Gunman attacks political event in Tucson, 12 wounded.

[Broomstick]

I'd like to point out that the "second suspect" may be no more than someone who gave the shooter a ride to the grocery store and may or may not have had any idea about what was going to happen. In which case he's probably best off either disappearing for a long time, or turning himself in before the public finds him. I'd hate to have a friend/neighbor/well meaning stranger come to harm just because he had the misfortune to try to give some a ride as a favor.

On the other hand, we just don't know. The second guy could be a willing accomplice.

So let's try to keep an open mind.

[Surlethe]

It is easy enough to believe that such an individual groomed Laughner into the assassination, since the target is very well selected--the chance to kill a prominent pro-immigration federal judge and a democratic congresswoman at the same time.

Not if you care about little things like evidence and critical thinking.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

It is easy enough to believe that such an individual groomed Laughner into the assassination, since the target is very well selected--the chance to kill a prominent pro-immigration federal judge and a democratic congresswoman at the same time.

Not if you care about little things like evidence and critical thinking.

I didn't know at the time the judge's presence was random, so that was, admittedly, an erroneous statement.

[kouchpotato]

Did the police say why they believed there was a second accomplice? Was there a witness, or do we not know? It's possible Loughner himself indicated that.

[Simon_Jester]

It is easy enough to believe that such an individual groomed Laughner into the assassination, since the target is very well selected--the chance to kill a prominent pro-immigration federal judge and a democratic congresswoman at the same time.

Not if you care about little things like evidence and critical thinking.

The target is less well selected if the judge was present randomly.

However, the specific target, Congresswoman Giffords, is still "on a hit list," as it were, having been singled out by the far right as a potential 'target,' in language that comes fairly close to exhorting people to commit crimes.

There is no evidence for this idea. There is no compelling reason to believe it. But I wouldn't be surprised if Laughner's testimony revealed it to be true- it isn't the simplest explanation that fits the evidence to date, but neither does it contradict the evidence.

This sort of political shooting doesn't happen very often- raising the specter of a group of loons behind the shooter, rather than a shooter who decides to kill politicians on their own, is not unreasonable.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

Did the police say why they believed there was a second accomplice? Was there a witness, or do we not know? It's possible Loughner himself indicated that.

Simple . . . because the security cameras at the supermarket showed that he was with another man before the shooting took place.

[FSTargetDrone]

The bullet passed through the left side of the brain without coming in contact with the crossovers between the two sides, which is what can really destroy any chance of survival as more than a vegetable, so that's good. Better still, the doctors, though exquisitely cautious, suggested Giffords' eloquent centres--the parts of the brain generally most related to organized and advanced thought as a sapient human--were intact. If brain swelling doesn't kill her, she may be able to mostly recover. Doctor's a former US Army surgeon from Iraq and with the number of head injuries sustained there that's quite good.

A story from MSNBC about the details of the injury with quotes from the attending surgeon:

Bullet's path leaves uncertain future for trauma victims

Giffords will face a long and difficult recovery, but some victims have prevailed

By JoNel Aleccia
Health writer

It's good news that Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is responding to simple commands a day after a bullet tore through the left side of her brain, forcing doctors to remove part of her skull. But the reality is she'll likely face a long and uncertain recovery, a head injury expert said Sunday.

"She's still critically ill," said Dr. Alex Valadka, a neurosurgeon and spokesman for the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. "We get excited when people hold up a couple of fingers, but that's a long way from higher functioning."

Doctors at University Medical Center in Tucson, Ariz., said they were cautiously optimistic about Giffords' prognosis a day after she was shot at point-blank range at a public gathering in a supermarket parking lot. Dr. G. Michael Lemole Jr., chief of neurosurgery, said he removed a large piece of Giffords' skull to accommodate swelling caused after the bullet traveled — back to front — the entire length of the left side of her brain.

Lemole said Giffords is likely to remain in intensive care for a week or so, in the hospital for a couple more weeks and then face a long rehabiliation period. He didn't want to speculate about her chances for recovery.

