Rhetoric as comfort food: The mac-and-cheese instinct

A cordon of reason
(Raf is a great Veteran of the Colorado blogosphere. Well written and thus promoted. - promoted by redstateblues) It's Thursday, and the shockwaves from Saturday's attempted Assassination of Rep. Gabby Giffords, and the brutal Murder of six people at the "Congress in your Corner" event she was hosting, still reverberate. "Even in the old West, cowboys hung up their guns when they entered a saloon." Cliff and the Congressman are right, and I don't have to travel far in my memory to see the util...

Sarah Palin compares criticisms of her to a belief that led to the Holocaust
   In the wake of the shooting by Jared Loughner in Tucson last week, there was criticism directed against the harsh Rhetoric of those on the right-wing. Jared Loughner did not shoot Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and Murder a number of other individuals because Talk Radio or Sarah Palin told him to do so.  A few individuals though have committed violence or attempted to do so because of their hatred of the left. Byron Williams, a man who was going to commit violence a...

Obama's call for civility seen as striking right tone
WASHINGTON — President Obama's warmly received plea for tolerance and temperance in the wake of last weekend's massacre in Tucson has created an opportunity for him to change the tone of political debate in Washington — and possibly advance his overall agenda. Former White House officials and experts in government and communications said Obama's healing words at Wednesday night's memorial service conveyed a message the country needed to hear. By not pointing fingers or seeking to scor...

Mayor Bloomberg says he doesn't blame Sarah Palin for Tuscon shooting
The tragic shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has led to a lot of finger pointing, including from New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, but one person who the mayor doesn’t blame is former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. On Tuesday Bloomberg, who serves as co-chair of the nearly 600 member Mayors Against Illegal Guns blamed government officials for selling a gun to a man who was rejected from the Military due to drug use and outlined five simple measures that could preve...

Where will Obama go from Tucson?
President Obama is receiving uniform praise for his memorial remarks in Tucson, Ariz. Even Conservatives are saying he hit the right notes, substantively and tonally. I agree, with a few qualifiers and gentle cautions. Obama was eloquent in his tribute to the Victims and appropriately acknowledged that "none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack ... or what thoughts lurked in the inner recesses of a violent man's mind." More importantly, he said: "But what we cannot do is...

More on Violence And Right Wing Rhetoric
Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Conservatives who fail to understand the arguments from liberals about Right Wing Hate Speech act as if Jared Loughner lived in a vacuum and acted with absolutely no external influences. This is despite multiple reports indicating Loughner’s interest in fringe politics. NewsOne reports on yet another connection, alleging that Loughner is a fan of right winger Alex Jones. I find it curious that Conservatives have been attacking liberals this week ...

Media misses their own mark on Tuscon
The massacre that took 6 American lives last week in Tuscon, Arizona seems to have left more questions than answers.  While media outlets, political pundits, and elected officials attempted to lay blame anywhere but on the shooter himself, the White House was decidedly silent on the subject of motive. While the nation waited with baited breath for a leader to emerge offering signs of hope and stability following a horrendous act of terror, political chatter and talking points lit up the air...

The madness of cross hairs, shots in the foot and the civility of blame
Does Sarah Palin have blood on her hands? Does she? Answer the question! Or the Tea Party for that matter? Care to blame someone not already mentioned? If, God forbid, Sarah Palin is ever put in the cross hairs of some perverted assassin’s weapon will the Left accept her blood on their own hands? Will you accept the responsibility of your own complicity in that act by virtue of the incontinent words with which you have chosen to condemn her? You were all so quick to assign the blame for th...

As Obama urged unity, Palin brought division
President Obama did not miss the moment. From the generally positive overnight reaction, Obama's Speech in Tucson on Wednesday night struck just the right notes. Amid grief over a senseless tragedy and against a raging debate that threatened to further divide the country, the president urged healing and Reconciliation. This Story The Take: As Obama urged unity, Palin brought division Police recover black bag, ammunition believed to belong to Tucson suspect Wasserman-Schultz, Gillibrand discus...

Cheap Unity
In 1937, German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer published a book called "The Cost of Discipleship." In that book, Bonhoeffer wrote about the dangers of what he called 'cheap grace,' which he defined as "the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession..." Bonhoeffer's point was that while forgiveness, baptism and Communion are a wonderful part of church life, they cannot be truly experienced without paying a cost. Bonhoeff...

Obamacare repeal rescheduled; GOP not scared off by left-wing attacks (Daily Caller)
Read more stories from The Daily Caller Congressmen want increased security for themselves — but are they in more danger than teachers and doctors? Stephanopoulos, NYT, CNN, WaPo decline to correct erroneous Giffords reporting ObamaCare Repeal rescheduled; GOP not scared off by left-wing attacks Pollsters say Obama's Approval Ratings will have modest bump Woman behind Va. 'Repeal Amendment' effort running for Senate The House heads back to work next week, and Republicans plan to move forwar...

Stephanopoulos, NYT, CNN, WaPo decline to correct erroneous Giffords reporting (Daily Caller)
Read more stories from The Daily Caller Congressmen want increased security for themselves — but are they in more danger than teachers and doctors? Stephanopoulos, NYT, CNN, WaPo decline to correct erroneous Giffords reporting ObamaCare Repeal rescheduled; GOP not scared off by left-wing attacks Pollsters say Obama's Approval Ratings will have modest bump Woman behind Va. 'Repeal Amendment' effort running for Senate ABC News host George Stephanopoulos refuses to admit fault or issue a corre...

