The Loughner Panic: Breaking Down the Media/political Breakdown over the Tucson Massacre

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Two HOURS after a deranged college dropout named Jared Lee Loughner opened fire on a congresswoman's meet-and-greet outside a Tucson supermarket, killing six and wounding 13 others, the influential progressive blogger Markos "Daily Kos" Moulitsas fouled Twitter with this grotesque message: "Mission accomplished, Sarah Palin." Several hours later The New York Times reported in its front-page coverage that the massacre "set off what is likely to be a wrenching debate over anger and violence in American politics." We soon got a rather different "wrenching debate," over the media's rush to blame the violence on political rhetoric, especially the …