Palin] behind a [Jan.] 2011 attack [in Arizona by mentally ill Jared Loughner] on a Democratic member of Congress [whom Loughner began targeting in 2007].
The New York Times has since issued a correction following broad criticism.
The original editorial claimed that maps circulated by Sarah Palin’s PAC amounted to “political incitement,” which the authors said was clearly linked to the subsequent 2011 shooting of Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz.
“In [Jan.] 2011, when [mentally ill and non-political] Jared Lee Loughner [who had targeted Rep. Giffords in Arizona since 2007] opened fire in a supermarket parking lot, grievously wounding Representative Gabby Giffords and killing six people, including a 9-year-old girl, the link to political incitement was clear,“ the uncorrected editorial read. “Before the shooting, Sarah Palin’s political action committee circulated a map of targeted electoral districts that put Ms. Giffords and 19 other Democrats under stylized cross hairs.”
The editorial, penned amid the frenzy of the [2017] mass shooting [of Republican congressmen at baseball practice], sought to connect the attack on GOP lawmakers with the 2011 Giffords shooting to make a broader point about politically motivated violence. The piece reasoned that the latest attack, which left the gunman dead and four injured, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R–La., was probably “evidence of how vicious American politics has become,” and that the shooter’s derangement “found its fuel in politics.”
The editorial ran into trouble when it turned its focus to the Giffords shooting, so we decided to explore why the connection between Palin’s PAC and Loughner’s motivation is problematic.
What we know about the Giffords shooters’ motivations:
According to news reports, Loughner became fixated on Giffords several years before his Jan. 8, 2011, shooting rampage that killed six and injured 14, including the Arizona congresswoman.
Loughner first met Giffords in 2007 at a community event where he asked her a question and was “unsatisfied with her answer,“ CNN reported. It was at this point he developed a fixation for the lawmaker.
Several years elapsed between the time Loughner first met Giffords and when Palin posted a note to Facebook that linked to her political action committee. The PAC circulated a map of House Democrats’ districts (not individual members) the GOP would seek to recapture.
According to the Washington Post, there is no evidence Loughner was aware of Palin’s maps. And according to an interview with one of Loughner’s high school friends, the gunman did not watch the news. His rampage was akin to “shooting at the world,” said Loughner’s friend Zach Osler.
Loughner was ultimately sentenced to serve seven consecutive life terms plus 140 years, without the possibility of parole.
New York Times’ correction:
The uncorrected editorial appeared in today’s print version of the newspaper, and was available online between roughly 9 p.m. June 14 and 10 a.m. June 15, a spokesperson said.
At some point before 11 a.m. this morning, staffers removed the language about the clear link between political incitement and Giffords’ shooting, and issued the following correction:
“An earlier version of this editorial incorrectly stated that a link existed between political incitement and the 2011 shooting of Representative Gabby Giffords,” the correction reads. “In fact, no such link was established.”
The New York Times’ Opinion twitter account also issued a pair of mea culpas.
“We got an important fact wrong, incorrectly linking political incitement and the 2011 shooting of Giffords. No link was ever established,” read the first tweet from the NYT Opinion account.
“We’re sorry about this and we appreciate that our readers called us on the mistake. We’ve corrected the editorial. https://t.co/t1FZ3iEYQJ pic.twitter.com/k7WW5uJIQO
“We’re sorry about this and we appreciate that our readers called us on the mistake. We’ve corrected the editorial. https://t.co/t1FZ3iEYQJ pic.twitter.com/k7WW5uJIQO
— NYT Opinion (@nytopinion) June 15, 2017″
A follow-up tweet read: “We’re sorry about this and we appreciate that our readers called us on the mistake. We’ve corrected the editorial.”
Around 4 p.m., the New York Times amended its correction to clarify its description of the maps distributed by Sarah Palin’s political action committee.
“The editorial has also been updated to clarify that in a map distributed by a political action committee before that shooting, electoral districts, not Democratic lawmakers, were depicted beneath stylized cross hairs,” it read.
We were unable to find evidence Loughner was even aware of the maps, and a friend told an interviewer Loughner did not closely watch the news.
The New York Times corrected its story some 13 hours after publication to say no such link has been established between political incitement and the 2011 shooting of Giffords.
