Gene Lyons on the merchants of hate

Gene Lyons weighs in with his view on Sarah Palin's callous take on the Tucson assassination attack earlier this month in Profiting from political road rage Salon 01/19/2011

My theory: Ever since Rush Limbaugh adapted the techniques of drive-time sports radio to politics -- the loudmouth hyperbole, the fake omniscience, the mute button -- the mass-marketing of outrage to people stuck in freeway traffic with blood-pressure levels already approaching the blowout range has coarsened public discourse to the level of road rage.

You want "blood libel"?

Limbaugh, last week: "What (accused assassin) Mr. Loughner knows is that he has the full support of a major political party ... The Democrat party is attempting to find anybody but him to blame. He knows if he plays his cards right, he's just a victim ... plus a local sheriff doing everything that they can to make sure he's not convicted of murder -- but something lesser."

If you believe that, you'll believe anything.

Tags: domestic terrorism, gene lyons, radical right, rush limbaugh, terrorism