Arizona Tragedy

First condolences and prayers for everyone affected by this maniac going on a rampage.  From what I have read these are the deranged acts of a sick man who never should have been allowed near firearms.  As someone who is a staunch second amendment supporter, I do not think anyone with a criminal or mental heath record should be eligible to own a firearm at all.  I think being able to protect yourself is a right, but one you can lose, like voting.


Now that I have that out of the way, the coverage that I watched made my head spin.  Compare it to the Times Square Bomber, where No Labels Bloomberg labelled the terrorist without a shred of proof as"Probably someone upset about the Health Care Bill" or the Fort Hood Massacre where Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey, Jr. said "I'm concerned that this increased speculation could cause a backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers ... Our diversity, not only in our Army, but in our country, is a strength. And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse."  After both of these events we were implored to not jump to conclusions, to not put two and two together about someone who murders unarmed soldiers at deployment center while screeching "Alluha Akbar."  As Obama says, let me be perfectly clear.  I agree with this sentiment, I think when something like this happens everyone should focus on those that need help before assessing blame and pointing at root causes.  The truth will come out eventually, without half baked accusations before anyone knows anything.  


My question is, why do the talking heads on the left give so much more leeway and benefit of the doubt to Islamic Terrorists and Mass Murderers than they do to conservatives?  In the immediate wake of this shooting CNN was talking about Sarah Palin's electoral map that had a target on this Arizona Congressional District, Krugman had a blog post up on NYT.com about the "climate of hate" fostered by the tea party and Sarah Palin in particular and the Daily Kos had a "Mission Accomplished Sarah Palin" headline up.  Based on what?  This guy ranted about government mind control and killing cops on his youtube page while listins Mein Kampf and the Communist Manifesto as some of his favorite books.  Not exactly Milton Friedman, Hayek or Thomas Paine is it?  Where was the concern about a backlash against conservatives?  About not jumping to conclusions to judge all conservatives based on the actions of a nut they had just assumed to be a tea partier?  How come no one stressed how "The Tea Party is Peace?"


Curious


UPDATE
Instapundit says it better than I did here


To be clear, if you're using this event to criticize the "rhetoric" of Mrs. Palin or others with whom you disagree, then you're either: (a) asserting a connection between the "rhetoric" and the shooting, which based on evidence to date would be what we call a vicious lie; or (b) you're not, in which case you're just seizing on a tragedy to try to score unrelated political points, which is contemptible. Which is it?


read the whole thing