Glenn Reynolds denies Tea Party's history of intimidation (Giffords shooting, Loughner)

Right of Revolution
In the wake of the Tucson massacre, the left is attributing the violence at least partially to a “climate of hate” encouraged by anti-government Extremists on the right—the phrasing used by Paul Krugman in his latest column—a reaction made easier by Conservatives’ frequent use of violent and intimidating Rhetoric since 2008. Conservatives have responded by alleging the politicization of a random act of violence by a lunatic, and sought to place themselves in the ra...

Searching for answers to Tuscon tragedy
Image via CrunchBase IBD: From New York newspaper columnists to an Illinois senator, the liberal left is blaming the Tea Party and conservative stars for the shooting of an Arizona congresswoman. How about blaming the Communist and Nazi-loving shooter? It didn't take long for New York Times columnist Paul Krugman to blame the Tea Party and Sarah Palin for the shooting outside a Tucson Supermarket that seriously injured Congresswoman Gabriel Giffords and left six others, including a 9-year-old,...

Memo For File CXXVIII
Memo For File CXXVIIIMonday, January 10th, 2011 So back to the Arizona shooting. We’re all split squarely down the middle on this thing; our pinhead columnists and authority figures are convinced it was an act of political Extremism, whereas the red-blooded people with whole brains, are leaning toward the gunman being just-plain-nuts. The evidence is falling in behind the ideas of the people-with-whole-brains. But the jump-to-conclusions people have fancy titles and big, big names. I gue...

On Violent Metaphors
Paul Krugman in today's NY Times: The point is that there’s room in a Democracy for people who ridicule and denounce those who disagree with them; there isn’t any place for eliminationist Rhetoric, for suggestions that those on the other side of a debate must be removed from that debate by whatever means necessary. And it’s the saturation of our political discourse — and especially our airwaves — with eliminationist rhetoric that lies behind the rising tide of violence. Where

Was the Arizona Shooting Sheriff Dupnik's Fault?
By RightKlik It's pretty clear at this point that Jared Loughner was the Lone Wolf shooter solely responsible for the carnage in Tuscon, Arizona on Saturday. But without a shred of evidence, liberals in this country want to blame the "usual suspects," including Sarah Palin, the tea partiers and conservative Talk Radio. Let's cast the net wider. On Saturday, we began asking pointed questions about Tuscon Sheriff Clarence Dupnik: A congresswoman got shot point-blank in the head in Pima County, A...

Some Brief Thoughts on the Tuscon Shooting: Left Shows Intent by Capitalizing on Arizona Attack
by the Left Coast Rebel Two days ago, Right Klik alerted me to the Arizona shooting that left a congresswoman in critical condition, six dead -- including a Federal Judge -- and thirteen injured. As we talked on the phone, I asked him if our Leader would take advantage of the shooting and try to pin the incident on the right, à la Bill Clinton in the 1990s and the Oklahoma City bombing. Well, give it time for the Obamanation, but his media-henchmen sure did a knockout job over the weekend. Be...

About Tucson: Stupid people and crazy people may not know they are, but dishonest people sure do
According to today's Borowitz Report (see below), "Calls for a reduction in violent political Rhetoric have plunged the Fox News Channel into chaos, with a Fox spokesperson warning today that such a move 'would leave us with 24 hours to fill.'” by Ken I thought Paul Krugman said what needed to be said about the political climate that made Tucson ineviteable very well indeed in the NYT column today, "Climate of Hate," from which Howie quoted extensively this morning. As a footnote, I'd like t...

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...

Happy Hour Roundup
* As Jared Loughner appears in court, Gabrielle Giffords's condition remains unchanged. * And for Giffords at this stage, no change is good news. * Jonathan Alter says Obama's moment of silence today worked beautifully because it's "an appropriate expression of what we need right now: Less Noise." Also: Alter predicts Obama will addresss the shooting in his State of the Union Speech. * As Chris Cillizza notes, the Arizona shooting is unlikely to do anything to stiffen resolve for stricter gun ...

Calls for softer tone in politics gets cool reception
By Ed Stoddard DALLAS | Mon Jan 10, 2011 7:21pm EST DALLAS (Reuters) - Calls to reset the tone of politics in the aftermath of Saturday's shooting rampage in Arizona got short shrift on Talk Radio and elsewhere as left and right traded blame for the massacre. From the right, Bloggers and pundits labeled suspected shooter Jared Lee Loughner a "leftist" while critics of conservative super-star Sarah Palin accused her of creating a combustible political atmosphere with her behavior and Rhetoric....

What Violent Right Wing Rhetoric?
As the Right Wing blogs and pundits desperately try to spin away any responsibility for the violent Rhetoric flowing from their side of the political aisle, here are a few Tea Party photos from the LGF archives to remind them why people were concerned, long before today's mass Murder in Arizona. © Unknown © Unknown © Unknown © Unknown © Unknown © Unknown © Unknown © Unknown ...

Bill O'Reilly: "There is a Disgusting Display Sweeping America, That Is The Exploitation of the Murders By Political Zealots"
O'Reilly lays into the Far Left for exploiting the tragedy in Tuscon starting out with the New York Times, then he lays into Paul Krugman and MSNBC. He blasts the left's attempt to tie Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin to the shooting. Video from tonights talking points memo ...

Chris Matthews Asks: What Is the Cause-Effect Relationship Between Derangement and "Right-Wing Crazy Talk"?
Despite the fact that we now know quite a bit about Jared Loughner's twisted background, the nincompoops over at MSNBC continue to feign ignorance, holding out hope it would seem for some shred of evidence showing that the Tea Party, Sarah Palin "target" maps, and conservative Talk Radio made Loughner go on a murderous rampage, or something. It is reprehensible beyond words. And yet, not surprising at all given what we know about the Left and their shamelessly dishonest cohorts in the media. So ...

