Wayne Root: The Gabrielle Giffords Tragedy: How Liberal Media Distorted the Message and Lynched the Tea Party

Federal Judge: Liberal Sheriff, Media Exploiting Attack
"He should be strung up." The speaker: one very angry Federal Judge furious at the cynicism displayed by both Arizona Sheriff Clarence Dupnik and the Mainstream Media in the shootings that took the life of one federal judge, wounded Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, and killed or wounded 17 others. The judge, a personal friend of the murdered Federal Judge John Roll, declined to be cited by name but was brimming with anger at what he termed the "cynicism and downright evil" of the liberal medi...

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords "Holding Her Own"
In this March, 2010 photo provided by the office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Giffords poses for a photo. (AP) Dr. Michael Lemole, chief of Neurosurgery at the University Medical Center in Tucson. (CBS) Congressional intern Daniel Hernandez, being called a hero for his role in the Tucson shooting, talks to Russ Mitchell about the tragedy and helping Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. (CBS/AP) Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was "holding her own" Monday morning after being shot through...

Stones, Glass Houses, Etc.: Documenting Liberal Media's Use of 'Violent Rhetoric'
It has become apparent in the last 24 hours that the Mainstream Media is bent on attributing some level of blame for yesterday's tragic shooting in Tuscon, Arizona to Sarah Palin. The chief piece of evidence for this claim is a map SarahPAC devised that placed crosshairs over a number of Congressional Districts the group would target during the 2010 election cycle. But if violent metaphors in political Rhetoric drive crazy people to violence, than the media had better save some blame for the...

Thoughts on Loughner | Michael Tomasky
Here's the question of the day. Does there have to be absolute hard proof that Jared Loughner was a committed right-winger before we can say that violent Rhetoric likely played some kind of role here? I read some of the comments to my piece yesterday, and commenters were furious at me for making such a connection. I'm hardly the only person to do it, but anyway. I didn't recognize any of the handles, which made me think that I'd been linked to and denounced on some conservative site, and so thes...

Atheism and the Arizona shootings
Now that a few extra hours have past, the expected analysis of Jared Loughner and what he was and what he wanted to accomplish is shifting into high gear. Many on the left have brazenly accused the right of being the root cause of the attack. Some have pointed a finger at the Second Amendment, which is supported by no less than Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords herself. Others blame the general vitriol which all too often passes for political debate these days. Yet few point out that the shooter ...

Call Off the Media Dogs Loughner Fixated on Giffords Since 2007 Way Before Palin
Democrats are still blaming Sarah Palin and Conservatives for the shooting in Tucson by an anti-Christian, anti-Constitution, left-wing, pro-Marx, antiflag, “quite liberal” lunatic. Democratic operatives planned to exploit the disaster and blame the Tea Party and Sarah Palin before the Victims were identified. Loughner will face 5 charges of Murder. Too bad for the Far Left. Crackpot Loughner was fixated on Giffords since 2007 - long before Sarah Palin was a national player. A...

Sometimes A Tragedy Is Just A Tragedy
Get alerts when there is a new article that might interest you. Even before anything at all was known about Jared Lee Loughner, who went on a deadly Shooting Spree outside a Safeway in Tuscon, Arizona, on Saturday, a narrative was beginning to take shape. Partisans on the left immediately blamed the Tea Party, Sarah Palin, “Talk Radio,” and Republicans more generally. That’s regrettable but probably inevitable. Agitators like Markos Moulitsas, whose Twitter feed on Saturday is ...

Death Panels, Palin's Targets, and Political Assassination
The charge of "Treason" plus the inflammatory content of the specific lies tarred Kennedy as a criminal and a danger to the country. The net outcome was to dehumanize the president. The Mainstream Media of the 1960's did not run these inflammatory charges. The level of personal attacks on President Obama echoes the extreme hatred directed at Kennedy. There are reasons that warrant a vigorous challenge to the current president on issues, tactics, and strategies. When the challenges come in the ...

