Obama, the orator, hits home

Obama urges Americans to work together after rampage (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama urged Americans on Saturday to maintain the "spirit of common cause" that arose from grieving over the Arizona shootings and use it to solve the nation's problems. Legislative work in Washington came to a halt this week while lawmakers and citizens from both parties mourned the Victims of a gunman who went on a rampage in Arizona on January 8, killing six people and wounding 14, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords. Obama...

Obama urges Americans to work together after rampage
WASHINGTON | Sat Jan 15, 2011 6:11am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama urged Americans on Saturday to maintain the "spirit of common cause" that arose from grieving over the Arizona shootings and use it to solve the nation's problems. Legislative work in Washington came to a halt this week while lawmakers and citizens from both parties mourned the Victims of a gunman who went on a rampage in Arizona on January 8, killing six people and wounding 14, including Representative Gab...

Obama urges Americans to work together after rampage
WASHINGTON | Sat Jan 15, 2011 6:11am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama urged Americans on Saturday to maintain the "spirit of common cause" that arose from grieving over the Arizona shootings and use it to solve the nation's problems. Legislative work in Washington came to a halt this week while lawmakers and citizens from both parties mourned the Victims of a gunman who went on a rampage in Arizona on January 8, killing six people and wounding 14, including Representative Gab...

Obama urges Americans to work together after rampage
Legislative work in Washington came to a halt this week while lawmakers and citizens from both parties mourned the Victims of a gunman who went on a rampage in Arizona on January 8, killing six people and wounding 14, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords. Obama gave a well-received Speech at a memorial service for the Victims on Wednesday in Arizona and he revived the theme of national unity in his weekly radio and Internet address. The president lauded lawmakers who came together to pay...

Obama: Time to tackle nation's challenges again (AP)
WASHINGTON – Citing "great challenges for us to solve," President Barack Obama is pledging to work with Democrats and Republicans in the aftermath of the Arizona shooting that killed six, grievously wounded a member of Congress and brought legislative debate to a virtual standstill. In his weekly radio and Internet address, the president moved to turn the page from the week of solemn observance for the dead and the Victims to the governing business ahead. "We carry on because we have to,...

Obama: Time to tackle nation's challenges again
President Barack Obama speaks at a memorial service for the Victims of Saturday's shootings at McKale Center on the University of Arizona campus Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2011, in Tucson, Ariz. Citing "great challenges for us to solve," President Barack Obama is pledging to work with Democrats and Republicans in the aftermath of the Arizona shooting that killed six, grievously wounded a member of Congress and brought legislative debate to a virtual standstill. In his weekly radio and Internet address...

Weekly remarks: Both Republican Jeff Flake and Obama take heart in Tucson spirit and heroes
Weekly remarks by Rep. Jeff Flake, as provided by Republican Party leadership Hello, I’m Jeff Flake, and I represent the people of Arizona’s 6th Congressional District. Last week's horrific attack in Tucson is a stark reminder of the senseless brutality of which some are capable; the selfless Bravery with which true heroes respond; and the enduring need for leaders who will uphold their oaths and listen to their constituents. My heart goes out to the family of my friend and colleague,...

Obama pledges 'spirit of common cause'
President Obama and a prominent Republican pledged Saturday to promote a new spirit of Bipartisanship, one week after the Arizona shooting that claimed six lives and seriously wounded a member of Congress. "Before we are Democrats or Republicans, we are Americans," Obama said in his weekly radio address. Both Obama and Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., in the GOP radio address, focused on the shooting that included the Attempted Murder of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. They spoke as Congress prepares...

Metaphors Don't Kill People; People Kill People
metaphor: a figure of Speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in “A mighty fortress is our god.” Sticks and stones might break my bones but words will never hurt me. ~Nursery rhyme The recent tragedy in Arizona managed to unleash the pundits on both sides of the aisle. In this world where there must be a root cause for every wrinkle in the landscape and every calamity that befalls us, eve...

House Republicans Plan Next Moves At Retreat
The shooting attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords cast a pall over Capitol Hill this week. House Republicans postponed their vote to Repeal the Health Care law and there were calls for a less rancorous tone in congressional politics. Next week, Republicans will return to their legislative agenda. And in Baltimore on Friday at their annual retreat, they talked about how they will do it. Still, there were plenty of reminders of the past week's events at the retreat, starting with the large numbers of...

Rampage prompts political maneuvering (AP)
WASHINGTON – Democrats, Republicans and independent groups across the ideological spectrum are seeking political profit from the shooting rampage that left six dead and Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords wounded, often moderating their Rhetoric in pursuit of their goals. Often, but not always. Two days after shootings, the conservative Tea Party Express issued a Fundraising appeal that said accused gunman Jared Loughner's actions in the months leading to the shooting were "more consistent w...

Rampage prompts political maneuvering
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats, Republicans and independent groups across the ideological spectrum are seeking political profit from the shooting rampage that left six dead and Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords wounded, often moderating their Rhetoric in pursuit of their goals. Often, but not always. Two days after shootings, the conservative Tea Party Express issued a Fundraising appeal that said accused gunman Jared Loughner’s actions in the months leading to the shooting were “mo...

Obama: 'We carry on'
WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama said Saturday the nation must carry on following a week of grieving for the Victims of the shooting that left six dead in Tucson. In his weekly radio and Internet address, one week after a gunman killed six and wounded 13 - including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. - the president said the nation "properly spent much of the week mourning the Victims and remembering their lives." "We also discovered stories that serve to l...

