GOP Leaders Respond to Arizona Crime

Ohio Congressman Stivers talks security, office and personal pay cuts
COLUMBUS, Ohio (CGE) - First-term Ohio Congressman Steve Stivers, who was sworn-in as a Member of the 112th Congress last week after beating the Democratic Candidate he lost to in 2008, is one of the 85 fresh Republican faces who helped elect another Ohio congressman, John Boehner (OH-8) of West Chester, the next Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Speaker Boehner was present along with Stivers to watch as Gov. John R. Kasich, who was officially was sworn-in just past midnight Monday, ...

Tom DeLay, former U.S. House leader, sentenced to 3 years in prison
Austin - Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, the brash Texan who helped build and tightly control a Republican majority in his chamber until resigning in 2005, was sentenced by a state judge on Monday to three years in Prison for illegally plotting to funnel corporate contributions to Texas legislative Candidates. State Senior Judge Pat Priest, citing the need for those who write the laws to "be bound by them," rejected DeLay's impassioned argument that he was the Victim of poli...

Jackson wants to undo cuts to staff budgets for security measures
Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill.) proposed undoing House Republicans' first cut to help fund lawmakers' security. Jackson, in a release, said his staff is working on a proposal to reverse the 5 percent cut in the office budgets for members of Congress, which the House approved last week. In addition to restoring the cut, Jackson said he would propose a 10 percent increase in office budgets for security, in the wake the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) Saturday at a meeting with c...

Boehner: Shootings wont sway GOP agenda
House Speaker John Boehner says that the shooting of an Arizona congresswoman won’t stop representatives in Washington from their duties. In a brief statement Sunday morning, the newly sworn speaker said flags on the House side of the Capitol in Washington will be flown at half staff to honor Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ slain aide, Gabe Zimmerman. Thirty-year-old Zimmerman was among six killed Saturday in a Tucson, Ariz., shooting rampage that left the Democratic congresswoman among 13 ...

After attack, a leadership test for Obama, Boehner
(01-10) 19:30 PST WASHINGTON, CA (AP) -- On opposite sides of the political spectrum, President Barack Obama and new House Speaker John Boehner suddenly face the same challenge: rise above the anger, suspicion and hostility of their liberal and conservative bases to help a rattled nation deal with the deadly outburst of violence in Arizona. But what comes after the easy moment of silence? For now, both men are stepping past the question of what role, if any, the vitriol of the past election ca...

Most from Mass. refuse more security
WASHINGTON — The “Congress on Your Corner’’ meeting for Representative Niki Tsongas and about 40 constituents was just beginning at the Chelmsford Library Saturday when the horrific news came. Her good friend and colleague Gabrielle Giffords had just been shot at an event of the same type in Tucson. “We asked if [an officer] could come and stay with us, because you just don’t know,’’ said Tsongas, who normally doesn’t arrange for police at h...

Kerry calls on Washington to 'confront' rhetoric
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) said Tuesday it’s time to tone it down on Capitol Hill. In a Speech to The Progressive Think Tank, Center for American Progress, Kerry called for civil dialogue in the wake of Saturday's shootings in Arizona. “In the weeks and months ahead, the real issue we need to confront isn’t just what role divisive political Rhetoric may have played on Saturday – but it’s the violence divisive, overly simplistic dialogue does to our Democracy every...

The Left Wont Drop the Blame Game
A CBS News poll has found that 6 in 10 Americans do not attribute the massacre in Arizona to divisive political Rhetoric. Two thoughts. First, the CBS writeup includes a classic Nixonian use of the passive voice. The poll, we are told, comes in spite of the fact that “much focus has been put on the harsh tone of politics in Washington and around the country, particularly after a contentious Midterm Election.” Put there by whom? A liberal Press Corps eager to lay this crime at the f...

CBS Poll: 57% of Americans Don''t Blame Political Tone for Tucson Shooting
Philip Klein points to a new CBS news poll (again, it's a CBS poll ... I'd be interested in what Rasmussen would find) showing that nearly six in ten Americans don't think the political tone had anyting to do with the Tucson shooting:Overall, 57 percent of respondents said the harsh political tone had nothing to do with the shooting, compared to 32 percent who felt it did. Republicans were more likely to feel the two were unrelated - 69 percent said Rhetoric was not to blame; 19 percent said it ...

Sheriff Dupnick undaunted by criticism from right, blasts Limbaugh
Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik has been under relentless fire from the right since his impassioned and impromptu plea for an end to hateful and violent Rhetoric. (Though as Media Matters points out at that link, they "repeatedly praised a different Arizona sheriff, Paul Babeu, who regularly engages in vitriolic attacks against President Obama and Democrats," and revere the Racist Joe Arpaio). Dupnik has been attacked by everyone from Red State and Malkin to his home State Senator, Jon Kyl....

How Should the Right Respond to the Arizona Shooting?
Download audio here 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 media. We’re brought to you as always by Stephen Clouse and Associates. You can find our iTunes feed at CoffeeandMarkets.com. If you’d like to email u...

The Tragedy of the Arizona Shooting.
This weekend’s tragic shooting at a Safeway district meeting in which United States Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was seriously hurt and a dozen more injured and a District Court judge John Roll, a nine-year-old girl born on September 11th, and a congressional aide were killed has left us all stunned. Nick Baumann has an interview with a friend of the alleged shooter, 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner. The friend describes Loughner’s obsession with Gifford as starting when she d...

