Arizona tea partiers balk at blame

The War on Sarah Palin
I've never seen anyone who inspires such fear and hatred on the left as Sarah Palin. The Arizona shooting has led to a whole new round of anti-Palin hysteria. David Brooks addresses the issue and the media's complicity: Other themes from Loughner’s life fit the rampage-killer profile. He saw himself in world historical terms. He appeared to have a poor sense of his own illness (part of a condition known as anosognosia). He had increasingly frequent run-ins with the police. In short, the e...

Missing From Loughner Debate: Soul Searching
Jared Loughner (Credit: Personal Photo) There's been quite a bit of back and forth this week about who should share the blame for the actions of alleged Tucson shooter Jared Lee Loughner. Some on the left have pointed to incendiary Rhetoric from Sarah Palin and others on the right, while some on the right have sought to tie Loughner to the beliefs of the left. Palin was blamed in part for using of a bullseye icon to identify political targets - including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords - before the ...

Missing From Loughner Debate: Soul Searching
Jared Loughner (Credit: Personal Photo) There's been quite a bit of back and forth this week about who should share the blame for the actions of alleged Tucson shooter Jared Lee Loughner. Some on the left have pointed to incendiary Rhetoric from Sarah Palin and others on the right, while some on the right have sought to tie Loughner to the beliefs of the left. Palin was blamed in part for using of a bullseye icon to identify political targets - including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords - before the ...

Words Matter.
( - promoted by Rob Kailey) Right-wing radio personality/shock jock(and former GOP Staffer) Aaron Flint is taking, according to him, a "tongue in cheek" look at the tragedy in Arizona on Twitter. But what this reminded me of was Flint's earlier mockery of the presence of Law Enforcement at congressional events here in Montana. From his blog: No mention, of course, by the New York Times during their "he's a well grounded man" piece of the fact that the Senator felt he couldn't even hold an in...

How low can Wikileaks go? Julian Assanges sick attempt to exploit the Arizona shootings
In a Press Release late last night, Wikileaks made a sick attempt to link in the public mind the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords to widespread outrage in America over its recent leaking of hundreds of thousands of US government documents. Even for Julian Assange this is surely a low point IN Media manipulation, and here he is clearly mimicking the Far Left’s ludicrous attempts to blame the Right for the Arizona shootings. Here’s what the release, entitled “WikiLeak

10 Things You Didn't Know About Gabrielle Giffords
1. Gabrielle Giffords was born in Tucson, Ariz. On June 8, 1970 to Gloria, an art conservator, and Spencer Giffords who served on the School Board district and ran the family's auto and tire business, El Campo Tire, Inc. 2. After graduating with a degree in Latin American history and sociology from Scripps College in Claremont, Calif. in 1993, Giffords studied in Mexico on a Fulbright Scholarship. 3. Giffords graduated from Cornell University in 1996 with a master's degree in regional planning...

Politico gets it exactly backward in calling for a more civil tone
In the aftermath of the Tucson massacre, Politico's Glenn Thrush and Carol E. Lee write one of the most inane responses imaginable: Of all the unfulfilled campaign promises President Barack Obama made in 2008, the one that bothers the president most isn’t any squandered policy priority - it’s his failure to re-civilize what he views as an increasingly savage partisan climate. His failure? The president who reached out to the Republicans on the stimulus, who allowed Republican...

Krauthammer: Lefts Attempts to Blame Right for Tucson Shooting is Truly Scurrilous Video 1/10/11
Charles Krauthammer condemned the Left’s attempts to blame the Tucson Mass Shooting on political Rhetoric from the Right - calling the attacks “scurrilous.” Krauthammer, who in addition to being a syndicated columnist is also a trained psychologist, said it is clear that alleged shooter Jared Loughner is “psychotic,” exhibiting signs of “schizophrenia,” and “severe thought disorder.” ...

Poll: Most Say Rhetoric, Killings Unrelated
From a deeply saddened CBS News: Poll: Most Americans Feel Rhetoric, Tucson Shooting Unrelated Posted by Daniel Carty January 11, 2011 Nearly six in 10 Americans say the country’s heated political rhetoric is not to blame for the Tucson shooting rampage that left six dead and critically wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, according to a CBS News poll. So either our media master has better ratchet up their efforts or move on to their fall back position - Gun Control. In the wake ...

Comparing the Tucson shooting reactions.
Now that earlier attempts to define the narrative have apparently collapsed (even regular Democratic voters aren’t willing to blame the Right for the Tucson shooting), let us take this moment to discover what we have learned about stereotypical reactions to tragedies and atrocities. And what is the most important thing that we have learned? It’s that the blogosphere and the pundit class can be neatly divided into two groups: When one group heard of the Tucson shooting, they rightly...

Accountability and Victimization
Accountability and Victimization by digby Adam Serwer has a good post up today about Clinton's Oklahoma City Speech (which I excerpted earlier, here.) I hadn't realized until this incident that it was an article of faith on the right that this Speech was considered a case of political opportunism which wrongly attributed the bombing to the Right Wing Extremism of the time. I should have known. If they don't feel any responsibility for Tim McVeigh, then they can say and do anything and will ne...

Tea Partiers out in force
A long line made up mostly of Tea Party supporters and conservative Activists, some of them chanting and carrying signs, snaked through State Capitol halls and stairways this morning waiting to get into the House Gallery. By 10 a.m., the line of several hundred people stretched from near the statehouse’s west entrance to the third-floor entrance to the gallery. It was set to open at 10:30 a.m. Some wore red-white-and-blue t-shirts supporting state Rep. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, for speaker. ...

