The American flag flies at half-mast on the US
Capitol building in Washington after a shooting
spree in Arizona, that targeted Gabrielle Giffords
and left six dead. The spree reignited a debate
over rightwing rhetoric. Photograph: Manuel
Balce Ceneta/AP
The US was tonight seized by a fierce debate over
whether inflammatory rightwing rhetoric was to
blame for a shooting spree in Tucson, Arizona,
that targeted congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords
and left six dead, including a nine-year-old child.
Giffords, 40, who remains in critical condition in
hospital after being shot through the head but is
expected to recover, criticised Sarah Palin last
year for putting her and 19 other Democrats on a
hitlist, each shown as being in the crosshairs.
"When people do that, they have got to realise
there are consequences to that action," Giffords
said. Palin today distanced herself from the
shooting, as did leading figures of the Tea Party
movement. Conservative bloggers accused
liberals of seeking to exploit the attack.
Barack Obama spoke of the events as a national
tragedy, and promised to get to the bottom of it.
"A suspect is currently in custody, but we don't
yet know what provoked this unspeakable act."
He described Giffords as a friend. "It's not
surprising that today Gabby was doing what she
always does – listening to the hopes and
concerns of her neighbours. That is the essence
of what our democracy is all about. That is why
this is more than a tragedy for those involved. It
is a tragedy for Arizona and a tragedy for our
entire country."
Robert Mueller, the FBI director, said the suspect,
Jared Lee Loughner, 22, was expected to be
charged soon. "It was an attack not only against
dedicated public servants but against citizens, one
being a child. This was an attack on our
institutions and an attack on our way of life."
The National Jewish Democratic Council – Giffords
is the first Jewish woman elected to Congress
from Arizona – saw the attack as emanating from
the polarised political debate: "It is fair to say – in
today's political climate, and given today's political
rhetoric – that many have contributed to the
building levels of vitriol in our political discourse
that have surely contributed to the atmosphere in
which this event transpired."
Giffords's father was blunter. Asked if she had
any enemies, he said: "Yeah, the whole Tea
Party."
Giffords, a former Republican-turned-Democrat,
had been holding a public meeting in a shopping
mall when the gunman opened fire.
Loughner is described by the authorities as
mentally unstable. He is alleged to have opened
fire with a semi-automatic pistol, bought in
November. The dead included a federal judge, a
nine-year-old girl and a Democratic party worker.
Police have not identified a motive and Loughner
has opted to remain silent.
A second man captured on a security camera
with Loughner near the scene of the attack on
Saturday has been cleared of any involvement,
police said.
Repeated questions about the bitterness of the
debate were raised last year during the election,
with fears over Obama's life and those of other
leading Democrats as a result of repeated
questioning about his eligibility to be president
and the constitutionality of his acts. The fear was
that fringe groups not committted to the peaceful
political process might be influenced by the wilder
outbursts of right-wing politicians and
commentators.
James Clyburn, one of the Democratic leaders in
the House, calledtoday for political rhetoric to be
toned down in the wake of the shootings. "We're
living in a time that all of us should begin to take
stock of how our words affect people, especially
those who aren't very stable," Clyburn said.
The previous night, the sheriff conducting the
investigation, Clarence Dupnik, who is an elected
Democrat, did not mince his words. "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. And unfortunately,
Arizona, I think, has become the capital. We have
become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry."
When Giffords held a similar meeting last year,
someone dropped a gun. Last March, a glass
panel at her office was shattered, possibly by a
pellet from an airgun.
Palin, on a website, had targeted Giffords and 19
other Democrats in symbolic crosshairs. By this
evening, the site had been removed. Palin, on
Facebook, expressed her condolences and said
she and her family were praying for all the
victims.
A Palin aide, Rebecca Mansour, speaking on the
Tammy Bruce radio talkshow, denied the symbol
represented crosshairs. "We never ever, ever
intended it to be gun sights," Mansour said.
Palin is well-known for her intemperate language
and actions, including her recent call for the
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, to be hunted
down, and the crosshairs incident has the
potential to hurt her in this year's jockeying for
the Republican presidential nomination.
Giffords, in an interview with MSNBC in March last
year, said: "We are on Sarah Palin's targeted list.
The way that she has it depicted has the
crosshairs of the gunsight over our district."
The former senator and Democratic presidential
hopeful Gary Hart, writing on the Huffington Post
website, blamed symbols such as crosshairs and
the use of words such as "targeted".
"Today we have seen the results of this rhetoric,"
Hart wrote.
The Tea Party movement sought to establish a
clear gap between it and the Tucson rampage.
Amy Kremer, chairwoman of the California-based
Tea Party Express, said: "Spirited debate is
desirable in our country, but it only should be the
clash of ideas. An attack on anyone for political
purposes, if that was a factor in this shooting, is
an attack on the democratic process. We join
with everyone in vociferously condemning it."
The conservative commentator, Erick Erickson,
on his widely-read blog Red State, criticised
liberals for "subtly and not so subtly pinning the
blame for the attempted assassination of the
congresswoman and the related shootings on the
Tea Party movement, Sarah Palin, Rush
Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, me, you, and everyone
right of centre".
Pete King the Republican Congressman, echoed
this: "The best way to avoid politicizing it is to not
make a political issue out of it. It's a horrible
tragedy. From what we know it's a deranged
person, and I think any other discussion at this
time does politicise it."
The new Speaker of the House, John Boehner,
today confirmed that controversial legislation
scheduled for this week is to be postponed,
including proposed repeal of Barack Obama's
healthcare reform, the single issue with which
Giffords was most passionately associated.