"We've seen the full gamut," he said.

People who suffer penetrating traumatic brain injuries often develop paralysis and cognitive problems. The left side of the brain is typically responsible for speech and controls the right side of the body, Valadka explained, noting that most people are right-handed.

Giffords was fortunate that the bullet did not cross the geometric center of the brain, said Lemole. Early reports indicated she might have been shot in one temple with the bullet exiting the other, but Lemole said the single shot entered in the back and exited the front.

She also was fortunate that paramedics rushed her to the level-1 trauma center in Tucson, getting her into surgery within 38 minutes, doctors said.

With skilled surgery and access to early and comprehensive cognitive rehabilitation, some patients are able to make remarkable recoveries, noted Dr. Gregory O'Shanick, chairman and past medical director of the Brain Injury Association of America based in Vienna, Va.

He pointed to public examples such as ABC news anchor Bob Woodruff, who suffered a brain injury in 2006 in Iraq, and has since recovered enough to go back to work. And he noted that James Brady, President Ronald Reagan's press secretary, who was shot in the head in a 1981 attempt on Reagan's life, was able to regain many of his former functions.

About 1.7 million people in the United States suffer traumatic brain injuries every year, with about 20 percent of them caused by violence, including gunshots. About 52,000 people die as a result of their injuries and about 275,000 are hospitalized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Victims such as Gifford receive expert treatment because many trauma surgeons have learned from the battlefield lessons of Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, O'Shanick said. Access to comprehensive, sustained cognitive rehabilitation therapy is the key, he added.

Much attention will be focused in the early weeks on Giffords, like other victims of penetrating traumatic brain injury, Valadka said. But the real work of recovery lasts much longer.

"Neurological time is measured in months and years," he said.

[weemadando]

Tea Party head honcho has commenced a campaign to blame this on the damn liberals.


KeithOlbermann: Tea Party Nation founder emails followers to spread blame http://bit.ly/dOQKUE "shooter was a liberal lunatic. Emphasis on both words"

Original Tweet: http://twitter.com/KeithOlbermann/statu ... 5636304896

[cosmicalstorm]

Another assasination of a public figure who is not Fred Phelps

I know we all handle this in our own way, but wishing for a violent death to those you disagree with is in poor taste and dangerously close to violating board rules.

I'm interested to see if this nutjob will be making the nightly news circuit with interviews etc. Everything I've seen from his writings and videos screams "I'm just plain ol' crazy"

It's an old joke from Fark.com, when I wrote it I didn't realize he had already gotten mixed up in this. Im not an internet tough guy.

[SirNitram]

From CNN:

CROWLEY: Was it over the line, sort of specifically, since it’s now being talked about everywhere, with Sarah Palin’s web ads about people that she would like to see targeted for political defeat.

ALEXANDER: Well, Candy, I think you’re responsible, by bringing this up, of doing the very thing you’re trying to condemn. You’re making and implying a direct connection between Sarah Palin and what happened. You’re picking out a particular incident. Well, I think the way to get away from it is for you not to be talking about it.

Rep. Lamar Alexander, R-TN, folks. 'Your fault, not my fault, not Caribou Barbie's fault!' is the vibe I got from his tone. Video here: Link But basically, don't talk about it, and I see nothing wrong with putting crosshairs on opponents political.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Links to an anti-government group by the shooter are being investigated:

As here

Probe examines possible link to anti-gov't group

(AP) – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — An official familiar with the Arizona shooting investigation says local authorities are looking at a possible connection between Jared Loughner and an online group known for its anti-government rhetoric.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation, says this is one of several motives that local authorities are pursuing in the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.

The anti-government organization American Renaissance is connected to the white supremacist New Century Foundation, according to an analysis by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based group that tracks hate crimes.

Members typically espouse anti-Semitic and anti-government views. Loughner's online postings include language that is in line with such beliefs.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Also, it's being reported that authorities have found the older male seen accompanying the shooter and it turns out he was the cab driver who took Loughner to the Safeway. He didn't have the fare to pay for the cab so that's why the guy accompanied him into the store, to get him to make the payment by drawing it out of an ATM, so the shooter did in fact act alone, at least in terms of actual actions. It appears that for whatever his insanity, though, Loughner may well have been inspired by American Renaissance/NCF.