Glenn Reynolds: The Real Victims of the Arizona Mass Shooting are Conservatives
courtesy of Teh Sadly In today’s Wall Street Journal, Putz says that people like Gabrielle Gifford’s husband Mark Kelly, in denouncing the “angry Rhetoric” on the right — are dishonest and indecent. To paraphrase Justice Cardozo (“proof of negligence in the air, so to speak, will not do”), there is no such thing as responsibility in the air. Those who try to connect Sarah Palin and other political figures with whom they disagree to the shootings in Ari...

Glenn Reynolds: The Real Victims of the Arizona Mass Shooting are Conservatives
I can't believe the WSJ actually pays Putz to write this shit. ...

A Gnawing Worry
The papers have mentioned it mainly in passing. Had this happened a decade ago, I would not have fixed on this detail. But Gabrielle Giffords is Jewish. And her alleged assassin, Jared Lee Loughner, is reported to have admired Mein Kampf and claimed ties to the anti-Semitic Hate Group called American Renaissance. Was this an anti-Semitic attack? There is no significant evidence to conclude as much, since we know hardly anything about the suspected killer. And yet, I’m confident that I&rsq...;

Inside the Beltway
PRAY, HE SAYS The hypersensitive public discourse on violence, Rhetoric, civility, guns, politics and the press barrels on, 72 hours after the Arizona shootings. With irony intact. Take, for instance, Fox News host Glenn Beck , vilified by partisan critics as an arbiter of hatemongering and aggressive culture, right along with Rush Limbaugh , the Tea Party and Sarah Palin . Mr. Beck - like his accused peers - seems mighty peaceful at this juncture, however. He has issued a challenge to "all Am...

Sri Lanka flood toll rises to 13; 120,000 homeless
Sri Lanka's government says the death toll from floods and Mudslides over several parts of the country has increased to 13, with four more people reported dead since the weekend. The Disaster Management Center said Tuesday more than 120,000 people have been forced from their homes and are living in camps. The government has deployed the Air Force and Navy to drop food and rescue marooned residents mainly in worst-affected eastern district of Batticaloa. 'Internet ID?' No thanks, say on...

"There's a climate of hate out there, all right..."
Glenn Reynolds at The Wall Street Journal: There's a climate of hate out there, all right, but it doesn't derive from the innocuous use of political clichés. And former Gov. Palin and the Tea Party movement are more the targets than the source. American Journalists know how to be exquisitely sensitive when they want to be. As the Washington Examiner's Byron York pointed out on Sunday, after Major Nidal Hasan shot up Fort Hood while shouting "Allahu Akhbar!" the press was full of cautions abou...

The AZ Shooting and Democratic Politics of Blood Libel
Democrats are using the bloody slaughter at the Tucson Supermarket by an anti-Christian, anti-Constitution, left-wing, pro-Marx, antiflag, “quite liberal” lunatic to target Sarah Palin and the Tea Party. Glenn Reynolds went after the political scavengers in The Wall Street Journal today, via The Corner. Glenn hits it out of the park. To be clear, if you’re using this event to criticize the “Rhetoric” of Mrs. Palin or others with whom you disagree, then you’re ...

Democrats try to shut down a debate they are losing
Glenn Reynolds: The Arizona Tragedy and the Politics of Blood Libel Jack Shafer: The awesome stupidity of the calls to tamp down Political Speech in the wake of the Giffords shooting. Both pieces talk about the attempt to use the tragedy to shut down the debate over policy differences. I do not think that is going to happen this time, but those pushing this theme are going to feel the, pardon the metaphor, return fire. Those using the tragedy as a club to silence the opposition will soon here t...

Jared Loughner Charged
Jan.  10, 2011  Jared Lee Loughner Charged with 5 Counts of Murder, Attempted Murder and murder involving a member of Congress.  He indicated he understood the charges in court and his lawyer spoke to him offering her guidance.  The same lawyer Judy Clarke who has defended another mass murderer the Unabomer Ted Kaczinski has seen insanity defenses before. Loughner has said nothing about why he did the murders and what drove him to trying to assassinate a US congresswoman in...

Angry words about angry words -- is the Giffords debate helping?
The debate on overheated political Rhetoric is becoming overheated. The Post's George F. Will and other Conservatives denounce any implication that the right bears any kind of responsibility for the violence in Arizona. Liberals such as Paul Krugman, they argue, simply don't have any evidence connecting Jared Loughner's alleged decision to kill Giffords with anything any conservative politician or commentator has ever said. Therefore, politicizing the shootings is cynical. But now Krugman isn't ...

The Left Never Wastes a Tragedy
Ben Johnson, FloydReports.com The Left never stands so tall as when it stands upon dead bodies. Whether it is Bill Clinton blaming the Oklahoma City bombing on Rush Limbaugh, Democratic mayors suing gun manufacturers after school shootings in Arkansas and Colorado, Democrats turning Senator Paul Wellstone’s memorial into a campaign rally, or Cindy Sheehan vastly overstaying her 15 minutes of fame, the Left never lets a tragedy pass without blaming it on its political enemies and pushing ...

Tragedy And Rhetoric
I’ve been slow to post on this, for a variety of reasons.  First and foremost, I just haven’t felt like posting much since Thursday.  But today, I’ve been walking around without crutches most of the day (except for stairs), and I took the bandage off without incident.  The hydrocodone has helped, although it’s contributed to an excess of sleep.  Speaking of hydrocodone, I’ll be right back. All better now. Now, onto the topic at hand.  I̵...