The New York Times editorial board referred to the discredited theory the shooter of former congresswoman Gabby Giffords was inspired by a Facebook post of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.
In an editorial entitled "America's Lethal Politics," the Times addressed the recent shooting at practice for the Republican congressional baseball team that might have been politically motivated.
"In 2011, when Jared Lee Loughner opened fire in a supermarket parking lot . . . the link to political incitement was clear," the Times had wrote. "Before the shooting, Sarah Palin's political action committee circulated a map of targeted electoral districts that put Ms. Giffords and 19 other Democrats under stylized cross hairs."
The board added, "Though there's no sign of incitement as direct as in the Giffords attack, liberals should of course hold themselves to the same standard of decency that they ask of the right."
ABC's Jake Tapper revealed in 2011, shortly after the shooting, Loughner's issues with Giffords dated back far before Palin's post.
"There's no evidence that the shooter even heard of Sarah Palin," Tapper said, according to Newsbusters.
In 2014, CBS News reported Loughner had repeatedly posted paranoid rants about government conspiracies on social media for months before the shooting, and his reasons for attacking Giffords might have stemmed from an encounter with her when she visited the high school Loughner was attending in 2007.
This paragraph has since been removed, but not before The Washington Free Beacon and many on social media took notice.
"An earlier version of this editorial incorrectly stated that a link existed between political incitement and the 2011 shooting of Representative Gabby Giffords," read the correction. "In fact, no such link was established."
Free Beacon editor David Rutz pointed out the Times has made similar connections in the past after shootings.
Palin responded to the story on Facebook.
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