Palin Defends Use of ‘Blood Libel’ Phrase
Sarah Palin said in a television interview on Monday evening that she agreed with bipartisan calls for civility in the wake of the Arizona shooting rampage, but she vowed not to be deterred or silenced by critics as she decides whether to run for president.
“Peaceful dissent and discussion about ideas, that is what makes America exceptional,” Ms. Palin said in a prime-time appearance on the Fox News Channel. “We won’t allow that to be stifled by a tragic event in Arizona.”
Ms. Palin, the former governor of Alaska, said she had not yet decided what course her political future would take, but declared: “I’m not going to sit down. I’m not going to shut up.”
In her first television interview since the Arizona shooting, Ms. Palin defended using the term “blood libel” to describe what she said was a rush to judgment by her critics. Some drew a link between heated political rhetoric and the shooting that killed six people and wounded 13, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords.
Ms. Palin dismissed suggestions that she did not know the historical significance of the phrase, which originated in the Middle Ages with accusations of Jews using the blood of Christians in religious rituals.
“Blood libel obviously means being falsely accused of having blood on your hands,” she said, “and in this case that’s exactly what was going on.”
The 30-minute interview with Sean Hannity, a conservative Fox host, came five days after Ms. Palin was criticized by Democrats and several Republicans for a video message she released after the shooting. Her tone was conciliatory at the opening of the appearance on Monday evening, and she repeatedly said she was not trying to engage in an act of political self-defense.
“This isn’t about me,” Ms. Palin said, speaking from a television studio in her home in Wasilla, Alaska. “My defense wasn’t self-defense, it was defending those who were falsely accused.”
Ms. Palin expressed her condolences to the victims of the shooting. She recited a verse from the Book of Jeremiah, asking that God touch and comfort the families. She acknowledged that she and her family receive death threats, but she offered no specific details.
Ms. Palin, who is a paid Fox analyst, has been uncharacteristically quiet since the shooting. Several Republicans had urged her to come forward and join the national discussions about political civility.
In the interview, Ms. Palin defended using a map in last year’s midterm elections with cross hairs over several swing Congressional districts, including Ms. Giffords’s, which the congresswoman highlighted at the time as an example of overheated political speech. Ms. Palin rejected suggestions that the map played any role in the shooting, but said she did not object to it being removed from her Web site.
As the field of potential 2012 Republican presidential contenders begins taking shape, Ms. Palin has given few signals about whether she intends to enter the race. She said Monday that she was “not ready to make an announcement” but would disclose her plans “at the appropriate time.”
The television appearance provided a friendly platform for Ms. Palin. As the interview drew to a close, Mr. Hannity asked her whether the controversy had caused long-term damage to her political career.
“In a situation like we have just faced in these last eight days of being falsely accused of being an accessory to murder,” Ms. Palin said, “I and others need make sure that we, too, are shedding light on truth so a lie cannot continue to live.
“If a lie does live, then of course your career is over and your reputation is thrashed and you will be ineffective in what we intend to do.”
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