Rampage prompts political maneuvering (AP)

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...

Most endangered species in America? Reality.
Let’s also face another tragedy: The only two civic reforms that might have actually stopped him — tighter Gun Control and an effective Mental Health safety net — won’t materialize even now. Gun and ammunition sales spiked last week, especially for the specific varieties given the Loughner imprimatur. No editorial — or bloodbath — will move Congress to enact serious Gun Control (which Giffords herself never advocated and Obama has rarely pushed since 2008). Enhanced Men

Shooting Victim Arrested
Listening to Tucson Tea Party co-founder Trent Humphries complain to The Guardian about how his organization was being portrayed, I almost felt bad for him. He's right that a lot of people jumped to conclusions about the motivations of the shooter and overstated the case against the Tea Party. The local sheriff, Clarence Dupnik, quickly pointed the finger at the growing vitriol, hate and anger directed against the government on Talk Radio and by Tea Party supporters in Arizona, where Democrats...

Did Palin enhance her chances?
Sarah Palin’s video defending herself against scurrilous charges of complicity in a mass Murder drew comment from people on the No. 2 and No. 3 Cable News networks. From Donny Deutsch of MSNBC: “I think as we’ve seen Sarah Palin probably ended her Political Career.” From Joe Scarborough: “I really do believe, it’s not an overstatement to say this probably ended Sarah Palin’s Political Career. I would be stunned-and save this tape, save this tape ...

Test for pols: Can they behave after the Tucson shooting?
House Republicans delayed a vote planned last Wednesday on rolling back the Health Care overhaul while Giffords is being treated in a Tucson Hospital. When they turn back to the health law on Tuesday, Republicans will focus on moderating their tone, Strategists said, in contrast with some lawmakers' stronger language from last year's campaign. "There's going to be a natural cautiousness," said pollster David Winston, who advises GOP leaders. "Members a...

Study: Americans see Palin as more sincere and believable after viewing speech
A national study conducted by Media Curves finds that Americans see Sarah Palin as more sincere and believable after viewing the Speech she gave last Wednesday in response to the shootings in Tucson. 1,437 self-reported Democrats, Republicans and Independents were polled January 13 and 14 by HCD Research.  According to Media Curves, participants were asked to rate Palin on a scale from 1-7 regarding likeability, believability and sincerity, with 1 representing “not at all strong in th...

Tuscon Shooting Victim Arrested, Shouting Death Threats To Tea Partier
James Eric Fuller was one of the 19 people that were shot in Tuscon when a madmen unloaded his gun on Congress woman Giffords and many of her supporters. Within hours of the senseless Shooting Spree, many on the Left (including Fuller) decided to blame the Right for stirring up the violence even though the shooter had absolutely no connections to conservative beliefs. Sadly the blame game has led to Fuller being arrested Saturday for shouting out death threats to a Tea Party member. Saturday, at...

On Arizona Shooting, Jon Stewart Skirts the Edge of Reason
Walter Hudson is a political commentator and co-founder of Minnesota's North Star Tea Party Patriots, a statewide educational organization. He runs a blog entitled Fightin Words. He also contributes to True North, a hub of Minnesotan conservative commentary. Follow his work via Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. This popular post was originally published January 12, 2011. Most of us know a disingenuous Apology when we hear one. The sincerity of a mea culpa is generally revealed by whether it is fo...

U.S. House turns its eyes on health care again after shooting
Now House members are ready to turn their attention back to the politically charged issue of repealing President Barack Obama's Health Care law. Debate on the measure, initially scheduled to begin last Wednesday, is now set to begin Tuesday. Last year's Health Care debate was emotional, and at times raw, helping to contribute to angry town hall-style meetings and noisy Protests. At a memorial service in Tucson on Wednesday, Obama urged the nation to en...

J. Eric Fuller, Tucson Shooting Victim Arrested at Town Hall Meeting For Threatening GOP Rep Terri Proud & Tea Party Spokesman
One week after the Tucson, AZ tragedy and there is an arrest at a town hall meeting for death threats … So much for that call for peace, calm and tranquility in the aftermath of the shooting last week at the hands of Jared Loughner. Tucson Shooting Victim J. Eric Fuller threatened Trent Humphries, the Pima County Tea Party Leader, stood up to speak during the event. He was being very respectful. Trent told the audience that before we start placing blame on individuals we need to get al...

Tucson shooting survivor arrested after making death threat to tea partier
In the middle of a taping of a town hall meeting to be aired Sunday on ABC's This Week, a survivor of last week's Tucson shootings issued a Death Threat to a Tea Party member in attendance. According to the website of ABC affiliate KGUN, the man in question, J. Eric Fuller, was arrested and charged with threats, intimidation, and disorderly conduct. Fuller, who was shot in the knee and back in last Saturday’s Shopping Mall massacre, is described by the New York Times as a Military Veteran ...

Youre Dead! Tucson Shooting Victim Threatens Tea Party Leader at Town Hall
One of the Arizona Shooting Victims was arrested Saturday and then taken for a psychiatric evaluation after authorities said he took a picture of a tea Party Leader at a televised town hall meeting and yelled: "you're dead."Members of the Activist left had held up Mr. Fuller as a symbol of righteous anger against Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and members of the conservative media....