Shock, anger and finger-pointing in Washington
On opposite sides of the political spectrum, President Barack Obama and new House Speaker John Boehner suddenly face the same challenge: rise above the anger, suspicion and hostility of their liberal and conservative bases to help a rattled nation deal with the deadly outburst of violence in Arizona. But what comes after the easy moment of silence? For now, both men are stepping past the question of what role, if any, the vitriol of the past election campaign played in Saturday’s shooting ...

After Arizona Attack, a Leadership Test for Obama, Boehner
WASHINGTON — On opposite sides of the political spectrum, President Barack Obama and new House Speaker John Boehner suddenly face the same challenge: rise above the anger, suspicion and hostility of their liberal and conservative bases to help a rattled nation deal with the deadly outburst of violence in Arizona. [Photo Gallery: Gabrielle Giffords Shooting in Arizona.] But what comes after the easy moment of silence? For now, both men are stepping past the question of what role, if any, ...

Late Night Political Humor
“John Boehner chose a huge gavel. I think somebody’s compensating for his small government.” - Stephen Colbert “How about the new Speaker of the House, John Boehner. Have you seen this guy’s enormous gavel. I’m telling you, if in four hours, that gavel is still that size, he’s got to call a doctor.” - David Letterman “In his first Speech as Speaker, Boehner thanked his loved ones - tobacco Lobbyists, the oil companies, the C...

Ex-House leader DeLay gets 3-year prison term (Reuters)
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – Former House of Representatives Republican Leader Tom DeLay was sentenced to three years in Prison on Monday after a jury found him Guilty of Money Laundering and Conspiracy. Senior Judge Pat Priest sentenced DeLay, 63, to a five-year sentence for Money Laundering and three years for conspiracy for a scheme to illegally funnel money to Republican Candidates in Texas in 2002. DeLay's sentence caps a downward spiral for the flamboyant Texas dealmaker and forme...

Most Americans Reject Tie Between Political Rhetoric, Arizona Shootings
While the Arizona shootings have triggered a national debate about whether the vitriol in political Rhetoric has gone over the top, 57 percent of Americans do not believe the heated partisan tone of public debate had anything to do with the gun rampage in Tucson, according to a CBS News poll released Tuesday. The connection between the state of political discourse and the shootings that critically wounded Arizon Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, killed six and injured 13 others had perhaps been put most ...

Sanitizing Extremism: Palin and Beck on Violence and War
Politico: Sarah Palin reached out to Glenn Beck over the weekend, and Beck read some of their email exchange on his Radio Show this morning. “Sarah, as you know, peace is always the answer. I know you are felling the same heat, if not much more on this,” Beck wrote. Beck expressed concern about Palin’s safety, and urged her to hire the same Los Angeles-based security firm that he uses. The Rhetoric of both Beck and Palin has been cited by both liberals and some of the mainstre...

Majority doesn't blame rhetoric for Giffords shooting
Since the Saturday incident in which Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords was shot at point-blank range, various politicians and commentators have said a climate in which strong language and ideological polarization is common may have contributed to the attack. Some of the analysts cited anti-government statements from the man arrested in the shooting, Jared Lee Loughner, as support for that view. But CBS said its nationwide telephone poll found that, "57 percent of respondents said the ha...

Obama calls victims' families in Arizona
President Obama is calling the families of Victims from Saturday's Mass Shooting in Arizona, and will continue to do so throughout the week, the White House said. "The President is assuring them that all is being done to try and get to the bottom of this," said a White House statement. "He is offering his full support and thoughts and prayers on behalf of himself, Michelle and the entire nation." Obama is also speaking with lawmakers, and receiving updates on the shooting that left six people d...

And Speaking Of Krugman And Double Standards At The Times...
OK, I am back in Arizona.  Pejman has a great piece on inflamed Rhetoric which reminds me of this jaw-dropper - a Democratic Congressman who last fall said a Republican Candidate for Governor should be shot has a guest piece in today's NY Times talking abut inflamed rhetoric.  I kid you not. Here is the voted-out Rep. Kanjorski (D, PA) last fall: "Instead of running for governor of Florida, they ought to have him [Rick Scott, the Republican Candidate for Florida governor] ...

Move Over, Palin: Matt Bai Uncovers New Bogeymen for AZ Shooter, Sharron Angle
On Sunday, political reporter/columnist Matt Bai wondered if we are at the start of a “terrifying new” moment in political violence in “A Turning Point in the Discourse, but in Which Direction?” Bai argued that the act of Republican politicians saying standard political things was somehow fueling the rhetorical flames. He at least appeared evenhanded at the beginning. Within minutes of the first reports Saturday that Representative Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat...

Poll: Majority of Americans Reject Democratic Spin on Arizona Atrocity
But only a meager plurality of Democrats say that political Rhetoric is unrelated, which explains why Democratic leaders and the media continue to push it. Overall, 57 percent of respondents said the harsh political tone had nothing to do with the shooting, compared to 32 percent who felt it did. Republicans were more likely to feel the two were unrelated - 69 percent said Rhetoric was not to blame; 19 percent said it played a part. Democrats were more split on the issue - 49 percent saw no con...

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...

Right Wing Media Vitriol Haunts Us In Arizona Shooting
We all had a finger on the trigger—I.F. Stone wrote those words about the Assassination of John F. Kennedy in the cruel fall of 1963. Now we come to the bleak winter of 2011, and how much has changed? Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords lay near dying in her own blood after a shooting rampage in Arizona left six dead, from a Federal Judge to a girl of nine, and 14 others injured. It all happened in the most American of places: a strip mall Parking Lot on a Saturday morning. That's what th...