Some Democrats seek to dial back overheated rhetoric on shootings

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 ...

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...

Sarah Palins Mistake
Democrats were in major meltdown when John McCain tapped Sarah Palin as his Running Mate just days before the Republican National Convention in 2008, in large part, because Sarah Palin was the change agent Barack Obama claimed to be.  As Governor of Alaska, she actually took on entrenched interests, worked across party lines and shook up her state’s political establishment. No wonder Democrats (and their allies in the MSM) chose to ignore her actual record of accomplishment and dwell on...

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...

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Krugman?
James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal on “the Manichaean wing of American Liberalism:” As we have noted, the New York Times’s response to last weekend’s murders in Tucson was to instigate a witch hunt against Republican politicians and “particularly” against members of the independent (nonliberal) media. This appealed to what one might call the Manichaean wing of American Liberalism: those who mistake political disagreement for enmity, who are so strongly...

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...

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...

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...

Arizona Shooting -- Jared Loughner No Different Than Any Other Defendant In Eyes of Law
An undated photograph of Jared Lee Loughner released by the Pima County Sheriff's Office. Even though he might be stealing headlines because he’s charged with murdering a Federal Judge and attempting to Murder a U.S. Congresswoman (among others) Jared Loughner is no different than any other defendant in a criminal prosecution. Who will represent such a despised and high profile defendant? All indigent criminal defendants have a Sixth Amendment right to assigned counsel. Since Arizona publi...

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 ...

From Palin to Pawlenty, GOP Presidential Prospects Grapple With Arizona Massacre
President Obama isn't the only leader being put to the test by last weekend's shooting rampage in Arizona. The tragedy is also serving as a proving ground for Republicans considering 2012 presidential runs. At least eight have weighed in, and the results are revealing. What does a hurting nation look for in a president? "Americans expect their presidents to be more than just the head of a political party or a political leader," says GOP Strategist Todd Harris, the spokesman for John McCain's 200...

Arizona on My Mind (Guest Voice)
The tragedy in Arizona this weekend has generated an ocean of comment on both sides of the border. In The New York Times, Paul Krugman wrote: Where’s that toxic Rhetoric coming from? Let’s not make a false pretense of balance: it’s coming overwhelmingly from the right. It’s hard to imagine a Democratic member of Congress urging constituents to be “armed and dangerous” without being ostracized; but Representative Michelle Bachmann, who did just that, is a risi...

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...

Sebelius: Some Take Rhetoric as 'Call to Action'
Hours before President Obama addresses the nation in Tucson, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who was at the center of the tumultuous health-care debate, spoke with National Review Online at the Capitol about the state of Political Speech. Responding to our query about the merit of “heated Rhetoric,” Sebelius said she welcomes “vigorous” political debate, calling it a “great part of our Democracy” that “should be encouraged.” ...

Arizona Shootings
Amidst the tragedy of the Tucson, Arizona shootings befell another tragedy of sorts, and that was the inference of a politically based involvement.  Are there those who are so callus as to imply that the shooter was acting on behalf of a map showing democratic districts?  That this person was somehow prompted by a political agenda and not just any political agenda but prompted specifically by a Sarah Palin map?  How far reaching can you get; how despicable.  To then use this ...

Per GOP spinmeister Frank Luntz, saying your opponent wants to kill you is just as bad as saying you want to kill your opponent
by Ken No, boys and girls, saying unkind things about someone is really and truly not "violent Rhetoric." Even saying that the Right is made up entirely of ignoramuses, lunatics, liars, criminals, and economic predators isn't "violent Rhetoric." It may be unkind, but then, what are you supposed to say when it's the honest-to-gosh truth? Just not say anything? Well, that seems pretty much what the Right has in mind: freedom to spread its psychotic lies without any answer at all. Here are some t...

Could AZ Shooter Have Been Stopped? Foxs Megyn Kelly Asks OReilly: Where Were The Parents?
Fox’s Megyn Kelly sat down with Bill O’Reilly to talk about the red flags and-possibly-missed signals that might’ve landed the Arizona shooter into police custody or a Mental Health facility before Saturday’s nightmarish Shooting Spree. Kelly outlined the low-level run-ins with police that suspect Jared Loughner is known to have had in the months ahead of the shootings, but concludes that minor drug arrests would not have aroused much suspicion-perhaps...

Arizonas Mental Health Budget Crunch
National Review has a fine editorial on the Tucson massacre and Mental Health: The tragic irony is that Arizona boasts some of the strongest [involuntary commitment] laws in America. Had Jared Lee Loughner been referred to mental-health professionals, there is a chance that his bloody rampage could have been prevented. Think of all the people and institutions — his parents, his neighbors, his fellow Pima Community College (PCC) Students, PCC administrators, the Campus Police, the Pima County...

New York Times Lies?
In the most bald-faced lie I have ever read in The New York Times — which is saying something — that paper implied Loughner is a pro-life zealot . This is the precise opposite of the truth. Only because numerous other news outlets, including ABC News and The Associated Press, reported the exact same shocking incident in much greater detail — and with direct quotes — do we know that the Times’ rendition was complete bunk. ABC News reported: “One Pima Community ...

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...

Liberals Preach Civility and Call for Sarah Palins Death
As we pointed out earlier today, liberals/Democrats/whatEVER totally ignored THEIR president’s call for Civil Discourse with vicious Palin posters in San Francisco put up even before he finished his Speech in Tucson. Fox News reports it is getting much worse. There is an organized social network push calling for Sarah Palin’s Assassination. Is the FBI involved yet? Critics of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin have turned to Twitter to post hate “tweets” suggesting that ̶...

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...

The Right Wing Can't Survive Without Stoking Anger
What's going to be fascinating to watch in the weeks and months ahead is how the Right adjusts to the new "kinder, gentler" rhetorical environment everyone - but them - is demanding. If you have been a Student of the new Right you understand that the gains they've made in American politics have come in direct proportion to a rising level of anger. Some of that anger was there just waiting for affirmation, but much more of it has been ginned up by rightwing talkers like Limbaugh, Beck and FOX New...

Sarah Palin doing interview on 'Hannity' Monday
After a week in which she was criticized by both liberals and Conservatives, Sarah Palin is planning to appear on Fox News' "Hannity" Monday night. It will be her first extended interview since the shootings in Tucson last Saturday. Palin does not sit down for interviews often; however, in recent months she has opened herself up more often to the Mainstream Media. She waited for days after the tragic event to respond, even as her name was raised repeatedly in connection to the shootings due to ...

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...