The false rush to cry 'balance' (Politico)

Democrats denounced the rhetoric, Republicans denounced the violence
My weekly column in the Charleston Daily Mail: Saturday’s snow in Poca was a reminder of why I like December snow but hate snow in January and February. The novelty has worn off. That afternoon, I drove into the cold to fill the tank of my wife’s car. Coming back, I could not make it up the hill, so I parked the car and walked home. “You know all those dumb things I have done over the years?” I asked my wife when I made it home. “Well, you can add this to the list...

Whence Krugmania?
Posted by Scott at 6:26 AM Charles Krauthammer draws on his training as a Psychiatrist to review the evidence regarding attempted assassin Jared Loughner. He concludes that Loughner is a paranoid schizophrenic. Krauthammer notes that Lougner's obsession with Rep. Giffords dates from 2007, a fact that New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and his ilk have found it convenient to overlook: [T]he available evidence dates Loughner's fixation on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords to at least 2007, when he atten...

Liberal Sickos Exploit a Rampage (Brent Bozell III)
Creators Syndicate – Imagine the Saturday morning of congressional aide Mark Kimble. Kimble told of going to a Safeway for a typical meet-and-greet event with his boss, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Kimble said he went into the store for coffee, and as he came out, Giffords was talking to a couple about Medicare and reimbursements, and Federal Judge John Roll had just walked up to her and shouted "Hi" — when a gunman opened fire. Nobody in America should greet this scene with...

Beck Stokes Fears Of "A Ban On Guns" Following AZ Shooting
Beck Claims Politicians Are "Pushing" To Ban Guns Following AZ Shooting Beck: Lawmakers Are Pushing "A Ban On Guns." On his Fox News show, Beck claimed that lawmakers are pushing "a ban on guns" in response to the Arizona shooting. Beck stated: BECK: It didn't take long for Washington to come out with their solution to the problem of the alleged violent Rhetoric. The solution, however, comes despite not having a shred of evidence that this crazed gunman was motivated by anything other than his...

First Comes Fear
By ROBERT WRIGHT NYT People on the left and right have been wrestling over the legacy of Jared Loughner, arguing about whether his Shooting Spree proves that the Sarah Palins and Glenn Becks of the world are fomenting violence. But it’s not as if this is the only data point we have. Here’s another one: Six months ago, police in California pulled over a truck that turned out to contain a rifle, a Handgun, a shotgun and Body Armor. Police learned from the driver — sometime after he opened

Hundreds Attend Mass to Remember Those Shot in Tucson
Wednesday, January 12, 2011 By Pauline Arrillaga and Gillian Flaccus, Associated Press Roxanna Green, mother of murdered nine-year-old Christina Taylor Green, center, attends a community Mass to mourn the Victims of Saturday's shooting on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011 at St. Odilia Catholic Church in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/David Sanders, Pool) Tucson, Ariz. (AP) - They came by the hundreds, a few cradling their own small Children even as they gathered to remember someone else's baby. Young a...

Obama to Act as Consoler-in-Chief in Tucson
With all the evidence against the suspected Tucson shooter Jared Loughner, a Guilty verdict could still prove very difficult. Jan Crawford reports on the latest details of the case. The Tucson shooting has prompted citizens and politicians to question whether political Rhetoric has become too violent. Katie Couric reports. Doctors at Tucson's University Medical Center are increasingly optimistic about Ariz. Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Gifford's chance of survival from a bullet wound to her brain. ...

Obama to be nation's consoler at memorial service
WASHINGTON — Searching for unity out of tragedy, President Barack Obama will honor the Victims of the Arizona Mass Shooting in personal terms and remind those in grief that an entire nation is with them. The president is again stepping into his role as national consoler, a test of leadership that comes with the job. His mission at Wednesday's memorial is to uplift and rally, not to examine political Incivility. Set to speak during an evening gathering in Tucson, Ariz., Obama will remembe...

