Family of Arizona shooting suspect expresses sorrow

Obama urges nation to speak healing words in Ariz.
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Summoning the soul of a nation, President Barack Obama on Wednesday implored Americans to honor those slain and injured in the Arizona shootings by becoming better people, telling a polarized citizenry that it is time to talk with each other “in a way that heals, not in a way wounds.” Following a Hospital bedside visit with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the target of the Assassination, he said: “She knows we’re here, and she knows we love her.”...

[Headline] - PRESIDENT COOL SAYS CHILL
TUCSON, Ariz. – Summoning the soul of a nation, President Barack Obama on Wednesday implored Americans to honor those slain and injured in the Arizona shootings by becoming better people, telling a polarized citizenry that it is time to talk with each other "in a way that heals, not in a way wounds." Following a Hospital bedside visit with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the target of the Assassination, he said: "She knows we're here, and she knows we love her." In a memorably dramatic moment, th...

Obama leads memorial service for Arizona shooting victims
President Barack Obama flew to Arizona and headed straight to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' bedside to pay his respects to the wounded lawmaker as he sought to unify a mourning nation....

Officers stopped suspect on day of shooting...
TUCSON, Ariz. – A wildlife officer pulled over the suspect in the Assassination attempt against an Arizona congresswoman less than three hours before the deadly attack, authorities said Wednesday as they pieced together more details of a frenzied morning. Jared Lougher ran a red light but was let off with a warning at 7:30 a.m. Saturday, the Arizona Game and Fish Department said. The officer took Loughner's driver's license and vehicle registration information but found no outstanding warr...

Obama visits shot politician in hospital
US President Barack Obama has made a poignant visit to wounded congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Hospital, four days after she was gunned down in an Assassination attempt. Obama spent time with Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly, a US Space Shuttle Astronaut, at the University Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona, before heading to a memorial service to pay tribute to those killed and wounded in the attack. "The president wanted to begin this solemn trip by stopping first at the hospital where c...

Obama: Make shooting debate 'worthy of those we have lost'
President Obama sought Wednesday night to unite the country after last week's shootings in Arizona, saying the country can not let the attack be "one more occasion to turn on one another." The president called on the nation to transcend the heated Rhetoric and blame-laying of both recent months and the days following the shooting as he sought to move the debate to higher ground. "If this tragedy prompts reflection and debate, as it should, let’s make sure it’s worthy of those we have lost...

Obama visits wounded Giffords
TUCSON, Ariz - President Barack Obama visited wounded U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords Wednesday to begin an emotional trip to Arizona as political leaders condemned the deadly Shooting Spree in Tucson. Obama’s Motorcade carried him to University Medical Center shortly after he landed in Tucson to address a memorial service for the six killed and 14 wounded by a gunman who opened fire while Giffords met voters last Saturday. “The president wanted to begin this solemn trip by st...

'Gabby opened her eyes': Obama
Last year, colour was reserved for cushions. Now, it’s on the sofa Would the real Lisbeth Salander please stand up? Scandal Sheet: Selena Gomez feeling gleeful? President Barack Obama hugs NASA Astronaut Mark Kelly, husband of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), as he arrives to attend the event "Together We Thrive: Tucson and America" honoring the January 8 shooting vi. Jeff Mason and Tim Gaynor, Reuters with files from Agence-France Presse · Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2011 U.S. President ...

President Obama at Tucson memorial service
About 45 minutes into the service, following remembrances by Gov. Brewer, former Governor and current DHS Secretary Napolitano, and Attorney General Holder, President Obama is introduced by UA President Robert N. Shelton. The text of his remarks as prepared are available below the fold. President Obama is expected to speak for just under twenty minutes. Update: President Obama's begins: To the families of those we’ve lost; to all who called them friends; to the Students of this university...

President Obama: "Our hearts are broke"
Republican Governor Jan Brewer stated that the acts of Jared Loughner last Saturday morning outside of a Safeway in Tucson were those done by a “mad man” and “senseless”.  The names of those who passed in the shooting were read and prayers and biblical scripture were cited by those in attendance.  Additionally, President Obama stated that he had visited Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and stated that she had opened her eyes for the first time since the incident.  P...

Obama leads mourning of Arizona shooting victims (Reuters)
TUCSON, Arizona (Reuters) – President Barack Obama mourned the Victims of an Arizona Shooting Spree on Wednesday and urged Americans not to let the debate over the tragedy be used as "one more occasion to turn on one another." In an emotional address to thousands of people who packed a Tucson arena for a memorial service, Obama said no one knew what prompted a gunman to go on a rampage that killed six people and critically wounded Representative Gabrielle Giffords. He warned ag...

Rhetoric as comfort food: The mac-and-cheese instinct
Neither the right nor the left lost any time criticizing the other after the Tucson shootings, but it's increasingly clear the suspect was not politically motivated. If only we could go back to Monday. Discussions about Saturday's shootings in Tucson, which killed six and wounded 13, including Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, were so much simpler then: inflamed, righteous and deliciously partisan in a comfort-food kind of way. The fallout from the tragedy took a neat and predictable course: t...

