“Don’t Retreat, Instead – RELOAD!” Sarah Palin, March 23, 2010

by David Safier

Lest we let this piece of violence-laced rhetoric slip as we remember Palin's U.S. map with rifle sights on Democratic districts, on March 23, Palin tweeted, "Don't Retreat, Instead – RELOAD!" Here's the complete tweet:

The tweet is addressed to conservatives and "lovers of America." The message is in quotes, to make certain everyone understands they are Palin's words. RELOAD is in all caps, because that's the rallying cry.

I can say with a reasonable amount of certainty that Palin doesn't want conservatives to go around with guns shooting at politicians they disagree with or storming the White House with AK-47s. But once you put the words out there with your name on them, you no longer control how they're interpreted or how they're used.

This is from the Sarah Palin Information blog, which I believe is not directly connected to Palin:

Someone who shouts "Fire!" in a crowded theater most likely doesn't want anyone to be trampled to death. A young child playing with matches doesn't intend to burn the house down. The politicians and pundits on the Right who use violence-laden language to inflame their supporters don't want political assassination or armed insurrection (the vast majority of them, anyway), but once you shout "Fire!" or light a match, you can't always control what happens next. And you have no right to say, "It wasn't my fault."