N.C. delegation reacts to Giffords shooting; Shuler plans to carry gun more often

Hey Sarah, At Least Stand By Your Free Speech (Guest Voice)
Hey Sarah, At Least Stand By Your Free Speech by Tina Dupuy Last Saturday morning 20 people were shot in a Tucson Safeway Parking Lot by a 22-year-old who stated on YouTube he “won’t pay Debt with a currency that’s not backed by gold and silver.” Fifteen minutes after the news broke, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin tweeted, “The price of gold today is at $1,368.90 an ounce.” Coincidence? Yes. None of us want to live in a society where hyperbole, exaggeration, satire,

U.S. public says Giffords shooting, rhetoric unrelated
Most Americans see no relation between the attempted Assassination of congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the political tactic of lacing vitriolic Rhetoric with Firearms analogies. That’s the conclusion of a CBS News poll that found most Republicans (69 pct), most Independents (56 pct) and even a plurality of Democrats (49 pct) believe the two phenomena unrelated. Those numbers add up to 57 percent of Americans overall — a true majority though not quite big enough to break a Se...

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...

Poll: Americans smarter than Democrat politicos, MSM
Glad to know that the 24-7 hyperventilating, sensationalizing , and demagoguing by MSM outlets and talking point-led Democrats aren’t persuading the American People in the aftermath of the attempted Assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ8), the Murder of 5 others, and injury of 11 others that happened in Tucson, AZ this past Saturday. Via CBS News ( hat tip ): Nearly six in 10 Americans say the country’s heated political Rhetoric is not to blame for the Tucson shooting rampag...

U.S. majority doesn't blame rhetoric for Giffords shooting
WASHINGTON | Tue Jan 11, 2011 10:18am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - 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 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 com...

Vote for the Stimulus or Ill Shoot
That’s what a mentally disturbed North Carolinian, John Jackson Adams, said he told U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler in a phone message to the Democratic congressman’s Asheville office back in 2009. Shuler reported the incident to federal authorities, who later charged Adams. He was declared mentally incompetent and the charges were later dismissed. Shuler made headlines a couple of days ago when he remarked that after the Arizona shootings, he would carry his Concealed Weapon more frequently....

Judges Purpose in Seeing Giffords Could Be Legally Significant
Was U.S. District Court Judge John M. Roll just being sociable when he dropped by an appearance by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) in Tucson on Saturday, or was he planning to discuss official business? Does it even matter, given the horror of that morning? Yes, it could matter, legally speaking. At first glance, Roll’s state of mind might appear irrelevant, given the tragedy that unfolded on Saturday morning, when Roll was shot dead and Giffords gravely wounded in a rampage that killed ...

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...

Pawlenty on Palin's Political Map: Crosshairs Not My Style
Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty said that Sarah Palin's decision to put crosshairs on districts of vulnerable Democrats - including Rep. Giffords' - wasn’t what he would have done, but he doesn’t think it contributed to the terrible tragedy in Tucson on Saturday. “It wouldn’t have been my style to put the crosshairs on there. But again there is no evidence to suggest that it had anything to do with this mentally unstable person’s rage and ...

The Teabaggers are Responsible for the Tuscon Shooting!: Poll Shows Americans Know Better
by the Left Coast Rebel The establishment, legacy, Democrat far-left media establishment/personalities just don't get it. No matter how much they huff and puff and scream, "the tea-baggers did it, they shot Congresswoman Giffords and those people!" with nil evidence in sight, the more Americans -- for the most part -- see right through the charade. The leftist progressive agenda is dying and after the November 2 election, leftists have never been more angry about it. And since they can't take ...

Serious Questions
When politicians start talking about criminalizing Speech I get a bit nervous, but I am willing to listen to the specifics on this: Rep. Robert Brady (D-Pa.) reportedly plans to introduce Legislation that would make it a federal crime to use language or symbols that could be perceived as threatening or inciting violence against a federal official or member of Congress. Brady told CNN that he wants federal lawmakers and officials to have the same protections against threat currently provided to ...

The Vitriol Will Likely Return
With any disturbing event, like the tragic and horrifying shooting in Tucson last Saturday, there is a natural tendency to extrapolate the impact of it for months or even years to come. The unspeakable event cost people from such varying walks of life as a 9-year-old girl and a Federal Judge their lives and has left Rep.Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., fighting for her life. Something like this creates a memory that is certain to be burned into the consciousness of current and former elected offici...

West Not Backing Down From Explosive Rhetoric
In the wake of this weekend's Arizona shooting, freshman Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) doesn't seem willing to tone down some of the inflammatory language that peppered his campaign against Rep. Ron Klein (D-Fla.) -- and on Monday he lashed out against Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) remarks on Sunday's "Meet the Press," calling them a "political cheap shot." Talking about the shooting of her close friend, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), Wasserman Schultz pointed to remarks that conservativ...

