Steinhauer: Arizona's 'Chilling' Political Theater May Have Set Stage for Shooting

Arizona sheriff condemns Limbaughs irresponsible rhetoric
Stumble This! An Arizona sheriff responsible for investigating the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) confronted conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh Tuesday for the "irresponsible" Rhetoric he uses on his Radio Show. "The kind of Rhetoric that flows from people like Rush Limbaugh, in my judgment he is irresponsible, uses partial information, sometimes wrong information," Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik told ABC News. "[Limbaugh] attacks people, angers them against governm...

Arizona Republics SCATHING smackdown of Sheriff Clarence Dupnik
Send Sheriff Clarence Dupnik a POSTCARD, not a letter or email, telling him what you think of his job performance. This is one of the most direct and scathing smackdowns I’ve ever seen a newspaper hand an elected official. It’s essentially a bare-bottomed spanking, which Clarence Dupnik may or may not actually enjoy. The Arizona Republic is much more charitable towards this man than we’ve been.  In the article, the paper gives Dupnik a pass for anything he did the day Jar...

Most Americans don't see link between Arizona shootings, political rhetoric, poll finds
A sizable majority of Americans said they did not believe that harsh political Rhetoric was the reason a gunman opened fire over the weekend in Tucson, killing six and wounding 14, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, according to a CBS News poll released Tuesday. The finding comes as Republicans and Democrats have sparred over whether recent heated political Rhetoric may have been a factor in the shootings. Giffords was among 20 lawmakers targeted in campaign literature by Sarah Palin, the conse...

Friends, Critics Dispute Arizona Sheriffs Remarks on Political Rhetoric in Wake of Rampage
Just hours after Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, was shot in the head by a crazed gunman, Pima County Sheriff Clarence W. Dupnik — addressing the media for the first time — made headlines for saying that “vitriolic political rhetori......

Only 32% of Americans Feel Political Rhetoric is to Blame for Jared Loughner Tucson Shooting Massacre
Once again Liberals, Democrats and yhe MSM find themselves on the wrong side with the American People … 57% of Americans believe that political Rhetoric was not to blame for the murderous acts on Saturday by gunman Jared Loughner. Only 32% believe Rhetoric was to blame as many jumped to conclusions and fueled their political agenda like Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik. Many Democrats, Liberals and their complicit liberal mouth pieces in the media were quick to exploit the Tucson

Arizona is on the brink | Max Blumenthal
The social fabric of Arizona seems to be deteriorating as fast as the state's population grows, driving it to the brink of dysfunction. The shooting of congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, US District Court judge John Roll and several other innocent bystanders by a lone gunman have brought the state's crisis to the fore, prompting Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik to declare it "the mecca for prejudice and Bigotry". Since I first travelled to Arizona more than seven years ago to interview rightwi...

Arizona shooting suspect's parents said "devastated"
TUCSON, Ariz | Tue Jan 11, 2011 12:03pm EST TUCSON, Ariz (Reuters) - The parents of the 22-year-old Arizona man accused of Saturday's shooting rampage are devastated and planning to release a statement, a neighbor told local media on Tuesday. Jared Lee Loughner appeared in court on Monday on charges including attempting to assassinate Representative Gabrielle Giffords and killing a Federal Judge, some of the 20 Victims of the shootings at a constituent's meeting Giffords was hosting at a loca...

One wonders what we will learn from these senseless shootings
The moment of silence came and went Monday, and I tried to set aside my own anger and heed President Barack Obama's call "for us to come together as a nation in prayer or reflection, keeping the Victims and their families closely at heart." The quiet passed, and I was revisited by the uneasy sense we are unlikely to learn anything from Saturday's tragedy in Tucson. Is the lesson of the deadly shooting destined to be buried with the dead in a country that day by day watches its ability to reason ...

CBS Poll: 57% of Americans Don''t Blame Political Tone for Tucson Shooting
Philip Klein points to a new CBS news poll (again, it's a CBS poll ... I'd be interested in what Rasmussen would find) showing that nearly six in ten Americans don't think the political tone had anyting to do with the Tucson shooting:Overall, 57 percent of respondents said the harsh political tone had nothing to do with the shooting, compared to 32 percent who felt it did. Republicans were more likely to feel the two were unrelated - 69 percent said Rhetoric was not to blame; 19 percent said it ...

The Media Is Also Responsible for Heated Political Rhetoric
President Obama pledged to raise the level of dialogue in Washington and ease the bitter Partisanship that has crippled the work of Congress. He has been unable to do so, and it’s not entirely his fault, since the president cannot control the behavior of Congress any more than teachers can control what Students do after school. Speaker John Boehner now has a chance to lessen the vitriol on the Hill, and he’s made at least one gesture of decency so far: Delaying the meaningless vote...

Majority doesn't blame rhetoric for Giffords shooting
WASHINGTON | Tue Jan 11, 2011 11:46am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A majority of Americans reject the view that heated political Rhetoric was a factor in the weekend shootings in Arizona which killed six and critically wounded a congresswoman, a CBS News said on Tuesday. Since the Saturday incident in which Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords was shot at point-blank range, various politicians and commentators have said a climate in which strong language and ideological polarization is com...

The Unstable Sheriff of Pima County, AZ
Jim Geraghty in his Morning Jolt email takes on Sheriff Clarence Dupnik (pronounced "Dumbsh....") who has managed both to neglect his duties AND try and dismantle the First Amendment: Say this for Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik. He may have dropped the ball on numerous red flags and other signs of a potential threat from the Tucson gunman, and he certainly didn't bother to assign any deputies or other police personnel to the "Congress on Your Corner" event that turned into a massacre, des...