[thejester]

Young man with no clear political ideals but a steely rage against the powers that be and a variety of potential mental health issues - that'd mean he'd basically be another in the long tradition of Oswald, Bremer and Hinckley, wouldn't it?

[Broomstick]

It's good news that Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is responding to simple commands a day after a bullet tore through the left side of her brain, forcing doctors to remove part of her skull. But the reality is she'll likely face a long and uncertain recovery, a head injury expert said Sunday....

....Doctors at University Medical Center in Tucson, Ariz., said they were cautiously optimistic about Giffords' prognosis a day after she was shot at point-blank range at a public gathering in a supermarket parking lot. Dr. G. Michael Lemole Jr., chief of neurosurgery, said he removed a large piece of Giffords' skull to accommodate swelling caused after the bullet traveled — back to front — the entire length of the left side of her brain.....

....People who suffer penetrating traumatic brain injuries often develop paralysis and cognitive problems. The left side of the brain is typically responsible for speech and controls the right side of the body, Valadka explained, noting that most people are right-handed.

A lot comes down to her particular brain architecture, then. Which can vary significantly. As noted, the left side usually controls the right side of the body and has the speech centers, but it's not at all unusual for lefthanders to have a mirror image to the extent the language center is in the right side of the brain and not the left. It's also possible, though much more rare, for a righthander to have such a switch. It's possible to have a less concentrated language mechanism than most people, meaning even if the left side is damaged the right side of the brain is able to take over more than anticipated (more common in women than men, but still rare)

But I'm guessing it's likely she'll have some right-side paralysis from this. Specific cognitive defects are anyone's guess. All we can do is wait and see. I do hope she's one of the lucky ones, though. No one deserves that sort of injury.

[Ziggy Stardust]

But basically, don't talk about it, and I see nothing wrong with putting crosshairs on opponents political.

Not to defend Alexander or Palin, but in all fairness, the Democrats pulled the same stunt with the crosshair graphic. I only point this out because it seems to me unfair to call out the Republicans for something the Democrats also gleefully embraced, when there are plenty of better examples of Tea Party officials making veiled threats of violence.

[dantheman40k]

Links to an anti-government group by the shooter are being investigated:

As here

Probe examines possible link to anti-gov't group

(AP) – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — An official familiar with the Arizona shooting investigation says local authorities are looking at a possible connection between Jared Loughner and an online group known for its anti-government rhetoric.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation, says this is one of several motives that local authorities are pursuing in the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.

The anti-government organization American Renaissance is connected to the white supremacist New Century Foundation, according to an analysis by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based group that tracks hate crimes.

Members typically espouse anti-Semitic and anti-government views. Loughner's online postings include language that is in line with such beliefs.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Also, it's being reported that authorities have found the older male seen accompanying the shooter and it turns out he was the cab driver who took Loughner to the Safeway. He didn't have the fare to pay for the cab so that's why the guy accompanied him into the store, to get him to make the payment by drawing it out of an ATM, so the shooter did in fact act alone, at least in terms of actual actions. It appears that for whatever his insanity, though, Loughner may well have been inspired by American Renaissance/NCF.

GEE WHO COULDA SEEN THAT ONE COMING????DERPDERPDERP!!!!!!!

I hope she doesnt die though. Both for her sake and I really dont want this new year to be stated off with the death of a major politician. This better not be the start of a fucking trend.

[Kodiak]

But basically, don't talk about it, and I see nothing wrong with putting crosshairs on opponents political.

Not to defend Alexander or Palin, but in all fairness, the Democrats pulled the same stunt with the crosshair graphic. I only point this out because it seems to me unfair to call out the Republicans for something the Democrats also gleefully embraced, when there are plenty of better examples of Tea Party officials making veiled threats of violence.

