It's become clear since Saturday that some in the media are determined to blame outspoken conservatives for the Tucson massacre. So there's really no reason to believe that yet another fact contradicting that attack will put it to rest.
But in the spirit of journalism - that thing the left's media attack dogs profess their reverence for - it should be noted: a friend of the killer, Jared Lee Loughner, told "Good Morning America" that Loughner "did not watch TV. He disliked the news. He didn’t listen to political radio. He didn’t take sides. He wasn’t on the left. He wasn’t on the right."
In other words, if this friend is to be believed, no cable news or talk radio personality drove Loughner to commit this heinous act.
That, of course, has been a frequent refrain this week. MSNBC's Contessa Brewer suggested blame for the shooting might lie with "vitriolic right-wing talkers." In searching for "angry rhetoric" that might've driven Loughner to kill, Andrea Mitchell went back five years to single out something Glenn Beck had said. Ed Schultz simply hurled blame for the shooting at the entire Fox News Channel.
All of the media handwringing over conservative talk on television and radio sidesteppped the fact that no evidence had been found (and still none has) supporting that contention. But media liberals were not about to let facts (or, in this case, the lack thereof) get in the way of smearing conservative commentators.
Maybe the words of Loughner's friend above will reinvigorate their concern for truth above political hackery.