At PolitiFact, our rulings are based on when a statement was made. This claim rates False.”
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Added: 1/9/2011 AP article about Loughner mass shooting in Arizona:
“Shooting suspect’s nihilism rose with isolation,” AP via Boston Globe, Justin Pritchard
“[22 year old] Loughner had at least one other contact with [Arizona Rep.] Giffords [prior to the shooting]. Investigators said they carried out a search warrant at Loughner’s home and seized a letter addressed to him from Giffords’ congressional stationery in which she thanked him for attending a “Congress on your Corner” event at a mall in Tucson in 2007. Saturday’s shooting occurred at a similar event.
Other evidence seized from his home included an envelope from a safe with messages such as “I planned ahead,” “My assassination” and the name “Giffords” next to what appears to be Loughner’s signature. Police say he purchased the Glock pistol used in the attack in November.
Loughner lives with his parents about a five-minute drive from the shootings, in a middle-class neighborhood lined with desert landscaping and palm trees….
Neighbors said Loughner kept to himself and was often seen walking his dog, almost always wearing a hooded sweat shirt and listening to his iPod.
His high school friends said they fell out of touch with Loughner and last spoke to him around March, when one of them was going to set up some bottles in the desert for target practice and Loughner suggested he might come along. It was unusual — Loughner hadn’t expressed an interest in guns before — and his increasingly confrontational behavior was pushing them apart.
Loughner lives with his parents about a five-minute drive from the shootings, in a middle-class neighborhood lined with desert landscaping and palm trees….
Neighbors said Loughner kept to himself and was often seen walking his dog, almost always wearing a hooded sweat shirt and listening to his iPod.
His high school friends said they fell out of touch with Loughner and last spoke to him around March, when one of them was going to set up some bottles in the desert for target practice and Loughner suggested he might come along. It was unusual — Loughner hadn’t expressed an interest in guns before — and his increasingly confrontational behavior was pushing them apart.
He would send nonsensical text messages, but also break off contact for weeks on end….
Around the same time, Loughner’s behavior also began to worry officials at Pima Community College, where Loughner began attending classes in 2005, the school said in a release.
Between February and September, Loughner “had five contacts with PCC police for classroom and library disruptions,” the statement said. He was suspended in September 2010 after college police discovered a YouTube video in which Loughner claimed the college was illegal according to the U.S. Constitution. He withdrew voluntarily the following month, and was told he could return only if, among other things, a mental health professional agreed he did not present a danger, the school said.
It was at the college that Loughner had posed his question to Giffords about government and words, one friend said. A college spokesman said Giffords often has used school property for open events; a Giffords spokesman said he was not sure at which event the exchange would have taken place….
For a time, Loughner drank heavily, to the point of poisoning himself, the friends said. Once, during school lunch break as a junior, he downed so much tequila that he came back to class, within five minutes passed out cold, had to be rushed to the hospital and “almost died,” one friend said….
Several people who knew Loughner at community college said he did not engage in political discussions, but was socially awkward….
“He appeared to be to me an emotional cripple or an emotional child,” Coorough said. “He lacked compassion, he lacked understanding and he lacked an ability to connect.”…
Loughner described himself as a U.S. military recruit in the video, but the Army released a statement ssying he tried to enlist but was rejected. The statement said under federal privacy law, no reason could be specified.
In October 2007, Loughner was cited in Pima County for possession of drug paraphernalia, which was dismissed after he completed a diversion program, according to online records.
A year later he was charged with an unknown “local charge” in Marana near Tucson. That charge was also dismissed following the completion of a diversion program in March 2009, the Arizona Daily Star reported.
“He has kind of a troubled past, I can tell you that,” Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said.”
In October 2007, Loughner was cited in Pima County for possession of drug paraphernalia, which was dismissed after he completed a diversion program, according to online records.
A year later he was charged with an unknown “local charge” in Marana near Tucson. That charge was also dismissed following the completion of a diversion program in March 2009, the Arizona Daily Star reported.
“He has kind of a troubled past, I can tell you that,” Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said.”
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Comment: As someone said, if it weren't for the NY Times, the world would have a chance.
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