There's a world of difference between using a Target and using Rifle Cross Hairs:

DCCC spokesman Ryan Rudominer said Palin’s map must be considered in the context of her famous Twitter tweet last month: “Commonsense Conservatives & lovers of America: “Don’t Retreat, Instead – RELOAD!”

After the “reload” tweet caused an uproar, Palin said at a Nevada tea party rally: “When we talk about fighting for our country, let’s clear the air right now about what it is that we’re talking about. We’re not inciting violence. Don’t get sucked into the lame-stream media lies.”

Sure, by itself there's not a whole lot in the graphic. However, in the context of "Don't Retreat, Instead -RELOAD!" and "Second Amendment Solutions" it's nowhere near the same. You "Target" things with a bullseye when they're an objective or a goal. You use rifle cross hairs when you're hoping someone pulls the trigger.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

On a bit of a bright note, there's a woman whose Balls of Steel during the attack absolutely needs mentioning:

KVOA news summary
Longer story.

TUCSON - Patricia Maisch was in line with her husband to get a photo with Rep. Giffords when the suspect in Saturday's shooting opened fire on Giffords and the crowd at the northside political event.

Pima County Sheriff's officials say that when the shooting started, Maisch ran up to the suspect, Jared Lee Loughner, and grabbed the empty extended magazine from his 9mm Glock pistol. As he was loading a second 31-round magazine, she grabbed that - forcing him to load a third magazine, which jammed while he was loading it.

Loughner was then tackled and subdued by two men - Roger Sulzgeber, who was in line to meet Giffords, and Joseph Zimudio, who was down the councourse at the nearby Walgreens. Loughner was held until police arrived and took him into custody.

That's right. She ran up to a man with a gun in his hand, and took the magazine out of his gun. Note that she did this after being shot.

[SirNitram]

But basically, don't talk about it, and I see nothing wrong with putting crosshairs on opponents political.

Not to defend Alexander or Palin, but in all fairness, the Democrats pulled the same stunt with the crosshair graphic. I only point this out because it seems to me unfair to call out the Republicans for something the Democrats also gleefully embraced, when there are plenty of better examples of Tea Party officials making veiled threats of violence.

Honestly, I could mistake the Dem map for 'This is where there are Target stores'. But there is a difference between bullseyes with a circle in a circle and a crosshair(And, after all, they responded at the time to defuse it.), whereas Palin waited until this weekend to try and come up with an excuse('Surveyors symbols'. I'm not shitting you.). But yes, the Dem bullseyes were over the line. They were called out. Good. The Right, however, continues to mix it's love of guns and violence with it's rhetoric. They get called out, and Alexander whines that it's the media's fault for daring to object to it. Context is everything: The Dem map is accompanied by.. The angry rhetoric of comment threads. Palin's map was accompanied by her, tweeting 'Reload!', to say nothing about the entire chorus on the Right(Remember where I posted about Gifford's opponent with a M-16 at a 'remove Gifford' event?).

So yes. Whoever made that map deserves punished, and I bet he got it. Of course, watch the conservatives referenced in it, they can't even contain their joy at mocking the liberals.

One last bit on this toxic rhetoric:

Link

A few days, or at the very least, a few hours – in an earlier era, people would have taken a breath before plunging into a remorseless debate about the political implications of an obscene act of violence.

Not in this era.

Within minutes after a gunman’s shots—bullets that killed a federal judge, a nine-year-old girl and four others, and left a congresswoman clinging to life—activists of all stripes were busy, first on Twitter and blogs, then on cable television, chewing on two questions that once would have been indelicate to raise before the blood was dry:

Who in American politics deserves a slice of blame for the Tucson murders? And what public officials find themselves with sudden opportunities for political gain from a tragedy?

By day’s end, the argument that the political right—fueled by anti-government, and anti-immigrant passions that run especially strong in Arizona—is culpable for the Tucson massacre, even if by indirect association, seemed to be validated by the top local law enforcement official investigating the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D).

