Violent rhetoric leads to senseless shooting of Gabrielle Giffords

After attack, a leadership test for Obama, Boehner
(01-10) 19:30 PST WASHINGTON, CA (AP) -- On opposite sides of the political spectrum, President Barack Obama and new House Speaker John Boehner suddenly face the same challenge: rise above the anger, suspicion and hostility of their liberal and conservative bases to help a rattled nation deal with the deadly outburst of violence in Arizona. But what comes after the easy moment of silence? For now, both men are stepping past the question of what role, if any, the vitriol of the past election ca...

Right of Revolution
In the wake of the Tucson massacre, the left is attributing the violence at least partially to a “climate of hate” encouraged by anti-government Extremists on the right—the phrasing used by Paul Krugman in his latest column—a reaction made easier by Conservatives’ frequent use of violent and intimidating Rhetoric since 2008. Conservatives have responded by alleging the politicization of a random act of violence by a lunatic, and sought to place themselves in the ra...

Late Night: Not the Best Day to Be Sarah Palin
As Jane noted earlier today, Sarah Palin awoke on Sunday to find herself at the fiery center of the debate about increased violent political Rhetoric in this country. And as usual, Palin — scratch that — Palin’s handlers paint her as the real Victim of the Arizona tragedy. Everyone makes mistakes. But anyone waiting for Sarah Palin to acknowledge she might have made one here is going to have some time on their hands.  Following the Tucson shooting, Palin’s aide disingenuou...

AZ shootings: McConnell, Yarmuth talk rhetoric and security
Related: Suspect in attack on congresswoman to appear in court McConnell speaks to Students about Tucson shootings Obama: US grieving, shocked over Ariz. rampage Military: alleged Giffords gunman failed Drug Test McConnell calls for review of congressional security (WHAS11) - The Assassination attempt of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords that killed six and injured 14 others has sparked a national debate about whether inflammatory political Rhetoric was a factor in the attack. After Pim...

What Violent Right Wing Rhetoric?
As the Right Wing blogs and pundits desperately try to spin away any responsibility for the violent Rhetoric flowing from their side of the political aisle, here are a few Tea Party photos from the LGF archives to remind them why people were concerned, long before today's mass Murder in Arizona. © Unknown © Unknown © Unknown © Unknown © Unknown © Unknown © Unknown © Unknown ...

Auburn-Oregon Party, Tucson Tragedy = An Emotional 3 Days for Arizona
In a cruel twist of timing, the eyes of the nation focused on Arizona on Monday – not because of the Tucson shooting rampage Saturday that left six dead and 14 wounded. Instead, the center of attention had moved by Monday afternoon about 125 miles north to Glendale, where the BCS national Championship Game was set to be played. Certainly the day was filled with reflection and remembrances related to the devastating attack on U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and people who had stopped at a shop...

Searching for answers to Tuscon tragedy
Image via CrunchBase IBD: From New York newspaper columnists to an Illinois senator, the liberal left is blaming the Tea Party and conservative stars for the shooting of an Arizona congresswoman. How about blaming the Communist and Nazi-loving shooter? It didn't take long for New York Times columnist Paul Krugman to blame the Tea Party and Sarah Palin for the shooting outside a Tucson Supermarket that seriously injured Congresswoman Gabriel Giffords and left six others, including a 9-year-old,...

Joe Peyronnin: Free Speech
On the day when America collectively observed a moment of silence for Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the other Victims of Saturday's shootings in Tucson, a war of words broke out over the role "vitriol" played in the incident, even though there probably is no link. And the argument reflected the deep division that has roiled this country over the past few years. Most interesting was the apparent admission by Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes, in an interview with GlobalGrind.com founder Rus...