Intolerance breeds intolerance no matter what religion or race you are | Michael White
A nasty human trait, intolerance, especially when Fundamentalism appears to be on the rise in response to the challenges of globalisation. But none of our societies can point the finger elsewhere without taking stock closer to home, can we? I was Xan Rice's moving account of a Christian South Sudanese family's misfortunes at the hands of their North Sudanese and Muslim compatriots in Saturday's Guardian. At least it had a happy ending, a family reunited and a country-in-the-making poised to gain...

Grieving Giffords
Last Saturday's shooting in Tucson is of some concern to me, since I will be drawn into the public maelstrom -- at least to a minor extent -- within a matter of weeks. I have no intention of trying to draw any "lessons" from this incident. You cannot extract rational conclusions from an irrational event. It's clear that Jared Lee Loughner is simply insane. From what I've been able to gather, Peter Pan, Napoleon the pig, and Adolf Hitler encouraged him to go out and punish people for i...

Suspect in Giffords' Shooting Not Talking to Investigators
Monday, January 10, 2011 By Jacques Billeaud, Associated Press   Phoenix (AP) - A 22-year-old man described as a social outcast with wild beliefs steeped in mistrust faces a Federal Court hearing on charges he tried to assassinate Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in a Tucson shooting rampage that left six people dead. Public defenders are asking that the attorney who defended Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Timothy Mcveigh and "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski defend Jared Loughner, who makes his first c...

Arizona shooting suspect due in court
PHOENIX, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- The suspect in a shooting rampage at a weekend Arizona political event is to be represented by a high-profile federal public defender, a federal official said. Judy Clarke is to appear with Jared Lee Loughner in a Phoenix courtroom Monday and ask to be appointed as his attorney, The Arizona Republic in Phoenix reported. Loughner is accused of opening fire outside of a Tucson Supermarket where U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., was conducting a meet-and-greet with c...

Giffords shooting suspect due in court; moment of silence set
President Obama will lead the nation in a moment of silence Monday morning for the Victims of a shooting attack that critically injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), and the 22-year-old suspect is due in court later in the day on charges he attempted to assassinate her. The president will observe the moment of silence at 11 a.m. on the South Lawn of the White House as a way, he said, “for us to come together as a nation in prayer or reflection, keeping the Victims and their families cl...

More Loughner details: 9/11 Truther, perhaps an occultist?
Among the tragedies of mass Murders is the bitter truth that the murderer will often for a time become more famous than the Victims.  Perhaps that is especially true with true lunatics, as the public struggles to understand exactly what triggered the murder spree.  That will be the case for at least the next few days as more details emerge about Jared Lee Loughner and the very strange life he led in the years prior to killing at least six people and gravely wounding several others, including...

Media Outlets Apologize After Falsely Reporting Giffords' Death
PASADENA, Calif. — The rapidly replicated false report that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords had died after being shot in the head provided media outlets another lesson this weekend in the danger of leaping to conclusions. NPR News' executive editor apologized Sunday to Giffords' family for the false report. That story came only an hour after NPR scored a significant scoop in reporting on Saturday's shooting in Tucson, Ariz., itself. Media organizations also faced scrutiny for how they speculated...

Mainstream media blames Sarah Palin, conservatives for shooting of Rep. Giffords, despite lack of evidence yet refused to talk
Pamela Geller shows here that the would-be assassin in Arizona is actually a Leftist, but when have the facts ever stopped the Leftist/Islamic supremacist smear machine? Mainstream Media operatives are leaping to conclusions about conservative responsibility for the Giffords shooting, showing none of the delicacy and compunction they showed when refusing to label the obvious Jihad massacre at Fort Hood accurately as just that. Here Lachlan Markay skewers their dhimmi Double Standard: "Media Fa...

Liberal media promoting big lie against Tea Party, Palin in AZ shooting
There is an old saying - tell a lie often enough and eventually it becomes the truth. The "big lie" technique, originally named by Adolf Hitler in his book Mein Kampf was instrumental in what eventually became known as the "Final Solution" - the State-sanctioned Murder of millions of Jews. The same technique is apparently at work in many of today's newsrooms, as shown by the baseless attacks against Sarah Palin and Conservatives in general. Consider:  The man under arrest for the shoot...

