Obama calls victims' families in Arizona

McCain to return from overseas trip to attend memorial service
Arizona Sen. John McCain (R) will return from a congressional delegation trip to attend a memorial service for the Victims of a Shooting Spree in his home state that resulted in the wounding of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D).  Brooke Buchanan, a spokeswoman for McCain, told The Hill he is cutting his trip short to go to the memorial in Tucson, Ariz., where the shooting took place. McCain is traveling in South America with his Senate GOP colleague Tom Barrasso (Wyo.) The two were scheduled to vi...

Democrats that are politicizing Arizona tragedy have ulterior motives
The tragic shootings in Arizona on Saturday that left a nine-year-old girl dead and Congresswoman Gabrielle “Gabby” Giffords severely wounded should have been a time to put politics aside and honor the Victims. Instead, many people on the left are capitalizing on this opportunity to blame Conservatives and the lack of Gun Control as contributing the tragedy. Let’s take Democratic Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik for example. Instead of giving a fact-based Press Conference Sa...

McCain Cutting Short Congressional Trip To Attend Arizona Memorial Service
ABC News’ Matthew Jaffe reports: Sen. John McCain is cutting short a Congressional trip to Latin America to return to his home state of Arizona for Wednesday’s memorial service for the Victims of last weekend’s Tucson shooting. McCain and his wife Cindy will both attend the memorial service, according to the senator’s spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan. McCain left last Friday with Sen. John Barrasso on a week-long trip to Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Panama and Mexico, but now McCain will h

Sen. McCain cutting trip short to attend Memorial service in Tucson
According to ABC News’, Matthew Jaffe, Sen. John McCain is cutting short a Congressional trip to Latin America to return to his home state of Arizona for Wednesday’s memorial service for the Victims of last weekend’s Tucson shooting. McCain and his wife Cindy will both attend the memorial service, according to the senator’s spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan. McCain left last Friday with Sen. John Barrasso on a week-long trip to Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Panama and Mexico, but no...

At Tucson memorial service, Obama to speak of national unity in wake of tragedy
Tomorrow at 6PM Arizona time, 8PM Eastern, President Obama will speak at the memorial service for Victims of Saturday's shooting in Tucson. His remarks haven't been released, but yesterday he offered a glimpse of what he will say: "All of us are still grieving and in shock from the tragedy that took place," Obama said Monday, calling for healing and sidestepping any potentially divisive issues. He is to travel to Tucson, Ariz., on Wednesday to speak at a memorial service for the victims, the Wh...

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, ...

Arizona's Fixation On Immigration And Guns: A Recent History
The Mass Shootings in Arizona over the weekend that killed six and left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D) in critical condition after being shot in the head hardly marks the first time the state has been under scrutiny for its tense political atmosphere and somewhat off-the-rails policies. In April, TPM took a microscope to the state in the wake of its incredibly Controversial Immigration policy. So it's time to ask again, what's the matter with Arizona? As TPM reported back in April: What happene...

Obama: Arizona Shooting Has America Shocked & Grieving
(AP) WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama said the nation is still shocked and grieving after Saturday's deadly shooting rampage in Arizona that killed six people and left a congresswoman in critical condition after being shot point-blank in the head. Speaking in the Oval Office Monday, Obama said Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is "still fighting". In total, 19 people were shot in the attack; among the six people killed were Arizona's chief Federal Judge, a 9-year-old girl interested in gov...

Keep rampage blame where it belongs
We add our thoughts and prayers to the many for critically wounded Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the six people killed, including a senior Federal Judge, a 9-year-old girl fascinated by politics, a congressional aide and three other innocents, as well as the 13 people wounded, in the attack Saturday in Tucson. The accused, Jared Loughner, is a deeply disturbed young man whose violent proclivities had frightened several acquaintances but who had not yet done anything overt enough to bring h...

Politician Safety and Protection
TACTICAL EXTRACTIONS Counterterrorism PAPER 01-2011 SPECIAL By R. J. Godlewski The January 8, 2011 shooting of U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), Federal Judge John Roll and several others in Tucson has sparked a national outcry of support for the Victims and strong condemnation for the alleged gunman, Jared Loughner, 22. These actions are necessarily part of the human condition. So, too, are reactions taken on the part of the U.S. Congress, the Presidency, and the public regarding...

House rolls out Giffords resolution
A four-page resolution submitted by Speaker John Boehner will express that the House “condemns in the strongest terms the horrific attack” on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), and offers condolences to friends and families, while recognizing in detail the Victims of the attack. The resolution, which is set to hit the House floor Wednesday, also “honors the memory” of the six who died — including Giffords Staffer Gabriel Zimmerman — and applauds the “b...

Arizonans Rally to Prevent Westboro Church Disruption of Shooting Victims' Funerals
Disgusted Arizona residents are locking arms to stop the Westboro Baptist Church from disrupting the Funerals for Victims of Saturday's shooting in Tucson, with bikers and others organizing a massive counter-protest and state lawmakers fast-tracking a bill to hamstring the so-called church. The Kansas-based Westboro church is notorious for showing up at the Funerals of dead Soldiers and other high-profile gatherings wielding inflammatory anti-gay signs. But when the church announced it would pic...