Obama: Giffords 'knows we're here'
President Barack Obama says Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who is fighting for her life in a Tucson, Ariz., Hospital, knows that Americans love her and are rooting for her recovery. The president spoke at a memorial service after he and First Lady Michelle Obama spent time with Giffords and other Victims of Saturday's shooting rampage. Calling Giffords by her nickname, "Gabby," the president said: "She knows we love her." Giffords' husband, Astronaut Mark Kelly, watched from the front row Wednesday ev...

Obama to those at service: 'We can be better'
President Barack Obama speaks at a memorial service for the Victims of Saturday's shootings at McKale Center on the University of Arizona campus Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2011, in Tucson, Ariz. President Barack Obama is telling Americans shocked by the killings in Arizona that, in his words, "we can be better." For all our imperfections, the president says, "we are full of decency and goodness." He says that the Victims and heroes of Saturday's shootings helped convince him of that. Six people died a...

Saunders Fundraises Off Arizone Murders
Bernie Saunders There has been no shortage of individuals and institutions that have sought to capitalize on the shootings in Tucson. Add Vermont senator Bernie Sanders to that list. This afternoon Sanders sent out a Fundraising appeal, seeking to raise money to fight Republicans and other "right-wing reactionaries" responsible for the climate that led to the shooting. He writes: Given the recent tragedy in Arizona, as well as the start of the new Congress, I wanted to take this opportunity...

So who will? Someone has to...
PHOENIX (AP) -- All Federal Judges in Arizona have recused themselves from hearing the case against the man accused of shooting Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and four other federal employees. An order issued Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver says the impartiality of the Arizona judges could be questioned given that one of people killed in the shooting was U.S. District Judge John Roll of Tucson. Roll was the chief federal judge for Arizona. Alex Kozinski, chief judge for the 9th U.S. C...

Obama: 'We Mourn With You ... We Join You In Your Grief'
President Obama delivered an emotional address at a memorial service tonight to honor the 19 people shot, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), in Tucson last Saturday. "There is nothing I can say that will fill the sudden hole torn in your hearts. But know this: the hopes of a nation are here tonight. We mourn with you for the fallen. We join you in your grief. And we add our faith to yours that Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the other living Victims of this tragedy pull through," ...

Abdication of duty
Abdication of Duty by digby So much for Bipartisan healing: Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) turned down an offer by President Barack Obama to travel on Air Force One to Arizona for a memorial service on behalf of the Victims of Saturday’s shooting, a decision that has upset some Democrats. Boehner is instead scheduled to attend a reception on Wednesday night on behalf of Maria Cino, a former top House GOP aide who is seeking the Republican National Committee chairmanship. Boehner is backing C...

Obama: Giffords opened eyes for first time
President Barack Obama says that Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has opened her eyes for the first time since being shot through the head on Saturday. The president says it happened a few minutes after he left her Hospital room Wednesday evening. The president, speaking at a prayer service in Tucson for Shooting Victims, says that Giffords' husband allowed him to share the news with the crowd. That brought people to their feet amid cheering. The president says that after he left Giffords' hospi...

Obama goes for unity in Tucson memorial speech
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Summoning the soul of a nation, President Barack Obama on Wednesday implored Americans to honor those slain and injured in the Arizona shootings by becoming better people, telling a polarized citizenry that it is time to talk with each other "in a way that heals, not in a way wounds." Following a Hospital bedside visit with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the target of the Assassination, he said: "She knows we're here, and she knows we love her." In a memorably dramatic momen...

Minnesota Rep. to Honor Giffords
(NewsCore) - Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) announced Wednesday that he will hold a special “Congress on your Corner" meeting in his district in honor of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who survived an Assassination attempt at her political event Saturday. The event will be similar to other meetings hosted by the Minnesota Democrat -- who is the first Muslim to be elected to Congress -- in which constituents are able to speak directly with the congressman. Jared Lee Loughner, 22, killed s...

Minnesota Rep. to Honor Giffords
(NewsCore) - Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) announced Wednesday that he will hold a special “Congress on your Corner" meeting in his district in honor of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who survived an Assassination attempt at her political event Saturday. The event will be similar to other meetings hosted by the Minnesota Democrat -- who is the first Muslim to be elected to Congress -- in which constituents are able to speak directly with the congressman. Jared Lee Loughner, 22, killed s...

Asking The Right Questions
Do you agree that the "eliminationist Rhetoric" cited by Krugman is a problem and is out of bounds? Are you denying that such rhetoric exists, or that the preponderance of it comes from the right? More broadly, putting aside the case of Jared Loughner, is it a valid question to ask whether such rhetoric in general risks tipping the unhinged into violence? An Arizona Republican Party District Chairman resigned shortly after the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and 18 others on Saturday...

Liveblog: President Obama Speaks at Together We Thrive Event in Tucson
The President will speak sometime during the “Together We Thrive” event happening at the McKale Center on the campus of the University of Arizona in Tucson, four days after the Assassination attempt that wounded 15 people, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), and killed 6 others, including a Giffords Staffer, a Federal Judge and four constituents. It is expected that he will speak for 20 minutes and focus mainly on the Victims themselves: The remarks - written to last ju...

Giffords office: "Even during the darkest times, our nation's capacity for kindness and fellowship reminds us of the best in peo
The office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) released the following statement at the start ofWednesday evening's memorial service in Tucson: "The outpouring of support from the people of Arizona and Americans across the country has been truly moving. We appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. The resolution before the House today was a further reflection of the best of America -- one after another, Members came to the floor, without party labels, in support of t...