Longtime TV personality Barbara Walters, not exactly a conservative voice, doesn’t think it is appropriate to put the blame on former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for the shooting in Tucson, Ariz. on Saturday, as some have been quick to do.
On ABC’s Monday broadcast of “The View,” Walters offered a sincere defense for Palin. She said that while Palin was wrong for her SarahPac ‘crosshair’ ad campaign aimed at certain congressional districts last year in the midterm elections, it was the mental state of Jared Lee Loughner that was truly at fault for the tragedy.
“I’m feeling bad for Sarah Palin because I don’t think that’s what she should have said, and certainly crosshairs are very scary,” Walters said. “This is a deranged young man. This is a Timothy McVeigh. Whether this happened because there is violence – too much commentary, too much violence as you say we’ve talked about. Sometimes we do it here we get so angry.”
Walters added she hoped this might offer time for introspection in terms of political rhetoric, but told viewers that this wasn’t the time to place blame.
“Whether that speared him on or whether he is just a very sick person, we don’t know,” she continued. “We don’t know what his motives are and we can hope that all the vitriol calms down. But to blame Sarah Palin as some are doing I think is very unfair to her. She issued a statement offering her condolences and hasn’t said more. But I don’t think this is the time now to start finding – you should excuse me – other targets to blame.”
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