Skeptic Project

By Greg Sargent

Sarah Palin's charge that her critics are guilty of "blood libel," while designed to put her in the center of the conversation on her own terms and to retake the initiative after days of negative press, has generated some surprising pushback from voices who are generally sympathetic to her current media plight.

Now the Anti-Defamation League is condemning her, which could take the criticism to a whole new level. The ADL sends over a statement from Abraham Foxman:

It is unfortunate that the tragedy in Tucson continues to stimulate a political blame game. Rather than step back and reflect on the lessons to be learned from this tragedy, both parties have reverted to political partisanship and finger-pointing at a time when the American people are looking for leadership, not more vitriol. In response to this tragedy we need to rise above partisanship, incivility, heated rhetoric, and the business-as-usual approaches that are corroding our political system and tainting the atmosphere in Washington and across the country.

It was inappropriate at the outset to blame Sarah Palin and others for causing this tragedy or for being an accessory to murder. Palin has every right to defend herself against these kinds of attacks, and we agree with her that the best tradition in America is one of finding common ground despite our differences.

Still, we wish that Palin had not invoked the phrase "blood-libel" in reference to the actions of journalists and pundits in placing blame for the shooting in Tucson on others. While the term "blood-libel" has become part of the English parlance to refer to someone being falsely accused, we wish that Palin had used another phrase, instead of one so fraught with pain in Jewish history.

That's not quite as strong as it might have been. It stops short of demanding that she retract the phrase or apologize for it, as the left-leaning group J-Street did this morning. But condemnation from the ADL could be enough to throw Palin back on the defensive.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2011/01/breaking_adl_condemns_sarah_pa.html