Memo For File CXXVIII
Memo For File CXXVIIIMonday, January 10th, 2011 So back to the Arizona shooting. We’re all split squarely down the middle on this thing; our pinhead columnists and authority figures are convinced it was an act of political Extremism, whereas the red-blooded people with whole brains, are leaning toward the gunman being just-plain-nuts. The evidence is falling in behind the ideas of the people-with-whole-brains. But the jump-to-conclusions people have fancy titles and big, big names. I gue...

I Haven't Stopped Thinking About Sarah Palin's Complicity
in the Giffords shooting. There is the offensive cross-hairs campaign map to consider first. The Palin supporters have now claimed that these are surveyor symbols, not cross-hairs. You can try to run away from your part in the violence that you have incited, but if those are survey symbols, tell me the next big whopper: what did Sarah Palin really mean when she said, Don't retreat, reload. ??? Was she thinking of her stapler or the vending machines at the office? All the gun Rhetoric, all the v...

Arizona gunman in court as Obama leads mourning
The man accused of trying to assassinate a congresswoman in an Arizona Shooting Spree that left six dead appeared in court but said nothing to shed light on his motive. President Barack Obama led the American nation in a somber minute of silence to honor the 20 people gunned down in Tucson -- where he will attend a memorial service on Wednesday, the White House announced. Flags were at half-staff at the Capitol in Washington, where hundreds of aides and lawmakers crammed the storied steps of Con...

No More Mister Nice Blog
FRUM DEFENDS PALIN'S HONOR, WHICH IS MORE THAN SHE'S EVER DONE I'm not going to review every silly thing David Frum says in this post, in which he urges Sarah Palin to have a more humane, empathetic response to the Tucson shootings. I'll just respond to this admonition by Frum, addressed to Palin: Think what you would like -- not your supporters -- but your opponents to say about you. "She was tough, but never a...

Video: Progressive Left wing Twitter nuts wish death on Sarah Palin
Video: Progressive Left Wing Twitter nuts wish death on Sarah Palin User @Newswatch89 posted a YouTube video of the vile, disgusting “peace loving, NOH8″ progressive liberal left wishing death on Sarah Palin. Of course, according to them, fueled by the vitriol and Rhetoric of ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and their pundits, its Sarah Palin’s fault that the Tucson shootings over the past weekend occurred. Warning: If you choose the watch the video showing the tweets of the disgusting pro...

UC Berkeley chancellor ties AZ immigration law to Giffords shooting (Daily Caller)
Read more stories from The Daily Caller UC Berkeley chancellor ties AZ Immigration law to Giffords shooting FNC's Brit Hume rips left-wing 'habit' of equating disagreement with Liberalism with hate Experts say Metro escalator woes product of union inefficiency Will Gates address Chinese rare earth strong arming? Tea Party Express raising money in aftermath of Arizona shooting In an official e-mail to the University of California at Berkeley campus community, chancellor Robert Birgeneau said th...

Giffords wrote to Harvard, seeking dialogue on civil discourse
US Representative Gabrielle Giffords wrote an e-mail Friday, a day before she was grievously wounded, congratulating the new director of Harvard’s Institute of Politics and saying she wanted to talk with him about ways to tone down the political debate. Kentucky’s Secretary of State — Trey Grayson, a Republican who was named to the Harvard post earlier that day — had become friends with the Arizona congresswoman. They met when both were Aspen Institute-Rodel Fellows in P...

Spaceman leads US shooting tribute
Scott Kelly, a crew member of the mission to the International Space Station, left, and his brother, Mark Kelly, also an Astronaut and husband of Gabrielle Giffords. Photo: AP Space station commander Scott Kelly led NASA in a moment of silence as he struggled with the shooting of his US congresswoman sister-in-law as well as six people who were killed. It was part of the national observance on Monday for all the Victims of Saturday's shooting in Arizona. His identical twin brother, Mark Kelly, i...

