Sen. McCain's candid response to Tucson Tragedy

Giffords Shooting Reaction from Obama, McCain, Tucson Tea Party (ContributorNetwork)
The shooting of Rep. Gabrielle (Gabby) Giffords (D-Ariz.) Saturday is being viewed as an assault on the American political system by some of her stunned colleagues in light of reports that she was targeted. Giffords is in critical condition after a bullet entered one side of her head and exited the other side. The shooting occurred at a constituent event; many who know her described this as typical of her outreach efforts. Here are some of the public statements issued in response to Saturday&...

'This isn't the wild west anymore'
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - The Rusty Spur Saloon, a wild west throwback in this swank Phoenix suburb, isn’t the type of place where patrons embrace the Democrat politics of Gabrielle Giffords. They are not immune, however, to the grief, shock and outrage that has settled in across the state in the aftermath of the senseless Shooting Spree in Tucson that has left six dead and Giffords in critical condition. “Politics is politics but this isn’t the wild west anymore,” Bill McKinno...

The Tucson Shooter and Arizona Politics
Perhaps the stupidest and least surprising comment about the shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson came from New York Times columnist Matt Bai. Bai, the author of an interesting book about Democratic politics, analyzed the political environment—the universe of discourse that framed the alleged attempt at Assassination by Arizonan Jared Lee Loughner. Here is what he wrote: Within minutes of the first reports Saturday that Representative Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Demo...

Roger Ailes
Howard Kurtz's Moronic Equivalence Greasy-wigged Republican Howard Kurtz has finally found a Victim in yesterday's massacre in Arizona. It's Sarah Palin. I hate to say this [sic], but the blame game is already under way. It began within hours of Saturday's horrifying shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and nearly 20 others, even before the gunman was identified. Political Target Map as seen on Sarah Palin's website. Inset: Sarah Palin and Gabrielle Giffords (AP Photo) One of t...

A demonstration of disturbing trends in American political culture
The shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, in an attack that left six others dead, was nothing less than an Assassination attempt. And while we don't yet know what noxious idea inspired the alleged assailant to kill, we can see in the assault a manifest demonstration of several disturbing trends in American political culture. Start with guns: Legally, they are sacrosanct. And not just any guns. In Arizona, any “law-abiding” person over 21 is allowed to carry a conceale...

Weimar Politics in AZ
Cross posted at Balloon Juice What do we know about Assassination as a political tool? It works.  Not always, but enough. It can be effective even if the assassin is truly a lone gunman, truly crazy, utterly denuded of membership cards or explicit links to more formal political groups. It achieved the desired goal for the Confederate Party when Booth shot Lincoln.  White supremacists were able to play the politics of the next decade or so to resume, through the Ballot Box and violent terror...

Weimar Politics in AZ
What do we know about Assassination as a political tool? It works.  Not always, but enough. It can be effective even if the assassin is truly a lone gunman, truly crazy, utterly denuded of membership cards or explicit links to more formal political groups. It achieved the desired goal for the Confederate Party when Booth shot Lincoln.  White supremacists were able to play the politics of the next decade or so to resume, through the Ballot Box and violent terror, a political dominance...

SarahPac Called for Ariz. Congresswoman to be 'Targeted'
SarahPAC Called for Ariz. Congresswoman to be 'Targeted' By Lori Price, www.legitgov.org 08 Jan 2011 Updated: 09 Jan 2011 Sarah Palin's Fundraising instrument, SarahPac, had posted an advertisement to target Democratic Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The photo has since been removed from her website. However, CLG has obtained it and reposted it here. (First photo supplied by Bruce L.) © Bruce L. © SarahPac ...

911 tape of Arizona shooting released
The audio tape of the 911 emergency call placed moments after the Arizona shooting has been released. On the tape the caller can be heard saying Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and several others had been shot, and describing the gunman's appearance. Six people were killed when he opened fire at an event hosted by Ms Giffords in Tucson. She was shot in the head but is expected to recover. The suspect, identified as Jared Loughner, is facing five counts of Murder and Attempted Murder. ...

Giffords Able to Communicate
ABC News reports: Doctors say that while the bullet that struck Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords did not hit any critical parts of the brain, whether she will survive and how fully she will recover are still unknown. “This was a devastating wound that traveled the length of the brain on the left side,” Dr. Peter Rhee, trauma director at University Medical Center in Tucson, said during a Press Conference. Giffords’ family confirmed to ABC affiliate KTRK that the bullet entered ...

NY Tea Party Leader: Arizona Shootings Deplorable
Portraits of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and Federal Judge John Roll stand in a makeshift memorial. ( John Moore/Getty Images) NEW YORK (WCBS 880/AP) — A leader of the New York State Tea Party called the shootings in Arizona a “deplorable tragedy” and said the group was offering its deepest condolences to the Victims. “Although the New York State Tea Party and all of its members nationwide speak out passionately in regard to the future of our American nation, we h...

Being a Female Elected Official and Mother of Nine Year Old Child on Student Council
Has made it almost impossible for me to respond to what happened in Arizona yesterday to U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and those at the site of the shooting that has left her critically wounded. I learned about the incident in a most ironic way: I had just finished a more than two-hour lunch meeting with a fellow female Council Member. As I walked to the restroom, I pulled out my BlackBerry and began to thumb through my email subject lines and the news alerts were there. I audibly started to sa...

