Weimar Politics in AZ

Weimar Politics in AZ
What do we know about Assassination as a political tool? It works.  Not always, but enough. It can be effective even if the assassin is truly a lone gunman, truly crazy, utterly denuded of membership cards or explicit links to more formal political groups. It achieved the desired goal for the Confederate Party when Booth shot Lincoln.  White supremacists were able to play the politics of the next decade or so to resume, through the Ballot Box and violent terror, a political dominance...

To Understand Assassination Threat, Look Beyond Tucson
Word of the attempted Assassination of Representative Gabrielle Giffords outside a Tucson Supermarket, which left her in critical condition after a bullet passed through her brain, had barely broken before speculation erupted on the motivations of the man accused of shooting her and killing six others, Jared Lee Loughner, 22. Was Mr. Loughner a conservative or a liberal? What did he think of the Tea Party? How serious was his degree of mental illness? What role, if any, did heated political rhet...

Moonbat Sheriff Dupnik Attacks Rush Limbaugh for Using Irresponsible Vitriol
(ABC News) — The Arizona sheriff investigating the Tucson shooting that left U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords critically wounded had harsh words today for those engaging in political Rhetoric, calling conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh “irresponsible” for continuing the vitriol. “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 Dupni...

It Begins Sheriff Dupnik Blames Rush Limbaugh For Shootings (Video)
The dishonorable Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik went there. Today Dupnik blamed Rush Limbaugh for the shootings in Tucson. Via Real Clear Politics: Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik once again blames conservative Rhetoric as the reasons for the attempted Assassination of Rep. Gabby Giffords (AZ). “The kind of Rhetoric that flows from people like Rush Limbaugh, in my judgment, he’s irresponsible; uses partial information, sometimes wrong information. Attacks people, angers them...

So what is America going to do about this tragedy (other than shout)?
I don't have too much to add to the Giffords debate, but in case these points haven't been made (probably unlikely) or haven't been made prominently enough, let me raise three issues about the Arizona massacre: Implicit versus explicit eliminationist Rhetoric. There has been much justifiable focus on various forms of explicit, or even slightly veiled but still Militant/aggressive rhetoric in the political discourse. I think more attention needs to go the implicit calls for violence, usually i...

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...

Fox News' Roger Ailes: "Tone it Down"
(Credit: Getty Images/Peter Kramer) In the wake of the tragic shooting in Tuscon, Ariz. that left six dead and 14 injured, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Fox News President Roger Ailes is saying that his network and others in politics and the media need to "tone it down." In an interview with Russell Simmons, published today by Simmons' website Global Grind, Ailes addressed the tragedy and the partisan Rhetoric some say is to blame for the incident. Ailes to some extent defended...

The exploitive rhetoric of tragedy
Some see no problem with fueling a mass panic over our 'political discourse' and using the deadly actions of a twisted soul as an excuse to tell political opponents to shut up. After all, unlike Sarah Palin's absurdly infamous Facebook map with crosshairs on Congressional Districts that some pundits have blamed for the violence, we have some evidence — suspect Jared Lee Loughner's own words — that these books were a direct influence on him. And to listen to partisan ghouls such as Ke...

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....

Insanity Defense Difficult for Loughner
Jared Loughner's mugshot. (CBS) (AP) WASHINGTON - In an earlier time, the emerging portrait of a deeply troubled young man might have given Jared Loughner's lawyers the basis of an insanity defense. But John Hinckley's successful insanity claim after shooting President Ronald Reagan led Congress to raise the bar, making the task harder. The Justice Department has not said whether it will seek the death penalty against Loughner, the suspect in the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the dea...

Chris Matthews: Hardball: Tea Party Under Fire Over Arizona Tragedy
Below is the video and transcript of my interview with Judson Phillips, founder of Tea Party Nation. "If people on the right and Sarah Palin and so forth are responsible for all of this and this vitriolic Rhetoric is so pitched, how come this isn't happening every day? Why is it the vast exception to the rule? There's no logic in any of the assertions they're making. None." Chris Matthews: That was Rush Limbaugh responding to the Giffords shooting and overheated Rhetoric swirling around. How d...

Arizona shooting suspect appears in court
PHOENIX, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- A federal magistrate in Phoenix Monday ordered the man accused of shooting Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and 19 others during the weekend held without bond. Jared Loughner, dressed in a tan detention uniform and shackled, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Lawrence Anderson, who appointed federal public defender Judy Clark as Loughner's attorney, The Arizona Republic reported. Anderson ordered Loughner held without bond, the Arizona Daily Star reported. Loughner is acc...

Evil Spirit sweeping over Israel, warns opposition leader Tzipi Livni
JERUSALEM - Israel’s opposition leader, Tzipi Livni, today said a wave of evil was sweeping the country, characterised by Legislation to investigate the funding of civil and Human Rights organisations. Her party, Kadima, would oppose the establishment of a parliamentary commission of inquiry into groups such as B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights, she said. Her comments followed an attack by the Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, whose party sponsored the bill, on rightwing op...