State of American business is improving
The Economic Outlook Thank you very much and good morning ladies and gentlemen. Let me thank the National Chamber Foundation and all the staff who organized this event—and thank you all for coming. At the outset, I’d like to express, on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, our shock and sadness over the tragic shootings in Arizona. Under any circumstance, the violence, injury, and loss of life that occurred are an outrage to us all. We are especially offended by the fact that this rampa...

Julian Assange: Gabrielle Giffords Parallels Made Over 'Violent Rhetoric'
Though he came across more strident than sympathetic, Julian Assange joined the ranks of public officials to offer words over the grisly Arizona shooting that left six dead and Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in critical condition. In a statement issued ahead of Assange's Tuesday court hearing in London, where he is fighting Extradition to Sweden on Rape charges, the Wikileaks founder drew parallels between his own experience and that of Giffords, whose shooting launched a nationwi...

Liberty Links: Morning Reads for Tuesday, January 11th
Below is a collection of several links that we didn’t get around to writing about, but still wanted to post for readers to examine. The stories typically range from news about prominent figures in The Liberty movement, national politics, the Nanny State, Foreign Policy and free markets. Posting will be light today. Man angry after gun-point Raid at his home (Toronto Sun) Poll: Most Americans Feel Rhetoric, Tucson Shooting Unrelated (CBS News) Missing from Arizona shooting debate: Guns (Politic...

GOP Rep. Allen West: I Have No Plans to Tone Down My Strong Language in Wake of Giffords Shooting
Stand strong. (Palm Beach Post)-  U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, this morning criticized “political opportunism” in the wake of Saturday’s shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and said he has no plans to tone down his own “stronger language.” Within hours of the shooting that killed six and critically injured Giffords, some commentators placed the massacre in the context of the nation’s heated political climate and blamed the Tea Party...

In They Are Who We Thought They Were News..
I had put this in the replies in yesterday’s Afternoon Open Thread, but I thought about it, and decided to FP it. 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 as...

No sale on the hateful rhetoric/Tucson shooting connection
According to a CBS New poll It appears the American public isn’t buying the attempt to connect what is termed “hateful” Rhetoric and the Tucson shooting of Rep. Giffords: 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 iss

The tragic shooting of Congresswoman Giffords affects all of us
The gunman is Jared Loughner. He is sick and deranged.  Unfortunately, liberal pundits attempted to tie Loughner as a conservative and blamed Talk Radio for this shooting.  He had been stalking Congresswoman Giffords for years. Their observations were unfounded and completely false.  Loughner was a Lone Wolf; a term liberals often use to categorize criminals.  People who knew Loughner said he was unstable and prone to violence.  He is an atheist.  He listened to hea...

Federal employees killed in Giffords shooting reflect alarming trend of violence
I'm writing this column as if there were a heavy, black drape around its borders. It would commemorate the lives of John M. Roll and Gabe Zimmerman, two federal employees killed, along with four others, by the crazed gunman who critically wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords just outside Tucson on Saturday. This Story Arizona shooting suspect Loughner makes first appearance in Federal Court The faces of Jared Loughner Bullet's path may determine Giffords's injuries A look at the left hemisphere Fo...

Good grief: Hillary Clinton compares Gabrielle Giffords shooting to 9/11 attacks
Every liberal seems to be jumping the shark, one after another, over the shooting over the weekend of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson AZ. Palin's fault. Limbaugh's fault. It's because the GOP is trying to Repeal ObamaCare. Etc, etc, yada, yada. Clinton jumped the shark herself: Hillary Clinton compares Gabrielle Giffords shooting to 9/11 attacks In a television broadcast filmed before Students in Abu Dhabi, Mrs Clinton was asked why the 9/11 terror attacks, the work of a handful of ...

Giffords still in critical state
Will US Gun Laws change? The US congresswoman shot in a gun attack in Arizona is still in a critical condition in Hospital but showing good signs, her doctor says. A Mass for the six dead and Ms Giffords and more than a dozen others wounded in Saturday's attack was planned for Tuesday in Tuscon, Arizona. Jared Loughner, 22, is charged with the attack. He waived bail on Monday. On Tuesday Morning, Dr Lemole told NBC Ms Giffords's brain was "working at a higher level" and she ...

Why Sarah Palin Won't Be President.
One of the criticisms Progressives often make of Barack Obama is that he spends far too much time trying to make his opponents like him, and not enough time worrying about what his supporters think of him. Sarah Palin , on the other hand, has the opposite problem: she spends all her time speaking to those who are already within her bubble of support, and no time thinking about how she can persuade those who aren't already on her side. Her reaction to the Gabrielle Giffords shooting has cast this...

First Read Scolds
Playing the Victim card when you’re not really the victim: What was particularly striking to us is how Activists, especially on the right, were playing the Victim when there are so many actual victims — the deceased, the wounded, the grieving — in Arizona. And here’s our point from yesterday: Although it appears that Jared Lee Loughner had nothing to do with mainstream Conservatism or Liberalism, can’t we all agree to condemn violent, de-humanizing, or de-legitimizi...