Most Americans don't see link between Arizona shootings, political rhetoric, poll finds

Will the Giffords Arizona Shootings Change Anything?
Isn’t it time to be blunt? When the news hit that Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords had been critically wounded and 6 people were dead, it was news that many Americans had expected. The wounded were Collateral Damage. It isn’t only supposedly wishy washy moderates and independent voters who have long been alarmed that America’s poisonous political polemics had replaced professional wrestling as a mass culture sport with (some of the controversies as authentic as the outcomes of pro wrestlin

Sarah Palin Speaks from Some Undisclosed Facebook Location
Sarah Palin: “America’s Enduring Strength” from Sarah Palin on Vimeo. Sarah Palin chose to forget today that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords brought up Palin’s “targeting” of her when lamenting the vitriolic political Rhetoric in this country before Jared Lee Loughner tried to assassinate her in Arizona. In a weirdly disembodied and out of touch statement from the abyss of her self-imposed political exile, Palin picks today, the day Pres. Obama will address the nation...

Jared Loughner: Was It the Family's Fault?
​Details on Jared Lee Loughner and what occurred (and what may have occurred) prior to his shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and more than a dozen others, killing six, in a Tucson Safeway Supermarket last Saturday continue to unfold. The questions everyone wants answers to, of course: Could we have stopped him? Should we have known? And...why didn't someone know? Particularly, say, his parents? Inevitably, in situations like these, people seek someone or thing to blame...

Why the surprise? Whats the urgency?
Since the shootings in that Safeway Parking Lot in Tucson, Arizona, on Saturday, January 8, 2011, the Left and its major supporter, the Mainstream Media, have been having a field day with hateful non-statements against the Right: Everybody and his brother in those two camps has been taking every available opportunity to say something more or less like “Although there’s no evidence or solid reasoning to support it, it’s obvious that, even if he wasn’t actually hired and co...

Palin Accuses Critics of 'Blood Libel'
Far from backing down, Sarah Palin defended herself today against critics who linked her Rhetoric to the Arizona shootings, accusing them of the long-condemned anti-Semitic slur "blood Libel." Palin opponents noted soon after the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) that left six people dead that Palin had posted a map on her website last fall with gun sights on 20 districts, including Giffords'. She announced it with a tweet: "Don't Retreat, Instead - RELOAD!&quo...;

Words have consequences (Leo W. Gerard)
Five years ago, a 47-year-old Missouri woman began a duplicitous on-line courtship through MySpace with a 13-year-old neighbor who once had been friends with the woman’s daughter. The adult, Lori Drew, flirted with the 13-year-old, Megan Meier, through the guise of a fictitious, 16-year-old character named Josh Evans. Suddenly, “Josh” broke up with Miss Meier, writing to her, “the world would be a better place without you.”  Just hours later, Miss Meier hung herself in h

Angle defends herself against ties to Arizona shooting
WASHINGTON -- Sharron Angle defended herself today against charges that comments she made in her campaign for the U.S. Senate from Nevada last year helped create an atmosphere that contributed to the Mass Shooting in Arizona last Saturday. "I condemn all acts of violence," Angle said in a statement issued overnight. "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." "Expanding the context of ...

Police visited Loughners home before shooting (Daily Caller)
Read more stories from The Daily Caller Heavy metal band responds to allegations that their music had any influence on AZ shooter Chris Christie to Rudy Giuliani: Butt out Police visited Loughner's home before shooting Face of evil: Mug Shots of famous assassins [SLIDESHOW] Poll of Conservatives shows support for broad cuts to spending, including Military Spending Jared Lee Loughner, the man accused in the shooting Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others, was visited by Tucson police ...

Most Americans do not blame political rhetoric for AZ shootings, survey says
Stumble This! WASHINGTON - A majority of Americans reject the view that heated political Rhetoric was a factor in the weekend shootings in Arizona which killed six and critically wounded a congresswoman, a CBS News poll said on Tuesday. 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 att...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

A Different White House Emerges After Tucson Tragedy
President Barack Obama pauses during a statement on the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., at the White House on Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011, in Washington. (Credit: AP) It wasn't long ago that quick response to crisis or tragedy wasn't President Obama's strong suit. He was lambasted by liberals for responding too slowly to the gulf Oil Spill last summer, and by Republicans for his slow and initially low-key response to the attempted bombing of an airliner on Christmas Day 2009. But th...

Glock Pistol Sales Surge in Aftermath of Arizona Shootings
Greg Wolff, the owner of two Arizona gun shops, told his manager to get ready for a stampede of new customers after a Glock-wielding gunman killed six people at a Tucson shopping center on Jan. 8. Wolff was right. Instead of hurting sales, the massacre had the $499 semi-automatic pistols -- popular with police, sport shooters and gangsters -- flying out the doors of his Glockmeister stores in Mesa and Phoenix. You must login to comment. The Fox Nation is for those opposed to intolerance, excessi...

