In They Are Who We Thought They Were News..

How Obama Can Talk About Tolerance without Trivializing a Tragedy
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are joined by government employees on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Jan. 10, 2011, to observe a moment of silence for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and the other Victims of an Assassination attempt against her. (Credit: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) This post originally appeared on Slate. For the second time in his tenure, President Obama will eulogize the Victims of a shooting. In November 2009--it now seems...

Palin: Journalists incite hatred after AZ shooting
(01-12) 07:19 PST Anchorage, Alaska (AP) -- Sarah Palin posted a nearly eight-minute video on her Facebook page early Wednesday, accusing Journalists and pundits of inciting hatred and violence in the wake of a deadly Arizona shooting that gravely wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Last spring, Palin targeted Giffords' district as one of 20 that should be taken back. Palin has been criticized for marking each district with the cross hairs of a gun sight. In the video, the 2008 GOP vice pres...

Sharron Angle defends rhetoric in wake of Arizona (The Ticket)
Former Nevada GOP Senate Candidate Sharron Angle is pushing back against critics aiming to link her campaign Rhetoric to the shootings in Arizona. "I condemn all acts of violence. The despicable act in Tucson is a horrifying and senseless tragedy, and should be condemned as a single act of violence, by a single unstable individual," Angle said in a statement, per CNN. "Expanding the context of the attack to blame and to infringe upon the people's Constitutional liberties is both dangerous and ...

The Exploitive Rhetoric of Tragedy
In the wake of the horrendous shooting rampage in Tucson, why isn't anyone talking about banning "Mein Kampf"? Or "The Communist Manifesto"? Or for that matter, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," "Peter Pan" or "The Phantom Tollbooth"? After all, unlike Sarah Palin's absurdly infamous Facebook map with crosshairs on Congressional Districts that some pundits have blamed for the violence, we have some evidence--suspect Jared Lee Loughner's own words--that these books were a dire...

Palin accuses critics of 'blood libel'
WASHINGTON - Prominent U.S. Republican Sarah Palin Wednesday accused critics of “blood Libel” by blaming her Rhetoric for contributing to the shooting rampage in Tucson that killed six and wounded 14, including Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords. “Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. They begin and end with the criminals who commit them,” the conservative Tea Party favorite and former Alaska Governor said in her first major response to critics. R...

Republicans, Democrats, Tea Partiers Uniting to Protect Youngest Ariz. Rampage Murder Victim
KIRK ADAMS, SPEAKER OF Arizona STATEHOUSE: All indications are that they [Westboro Baptist Church] do plan to Protest, that this will not stop them. But there's an interesting story, Greta, that's developed here. Republicans and Democrats and Tea Partiers in Tucson are coming together to provide sort of a human buffer to the Protesters so that the families will not have to hear the disgusting cries of the Protesters against this 9-year-old girl. And I think this is an example of the community co...

Loughner In 2007: Die Bitch, Die Cops
From an ever so discreet Washington Post: ‘We don’t understand why this happened,’ parents say By Dana Hedgpeth and David A. Fahrenthold Wednesday, January 12, 2011; A01 TUCSON - Three days after their son allegedly killed six people and left a congresswoman critically wounded, Jared Lee Loughner’s parents issued their first public comments Tuesday night, saying that they, too, cannot comprehend what had motivated the shootings. "There are no words that c...

Palin: Were above the mindless finger-pointing (Daily Caller)
Read more stories from The Daily Caller Face of evil: Mug Shots of famous assassins [SLIDESHOW] Poll of Conservatives shows support for broad cuts to spending, including Military Spending Washington's top five most ridiculous reactions to the Arizona shooting Jared Loughner and the ins and outs of the insanity defense Mark Sanford exits the stage Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin released a video Wednesday of her first long-form statement on Saturday’s Tucson, Ariz. shooting that left six ...

Fearing tea party violence, four Arizona Republicans resign
Stumble This! Fearing violence from Tea Party Activists, Arizona Legislative District 20 Republican Chairman Anthony Miller and several others tendered their Resignation this week following Mass Shootings that left six dead and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) in critical condition. Miller, a 43-year-old former campaign worker for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), said that verbal attacks and blog posts from members of the Tea Party had him fearing for the safety of his family, according to a report in Th...

Palin: Journalists incite hatred after AZ shooting
ANCHORAGE, Alaska—Sarah Palin has posted a nearly eight-minute video on her Facebook page condemning those who blame political Rhetoric for the Arizona shooting that gravely wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Last spring, Palin targeted Giffords' district as one of 20 that should be taken back. Palin has been criticized for marking each district with the cross hairs of a gun sight. In the video posted Wednesday, the 2008 GOP vice Presidential Candidate said vigorous debates are a cheri...

ARIZONA: Tucson Tea Party Says It Won't Change Its Campaign Rhetoric
Labels: Arizona, Gabrielle Giffords, Tea Party, Tucson New! Share this on Facebook: Share ...

Should Tucson Prompt a Discussion About Climate Change?
Some angry e-mails this morning about civility, specifically about my earlier posts asserting that, so far, the Tucson massacre story has more to do with Mental Illness and Gun Control than it has to do with violent Rhetoric in political discourse. Here's one such e-mail: Get your head out of the sand Goldberg. These kinds of shootings wouldn't happen in a country that wasn't ruled by Fox. Wait until your targeted for Death Threats, then you'll see. Put aside that bit about death threats -- I ke...

Influence and over-determination
In comments yesterday, Mark Matson posted this incredibly instructive little video demonstrating the power of even barely noticeable influence: In the broadest sense, this is a demonstration of the (small-s) situationist Thesis: the hidden power of situational factors to influence behavior. Situationist influences are generally taken to be much less important than dispositionist ones--those that reside in the individual's inherent disposition--their character, tastes, preferences, beliefs, et...

