Shooting opens divide on inflamed rhetoric

Poll: Shooting spree not due to rhetoric
WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Most Americans don't blame the shooting rampage in which Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was wounded on violent political language, a poll released Tuesday indicated. While 57 percent said the Mass Shooting in Tucson, Ariz., was not related to political Rhetoric, 32 percent said the two are linked, CBS News reported. The poll was conducted by the CBS News Polling Unit. GALLERY: The aftermath of the Rep. Giffords shooting There was a partisan divide with 69 percent of Republ...

Arizona Shootings: The Culture of Guns
New York Times columnist David Brooks chided the media for making the "extremely murky" link between political Rhetoric and actual violence. Jon Stewart says "you don't know what a troubled mind will get caught on." And conservative radio talk hosts have characterized Jared Lee Loughner as an isolated case, while their liberal critics are seizing on the tragedy for political gain. In all of the passionate takes on what led to the tragedy, up to now relatively little atten...

We're Arizona shooting victims too, says Tea Party co-founder
Source: The Guardian A nine-year-old girl lies in the morgue. A member of Congress faces a lifetime of struggle to recover from a bullet in the brain. A city is bracing itself for a string of funerals as it tries to fathom the carnage. But Trent Humphries says there is another innocent Victim left by Jared Lee Loughner's killing of six people and wounding of 14 others in his Assassination attempt against Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. It is his Tea Party movement and, more particularly, his f...

Infidel Bloggers Alliance
The Hill: Poll: Rhetoric, Arizona shooting unrelated By Jordan Fabian - 01/11/11 08:13 AM ET Almost 60 percent of the public believes that heated political rhetoric has nothing to do with an Arizona Shooting Spree that gravely wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D) and killed a Federal Judge. Fifty-seven percent of respondents in a new CBS News poll said rhetoric is unrelated to the shooting, while 32 percent said they believe the two are connected. Many pundits and lawmakers have keyed in on ...

"You can't outsmart crazy"
By Edward Copeland With those words, Jon Stewart gave another eloquent Speech at the beginning of Monday night's Daily Show, dispensing with humor to address Saturday's horrific events in Tucson. With each passing hour and day since alleged gunman Jared Lee Loughner opened fire on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, critically injuring her, killing six and wounding 14 others, it becomes clearer that this 22-year-old man was not a political partisan but someone who was severely mentally ill. With Arizona...

Sheriff in Giffords case lashes out about politics
(01-10) 15:25 PST Tucson, Ariz. (AP) -- Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik was thrust into the spotlight to face a nation demanding answers in the aftermath of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. He didn't mince words. The rampage, he said, grew in part from extreme political Rhetoric, Bigotry and hatred, especially in his home state of Arizona. Dupnik said he was angry and heartbroken over the tragedy, and was simply speaking his mind as an American, not a Law Enforcement official. But ...

Paul Krugmans totalitarian temptation
Found via Protein Wisdom Washington Examiner: Jared Loughner, the gunman charged with wounding Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and murdering six others in Tucson on Saturday, held bizarre beliefs about “conscious dreaming” and government mind control imposed through English grammar. No serious person would connect his belief system to a mainstream political ideology. But then there’s New York Times columnist Paul Krugman. He places the blood Libel of blame for the Tucson murders square

What President Obama should say (#obamashouldsay)
President Obama is scheduled to speak in Arizona Wednesday evening. The Speech will come four days after a gunman, identified by police as Jared Lee Loughner, killed six people and wounded 14 during a shooting rampage in front of a Tucson Supermarket. Among the dead: a nine-year old girl who aspired to enter politics and a Federal Judge. Among the wounded: Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), the apparent target. Analysts and commentators around the web are giving the president advice regarding wh...