Rush Limbaugh Attacks 'The Left' Over Gabrielle Giffords Shooting Response
Rush Limbaugh criticizes the response of the Democratic Party and the media to the Tucson tragedy in his Radio Show today, saying that the event has been used to advance the Left’s political interests. “The left, including the media, cannot accept the reality of a madman slaughtering innocent people. It cannot be ‘individual responsibility’ -- they reject that concept anyway,” Limbaugh said. He goes on to say that “the Left” believes that Utopia can happen and th

Unknown militant group emerges; targets birthers, GOP
(Paulding County, Georgia) - Paulding County Republicans and birthers need to be on guard due to an unknown group calling itself, Militant Association of Democrats who sent letters, placed phone calls as well as death threats that included the words GOP and birthers through a sniper scope to the American Patriot Foundation. Two anonymous letters sent to APF from Richmond, Va. place "GOP" and "Birthers" in the crosshairs of a rifle scope alongside the exhortation "Load 'em Up!" These letter...

How Should the Tea Party Respond to Media Smears?
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. Download Podcast | iTunes | Podcast Feed Today on Coffee and Markets we’re talking to Melissa Clouthier of LibertyPundits who shares her views on the political fallout from the Arizona shooting. We also discuss whether Congressional staff should be armed, and how the right should respond to the smears of old m...

Arizona shooting of Rep. Giffords brings gun control laws under scrutiny
Seven years ago, former President George W. Bush responded to Gun Rights special groups, and in 2004, allowed the 1994 assault weapons laws to expire. Critics of the gun law roll back suggest that it allowed Jared Loughner, 22, to kill six people at a political rally in Arizona on January 8, 2011. Sixteen others were wounded, including Arizona Democrat, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head. Out of tragedy often comes progress. But will Tea Party Republicans surrender their ...

Commentary: Take the political rhetoric down a notch
Those searching for easy answers after a 22-year-old shot 20 people, killing six, during U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' meeting with constituents in Tucson, Ariz., on Saturday won't find any. Yes, guns are easily accessible in this country. Yes, in the past two years we have seen Political Speech ratcheted up with gun-toting participants at some Tea Party events, and some Democrats in Congress faced angry voters at town hall meetings during debate on Healthcare Reform. And, yes, the Internet a...

Arizona leaders play blame-game, but get it wrong
While investigators continue to investigate the tragic shooting that took place in Tucson last Saturday, leaders in Arizona have eagerly jumped on the main stream media’s overblown, detrimental, blame- game wagon. Only hours after the shooting took place, Pima County Sheriff, Clarence Dupnik argued that the “vitriol” of the Country's harshly polarized political climate was partly to blame, arguing that “unbalanced individuals are uniquely "susceptible" to vitriol.” ...

It was inevitable: gun rights in the crosshairs, again
In the 72 hours after the attempted Assassination of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the Murder of several others in Tucson, our moral betters on the liberal left were shouting in (coordinated?) that it had to be due to the angry, overheated Rhetoric from the Right, and most particularly from Sarah Palin . Even the Sheriff of Pima County couldn’t resist getting in on the act. Though the Left is still pushing the “dangerous rhetoric” idea, even to the point of introducing a...

Which Path Will Our Nation Choose In Dealing With The Arizona Shooting?
There are grown up and constructive reactions to the tragic Arizona shooting. And then there are the puerile and destructive reactions. So far, President Obama has chosen the high road, and shown grace and dignity in this time of sorrow. Let’s hope that he goes tomorrow to the memorial service for the fallen in Arizona with the intent to help heal the hearts of the mourners. He should continue to condemn violence, and lay the blame where it belongs. The alleged shooter, Jared Lee Loug...

Congress Prays for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords
Saturday's shooting of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords prompted Congressional officials to schedule a special briefing to review security issues. See photos of the Gabrielle Giffords Shooting in Arizona. Take the poll: Is Political Rhetoric to Blame for Arizona Shooting? See who in Congress gets the most from Gun Rights groups. ...

Reid praised Arizona sheriff in 2008 speech
In a floor Speech nearly three years ago, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid praised the sheriff investigating the deadly Arizona Shooting Spree who has faced criticism from the right.  Reid (D-Nev.) took to the Senate floor on April 15, 2008 to praise the "truly commendable" 50-year Law Enforcement career of Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik.  "Clarence Dupnik is known as a man of action, integrity, and innovation," Reid said. "These skills have been invaluable to his 50 years of service t...

Violence and politics merge
Aid and comfort: Some Republicans responded with indignation—why should the alleged act of an apparently deranged young man with a record of barely coherent, and only vaguely ideological rantings get charged to their account? Others acknowledged what they called an unavoidable reality—flamboyant or incendiary anti-government Rhetoric of the sort used by many conservative politicians, commentators and Tea Party Activists for the time being will carry a stigma. A senior Republican senator, s...

Tucson Terrorism: A Deeply Rooted Assault on American Democracy
Submitted by BuzzFlash on Tue, 01/11/2011 - 11:53am. Now it's political Assassination and Murders in Tucson. William Faulkner wrote that the past isn't dead, it isn't even past. I'm a Veteran of Arizona. As one of the state's leading peace advocates and organizers during the Vietnam War, I had more than my share of death threats, including one left on the accelerator of my car. After President Nixon urged "hard hats" to attack peace advocates, the John Birch Society loosed drunken miners agains...

Rep. Garcia wears passport to protest immigration bill
As Conservatives push forward with a plan to bring an Arizona-style Immigration law to Florida, Miami Rep. Luis Garcia has donned a form of Protest in the State Capitol: His passport. Garcia said the proposal, which would require police in some circumstance to check a suspect's Immigration status, is tentamount to ethnic or Racial Profiling that eventually will make Hispanics, Haitians and other immigrants feel unwelcome and subject to search. So he's walking around with his papers on ...