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...

Sharron Angle: I condemn all acts of violence (Daily Caller)
Read more stories from The Daily Caller Heavy metal band responds to allegations that their music had any influence on AZ shooter Chris Christie to Rudy Giuliani: Butt out Police visited Loughner's home before shooting Face of evil: Mug Shots of famous assassins [SLIDESHOW] Poll of Conservatives shows support for broad cuts to spending, including Military Spending Former Republican Senate Candidate Sharron Angle condemned Tucson shooter Jared Loughner and expressed concern about the politicize...

Sarah 'blood libel' Palin makes day to honor the victims all about her
Should we have expected anything else? Four days after the attempted Assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords that left six dead and fourteen wounded, and on the day that Congress and the President will honor the Victims of this tragedy, Sarah Palin just happens to choose today to assure America that she is among the victims. In a carefully orchestrated video, complete with a large American Flag that apparently flutters next to her fireplace, Palin quickly gets her sympathy for the Victims and ...

Jewish Republicans muted on Palin's 'blood libel' comment
Jewish Republicans had a muted reaction Wednesday to Sarah Palin's accusation that the media manufactured a "blood Libel" while covering the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.)  The term "blood Libel" refers to historical, false accusations that Jews used the blood of non-Jewish Children for religious purposes. Persecutors of the Jews employed a "blood Libel" mentality to justify acts of violence against them. Former Bush White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, a member of the Re...

Emotional House pays tribute to Arizona victims (AP)
WASHINGTON – Grief-stricken members of the House of Representatives on Wednesday stood and delivered tributes one by one to gravely-wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and other Victims of last weekend's shooting rampage in Arizona. Newly-installed House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, set the tone, fighting back tears and speaking in a halting voice as he led off the series of remembrances, calling Saturday's shooting episode in Tucson "an unspreakable act of violence." "Our hearts are broken...

Loughner family expresses sorrow over heinous events
The Loughner family released a statement expressing their sorrow over the “heinous” events which happened Saturday in Tucson, Arizona. CNN reports: The family of Jared Lee Loughner issued a statement Tuesday regarding Saturday’s shooting rampage in Tucson, Arizona. “There are no words that can possibly express how we feel. We wish that there were so we could make you feel better. We don’t understand why this happened,” the family said in statement handed to ...

Sarah Palin calls out liberal hate merchants for creating "Blood Libel"
Sarah Palin came out swinging Wednesday by calling out the liberal media and pundits for creating "a blood Libel" for last weekend's Arizona shooting.  Palin said; "acts of monstrous brutality ... begin and end with the criminals who commit them, not collectively" with Americans exercising their constitutional freedoms. "If you don't like a person's vision for the country, you're free to debate that vision. If you don't like their ideas, you're free to propose better ideas. But, especi...

Legislating under the influence of catastrophe
It didn't take long after the Tuscon shooting for politicians and pundits to start proposing legislative responses. I haven't done a systematic study of this, but I would guess that Legislation passed quickly in reaction to tragedies, horrors, and catastrophes tend to range from pointless to really bad. Jacob Sullum at Reason makes a similar argument today. Here's his lede: Jared Lee Loughner, the man accused of shooting 20 people outside a Tucson Grocery Store on Saturday, probably will never g...

Ted Nugent: Be Prepared for Evil
There is evil among us. Always has been, always will be. As I write this, in the past four days, a High School assistant principal in Omaha was shot and killed and the principal wounded. Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona and 19 other Americans were gunned down at a constituent meeting being held at Grocery Store in Tucson. Federal Judge John M. Roll, a 9-year-old girl and several others are dead. A dozen more, including Mrs. Giffords, are gravely wounded. You must login to comment. T...

Obama, GOP Score Higher in Poll
(WASHINGTON) — Americans give higher marks to President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans after a Holiday Season of Compromise paid dividends for both, according to the latest Associated Press-GfK poll. At the start of the divided government era, the survey found that 53 percent of Americans approve of how Obama is doing his job, his best numbers since the divisive Health Care vote 10 months ago. See the top 10 everything of 2010. And, compared with just after the November elect...

GOP Leaders: We oppose Rep. King's new gun control idea
The Republicans may just have to agree to disagree. House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) are against a new gun-control proposal put forth by a fellow GOPer in response to the Tucson shootings. Rep. Peter King (R-L.I.), chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said Tuesday that he'd introduce a new bill that bars anyone from carrying a gun within 1,000 feet of a federal official. He believes the Legislation could have prevented the Jan. 8 Arizona shooting...