Right Wing Rage and Right Wing Populism
Lambert suggested I turn this comment on votermom's excellent distinction between anger and hate, into a regular post. For a very long time, the right-wing rage which we see now being turned against immigrants, “Socialists”, Obama etc was channeled into anti-communist feeling during the Cold War. Then the wall fell and for a while the same rage was turned in a number of directions, but did not really have a similar unifying focus. Or maybe it would be more accurate that for a while i...

Obama uses careful tone to urge 'a more civil' tone in politics
President Obama carefully interjected himself Wednesday night into the debate over political civility in the wake of the Arizona shootings. He urged "a more civil and honest public discourse" but avoided any suggestion that the heightened political tensions of the past several years may have influenced the gunman. This Story West Wing Briefing: Obama uses careful tone to urge 'a more civil' tone in politics Watch Obama's full Speech in Tucson The Fix: Obama went big Senator to colle...

Is Obama leavingthe left behind?
The day President Obama departed for Arizona to address the nation on the Tucson massacre, Washington was abuzz. Would he take the line of the hard Left and call out the Right for having created what columnist Paul Krugman called the "Climate of Hate" in which a mentally deranged Jared Lee Loughner had acted? Would he lay moral responsibility for the slaughter at the feet of Fox News and Sarah Palin, as the wilder voices of the Left have been doing nonstop since Saturday's shocking news? Ob...

Obama Rising
Barack Obama's soothing words after the Tucson shootings contrast sharply with Sarah Palin's harsh Rhetoric. That may be one reason Obama is on the rise in recent polling. The morning after President Barack Obama delivered a well-received eulogy for the Victims of the Tucson, Arizona, Mass Shooting, he got some good news from a Quinnipiac University poll. Obama’s Approval Rating increased to 48 percent, his highest number in more than a year. More importantly, Americans view Obama much mor...

9-year-old girl's death hits home for Obama
There are moments that define a presidency, and Barack Obama's Speech Wednesday night to a memorial service for Arizona Shooting Victims may be one. First in a moving eulogy to those who died, then in uplifting tales of those who acted heroically, finally in a call to the nation to live up to the ideals of a slain 9-year-old girl, Obama recaptured, at least temporarily, the appeal that first thrust him onto the national stage: the sense that the country is a family that yearns to be united, no...

How We Enable Crimes of Insanity
The deranged expression on the face of Jared Lee Loughner in the Mug Shot released by the police—taken within hours after he allegedly killed six innocent people and wounded 14 more, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords—suggests that we may never fully understand whatever illness afflicts him. The law requires us to assess his mental state and motivations, but we might do better to analyze our own craziness. That doesn’t mean trying to determine whether events like the Tucson mas...

Finding the Forgotten Majority
“There is a need for some reflection here—what is too far now? What was too far when Oklahoma City happened is accepted now. There’s been a desensitizing. These town halls and cable TV and Talk Radio, everybody’s trying to outdo each other.” Those were the words of an unnamed Republican senator after America’s latest shooting rampage, this one a political Assassination attempt in Tucson, Ariz. How sad—and telling—that the lawmaker refused to attach...

Thursday Open Thread
Below the fold, I have news on the edict that Roger Ailes issued to all the employees of Fox News. It’s quite a story and reveals that Ailes is as astute as ever and has an uncanny ability to sense the nation’s shifting moods. His edict was evident in last night’s exceptional and respectful coverage of Obama’s Speech by Fox News’s Bret Baier, Brit Hume, Charles Krauthammer, et al. (But do check out my side note on Obama’s Speech — it’s at the end ...

Investigators look over bag suspect may have carried
TUCSON — Authorities are examining a black bag containing 9mm ammunition they believe was discarded by the suspect in the Assassination attempt on a congresswoman. Pima County Sheriff's deputies, working with the FBI to gather evidence from the shooting Saturday, said they believe a black diaper bag found Thursday morning by someone walking a dog was used by Jared Loughner, 22, who faces federal Murder and assault charges. The bag was found near the Loughners' suburban home, Sheriff's Deput...

Sarah Palin Is No Longer Reloading: Die Zeit, Germany
It may be the greatest challenge in Sarah Palin’s Political Career: how to respond to accusations that her words contributed to the Tucson massacre? According to columnist Christoph von Marschall of Germany’s Die Zeit, while most agree she bears no direct responsibility for the attack on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Palin’s entire future hangs in the balance. For Die Zeit, Christoph von Marschall writes in part: Only a very small number of people still believe that Sarah...

Governor calls for civility
PARAMUS, N.J. - Gov. Christie says the shooting of a congresswoman in Arizona won't stop him from meeting with voters. New Jersey's Republican Governor was flanked by more State Police security than usual on Thursday as he met voters at a town-hall meeting in Paramus. Christie began by referencing last weekend's shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D., Ariz.). The blunt Governor urged civility in the forums, even when people disagree. Earlier in the day, Christie praised President Obama's mem...

Sarah Palin and the "blood libel"
Posted by Paul at 8:30 PM Sarah Palin is coming in for criticism for using the term "blood Libel" to describe accusations that she and other outspoken Conservatives somehow have blood on their hands in connection with the Tucson shootings. Palin's remarks on the shootings are also being compared unfavorably to President Obama's Speech at the University of Arizona. Obama's Speech was healing and uplifting, while Palin's, some say, was divisive and defensive. I find both criticisms of Palin unfai...

Bogus Christianists
Yes, I have paid attention to the attempted Assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), the Murder of six other people, and the attempted political Assassination by the Leftist media of Former Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK) in these past few days. Yes, I'm up to my ears in taking care of my great-aunt--an invalid since her accident on September 24th of last year.  Yes, I am grateful to the awesome King Shamus for keeping my blog alive from that time until now. But what I want to know...