Moderate Giffords an unlikely target for hate crime
With her warm brown eyes, friendly manner, Astronaut husband and moderate political views, Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was an unlikely target for what investigators indicate was a hate-fueled shooting rampage in her Tucson district. A Blue Dog Democrat and fiscal conservative, Giffords has taken a tough line on Immigration Reform -- her district shares a 100-mile border with Mexico -- and in support of Gun Rights. Her more Controversial recent votes in Congress include supporting...

Shooting could tame tough political rhetoric (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Protesters parade an altered photo of President Barack Obama sporting an Adolf Hitler-like mustache. A Candidate for the Senate muses about gun "remedies" if Election Results don't go the right way. Members of Congress are spat on and taunted with racial epithets before casting votes for a Healthcare Reform bill. Welcome to politics American-style. For the past few years, some public officeholders and pundits have warned that the political Rhetoric ha...

Obama Calls for Moment of Silence
Huffington Post reports: On Sunday, President Obama announced a national moment of silence for the Victims of the Mass Shooting in Arizona on Saturday. The full White House Press Release is below. President Obama Calls for Moment of Silence for Victims of Shooting in Tucson, Arizona “Tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. eastern standard time, I call on Americans to observe a moment of silence to honor the innocent Victims of the senseless tragedy in Tucson, Arizona, including those still fighting for...

Tucson Victims in Wrong Place at Wrong Time
A Janitor, A Judge, and An Aide Were Victims in Saturday's Shooting in Tucson, Ariz, Targeting Rep. Gabrielle Giffords Like this Story? Share it: As the investigation continues into 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner, the main suspect in the Tucson shooting of Congresswoman Giffords, Dean Reynolds reports on the other victims. (CBS) From a judge to a janitor, the victims in Saturday's shooting in Tucson, Ariz., targeting Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords were all caught in the wrong place at the wron...

9-year-old shooting victim was aspiring politician
In this photo combo, Victims killed at a political event with Rep. Gabrielle... TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - At age 9, Christina Taylor Green was already an aspiring politician with hopes of being the first woman to play major league Baseball. She had just been elected to the Student council at Tucson's Mesa Verde Elementary School and was interested in politics from a young age. Born on Sept. 11, 2001, the third-grader was among six people killed Saturday outside a Supermarket where a neighbor had ta...

Isn't What Happened in Arizona Media-Fed Bigoted White Christian Male Terrorism?
Where does one start in the wake of the political Killing Spree that occurred in Arizona on Saturday? With John Wilkes Booth putting a bullet into the head of Abraham Lincoln? With the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy? With the shooting of Martin Luther King? The right-wing culture of hate and implicit coded call to kill the enemy, as if on a mission from God, is a subset of our larger national culture of violence. From our policy of maintaining superpower status through wars...

Political fallout from Arizona shooting
Saturday's shooting in Arizona has left many wondering if the divisive political atmosphere in the United States contributed to the rampage. Six people were killed and many were wounded, including Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords who was shot in the head. She is expected to survive. No clear motive has been identified but a local sheriff says there is a vitriolic political atmosphere which could have been a factor in what happened. Paul Adams reports. Watch Can 'street...

Heroism in Tucson
The Arizona Republic highlights the heroic actions of Daniel Hernandez, a new intern for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), who ran towards the gunfire in yesterday's shooting and likely saved lives, including that of the congresswoman. "When the shots began that morning, he saw many people lying on the ground, including a young girl. Some were bleeding. Hernandez said he moved from person to person checking pulses... Then he saw Giffords. She had fallen and was lying contorted on the sidewalk. Sh...

CNN Interviews Gay Hero Daniel Hernandez On Rep. Gabrielle Giffords Shooting
(Via - AmericaBlog) Labels: Arizona, Gabrielle Giffords, heroes, Tucson New! Share this on Facebook: Share ...

After the Arizona shootings, can Obamaor anyonebring America back from the brink?
But Obama has some qualifications that go beyond his office. One of the themes of his campaign was the promise to restore civility and restraint to politics. This weekend's shooting may be waking a lot of people up to how far we have to go on both scores. Obama has been trying to lead in that direction for years now—he wrote a book about the lack of trust that has corroded the public debate, and gave a thoughtful Speech about the power of restraint in particular with regard to Abortion. The s...

In the Crosshairs: The hypocritical left demonizing anyone they disagree with.
Objectionable language, but full on wisdom and reality. Thanks again to BLACKFIVE. Which Democrats objected to the use of mass Murder as a Propaganda tool? - I was wondering: which Democrats and liberals objected to those willing to politicize the mass Murder in Tucson before the blood had even dried? • *Not sev... Does Sheriff Clarence Dupnik Have No Shame? - Sheriff Clarence Dupnik of Tucson, Arizona, has become the spokesman for blaming right-wing "vitriol" for the shooting by der...

Palin Staffer Insists Crosshair Graphic Wasn't About Guns
A Sarah Palin Staffer insisted in a Radio Interview that their use of a crosshair graphic on a Midterm Election "target list" -- that included the district of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) -- was not intended to allude to guns, Alaska Dispatch reports. Said Rebecca Mansour: "We never ever, ever intended it to be gun sights," explaining "It's surveyor's symbols." However, Palin's own tweet just after the election was unambiguous: "Remember months ago 'bullseye' icon used 2 target the 20 Obamac...

long day's journey into white
sure, the hardly-ever-right says that the left jumped the gun in linking Sarah Palin's graphic with a gun sight on Gabrielle Giffords' district to yesterday's shooting....