The Dismissal of Sarah Palin
Liberals are pathologically fixated on Sarah Palin. I am neither shocked nor surprised that this nation's most prominent liberals see fit to blame Sarah Palin for causing the shooting in Tucson which severely injured Democrat Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and claimed six lives. But it does sadden me. Yet perhaps the most insightful of these denunciations of Palin was that of MSNBC's Keith Olbermann. Now when I use the word insightful I am not referring to the merits of his arguments. ...

Who wrote 'O', the anonymous novel about Obama? 6 theories (The Week)
New York – Penned by a mystery author, a "Primary Colors"-style novel about the future of the Obama Administration will soon hit shelves. Who's behind it? Washington is abuzz with rumors about O, a speculative novel about the Obama presidency penned by "Anonymous." Publisher Simon & Schuster says only that the shadowy scribe has "been in the room with Barack Obama" and has "spent years observing politics." Set in the future during the 2012 Presidential Election, the 368-page novel is...

Tea party financier says the rank and file are like him
Stumble This! The American Billionaire who inherited his father's oil wealth seems to believe that the followers of the movement that he self-financed are people just like him. "There are some Extremists there, but the Rank and File are just normal people like us," David Koch of Koch Industries told Lee Fang of ThinkProgress in a recent interview. He continued, "And I admire them. It’s probably the best Grassroots uprising since 1776 in my opinion." The event that launched the so-called "...

There Went the Judge - Here Comes the Judge
I mentioned something in passing a couple posts ago. I noted that the Most Powerful federal official shot during Jared Laughner's rampage was not Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ, 95%), but rather District Court Judge John McCarthy Roll, who, unlike Giffords, was slain. Roll was nominated by George H.W. Bush in 1991; he was the senior Federal Judge in Arizona... and my impression is that he was judicially fairly conservative. President Barack H. Obama will of course nominate his replacement. The ...

NYT: Cops Previously Visited Loughner Home
With all the evidence against the suspected Tucson shooter Jared Loughner, a Guilty verdict could still prove very difficult. Jan Crawford reports on the latest details of the case. As new details are released of Tucson shooting suspect Jared Loughner's alleged behavioral issues, Dean Reynolds reports on the latest Mental Health laws in Arizona. Jared Loughner, 22, is charged in the shooting that left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords critically wounded and killed six people in Tucson, Ariz. (CBS) In thi...

Massacre, Followed by Libel
WASHINGTON -- The charge: The Tucson massacre is a consequence of the "climate of hate" created by Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, Glenn Beck, ObamaCare opponents and sundry other liberal betes noires. The verdict: Rarely in American political discourse has there been a charge so reckless, so scurrilous, and so unsupported by evidence. As killers go, Jared Loughner is not reticent. Yet among all his writings, postings, videos and other ravings -- and in all the Testimony from all the people who kne...

Remember That the Arizona Shootings Are the Exception in America
It comes as little surprise that, in the aftermath of the horrific shooting in Tucson, Arizona that killed a half dozen people and wounded more than twice that number--including a member of the U.S. House of Representatives--that the left and the right are both trying to establish a claim to the Moral High Ground. The left is blaming the limited- and anti-government Rhetoric expressed by the Tea Party movement and by the Republicans for creating an environment in which shooting pubic officials...

Random Jetlag Blogging
I arrived back on the island where I am currently based “yesterday” morning (January 11).  I slept seven hours “last night”, awaking at 11pm (GMT).  I lecture in two hours or so.  I’m sure it will go well indeed, once I work out just where and when I am. While the social science on a relationship between what passes for political Rhetoric in the USA and the events in Tucson is understandably mixed, it is safe to say that the Right Wing are not the Victims.  

Sarah Palin Charges Critics With "Blood Libel" Over Arizona Shooting
This morning Sarah Palin at last broke her silence over the Arizona shooting, issuing a nearly eight-minute video in which she charges the media with "blood Libel" for linking Conservatives to the tragedy. Politico reports: Palin has faced criticism for images that look like gun crosshairs to identify the districts of Democrats who were vulnerable in the 2010 Elections, that of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who was shot on Saturday. Responsibility lies “not collectively with all the cit...