ARIZONA REPUBLIC blasts Sheriff Dupnik...
On Saturday afternoon, with his friend Gabby Giffords in surgery fighting for her life, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik railed against the tense partisan politics - "the anger, the hatred, the Bigotry" - that prompted the mass Murders outside Tucson, in his view. And, jarring as such claims may be, we understood. Or tried to understand, despite the spectacle of a lawman - an official whose very job it is to dispassionately gather facts and to maintain order and calm - tying the attack on Rep...

TOP ARIZONA PAPER Blasts Sheriff Dupnik: Get a Grip!
A top Arizona paper today blasted Far Left Sheriff Clarence Dupnik for his continued attacks on the law-abiding people of Arizona. Dupnik was on with Keith Olbermann last night. On Saturday afternoon, with his friend Gabby Giffords in surgery fighting for her life, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik railed against the tense partisan politics - “the anger, the hatred, the Bigotry” - that prompted the mass Murders outside Tucson, in his view. And, jarring as such claims ma...

Sherrif Dupnik Links Rush Limbaughs Words To Arizona Shooting Tragedy
Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik has been a vocal participant in the finger-pointing aftermath of the Arizona Shooting Tragedy, and in fact was the first to call out the “vitriolic Rhetoric” as part of the reason behind the incident. He specifically called out conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, calling him “irresponsible” for the continuing vitriol. During and interview last night with ABC News’ Diane Sawyer, Dupnik doubled down on his critique of Limbaugh, t...

'Loughner was crazy' argument misses the point in the Arizona shootings case
Last Saturday Jared Lee Loughner alleged shot and  killed six people and injured another fourteen at public event hosted by Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ).  Since that time some have claimed that Loughner behavior was caused, at least in part, by the heated political of the past two years.  Others have essentially argued that Loughner was a "nutjob" or "a crazed Lone Wolf", that society had no control over.  Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck both argued that Lougher was s...

Majority doesn't blame rhetoric for Giffords shooting
Since the Saturday incident in which Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords was shot at point-blank range, various politicians and commentators have said a climate in which strong language and ideological polarization is common may have contributed to the attack. Some of the analysts cited anti-government statements from the man arrested in the shooting, Jared Lee Loughner, as support for that view. But CBS said its nationwide telephone poll found that, "57 percent of respondents said the ha...

Daniel Hernandez: The face of what's right in America
LatinaLista.net -- A lot is being made about the fact that the young intern credited with saving Congresswoman Giffords' life, Daniel Hernandez, is gay and Latino. As the sub headline of a Salon article stated: "Daniel Hernandez helped save the congresswoman's life -- and yes, his Sexuality and Ethnicity matter." Though he didn't ask for all this adulation, 20-year-old Hernandez has illustrated grace, eloquence and maturity that underscore the very reasons why it is such an injustice to vilify...

Double Standards
Rush Limbaugh and the right wingers are all over Sheriff Clarence Dupnik for having the temerity to express an opinion about the causes of the shootings in Tucson last weekend.Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik thrust himself into the spotlight in the aftermath of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and 19 other people in Arizona on Saturday, decrying the heated political atmosphere and calling for more civility. "It's not unusual for all public officials to get threats constantly, ...

Right focuses on Dupnik
RIGHT FOCUSES ON DUPNIK.... On Saturday night in Tucson, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik lamented societal factors -- most notably, the Toxicity of our political discourse -- that he fears may have contributed to the day's violence. "When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the Bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous," the sheriff said. "And unfortu...

Sherriff Clarence RIGHT WING VITRIOL Dupnik mightve shit the mattress
Here’s the lead investigator for the Gabrielle Giffords shooting, Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, describing what he thinks caused the shooting. ‘When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government,’ Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik told a news conference. ‘The anger, the hatred, the Bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous.  ‘And, unfortunately, Arizona ...

Tucson Shooting Suspect's Family "Hurting Real Bad"
NEXT » Yesterday, when the man suspected of shooting Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, as well as over a dozen others (leaving six dead), in an apparent Assassination attempt appeared in court, not a single relative of Jared Lee Loughner was spotted in the courtroom. Now details are emerging about the 22-year-old's family, who initially blocked the FBI from entering their home. And a neighbor told the NY Post that Loughner's dad is "pretty much the neighborhood prick." The neighbor, who also said...

How Should the Right Respond to the Arizona Shooting?
Download audio here Download Podcast | iTunes | Podcast Feed Today on Coffee and Markets we’re talking to Melissa Clouthier of LibertyPundits who shares her views on the political fallout from the Arizona shooting. We also discuss whether Congressional staff should be armed, and how the right should respond to the smears of old media. We’re brought to you as always by Stephen Clouse and Associates. You can find our iTunes feed at CoffeeandMarkets.com. If you’d like to email u...

Most Americans Reject Tie Between Political Rhetoric, Arizona Shootings
While the Arizona shootings have triggered a national debate about whether the vitriol in political Rhetoric has gone over the top, 57 percent of Americans do not believe the heated partisan tone of public debate had anything to do with the gun rampage in Tucson, according to a CBS News poll released Tuesday. The connection between the state of political discourse and the shootings that critically wounded Arizon Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, killed six and injured 13 others had perhaps been put most ...

Mo Elleithee: "We should have had this discussion long before the Tucson tragedy"
I DON'T think the right had anything to do with the Tucson tragedy. But I AM discouraged & disgusted by those on the right who refuse to acknowledge their role in our toxic political environment. Why can't we all agree to drop hateful or violent Rhetoric or imagery? Do you REALLY feel the need to defend it? If Keith Olbermann can apologize for his past hateful words, why can't offenders on the right do the same? There's nothing complex about it. You're right about one thing -- we should have ha...