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, several others shot; Palin, Tea Party candidate
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and several others were shot earlier today and there are conflicting reports on whether she and others were killed. Per this: The gunman, who may have come from inside the Safeway, walked up and shot Gifford in the head first, "point blank". According to [an eyewitness, Steven Rayle], who is a former ER doctor, Gifford was able to move her hands after being shot... After shooting Gifford, the gunman opened fire indiscriminately for a few seconds, firing 20-30 rounds and...

Giffords Opponent Held June Rally To Shoot A Fully Automatic M16 And Remove Gabrielle Giffords
Jane Hamsher has the story of a June event held by Gabrielle Giffords’ 2010 Congressional  opponent Jesse Kelly that was billed on Kelly’s website, which has now removed the event. Jesse Kelly, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to be bothered in the least by the Sarah Palin Controversy earlier this year, when she released a list of targeted races in crosshairs, urging followers to “reload” and “aim” for Democrats. Critics said she was inciting violence. He se...

Self-Censor, For Fear of Triggering Those Whose Motivations Cannot Be Understood?
There’s nothing funny in today’s Morning Jolt. It’s just that kind of a day. I don’t want to live in a country where we all have to self-censor for fear that our particular choice of words might be what triggers a madman to go on a Shooting Spree. Because the key word in that sentence is “madman.” Madness. We on the sane side of the equation can barely understand it. One more point: we’re starting to hear more reports of people who sensed this man was ...

Astronaut gets badly needed ride
Golden Nugget owner Tilman Fertitta provided a plane that rushed Astronaut Mark Kelly to the bedside of his wife, wounded Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. According to the Houston Chronicle, Kelly took Fertitta up on his offer because it was the quickest solution and because he didn't want to be open to criticism for taking an Air Force or Navy plane. Kelly, who has flown on three Space Shuttle flights, joined his wife within hours of the shooting rampage in Tucson, Ariz., which left six dead a...

If You See Somthing, Say Something
Jared Loughner's behavior recorded by college classmate in e-mails From the Washington Post: In early June, Lynda Sorenson, 52, had gone back to community college in Tucson in hopes of getting back on the Job Market. One of her classes was a basic algebra class--and one of her classmates was Jared Loughner, now identified by authorities as the man who killed six people and critically wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) in a shooting rampage Saturday. Sorenson's e-mails to friends from la...

Arizona Shooting Suspect Jared Lee Loughner Not Cooperating, Sheriff Says
Phoenix — An Arizona sheriff says a 22-year-old man accused of killing six people and trying to assassinate Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson is not cooperating with investigators. Pima (PEE'-muh) County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik told ABC's "Good Morning America" Monday that Jared Loughner (LAWF'-nuhr) had said "not a word." He's scheduled to make his first court appearance Monday afternoon. Dupnik said investigators were all but certain Loughner acted alone, saying "he's a typical trouble...

Conservatives Push Back Against Liberal Attacks
On the day of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' shooting, liberals went on the offensive, suggesting that overheated conservative Rhetoric contributed to the Arizona attack. On Sunday, Conservatives pushed back - arguing that attempts to politicize the event were unfair, crass and therefore likely to backfire. You must login to comment. The Fox Nation is for those opposed to intolerance, excessive government control of our lives, and attempts to monopolize opinion or suppress freedom of thought, expressi...

WSJ: Loughner Obsessed With Giffords Since 2007
Accused gunman Jared Lee Loughner appeared to have been long obsessed with U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. A safe at Mr. Loughner's home contained a form letter from Ms. Giffords' office thanking him for attending a 2007 "Congress on your Corner'' event in Tucson. The safe also held an envelope with handwritten notes, including the name of Ms. Giffords, as well as "I planned ahead," "My Assassination," and what appeared to be Mr. "All he did was play Video Games and play music," said Tommy Marriot...