The right's role in the Arizona massacre
Glenn Reynolds is a dumbass and those who find his arguments persuasive are, if possible, even more stupid. if you're using this event to criticize the "Rhetoric" of Mrs. Palin or others with whom you disagree, then you're either: (a) asserting a connection between the "Rhetoric" and the shooting, which based on evidence to date would be what we call a vicious lie; or (b) you're not, in which case you're just seizing on a tragedy to try to score unrelated political points, which is contemptible....

Bill Maher is a loon
Anderson Cooper took a very different tack last night in trying to make sense of the Arizona shooting tragedy from the weekend. While many on Cable News were turning down the partisan Rhetoric, AC360 producers booked comedian Bill Maher, who was unafraid to compare the imagined mindset of alleged assailant Jared Loughner with Fox News host Glenn Beck, while at the same time calling for responsibility in the media. Huh? Cooper opened by asking about the soul searching and finger pointing that cam...

Build Your Own Joe Wilson Commemorative You Lie Assault Rifle!
Screen capture from Palmetto State Armory website, showing Joe Wilson endorsing the Assault Rifle component made in honor of his outburst against President Obama. As we learn on Huffington Post, Palmetto State Armory in South Carolina is “honoring” Joe Wilson for his disruption of Obama’s Health Care address to a Joint Session of Congress in September, 2009.  From the website of the armory: Palmetto State Armory would like to honor our esteemed congressman Joe Wilson with th...

Glenn Beck: The Epitome of a Disordered Mind
This graphic says everything about Glenn Beck's brain. What there is left of it. My theory? It was a fake nod to no violence with a wink on the left to the right-wing gun nuts. The violence he expresses is remarkable, even for Beck. Apocalyptic visions of violence. Oh, and "peace and love." Give me a break. He loves Sarah Palin though, and certainly gives a dramatic reading of her email. There is a certain chaotic rhythm to what the Right Wing does. Even in their denials, they're chaotic. They...

Arizona shooting: Is Sarah Palin's silence an admission of guilt?
 Where is Sarah Palin? Why is she hiding? Sarah Palin is a major player in the aftermath of Saturday's tragic shooting in Tucson, Arizona, whether she likes it or not. Six were killed and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and 13 others were injured. And yet Palin is no where to be found. After expressing her "sincere condolences" to the shooting's Victims and their families via Facebook on Saturday, Palin has made only one other statement to the press: a rather unimpressive e-mail to Glenn ...

Liberal Sickos Exploit a Rampage
Wednesday, January 12, 2011 By L. Brent Bozell III Imagine the Saturday morning of congressional aide Mark Kimble. Kimble told of going to a Safeway for a typical meet-and-greet event with his boss, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Kimble said he went into the store for coffee, and as he came out, Giffords was talking to a couple about Medicare and reimbursements, and Federal Judge John Roll had just walked up to her and shouted “Hi” - when a gunman opened fire. Nobody in America should greet

OReillys Audaciously Hypocritical Stand On Sheriff Dupniks Politicization Of Arizona Shooting
Fox News is on a witch hunt against Tucson Sheriff Clarence Dupnik for having the gall to speak out against right-wing Rhetoric and suggest that it played a role in the Arizona shooting massacre. The righties on Fox pretend that their pique is over Dupnik’s “politicization” of the massacre. I suspect that in reality they couldn’t be happier. Pointing the finger at Dupnik allows them to avoid looking at that same right-wing Rhetoric and - as what I’m sure can b...

Blaming Tucson on the right wing is easy, but inaccurate
A quick dose of reality over all the jawboning about whether people like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck and Fox News are really causing the things that led to a 22-year-old shooting a Congresswoman in the head and Murder six people in cold blood, including a 9-year-old child. I'm not absolving Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity or Mark Levine or any of these people (since that's who the left is --um-- targeting) from their daily spewings. But here's the facts:    The average age of a FOX News...