For the last two years, members of the media have scolded conservatives and members of the Tea Party for using incendiary language. Yet, a Time.com [1] headline on Saturday blasted, "Wisconsin's Governor Wins, but Is He Now Dead Man Walker?"
Writer Dawn Reiss highlighted the angry tone of pro-union demonstrators, enraged over Scott Walker's collective bargaining restrictions: "The midnight honking of cars circling the white building had ceased. The chalk outlines around fake dead bodies etched with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's name remained in dismembered parts, not yet completely washed away by hoses."
Reiss touted the anger of people such as Anne Moser, who complained, "People know that violence doesn't get you anywhere. The attack the Republicans have made is violent and a violation of human rights. It is an attack on the middle class."
In the past, however, Reiss' colleague, columnist Joe Klein, slammed conservative commentators for what he perceived to be extreme rhetoric. On the April 18 2010 edition of the Chris Matthews Show, he attacked, "I looked up the definition of sedition, which is 'conduct or language inciting rebellion against the authority of the state.' And a lot of these statements, especially the ones coming from people like Glenn Beck, and to a certain extent Sarah Palin, rub right next - right up close to being seditious."
How would the reporters and columnists at Time magazine have reacted if Sarah Palin referred to Barack Obama as a "dead man walking?"
- Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center. Click here [2] to follow him on Twitter.