How a public figure handles themselves in a crisis is often an indication of what kind of leader they will make. Sarah Palin, with her eyes on the White House in 2012, may be taking the ultimate test in the aftermath of the Arizona shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
On January 8, 2011, Jared Loughner, 22, opened fired in a Safeway parking lot in Tucson, Arizona. He killed six people and wounded 14, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, a democrat.
In the days following the shooting, Sarah Palin was criticized for having a map of democratic candidates on her website with a gun targets on specific states. Individual candidates were listed as targets. Gabrielle Giffords was one of them.
The map was taken down after the shooting.
On Wednesday, Palin wrote on her Facebook page, “…After this shocking tragedy, I listened at first puzzled, then with concern, and now with sadness, to the irresponsible statements from people attempting to apportion blame for this terrible event.”
A Palin staff member told Alaska radio Sunday that there was "nothing irresponsible" about the images of crosshairs used in a map of the 20 congressional districts targeted by Palin's PAC,” according to the Washington Post.
Palin went on to defend herself against media attacks, calling them, "blood libel," which is an anti-Semitic term that refers to Jewish rituals that involve killing, according to MSNBC.
Political pundits claim George W. Bush used his popularity during the September 11 World Trade Center attacks to will re-election. His widely criticized handling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster contributed to his extraordinary unfavorable ratings when he left office.
The Palin controversy over the Arizona shootings may leave a scar on the Palin political machine that the former Alaska governor may not recover from.
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