“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,” said Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, an elected Democrat, at a news conference Saturday evening. “And unfortunately, Arizona, I think, has become the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry.”

Some Republicans responded with indignation—why should the alleged act of an apparently deranged young man with a record of barely coherent, and only vaguely ideological rantings get charged to their account?

Others acknowledged what they called an unavoidable reality—flamboyant or incendiary anti-government rhetoric of the sort used by many conservative politicians, commentators and tea party activists for the time being will carry a stigma.

A senior Republican senator, speaking anonymously in order to freely discuss the tragedy, told POLITICO that the Giffords shooting should be taken as a “cautionary tale” by Republicans.

“There is a need for some reflection here - what is too far now?” said the senator. “What was too far when Oklahoma City happened is accepted now. There’s been a desensitizing. These town halls and cable TV and talk radio, everybody’s trying to outdo each other.”

The vast majority of tea party activists, this senator said, ought not be impugned.

“They’re talking about things most mainstream Americans are talking about, like spending and debt,” the Republican said, before adding that politicians of all stripes need to emphasize in the coming days that “tone matters.”

“And the Republican Party in particular needs to reinforce that,” the senator said.

The references to the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995 echoed in other ways. That horror, which killed 168 people including many children, helped then-President Bill Clinton stigmatize extreme anti-government rhetoric and re-energize his presidency at a time when Newt Gingrich and conservative Republicans were riding high in Congress.

One veteran Democratic operative, who blames overheated rhetoric for the shooting, said President Barack Obama should carefully but forcefully do what his predecessor did.

“They need to deftly pin this on the tea partiers,” said the Democrat. “Just like the Clinton White House deftly pinned the Oklahoma City bombing on the militia and anti-government people.”

Another Democratic strategist said the similarity is that Tucson and Oklahoma City both “take place in a climate of bitter and virulent rhetoric against the government and Democrats.”

This Democrat said that the time had come to insist that Republicans stand up when, for example, a figure such as Fox News commentator Glenn Beck says something incendiary.

Conservative intellectual William F. Buckley denounced the conspiracy theories and darker rantings of the John Birch Society, this Democrat said, “but these guys don’t seem to be willing to do that.” Not long after the shooting, at about 10:10 a.m. in Arizona, some took to Twitter to note that Sarah Palin had targeted Gifford in symbolic crosshairs—plainly intending to target her for political defeat, not for physical violence. By the end of the day Saturday, a website showing a gunsight on Giffords’ and 19 other Democratic districts had been taken off line, though a Google cache showed that it was still posted as late as 2:00 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday.

Some Republicans have scrambled to portray alleged shooter Jared Lee Loughner as an unbalanced loner, and pointed to a high school classmate’s account that, four years ago, he had left-wing views. Democrats are framing his attack as the tragic-but-inevitable end result of a right-wing political culture that has become radicalized since President Obama’s election.

“Today we have seen the results” of “irresponsible and dangerous rhetoric,” former Democratic senator and presidential candidate Gary Hart wrote on Huffington Post. “Those with a megaphone, whether provided by public office or a media outlet, have responsibilities. They cannot avoid the consequences of their blatant efforts to inflame, anger, and outrage.” No politician – not even the most strident partisan on the left – is suggesting that any mainstream conservative feels anything but horror over the Tucson shootings. Yet assassinations are by definition a political act, and solo actors in the past have shaped American history on many occasions.

Loughner, it seems, was a deeply agitated, even paranoid, 22-year-old, not a tea party radical. But he was also politically aware – he referred on his MySpace page to Giffords’ 8th District –and acted in a district and state that have been defined over the last two years by the bitter immigration debate and against a backdrop of incendiary rhetoric and images of firearms at town hall meetings. This context guaranteed that this act of violence would not be viewed in isolation. Liberal commentators such as MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, who on a special Saturday evening show said he was sometimes guilty of over-the-top rhetoric, made an impassioned plea for more restraint and civil debate. But he also guaranteed that the political temperature would rise by devoting most of the show to the still-undocumented assertion that conservative political rhetoric helped send someone with a predisposition to violence over the edge. He called on a long roster of politicians like Palin and defeated Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle (who once spoke of “Second Amendment remedies” for conservatives to rein in Congress) to “repudiate” past rhetoric and demanded that commentators like Beck and Bill O’Reilly offer “solemn apologies” for giving “oxygen to those deep in madness to whom violence is an acceptable solution.”

