Sam Stein: Obama Re-Introduces The Human Element To The Giffords Tragedy

The Leader and The Celebutard
Jonathan Martin lays out the contrasting presentations yesterday: In the span of a single news cycle, Republicans got a jarring reminder of two forces that could prevent them from retaking the presidency next year. At sunrise in the east on Wednesday, Sarah Palin demonstrated that she has little interest—or capacity—in moving beyond her brand of grievance-based politics. And at sundown in the west, Barack Obama reminded even his critics of his ability to rally disparate Americans around a...

To Sarah Palin, the Arizona Shooting Is All About ... Sarah Palin
A nine-year-old girl who just wanted to meet her congresswoman is dead. Democracy itself is under assault with the shooting death of a Federal Judge and a congressional aide, and the Attempted Murder of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The accused shooter has a troubling history that raises questions about how we care for the mentally ill and whom we allow to have a gun. Heroes emerged, including citizens who threw themselves atop the shooter to stop further bloodshed, and the congressional intern who...

White House seeks momentum after speech praised by right, left
The White House hopes to build on any momentum created from President Obama’s emotional Speech in Arizona with the State of the Union address later this month. Obama’s Speech Wednesday night at a memorial service for Victims of Saturday’s shootings has earned nearly universal approval, with many Conservatives praising the president’s tone and comparing the remarks to other addresses previous presidents have made following national tragedies. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

CBS Blames Sarah Palin For Injecting 'Politics and Controversy' Into Tucson Shooting
At the top of Wednesday's CBS Evening News, anchor Katie Couric lamented: "The President tries to comfort a nation in mourning, but even on a rare day of unity, politics and Controversy intervene." A clip was then played of Sarah Palin's Facebook video reaction to the Tucson shooting and media finger-pointing: "Journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood Libel." Later, correspondent Chip Reid reported that in his Speech at the memorial service for the victi...

Hullabaloo
More Like This, Please. Much More. by tristero 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...

Funeral Set for Tucson Rampage's Youngest Victim
Like this Story? Share it: Play CBS Video Video Ariz. Victim Tormented by Death of Young Friend Erica Hill reports on Suzi Hileman, the neighbor who accompanied 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green to the event where the girl was fatally wounded. During a Press Conference for the injured victims of the Tucson, Ariz. shooting, Bill Hileman became overcome with emotion when describing his wife who was holding the hand of 9-year-old victim Christina Taylor Green. Funerals and memorials have begun for...

Obama rekindles hope in Tuscon
If you missed President Obama's memorial tribute in Tuscon last night, it's worth reading in full. Or better yet, watch the video even though it runs a bit long because of the applause. While most focused on his words, his most bitter critics have been pointing to the applause as somehow disrespectful, likening it to a pep rally. I admit I found it a bit jarring myself, but not because it was misplaced, simply because it was so enthusiatic and so prolonged that it interupted the flow of his s...

Palin Death Threats at 'Unprecedented Level'
Sarah Palin's use of the term "blood Libel" while responding to the Gabrielle Giffords shooting has stirred up Controversy. Her team is talking to security experts after receiving what an aide has described as an "unprecedented level" of death threats. See photos of the Gabrielle Giffords Shooting in Arizona. Take the poll: Is Political Rhetoric to Blame for Arizona Shooting? Read more about the Arizona shooting and Gabrielle Giffords. ...

In politics, Palin has her own rules
WASHINGTON (AP) — With her video defending herself against critics — in which she accused them of "blood Libel" — former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin again showed she is weighing a presidential bid in unprecedented and even daring ways. Mrs. Palin commands nationwide attention with her selective use of Facebook and Twitter, choosing provocative words when others testing the presidential waters prefer a lighter touch. Some political pros say her tactics, which protect her from mainst...

Bag holding ammo found near Ariz. suspect's home
TUCSON, Ariz. — A man walking his dog has found a black bag holding ammunition that authorities believe was discarded by a gunman accused of trying to assassinate an Arizona congresswoman. Chief Rick Kastigar with the Pima County Sheriff's Office told The Associated Press that an 18-year-old found the bag Thursday morning in a neighborhood near where the suspect lives. He went to get another man, who looked inside and saw ammunition. Authorities have said the suspect, Jared Loughner,...

Bag holding ammo found near Ariz. suspect's home
TUCSON, Ariz. — A man walking his dog has found a black bag holding ammunition that authorities believe was discarded by a gunman accused of trying to assassinate an Arizona congresswoman. Chief Rick Kastigar with the Pima County Sheriff's Office told The Associated Press that an 18-year-old found the bag Thursday morning in a neighborhood near where the suspect lives. He went to get another man, who looked inside and saw ammunition. Authorities have said the suspect, Jared Loughner,...

Leader and healer
Every American who watched President Obama’s Speech at the memorial service for the Victims of the murderous rampage in Tucson surely felt a swelling of pride over how that community, and this country, is coming together in the face of adversity. The president’s remarks struck the right balance between memorializing the victims, celebrating their legacies, and moving that community and the country toward healing after this terrible tragedy. Maybe I’m getting soft in my Old Age, but for t

Tucson Funerals of Victims
The President spoke words that heal, and he answered the violence with the heartbreak of hope comforting the residents and 16,000 people who gathered at the memorial service and he achieved two things: brilliance and courage. The Speech was a memorial address and the second part was rebuking the people who had blamed others.  Obama reclaimed this moment to the heroes and Victims and celebrated their lives. Friends, family relatives and supportive people neighbors, business owners whether th...