Palin to speak at gun convention
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the Safari Club International (SCI) gun convention on Jan. 29. According to the organization's Web site, the event is sold out. News of the Speech comes a little less than a week after the Mass Shooting in Tucson that left federal judge John Roll, 9-year old Christina Green and four others dead, and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and 12 others wounded. A graphic featuring the image of crosshairs over Gifford...

Obama calls for spirit of bipartisanship to continue
A week after the Mass Shooting in Arizona, President Obama called Saturday for members of Congress to bring the same spirit of unity they have shown in mourning to their work under the Capitol dome in the months ahead. In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama recalled that in the days after the shooting, "one of the places we saw that sense of community on display was on the floor of Congress, where Gabby Giffords, who inspires us with her recovery, is deeply missed by her colleagues." "...

Lessons from a witch hunt
I shouldn’t even feel the need to write this, but alas I must.  Apart from the lessons from the tragedy in Tucson, there needs to be a retrospective of the reactions and the lessons that we can glean from it. A primary lesson is that of media reaction in and around Washington.  CNN in particular is guilty on this one.  They are emblematic of the wider problem.  Within hours of the shooting, CNN reporters began inserting the fact that Rep. Giffords was one of Sarah Palin...

A Climate of Slander
Jan 24, 2011, Vol. 16, No. 18 • By THE SCRAPBOOK Get alerts when there is a new article that might interest you. Liberal pundits suffered a psychotic break last week, metaphorically speaking, of course. When a gunman opened fire on Representative -Gabrielle Giffords and a crowd that had gathered to hear her speak in Tucson, they were certain that Conservatives must, somehow, be to blame. So the liberal intelligentsia rushed to erect a gallows in the public square (metaphorically speaking, a...

Trying to erase tear down this wall.
It is my first instinct to treat this report of Ronald Reagan Jr’s… commentary… by simply letting it pass by without a response.  For those not wishing to click through, the boy (use of term deliberate) is indulging elderly liberal fetishists everywhere by making the claim that his father was suffering from Alzheimer’s as far back as the 1984 debates*, as well as ‘details’ regarding a supposed operation in 1989 that had even the US News & World Report d...

The Arizona Tragedy and the American Reaction
The story dominating American conversation this week is the tragedy in Tucson, Arizona. In shock, after a mentally troubled assassin named Jared Lee Loughner shoots a round from his 9mm Glock through the brain of beloved Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and then turns his weapon on the crowd and kills 6 bystanders while wounding 13 others — America mourns. Giffords is alive today and fighting for her life, the extent of the damage caused by her wound still unknown. There are positive signs...

Mortal Recoil
Consider the following reactions to the tragic shooting in Tucson: First, President Barack Obama’s Speech got rave reviews (“magic,” New York Times columnist Gail Collins called it), even though, by the standards, say, of Bill Clinton’s Oklahoma City address, it was pretty humdrum, especially during those times when the president was trying to draw lessons from the tragedy rather than eulogizing its Victims. Second, Obama’s Approval Rating, taken after the killings...

Washington Week
This past week, the House conducted Memorial Services for those murdered and injured in the Arizona shootings last weekend. The House of Representatives also passed resolutions and conducted general speeches concerning this horrific act of violence. On Thursday, many members of Congress traveled to Tucson, Ariz., for the national memorial service where the president and dignitaries addressed the nation. The memorial service was moving, inspiring and especially uplifting when the president announ...

John Dingell (D-MI) blames Palin, GOP for rhetoric leading to AZ shooting. Flashback: Dingell links tea party to KKK, called rad
Curiously, Dingell said:"I saw the district of Gabrielle Giffords has a crosshairs put on it. As a lifetime rifleman and shooter, I know what crosshairs signify when you put them on somebody and I know what happened.Is he talking about Palin or Daily Kos? The liberal Daily Kos put a bullseye on Giffords in 2008 (via HillBuzz): More from Henry Payne at The Michigan View: Dingell just accused Palin as an accessory to Murder? Yawn.Dingell had previewed his comments Monday when he toured the Detroit...

Federal judge remembered as a fair jurist
A hearse carrying the remains of U.S. District Judge John Roll arrives at the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church before his Funeral on Friday, Jan. 14, 2011, in Tucson, Ariz. One day after mourning a bubbly 9-year-old slain during the attempted Assassination of a congresswoman, residents and fellow jurists gathered Friday at the same Tucson church to remember the Federal Judge. Judge John Roll, the federal jurist slain in the Arizona shooting rampage, was known for presiding over tough Immigration ...

The Lefty Talking Points Fell Flat
Powerline has the details from a recent poll in the aftermath of the Arizona shooting: This Quinnipiac Poll provides more evidence that hardly anyone buys the Democratic Party's spin on the Tucson murders. When asked "What do you think is the main reason for the Arizona shooting; failure of the Mental Health system, lax Gun Control laws, overheated political Rhetoric, or do you think this is a situation that could not have been prevented?" respondents answered: * Mental health system: 23% * Gu...

State of the Union Chinese Fire Drill Seating
Colorado Democrat Sen. Mark Udall might have something in mind like this for seating at the SOTU Speech later this month: WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., said Wednesday the House and Senate should abandon the custom of partisan seating arrangements for the State of the Union address. In a message posted on his Web site, Udall published the text of a letter to his colleagues in which he urged House and Senate leaders to end the longstanding custom of Republicans sitting wit...