Though they put it less stridently than Olbermann, many Democrats made clear in statements that they agree.

“I put a lot of blame on…the rhetoric,” said Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), a longtime gun control advocate. “You had some pretty high up political people saying, ‘Get your guns out –we’re going to take our country back’ —you have to be careful. Politicians have a very strong responsibility to be careful on what they say. We’ve got to tone the rhetoric down.”

Many of Giffords’ colleagues kept their statements focused on expressing their sadness over the tragedy and concern over her condition. But a subtle difference could be detected between the simple denunciations of many Republicans and some Democrats’ efforts to begin putting the moment in context, and to frame the episode as the result of a toxic political debate.

“This tragedy serves as a grim reminder that we, as a nation, must redouble our efforts to promote civility and respect for differing viewpoints in our political discourse,” said Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-Va.) in a statement.

A top Democratic strategist was less subtle: “He seems somewhat incoherent but does seem to be stridently anti-government,” the strategist said.

But Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), the chair of the Homeland Security Committee, sought to preempt any attempt to link the rhetoric of the far-right with the Arizona tragedy, tagging Loughner as crazed.

“The best way to avoid politicizing it is to not make a political issue out of it,” said King. “It’s a horrible tragedy. From what we know it’s a deranged person, and I think any other discussion at this time does politicize it.”

Another House Republican went a step further, saying: “From what I can tell on the web this guy looks liberal. He’s definitely crazy.”

On talk radio, other conservatives did the same, emphasizing that Loughner seemed far-left.

But Republicans, too, are aware of the poisoned climate. Former GOP Rep. Jim Kolbe, who represented Giffords’ congressional district for 22 years before retiring in 2006, said in an interview Saturday that he increased security at his town hall meetings toward the end of his time in Congress when the debate over immigration grew more heated along the border.

“I never got through a town hall without a lot of very nasty things being said and a lot of shouting,” Kolbe said. “There has been a lot of emotion around the immigration issue.”

Kolbe said that by the time he retired “half to two-thirds” of his town halls were staffed by an off-duty police officer.

But he emphatically noted that Tucson should not be singled out.

“This kind of thing can happen anyplace,” said Kolbe.

The tone was set Saturday, though, by some of the hardest-edged Internet partisans.

Liberal blogger and activist Markos Moulitsas was even blunter, charging two prominent Republicans with egging on acts of violence, Angle and Palin.

Moulitsas linked to an image of Palin’s map, writing on Twitter: “Mission accomplished, Sarah Palin.”

Palin, for her part, released a statement saying that she and her family would pray “for peace and justice” and offering “sincere condolences … to the family of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims of today’s tragic shooting in Arizona.”

But she also moved quickly to scrub her website of the imagery that had the Giffords seat in a gun’s crosshairs.

A spokeswoman for Palin, Rebecca Mansour, reacted to criticism of the former Alaska governor on Twitter with a brief message: “Politicizing this is repulsive.”

Though the afternoon’s responses were laced with politics, one veteran of Oklahoma City suggested the finger-pointing was just one response to the sheer trauma of the event.

“Everybody looks for motives. They can’t understand why someone would commit such an unforgivable act and they look for motive,” said former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, who took office just months before Timothy McVeigh blew up the Murrah Building. “In the case of Lee Harvey Oswald, it was a left-wing motive. In the case of Tim McVeigh, it was a right-wing motive. In both cases, terrible things occurred.”

“I’m sure we’ll surgically diagnose this over the next few weeks and months,” Keating added.

For politicians, however – and most especially for the president – Keating pointed to the Oklahoma City experience as a model for trying to stay above politics.