The Arizona Republic Chastises Sheriff Dupnik For His Partisan, Vitriolic, Comments
It appears that The Arizona Republic is appropriately embarrassed by Tucson's liberal, highly partisan Democratic sheriff, Clarence Dupnik: ... Dupnik used the opportunities to blame Arizona's lax, new Gun Laws and, again, the angry "Rhetoric" of Talk Radio. The shootings were spurred, he suggested, by "the rhetoric about hatred, about mistrust of government, about paranoia of how government operates." Dupnik took up his cause again on Monday. And, in response, we have to say at last . . . enoug...

Giffords condition improves after shooting
TUCSON, Ariz - U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords is breathing on her own and doctors Tuesday were hopeful about her recovery from a head wound suffered in an Arizona Shooting Spree that killed six people. Giffords, a popular 40-year-old Democrat, remained in critical condition at a Tucson Hospital but is “holding her own,” responding to simple commands and breathing without aid of a tube although a bullet passed through her brain, doctors said. “She has no right to look th...

Is the 'vitriolic rhetoric' from the right and the left really equal?
Right or wrong, the role of "political Rhetoric", has become the center of Arizona shootings story.  Last night both Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck went on the offense against the left, arguing that it is shameful for them to claim the right's rhetoric had any role in the shootings.  O'Reilly verbally slammed The New York Times, Paul Krugman, and MSNBC as "merchants of hate" for criticizing the rhetoric of the right in relation to the shootings .  The argument of O'Reilly, and conse...

Jon Stewart of The Daily Show Doesnt Blame Toxic Political Discourse For Arizona Jared Loughner Shooting Massacre
The Democrats might want to learn some thing from The Daily Shows, Jon Stewart. As reported at Mediaite , Jon Stewart appears to be the voice of reason as Democrats try and play party politics with the terrible events of the Tucson, AZ shooting massacre at the hands of crazed gunman Jared Loughner. Instead of doing his usual satirical dialogue, Stewart addressed his audience and discussed the henious actions of a gunman who killed six, wounded many and left US Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in criti...

Is Jared Lee Loughner linked to Tea Party, conservatives, or libertarians? (Gabrielle Giffords shooting)
Q. Is Jared Lee Loughner linked to the Tea Party, conservative, or Libertarian movements? A. At this time, there's no indication that Loughner was a member of any organized political movement. He was a registered independent who hadn't voted in 2010 (link). The DHS claim that he was linked to the white racial separatist group AmRen is false. Given what we know now, the chances of him being welcomed as a member of any group outside the far fringe is remote [1]. Given his history, the chances th...

On Petard Hoisted: Sheriff Dupnicks Hypocrisy on Inflammatory Rhetoric
Arizona’s Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, who on Saturday suggested radio and television Talk Shows were somehow responsible for inciting a man who may be mentally disturbed to kill six people and wound 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), once blamed policymakers for violence in his county because they had stopped institutionalizing mentally ill people. Dupnik also suggested that local schools should check the Immigration status of Students and that ...

The AZ Shooter Has All The Ingredients Of A Tea Party Member
Jared Loughner may not have attended a Tea Party rally or registered with any Tea Party groups, but he shares several similarities with the Tea Party movement. The first obviously is his anger against the government. His violent act reflected the anger against government for Health Care, and Immigration symbolized by Sarah Palin’s placement of Rep. Gifford in the crosshairs of gun. While Loughner’s rants may seem like those of a madmen, so do most rants from Tea Party members. Severa...

The Violent Rhetoric End Game, Revealed.
The “Violent Rhetoric” End Game, Revealed. At last we see the end game of all the weekend “violent rhetoric” talk from the left. Several leading House Democrats blamed the inflammatory rhetoric for contributing to the Tucson massacre, while Republicans denounced criticism of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) following the tragedy. One lawmaker, Rep. Robert Brady (D-Pa.), has said he would introduce a bill to make it a crime to threaten or incite violence against a federa...