GOP senator urges media not to talk about Palin's violent rhetoric
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) urged CNN's Candy Crowley Sunday not to mention Fox News' Sarah Palin in connection with the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). In a Sunday interview, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) noted that public figures have used violent Rhetoric against Giffords, something Palin has done. "Those of us in public life and the Journalists who cover this should be thoughtful in response to this and try to bring down the rhetoric, which I'm afraid has become pervasive in the dis...

Calls for softer tone in politics gets cool reception
By Ed Stoddard DALLAS | Mon Jan 10, 2011 7:21pm EST DALLAS (Reuters) - Calls to reset the tone of politics in the aftermath of Saturday's shooting rampage in Arizona got short shrift on Talk Radio and elsewhere as left and right traded blame for the massacre. From the right, Bloggers and pundits labeled suspected shooter Jared Lee Loughner a "leftist" while critics of conservative super-star Sarah Palin accused her of creating a combustible political atmosphere with her behavior and Rhetoric....

Arizona shootings prompt call for ban on high-capacity clips
For many in Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' southeastern Arizona district, guns are a way of life for hunting and protection while they're working on their ranches in a part of the country that has become Ground Zero for Smuggling. But, to some East Coast lawmakers, that gun culture led to Saturday's shooting rampage in Tucson, Ariz., which killed six and wounded the congresswoman and 13 others. Now two lawmakers have said they'll push for tougher gun controls, including stricter limits on high-capacit...

Tragedy in Arizona
Gabrielle Giffords was doing what members of Congress do every week: She was home in Tucson to meet with her constituents. Today, Giffords lies in critical condition in a Tucson Hospital after one of those constituents opened fire with a semiautomatic Handgun. Six people died in the attack; 14 were injured. The madness at the Tucson shopping center Saturday morning raises old and troubling questions about gun violence in America and threatens a treasured American tradition: the right of the pe...

Shooting from hip followed rampage
Saturday's shootings in Tucson, Ariz., have sparked calls for restraining political Rhetoric, but some of the most vociferous groups are the same ones already blamed for the harsh climate, and that's raising deep questions about where robust debate ends and incendiary Speech begins. From MoveOn.org on the left to Tea Party Activists on the right, the shootings - which left six dead, including a 9-year-old girl, and 14 others wounded, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona Democrat who wa...

Gabrielle Giffords
David Fitzsimmons, The Arizona Star This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved. 1 response(s) to this topic so far. Have an opinion? Join the District TMV discussion on this topic now. ...

On the Tucson shooting
This is going to come out like a disjointed rant. I don't care - that is what it is. OK, I've had enough. This did it for me.AT THE DIRECTION OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE United States, THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES SHALL BE FLOWN AT HALF-STAFF UPON RECEIPT OF THIS MESSAGE, UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE, IN HONOR OR THE Shooting VictimS IN Tucson, Arizona. FURTHER GUIDANCE WILL BE PASSED UPON RECEIPT AS TO THE DURATION OF THIS HALF-STAFFING OBSERVANCE. THE FLAG SHALL BE FLOWN AT HALF-STAFF ON ALL DEPARTMENT ...

Inside the Beltway
PRAY, HE SAYS The hypersensitive public discourse on violence, Rhetoric, civility, guns, politics and the press barrels on, 72 hours after the Arizona shootings. With irony intact. Take, for instance, Fox News host Glenn Beck , vilified by partisan critics as an arbiter of hatemongering and aggressive culture, right along with Rush Limbaugh , the Tea Party and Sarah Palin . Mr. Beck - like his accused peers - seems mighty peaceful at this juncture, however. He has issued a challenge to "all Am...

Pols' security getting closer look in wake of Ariz. shootings
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush said Monday he would move his district office to a safer neighborhood, and Sen. Mark Kirk planned to attend a town hall meeting with extra protection in the wake of the weekend shooting of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. But some other members of Illinois' congressional delegation did not anticipate security changes. "In terms of curtailing my activities or having protection, that wouldn't work," Rep. Mike Quigley said. Quigley, a Democrat from the North Si...