Palin Slams CNN for 'Crossfire' Hypocrisy

In a Facebook note on Sunday, former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin blasted CNN for the network’s hypocrisy in potentially bringing back a show called Crossfire just two years after the network falsely implied Palin’s “crossfire” icons on a map that “targeted” pro-Obamacare Representatives were responsible for the attempted murder of former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ).

CNN is reportedly going to bring back Crossfire, the debate show the network canceled in June 2005.

“Wasn’t CNN among those who issued blistering criticism about the use of a ‘crossfire’ icon in 2010 to represent political districts we wished to see represented by commonsense conservatives?” Palin asked.

On the night Giffords was shot on January 8, 2011, CNN, without any evidence whatsoever in a segment the network would later come to regret, implied Palin’s 2010 map played a role in inciting the violence. They discussed how Palin’s use of the phrase, “don’t retreat, reload,” may have also created an environment that made the shooting possible.

As Palin noted, “CNN, among others, implied that using a ‘crossfire’ icon (which was a tactic first employed by Democrats to illustrate political maps of districts they ‘targeted’ to win) was inciting violence.”

CNN, along with other mainstream media networks, refused to acknowledge all the examples of Democrats having used “crossfire” icons to “target” districts while rushing to link Palin to the attempted murder of Giffords and the murder of six others. 

Anchor Wolf Blitzer, along with television personalities Gloria Borger and Jessica Yellin, noted there was no evidence that the shooter, Jared Loughner, was motivated by opposition to Obamacare or misinterpreted Palin’s Facebook post in support of conservative candidates who would fight against Obamacare in 2010. 

That did not stop CNN from essentially linking Palin to the attempted murder in one of the most irresponsible segments in recent memory. 

Jared Loughner, who shot 18 people, killing six, while attempting to murder Giffords, was proven not to have any political leanings, and actually spoke to Giffords at a town hall event years before he attempted to kill her. Evidence would later reveal that Loughner, contrary to CNN’s initial implications, was in no way influenced by Tea Partiers, conservative media, or Palin.