Arizona shootings: Left and right at odds over effects of toxic politics
Glenn Beck with Sarah Palin at Time's 100 most influential people in the world gala on May 4, 2010. Photograph: Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Time Inc On his Radio Show this morning, Glenn Beck, the sometimes incendiary talkshow host, was all sympathy for Sarah Palin. "I know you are feeling the same heat on this," he said, reading out his exchange of email with the firebrand leader who has been accused of helping to create the toxic environment of current American politics. Forty-eight ho...

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...

A History Of Obamas Violent Rhetoric (Pt. 2)
If anything can be said, Obama has ratcheted up the volume and greatly contributed to what political observers on the left are calling an “angry tone” that exploded in bloodshed last Saturday in the Arizona shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Here is a continuation of Obama’s violent Rhetoric. In a 2010 midterm campaign message to Latino voters, Obama urged Hispanics to “punish our enemies” by…. voting Democrat, of course. What were YOU thinking?...

The narrative of the hateful left
The Murder of six people, the shooting of twelve more, including Congresswoman Giffords, and the politization of the incident: Andrew Klavan writes about The Hateful Left Where incendiary political Rhetoric truly resides in America Indeed, the Left’s hysterical response to all who disagree with it—that they are Racist or sexist or “phobic” or somehow reminiscent of Hitler—has become so predictable that satirists, from the Libertarian Greg Gutfeld to the liberal Jon Stewart, h

Who do you think you are?
Americans: What in our world must change before we recognize how drastically a different course our civilization is taking from from our best potential future? The current social and political issues plaguing the United States may be viewed as a microcosmic representation of the massive social and political upheaval throughout the world. We must not mistake otherwise, and we cannot sugarcoat it: Many of these issues have arisen due to our direct involvement. Our economic fertility over the past ...

Food and good deeds in wake of Giffords' shooting
As the nation observed a moment of silence on Monday for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and other Victims of the tragedy in Tucson, Yeas & Nays discovered some good in the wake of the weekend's brutality. » Colleague and friend Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y., was seen delivering food, soda and water to Giffords' Hill Staffers on Saturday. Crowley and Gifford are close; they had lunch together on Thursday. » A Facebook group has been created to try to snag hero-intern Daniel Hernand...

Alaska lowers flags in honor of Tucson shooting victims
Flags will be lowered to half-staff beginning Monday until sunset Friday in honor of the Victims of the Arizona shootings. U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 19 other people were shot Saturday morning by a gunman who opened fire at a town hall gathering she was hosting at a Safeway in northwest Tucson. Six people died and Giffords was critically injured. President Barack Obama ordered flags to be lowered and the Governor's office says the state is doing the same. "I urge all Alaskans to pause toda...

Arianna Was Right
Although Arianna Huffington's recent book Third World America was mostly about economics, my great fear is that her idea that this great country is moving too far in the direction of a third world nation was eerily prescient in more ways than one. When members of Congress start being assassinated, when the Rhetoric about politics and politicians becomes increasingly violent and extreme in nature, and when corrupt oligarchs with way too economic and political power assume they can operate outs...

Gene Healy: Politicians' solutions to violence only harm citizens
In the wake of Saturday's horrific Murder spree in Tucson that left six dead and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., gravely wounded, the House GOP leadership announced that normal legislative business would be suspended. It was the right move, showing proper respect for the Victims and avoiding the crass spectacle of partisan votes in the tragedy's aftershock. Moreover, judging by some legislators' reactions to the attack, Congress sorely needs a breathing period, lest it do serious damage by le...

Two Wannabe Political Pundits in One
Roger Ebert on Sarah Palin, August 19, 2010: By implying Dr. Laura was silenced by “Constitutional obstructionists,” [Palin] employs the methodology of the Big Lie, defined in Mein Kampf as an untruth so colossal that “no one would believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.” Roger Ebert on Sarah Palin, January 8th, 2011: Sarah Palin rummages online frantically erasing her rabble-rousing Tweets like a Stalinist trimming non-persons out of photos

Az Sheriff Blames Rush Limbaugh
The Arizona sheriff investigating the Tucson shooting that left U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords critically wounded had harsh words today for those engaging in political Rhetoric, calling conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh "irresponsible" for continuing the vitriol. 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, expression, and worship. Read more... We invi...

Criminalizing Politics Delay Sentenced to Three Years for Money Laundering
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has been sentenced to three years in Prison for a Money Laundering conviction. Ralph Reed explained last week how this is a case of criminalizing politics. The facts surrounding DeLay’s conviction are a yawner for those operating in the world of political Fundraising. Texas, like 22 other states, prohibits corporate contributions to state Candidates, though political committees can use those funds (known by the shorthand of “soft money”) for adminis