House Resolution to Reaffirm Democratic Principles
With all of Capitol Hill’s legislative business postponed in response to the shooting rampage in Arizona, the House will reconvene on Wednesday to approve a resolution honoring the dead and the wounded, praising the Bravery of those who responded to the attack and reaffirming “the bedrock principal of American Democracy and representative government” - the right to peaceable assembly enshrined in the First Amendment. The resolution is being offered by the House Speaker, John A. Boeh

US lawmakers urged not to arm themselves
US lawmakers should reconsider plans to carry Firearms in response to the weekend Assassination attempt against one of their colleagues, an official tasked with congressional security says. "I don't think it's a good idea," the US Senate's sergeant-at-arms, Terrance Gainer, told ABC television on Tuesday. "I've been a policeman for 42 years, and I don't find introducing more guns to the situation helpful." At least two members of the US House of Representatives have said since a shooting rampage...

How low can Wikileaks go? Julian Assanges sick attempt to exploit the Arizona shootings
In a Press Release late last night, Wikileaks made a sick attempt to link in the public mind the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords to widespread outrage in America over its recent leaking of hundreds of thousands of US government documents. Even for Julian Assange this is surely a low point IN Media manipulation, and here he is clearly mimicking the Far Left’s ludicrous attempts to blame the Right for the Arizona shootings. Here’s what the release, entitled “WikiLeak

Loughner shoots Palin and Angles political careers to death
It may be weeks, months or perhaps never that we find out what really motivated 22 year-old  Jared Lee Loughner to purchase a 9 mm gun with an extended clip and Murder real people in what he calls “conscience dreaming” [sic]. While he is being assessed, should we wonder why Sarah Palin removed her “crosshairs map” hours after six people were slaughtered and fourteen wounded in a spate of violence?      While a person as deranged as Loughner c...

Woman Denied Transplant Funding May Leave AZ After Being Told Life-Saving Procedure Is Not Cost-Effective
As ThinkProgress previously reported, at least two Arizonans have died because they were denied funding for organ transplants that they were promised following Medicaid Budget cuts championed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R). The Governor called the transplants “optional” and has ignored those who have proposed possible solutions that would fully fund the transplants without requiring any additional revenue. Now, local station Fox 10 highlights the case of yet another Victim of Brewer&#...

Ex-Clinton Strategist Mark Penn: Obama Needs Event Similar to OKC to Reconnect With Voters (Video)
He didn’t even seem to flinch in making the comment. Penn is currently president and CEO of Burson-Marsteller, a multi-national Public Relations firm. He also served in 2008 as chief Strategist for then-Senator Hillary Clinton’s run for the White House. Before that, Penn advised former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in his third run for the UK leadership post, and served clients such as AT&T, Texaco, Ford, Merck, Verizon, BP, McDonald’s and Microsoft. Does anyone else f...

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...

Politico Polishes Boehners Knob
Those Politico writers sure have been busy...(photo: Wolfrage on Flickr) In an otherwise anodyne writeup of how off-course the Arizona catastrophe has sent GOP Speaker Boehner’s plans for introducing himself to America as the leader of the House, Politico “Journalist” Jake Sherman lays out this whopper: The shooting and Boehner’s handling of the response has served to underscore just how tightly run the GOP House operation has been so far. Um, no: 1. Two Veteran GOP House m...

Pelosi, Boehner invite Congress to bipartisan prayer service (Daily Caller)
Read more stories from The Daily Caller TheDC Exclusive: A secret $6 billion Bailout for Puerto Rico? Campus Progress reports on for-profit schools issue while coordinating with liberal coalition to push regs Author of 'Anti-American Manifesto', Ted Rall, says Loughner's violent attack not part of coming revolution Despite GOP's best efforts, specter of Steele Second Term hangs around Ask Matt Labash Vol. XLVI: Torturing a dog-torture lover, and defending John Boehner's tan Speaker of the Hous...

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...

Boehner Passes First Test as Speaker in Handling of Arizona Tragedy
As news of the horrific shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords spread over the weekend, Speaker of the House John Boehner rose to the occasion, seeking to calm nerves and reassure members of Congress and their families. Aside from being the first major test handed to the newly elected speaker, Boehner's handling of the situation may have been especially important considering the target of this Assassination was a Democratic congresswoman. And while past Republican leaders would have surely express...

Gabrielle Giffords Has 100 Percent Chance of Survival, Says Doctor
​Dr. Peter Rhee, the medical director for Tucson's University Medical Center's trauma center, has said that Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has a "100 percent" chance of survival. "As a physician I'm going to get into a lot of trouble for this, but her prognosis for survival is 100 percent, as far as it being short term," he told a British TV station, via Politico. "Hopefully she'll live to be 95 years old." Meanwhile, the Hospital's chief of Neurosurgery Dr. Michael Lemole sa...

Will the Gun Lobby win again?
After tragedies like Tucson, the NRA has moved to block new Gun Laws—laws that Peter Stone, of the Center for Public Integrity, says would have saved lives by blocking the sale of high-capacity magazines used by the gunman. The Killing Spree by an Arizona man wielding a semiautomatic pistol with a high-capacity magazine raises the prospect of a fresh debate on whether the country needs tougher Gun Controls. But if history is any guide, the National Rifle Association will successfully fight...