Re: Defending the Tea Party
Katrina’s piece on the homepage looks at how Tea Party–backed lawmakers have responded to the whirlwind Rhetoric surrounding the Tucson tragedy. I caught up with Mark Meckler, co-founder and national coordinator for Tea Party Patriots, late last night. He confessed to having been bogged down in a “media frenzy” over of the past few days, and said he wasn’t exactly pleased with what he’d been hearing. “What we saw is an example of the depravity of people ...

Judson Phillips On Tucson Massacre: The Left Benefits From This
Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips organized the national Tea Party Convention in 2010 where Keynote Speaker Sarah Palin cried, “America is ready for another revolution!” Phillips now argues that the Tucson massacre is part of the “war” between the left and the Tea Party. Managing the online forum at Tea Party Nation, he has encouraged his members to argue that accused killer Jared Loughner is a “liberal lunatic” in order to fight against “the ma...

Chris Christie Fires Back at Rudy: 'Maybe He Had a Bad Breakfast'
You must login to comment. The Fox Nation is for those opposed to intolerance, excessive government control of our lives, and attempts to monopolize opinion or suppress freedom of thought, expression, and worship. Read more... We invite all Americans who share these values to join us here at Fox Nation. 'Cautious Optimism' for Rep. Giffords Mark Kelly, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' husband, holds her hand in her room at University Medical Center in Tucson, Ariz. the day after the shooting rampage in ...

Obama to Be Nation's Consoler at Memorial Service
WASHINGTON (AP) — Searching for unity out of tragedy, President Barack Obama will honor the Victims of the Arizona Mass Shooting in personal terms and remind those in grief that an entire nation is with them. The president is again stepping into his role as national consoler, a test of leadership that comes with the job. His mission at Wednesday's memorial is to uplift and rally, not to examine political Incivility. [Photo Gallery: Gabrielle Giffords Shooting in Arizona.] Set to speak du...

Update: 19 People Were Hit By Shots Fired During Arizona Rampage
What is this? The Pima County Sheriff's office has released a statement that clears up the issue of how many people were wounded by gunfire during Saturday's deadly attack in Tucson, Ariz., on those gathered at an event held by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). While officials had said that there were 20 Victims (six of whom died), they've clarified the record to state that: "Nineteen people were shot, six of whom succumbed to their injuries. There were other minor injuries as a result of people t...

Tea Party Express Raises Cash Over Arizona Shooting 'Smears'
The Tea Party Express, one of the movement's largest national groups, blasted out an email plea Monday afternoon asking their supporters to send money to defend them from liberals who are allegedly "assigning blame" to them and Sarah Palin for the shootings in Arizona over the weekend. "It is quite clear that liberals are trying to exploit this shooting for their own political benefit, and they used deception and dishonesty to try and smear all of us and our beliefs," the email read, according...

Tea Party Express raising money in aftermath of Arizona shooting (Daily Caller)
Read more stories from The Daily Caller Tea Party Express raising money in aftermath of Arizona shooting Barbara Walters: 'I'm feeling bad for Sarah Palin' TheDC on TV: Jamie Weinstein on RT's 'The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann' Tom DeLay sentenced to three years in Prison Political cartoons exploit Arizona tragedy in effort to score crude political points The Tea Party Express, a California-based conservative political action committee, sent out a letter to supporters Monday requesting donat...

Tea Party & Bernie Sanders Using Tucson Tragedy For Fundraising
I bet you never thought you’d see those two in the same headline. I’m a bit surprised myself. Bernie should know better. From The Weekly Standard comes the text of the email from Sanders… Given the recent tragedy in Arizona, as well as the start of the new Congress, I wanted to take this opportunity to share a few words with political friends in Vermont and throughout the country. I also want to thank the very many supporters who have begun contributing online to my 2012 reel...

Tea Party Express Fundraises Off Giffords Shooting: 'Tea Party Won't Be Silenced'
In an apparent effort to distance themselves from the Mass Shootings in Arizona over the weekend, the Tea Party Express sent out an email to supporters proclaiming that they "won't be silenced" -- and asking for contributions. Earlier today, TPE leader Sal Russo went on Fox News and lamented how "revolting and disgusting the left is for trying to associate the tea party with violence like this." This latest email emphasizes how "horrified" the TPE was to hear about the shootings, which includ...

Blood Libel? Dangerous Critics? Palin, Angle Doth Protest Too Much
Sigh. So I guess I have to comment on Sarah Palin’s statement on the Tucson shooting, which was actually a statement about Sarah Palin, of course. First of all, the faux sincerity achieved by shaking her head a little bit from side-to-side is grating. But enough of the theater criticism. Second, you have to love the statement, cribbed from Reagan, that “we have to restore the American precept that each person is accountable for his actions” from the woman who sent out her spo...

Risk, Prohibition, and Category 3
This post is insanely long, and it might be too obvious for most people, and some may decide at the end I've wasted their time. Maybe it is obvious; I don't know. Sometimes I think there's a value in stating the obvious explicitly, because otherwise people tend to assume it, and therefore overlook it -- and therefore its very obviousness makes it inobvious. You know when a post is long? When it starts with a Roman numeral. If you just want some anti-left invective, skip to VI. I. I'm good at s...

If you really believed political rhetoric caused Jared Loughner's killing spree, you wouldn't dare to say it.
Some people displayed a crazed Hunger for a vicious murderer who was inspired by the criticism of the government that has been so powerful over the last 2 years. Jared Loughner was not that guy, and, of course, they looked ridiculous and despicable jumping to say that he was. Now, what if it were really true that incendiary political Rhetoric pushed mentally unstable individuals over the edge and caused them to act out murderously? Picture such a mentally unstable person reading and listening t...