Death Threats Against Palin Hit New High

Threat cycle spirals as rhetoric rises
By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 13, 2011 2:19 AM CST
Updated Jan 13, 2011 7:30 AM CST
Death Threats Against Palin Hit New High
This graphic from Sarah Palin's "Take Back The 20" Facebook page shows map with gunsights marking 20 Democrats' districts, including the district of shooting victim Gabreille Giffords.   (AP Photo)

Death threats against Sarah Palin have hit an unprecedented high in the wake of the shooting of Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and have so unnerved the former Alaska governor and her staff that they're consulting with private security representatives to beef up protection, reports ABC News. Aides provided no other details, though a recent YouTube video highlighted threats against Palin posted on Twitter. In a growing spiral of violent rhetoric, death threats have mounted as Palin herself has been accused of encouraging deadly attacks by promoting a map marking Giffords' congressional district with crosshairs.

Representatives of other districts marked with the crosshairs have also become death-threat targets. In 2008 the Secret Service warned the Obama family of a spike in death threats against them immediately after Palin accused Barack Obama of "palling around with terrorists," reported the Telegraph. Palin is now being slammed for her speech yesterday using the term "blood libel," which many Jewish groups consider anti-Semitic. "Journalists should not manufacture a blood libel that serves to incite the violence they purport to condemn," she said in a Facebook video.
(More Gabrielle Giffords shooting stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X