No, Boehner didnt snub memorial rally
This obnoxious meme began last night when word got out that House Speaker John Boehner didn’t travel with Barack Obama to Arizona for last night’s memorial in Tucson.  Boehner snubbed Obama!  He snubbed Giffords! As Brian Beutler points out at TPM, a look at the schedule makes it clear that Boehner had little choice but to stay in DC (via Radley Balko at Reason): House Speaker John Boehner is catching a lot of flack for missing last night’s memorial service in Tucson, repo

Right Wing Media Reports That Obama Lied About Giffords Eyes Are Untrue
The right-wing blogosphere is classily playing “Gotcha!” with President Obama ’s uplifting revelation, at last night’s Tuscon Memorial Service, that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords “opened her eyes for the first time” shortly before the memorial. A report originating at Gateway Pundit, and currently circling the globe, alleges that “It Looks Like Obama Fibbed” about the milestone in Giffords’ recovery, and of Obama’s revelation, “unfort...

Making the personal profound
President Obama spoke from the heart last night, and it worked for him and for the country. He made the intensely personal profound. By highlighting first the lives of those who were killed in Tucson, he offered a glimpse into America’s collective soul. One by one, he pointed out the unique contributions that each Victim made to America’s social quilt. Civic-minded, churchgoing, optimistic, all of them lived quintessentially American lives. And none of them anticipated what would or could ...

Mayor Bloomberg: Can't Blame Sarah Palin, Rhetoric For Arizona Man's Shooting Spree
Mayor Bloomberg struck the post-partisan tone of which he's so fond when asked today about the role (or lack thereof) of overheated Rhetoric in the Arizona shootings. “This would appear to be a very deranged, perhaps on-drugs individual from what I've read," Bloomberg said of accused gunman Jared Lee Loughner. "And I think we should focus on somebody with a gun that has killed six people. And I think the president put it very well yesterday -- the Rhetoric should be at a...

Doctors cite 'major milestone' in Rep. Giffords's recovery
Doctors for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) on Thursday cited "very encouraging" signs in her recovery process, including opening her eyes and lifting her arm unexpectedly Wednesday night. At a Press Conference at University Medical Center, Trauma and Critical Care Director Dr. Peter Rhee and Chief of Neurosurgery Dr. Michael Lemole said Giffords was beginning to become aware of her surroundings and was making spontaneous movements with her left arms and both legs. They said she had begun ag...

Pres. Obama's Speech Undercuts Federal Charge for Judge's Murder
It may have been inadvertent, but a passage in President Barack Obama's Speech to a memorial service in Tucson Wednesday night could undercut a criminal charge Federal Prosecutors have leveled at suspect Jared Loughner for the death of U.S. District Court Judge John Roll in a shooting rampage Saturday. You must login to comment. The Fox Nation is for those opposed to intolerance, excessive government control of our lives, and attempts to monopolize opinion or suppress freedom of thought, express...

Thoughts on the speech
President Obama succeeded in answering the many challenges of a tragic moment in his address Wednesday in Tucson. The memorial was held to remember the Victims, living and lost, of Saturday's massacre. He did just that. With personal detail, Obama helped memorialize Americans of all ages and walks of life — from accomplished judge to Retiree, Staffer, a 9-year-child and more. He lauded the courage of those who fought for them, tackling the suspect, grabbing the suspect's ammunition, adminis...

Gabrielle Giffords continues recovery with support of family, friends and nation
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords opened her eyes yesterday in response to encouragement from her family and friends, shortly after a visit from President Barack Obama.  Surrounded by her husband Astronaut Mark Kelly, parents, Congressman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), the Arizona Representative opened her eyes for the first time and acknowledged she could see those around her with a wave of her hand. President Obama thrilled a memorial service crowd last ...

A Dignified President in a Tawdry Hall
Last night, President Obama delivered a pitch perfect Speech in Tucson at the memorial service for the Shooting Victims.  It was full of measured reason.  He yanked the national discussion back to where it belongs.  “For the truth is that none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack,” he said, stating what is obvious to most Americans. It is a shame those in the audience, and those planning the event, could not have followed the president’s lead.

Barack Obamas Tucson speech rose to the moment and transcended it
We’ll hear much less of that talk now. For the address he gave at last night’s memorial service for the Victims of the Arizona shootings was elegiac, heartfelt and deeply moving. It both rose to the moment and transcended it: after days of noise and rancour, he carved out a moment of calm. Much of the Speech was dedicated to its core function: to commemorate the dead and comfort those in mourning. He spoke in detail about those who had been slain, describing them one by one - t...

Obama memorial: 'Lack of civility' didn't cause tragedy (video)
Though many Americans agree with President Obama, in the past days, the   "Incivility" of political Rhetoric has been blamed by some on the left for igniting the  insane passions of an alleged mentally deranged gunman, causing him  to head to a corner in Tuscon, Arizona - to commit atrocities that have brought a nation to its knees with grief. When a country is in need of a "Nation's Chaplain," as Brit Hume labeled the historical role of a president  during times of grea...

Follow President Obama's example
By Edward Copeland As so many persist in trying to shoehorn Saturday's tragedy in Tucson into the neverending partisan skirmishes and the inevitable blame game, trying to seek advantage for whatever ideological side to which you belong, we should all follow the example of President Obama who, in one of his finest moments since he took office, rose above all the rancor and spoke from the heart and to the nation in an effort to heal rather than divide. Some notable excerpts from his Speech at W...