Mental illness expert: Yes, ask whether political climate was a trigger for shooter
Dr. Marvin Swartz, a Professor of psychiatry and leading expert in Mental Illness, told Greg Sargent today that yes, the nation's political climate should be considered in the Jared Lee Loughner case. "It's a reasonable question to ask," Dr. Marvin Swartz, a psychiatry Professor at Duke University who specializes in how environment impacts the behavior of the mentally ill, said in an interview this morning. "The nature of someone's delusions is effected by culture. It's a reasonable line of inq...

King, Bloomberg Team Up to Call for New Gun Control Law
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Rep. Pete King, one of the few pro-gun control Republicans in the House of Representatives, today introduced new Legislation that would make it illegal to bring a gun within 1,000 feet of a government official. Bloomberg, a staunch Gun Control advocate, and Rep. King appeared together at a Press Conference in New York City just days after a gunman killed six people and wounded Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords during a political event in Tuscon. More than a dozen people...

Rush Limbaugh: Its insane to fault Sarah Palin for Ariz. shooting (Daily Caller)
Read more stories from The Daily Caller Rep. Peter King to introduce bill making it illegal to carry a gun within 1,000 feet of 'high-profile' government official Fellow commenters at UFO Conspiracy website questioned Jared Lee Loughner's sanity in threads We're probably alone in the universe, or else they're out to get us Mark Halperin: Conservatives should turn the other cheek when scapegoated for Murder Could Jon Huntsman really be the Republican presidential nominee in 2012? Talk Radio ma...

Why Did The GOP Think It Had To Delay The Health Reform Repeal Vote?
As Republicans prepared to take over the House, they announced one of their first bills would be the Repeal of health reform because "that's what the American People want." If that's true, and repealing health reform is simply a sound policy decision called upon by the public, then why would Republicans have to indefinitely delay a vote that was scheduled for Wednesday in response to Saturday's attempted Assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords? Yes, a memorial service is scheduled for Wednes...

Sen. Manchin Wouldn't Run Gun Ad Again
Back in October, we highlighted then-Gov. Joe Manchin's NRA-sponsored campaign ad, in which he took his gun and shot a hole through piece of paper labeled "Cap and Trade Bill." The Charleston Gazette reports that, asked if he would put out a similar ad in light of the tragedy in Tucson, Manchin replied, "I can't say that we would, I really can't." The shot was a metaphor, Manchin said Monday, symbolizing his opposition to cap-and-trade and his determination to work hard to make the changes in Wa...

Missing From Loughner Debate: Soul Searching
Jared Loughner (Credit: Personal Photo) There's been quite a bit of back and forth this week about who should share the blame for the actions of alleged Tucson shooter Jared Lee Loughner. Some on the left have pointed to incendiary Rhetoric from Sarah Palin and others on the right, while some on the right have sought to tie Loughner to the beliefs of the left. Palin was blamed in part for using of a bullseye icon to identify political targets - including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords - before the ...

Gabrielle Giffords shooting: Rhetoric not to blame, says the right
Gabrielle Giffords shooting points to a 'mindless rage,' but not to a suspect who was moved to violence by heated political Rhetoric, say a growing number of voices on the right....

Which side is more to blame?
Everybody is linking to this George Packer quote claiming that there's no equivalence between the Rhetoric of right and left: Only one side has made the Rhetoric of armed revolt against an oppressive tyranny the guiding spirit of its Grassroots movement and its midterm campaign. Only one side routinely invokes the Second Amendment as a form of swagger and intimidation, not-so-coyly conflating rights with threats. Only one side's Activists bring guns to democratic political gatherings. Only one...

Democrats set sights on Palin to scapegoat for Gifford's shooting
Before they learned the name of the perpetrator, before the blood had even begun to dry on the pavement in Tucson, Leftists across the country took to the air to blame the Arizona shooting on Sarah Palin and the Conservative media.  They claimed the assassin was incited by combatant Rhetoric and images, the props that all politicians and talking heads have used.  In their rush to use the Victims of this tragedy, Leftists washed their hands in a child’s blood to make cheap politic...