Scoundrel Time

It is fairly rare for a single event to provide an unambiguous indication that someone is a scoundrel. More often it takes a pattern of behavior to lead one to that sort of conclusion. However, we have such an opportunity this week with the reactions to the shooting of the congresswoman in Arizona. We may safely conclude that any sophisticated, experienced political operative, member of the press, or especially member of the congress or the administration who tries to tie the crime to political dissent from Republicans, conservatives, tea party people, or talk radio, or to some sort of “atmosphere” of disagreement with the Democrats in general and Obama in particular is a scoundrel and should be treated as such. (We should of course excuse the young, naïve, and generally foolish who are simply parroting a party line and don’t know any better from this judgment.)
There are plenty of them out there doing it, many of them people who would who would have bristled and claimed McCarthyism if a critic on the right had tried to blame the actions of the Unabomber on the rhetoric of and atmosphere created by people in the environmental movement. Their behavior is despicable, dishonest, and deeply anti-American. They should be ashamed of themselves and ridiculed by the rest of us.