“The most important thing for a leader to do is to embrace the people in a moment of tragedy and agony, to unqualifiedly say that this conduct is unforgivable and justice will be done, but in the meantime we have to hold together as a people and pray together as a people,” he said.

But of course Oklahoma City also illustrates how much more quickly the political culture moves than 16 years ago. Back then, the political debate did not begin in earnest until five days after the bombings, when Clinton in a speech in Minneapolis denounced conservative commentators with “loud and angry voices” who he said “spread hate” and “leave the impression…by their very words, that violence is acceptable.”

At the same time, Clinton political advisers privately embraced a ghoulish reality: The tragedy had been good for the president’s standing. Dick Morris, then Clinton’s top consultant, wrote the president a memo shortly after the bombing about how to maximize the advantage: “A. Temporary gain: boost in ratings. B. More permanent gain: Improvements in character/personality attributes—remedies weakness, incompetence, ineffectiveness found in recent poll. C. Permanent possible gain: sets up Extremist Issue vs. Republicans.”

All informing stuff, but look at the Republican Senator in the early part. To discuss the rhetoric and it's toxic effects(Or is the 'He's a crazy' group going to claim he was in a vacuum, no exposure to the world around him and the hate being thrown around? Well, of course they are, they're Tea Party Nation and Glenn Beck and their cohorts in the media and party structure.), he had to speak anonymously.

[The Yosemite Bear]

hey maybe she can pull a Claudius and take control of the floor by means of super-handycap.

[kouchpotato]

Likely him posting on above top secret forum.

[Flagg]

hey maybe she can pull a Claudius and take control of the floor by means of super-handycap.

Stay classy, buddy.

[Talhe]

Looks like the shooter has already been appointed a lawyer:

Judy Clarke, who represented "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski and assisted in the case of confessed al-Qaeda operative Zacarias Moussaoui, has been appointed to represent Jared Lee Loughner, the man charged by federal authorities with two murders as well as the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and two others.

Citing a federal judicial source, CNN reported that Clarke will represent Loughner at his hearing, which will take place Monday at 2 p.m. in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Lawrence Anderson at the Sandra Day O'Connor Courthouse in Phoenix, Arizona. Clarke did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Loughner, an FBI agent charged in an affidavit, killed federal judge John Roll and Giffords staffer Gabriel Zimmerman, and attempted to kill Giffords, Pamela Simon and Ron Barber as well as approximately 14 other individuals.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.c ... r.php#more

[Alyeska]

Criminal or not, he has a right to a defense. And his lawyer should be experienced. Which means when a conviction is likely to occur, it should be an honest and just conviction.

[Themightytom]

I... don't even see a way an insanity plea could be countered. ironically the Right Wing that would favor the death penalty and dismiss psychiatry as witchcraft really isn't on board with this one

incidentally, am I alone in the impression that the left can frame an issue just as effectively as the right? The media has been dumping on Palin for her "vitriolic" rhetoric and crosshairs and what not, but seriously, who was even using that word before yesterday when the Arizona Sheriff jumped on his soap box. I saw him at a press conference this morning respond to the question "Did Loughner say anything to suggest that a vitriolic environment contributed to his decision to carry out the shooting" (Or words to that effect"

And Dupnik was like "Well since you are asking specifically I have to answer specifically, I have to answer specifically... no..."

I was like FUCK! i really was looking at the entire issue as though the police knew or had heard something to the effect that the shooter was influenced by right wing rhetoric, NOW I find out it was just how you were feeling at the time??

i mean it's certainly true that inflammatory rhetoric doesn't help, and what not but MY argument at least, that this was a result of that, was based heavily on his statement.

Seriously both sides need to stick to facts. The media needs to report jsut facts. And it wouldn't be a terrible idea if various media personalities would stop getting on their damn soap box about media personalities getting on their soap box

I'm looking at Olbermann here..

[Patrick Degan]

From Yukon Barbie's Facebook page (which the admins have been having to work overtime to scrub criticisms from):



How nice that Tina King found some consolation in the death of a nine year old girl.