Authors in the News: Glenn Harlan Reynolds on the Arizona Tragedy and Its Aftermath

New Threats contributor Glenn Harlan Reynolds is leaping into the fray of fierce finger pointing that is taking place in the aftermath of the Jared Lee Loughner killing spree in a new opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal. Why, he asks, are some commentators being given a free pass for their tenuous attempts to make connections between the killer and tea party politics?

Reynolds points out how in the instances of the Ft. Hood shooter and the recent Times Square bombing attempt many in the media urged caution against drawing premature conclusions about any connections to Islamist terrorism (this, despite eye-witness claims that Maj. Hassan was shouting "Allahu Akhbar!'). To try to make those connections would merely perpetuate the "climate of hate." However, if you want to go on camera and immediately speculate without any evidence that Sarah Palin was the driving force behind the tragedy in Tucson, well, that's fair game.

Reynolds writes:

"Those who try to connect Sarah Palin and other political figures with whom they disagree to the shootings in Arizona use attacks on 'rhetoric' and a 'climate of hate' to obscure their own dishonesty in trying to imply responsibility where none exists. But the dishonesty remains."

The full piece is available here.