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New York Times gets obliterated over this stunning description of Virginia shooting
The New York Times editorial board was excoriated Wednesday after publishing a stunning comparison of the Virginia shooting to that of Gabby Giffords in 2011. (2011 file photo/Mario Tama/Getty Images)

New York Times gets obliterated over this stunning description of Virginia shooting

The New York Times editorial board published such a stunning description of the Virginia shooting that even some on the left had to admit it went beyond the pale.

The instantly controversial opinion piece titled, "America's lethal politics," landed Wednesday to intense criticism online.

Predictably, the piece advocated for more gun control, but it was a description of the motivation of the left-wing attacker that really stoked the anger against the storied news outlet.

"Was this attack evidence of how vicious American politics has become?" the article asked. "Probably. In 2011, when Jared Lee Loughner 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. 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 crosshairs.

"Conservatives and right-wing media were quick on Wednesday to demand forceful condemnation of hate speech and crimes by anti-Trump liberals," it continued. "They’re right. Though there’s no sign of incitement as direct as in the Giffords attack, liberals should, of course, hold themselves to the same standard of decency that they ask of the right."

But by nearly any standard, there's much more evidence that James Hodgkinson, the shooter in Virginia, was motivated by politics than the lack of an iota of evidence that the mentally deranged Jared Loughner was animated by any political motivation at all.

Conservatives were quick to seize upon what appeared to be a revisionist history in order to downplay the role of left-wing politics in a horrible attack on Republicans.

Even MSNBC host Chris L. Hayes admitted it was "nuts" in response to Nation Review columnist David French:

Hodgkinson left a long vitriolic pattern of insults and angry missives against President Donald Trump and Republicans before attacking members of Congress who were practicing for a charity baseball game Thursday.

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) is in critical condition from his injuries, while four others were wounded in the attack.

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