Tucson activist survivor: Arrested for 'death threat' at Tea Partier (video)
Breaking news: Tuscon shooting survivor and liberal Political Activist, J. Eric Fuller, is reported to be under arrest, charged with   threats, intimidation, and disorderly conduct  against Tea Party spokesman, Trent Humprhies.  Arizona State Representative Terri Proud (R) was also mentioned. Apparently this happened in a Town Hall meeting for ABC's "This Week" scheduled to air Sunday. It is not known, at this time, if ABC plans to include footage from the altercation. GREGG JARRE...

Sunday Open Thread
I just finished reading Obama’s Tucson Speech. I really must go further than Digby and declare it was not only the best speech Obama has given since becoming president, but also one of the greatest speeches given by any sitting president. It was heartfelt, eloquent, beautifully written and paced, and deeply personal while calling all of us to realize a larger purpose: the national goal of establishing a discourse healthy for Democracy. This last issue is important. Among the subtleties of ...

Obama pledges to turn the page, work with GOP and Democrats
WASHINGTON — Citing “great challenges for us to solve,’’ President Obama pledged 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 becau...

Ouch: Man who blamed Palin and right for Az Shooting Arrested
Dang…. Rememeber this guy here that I wrote about? Well, now he is in the pokey…. Shooting rampage Victim arrested at ABC-TV town hall meeting - KGUN9 On Your Side, Tucson News, Weather & Sports The theme of the event was “An American Conversation Continued” - the idea being to continue the conversation that a madman’s brutal rampage had interrupted. So it was inevitable that the conversation would eventually turn to politics. It did, toward the en...

Tucson shooting spree victim arrested
TUCSON, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- One of those wounded in the Tucson Shooting Spree that left six people dead was arrested Saturday after making a verbal threat, authorities and witnesses said. Jason Ogan, a spokesman for the Pima County Sheriff's office, said J. Eric Fuller, 63, was "involuntarily committed for Mental Health evaluation," The New York Times reported. Fuller, a Military Veteran who was shot in the Left Knee and the back at U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' Jan. 8 constituency gathering, atten...

US shooting victim arrested after threat
A man who was shot in the knee during last week's Tuscon shooting rampage was arrested on Saturday after threatening a local conservative leader during an emotional town hall event, ABC News reported. During taping for a Sunday special on the US shooting, witnesses told ABC affiliate KGUN9 News that James Eric Fuller grew agitated when Tucson Tea Party founder Trent Humphries suggested that any conversation about Gun Control should be put off until after the funerals for all the Victims. Fuller ...

Tucson Aftermath, Part 2: Words have consequences
Before the shooting last Saturday in Tucson, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords had been one of a number of Democrats who had received threats in the recent year. During the contentious debates over Health Care Reform and Cap and Trade Legislation that saw angry, confrontational Protests in town hall meetings and surrounding the offices of House and Senate members, many Democrats had been the target of threatening letters, Internet, and phone messages. As a crowd of Health Care reform protestors d...

Week in Review: Reporters' Notebook
Miss Wisconsin Kimberly Sawyer waves to the crowd after appearing onstage at the Show Us Your Shoes parade Friday featuring Miss America contestants at Paris Las Vegas. » Buy this photo Many elected officials have started carrying Firearms in the aftermath of the shooting in Tucson, Ariz. U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., will not be among them. "I don't have any training," she said when asked about taking extra security measures. "I'd probably shoot off my foot before I'd ward off an atta...

Vulnerabilities and our violent culture
By Robert E. Young The Jan. 11 column by Kerry Dougherty, "Finger-pointers miss the mark: Arizona shooter is to blame," is worth further attention. As in all of Dougherty's work, the column is lively and rich with images and details. The concern I have with its main thrust is that in exposing the "blamers," she may have become something of a blamer herself. The problem, as I see it, is deeper than confining it to a handful of perpetrators and assigning them labels, such as &q...;

Billion Dollar Obama
That's how much Obama plans to spend trying to win re-election in 2012: Bracing for a half-billion-dollar onslaught of outside GOP cash in 2012, President Barack Obama’s advisers are quietly working to bring back together the major Donor base that produced a record-breaking Fundraising haul in his first run for president.... “They are getting organized in Chicago to start a massive two-year campaign, which I believe will be successful, but has extraordinarily large challenges in som...

Bill Maher: Tea Party wrong - Founding Fathers were liberal elites (Video)
 The season premier of HBO's “Real Time” with comedian Bill Maher closed Friday night with a sharp critique of Tea Party members for their admiration of the Founding Fathers. Maher made the argument that the Tea Party is far from what the Founding Fathers were: forward thinking, intelligent, tolerant of all religion, and men who read books. “Now that they’ve finished reading the Constitution out loud,” Maher said to ...

The Party Line Vindicated!
Recently we have had a hard time of it with the masses and our Propaganda arm the MSM. Our efforts to pin the actions of a lone crazed delusional gunman to the Tea Party and Sarah Palin have, lets face it failed miserably. That is until now! I have obtained shocking photo evidence taken from Sarah Palin's garage while they left the door open momentarily. Proof positive that they have installed a portable Death Ray beam machine in their garage!!!!!!! Evidence that is now on its way to CNN, MSNBC,...

Sunday Talk - The Power of Words
In the immediate aftermath of last Saturday's horrific shooting in Tuscon, critics were quick to assign blame to the violent Rhetoric and imagery employed by Sarah Palin and her Tea Party compatriots. But to hear Palin tell it in a video posted on Facebook Wednesday morning, not only is the charge bloody ridiculous, it's also bloody libelous. In her view, she was not a cause of the shooting; rather, she is a Victim. Meanwhile, later that same day, President Obama delivered what was arguably the...