Source:wwwguardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/09/gabrielle-giffords-shooting-rightwing-rhetoric
Capitol building in Washington after a shooting
spree in Arizona, that targeted Gabrielle Giffords
and left six dead. The spree reignited a debate
over rightwing rhetoric. Photograph: Manuel
Balce Ceneta/AP
The US was tonight seized by a fierce debate over
whether inflammatory rightwing rhetoric was to
blame for a shooting spree in Tucson, Arizona,
that targeted congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords
and left six dead, including a nine-year-old child.
Giffords, 40, who remains in critical condition in
hospital after being shot through the head but is
expected to recover, criticised Sarah Palin last
year for putting her and 19 other Democrats on a
hitlist, each shown as being in the crosshairs.
"When people do that, they have got to realise
there are consequences to that action," Giffords
said. Palin today distanced herself from the
shooting, as did leading figures of the Tea Party
movement. Conservative bloggers accused
liberals of seeking to exploit the attack.
Barack Obama spoke of the events as a national
tragedy, and promised to get to the bottom of it.
"A suspect is currently in custody, but we don't
yet know what provoked this unspeakable act."
He described Giffords as a friend. "It's not
surprising that today Gabby was doing what she
always does – listening to the hopes and
concerns of her neighbours. That is the essence
of what our democracy is all about. That is why
this is more than a tragedy for those involved. It
is a tragedy for Arizona and a tragedy for our
entire country."
Robert Mueller, the FBI director, said the suspect,
Jared Lee Loughner, 22, was expected to be
charged soon. "It was an attack not only against
dedicated public servants but against citizens, one
being a child. This was an attack on our
institutions and an attack on our way of life."
The National Jewish Democratic Council – Giffords
is the first Jewish woman elected to Congress
from Arizona – saw the attack as emanating from
the polarised political debate: "It is fair to say – in
today's political climate, and given today's political
rhetoric – that many have contributed to the
building levels of vitriol in our political discourse
that have surely contributed to the atmosphere in
which this event transpired."
Giffords's father was blunter. Asked if she had
any enemies, he said: "Yeah, the whole Tea
Party."
Giffords, a former Republican-turned-Democrat,
had been holding a public meeting in a shopping
mall when the gunman opened fire.
Loughner is described by the authorities as
mentally unstable. He is alleged to have opened
fire with a semi-automatic pistol, bought in
November. The dead included a federal judge, a
nine-year-old girl and a Democratic party worker.
Police have not identified a motive and Loughner
has opted to remain silent.
A second man captured on a security camera
with Loughner near the scene of the attack on
Saturday has been cleared of any involvement,
police said.
Repeated questions about the bitterness of the
debate were raised last year during the election,
with fears over Obama's life and those of other
leading Democrats as a result of repeated
questioning about his eligibility to be president
and the constitutionality of his acts. The fear was
that fringe groups not committted to the peaceful
political process might be influenced by the wilder
outbursts of right-wing politicians and
commentators.
James Clyburn, one of the Democratic leaders in
the House, calledtoday for political rhetoric to be
toned down in the wake of the shootings. "We're
living in a time that all of us should begin to take
stock of how our words affect people, especially
those who aren't very stable," Clyburn said.
The previous night, the sheriff conducting the
investigation, Clarence Dupnik, who is an elected
Democrat, did not mince his words. "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. And unfortunately,
Arizona, I think, has become the capital. We have
become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry."
When Giffords held a similar meeting last year,
someone dropped a gun. Last March, a glass
panel at her office was shattered, possibly by a
pellet from an airgun.
Palin, on a website, had targeted Giffords and 19
other Democrats in symbolic crosshairs. By this
evening, the site had been removed. Palin, on
Facebook, expressed her condolences and said
she and her family were praying for all the
victims.
A Palin aide, Rebecca Mansour, speaking on the
Tammy Bruce radio talkshow, denied the symbol
represented crosshairs. "We never ever, ever
intended it to be gun sights," Mansour said.
Palin is well-known for her intemperate language
and actions, including her recent call for the
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, to be hunted
down, and the crosshairs incident has the
potential to hurt her in this year's jockeying for
the Republican presidential nomination.
Giffords, in an interview with MSNBC in March last
year, said: "We are on Sarah Palin's targeted list.
The way that she has it depicted has the
crosshairs of the gunsight over our district."
The former senator and Democratic presidential
hopeful Gary Hart, writing on the Huffington Post
website, blamed symbols such as crosshairs and
the use of words such as "targeted".
"Today we have seen the results of this rhetoric,"
Hart wrote.
The Tea Party movement sought to establish a
clear gap between it and the Tucson rampage.
Amy Kremer, chairwoman of the California-based
Tea Party Express, said: "Spirited debate is
desirable in our country, but it only should be the
clash of ideas. An attack on anyone for political
purposes, if that was a factor in this shooting, is
an attack on the democratic process. We join
with everyone in vociferously condemning it."
The conservative commentator, Erick Erickson,
on his widely-read blog Red State, criticised
liberals for "subtly and not so subtly pinning the
blame for the attempted assassination of the
congresswoman and the related shootings on the
Tea Party movement, Sarah Palin, Rush
Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, me, you, and everyone
right of centre".
Pete King the Republican Congressman, echoed
this: "The best way to avoid politicizing it is to not
make a political issue out of it. It's a horrible
tragedy. From what we know it's a deranged
person, and I think any other discussion at this
time does politicise it."
The new Speaker of the House, John Boehner,
today confirmed that controversial legislation
scheduled for this week is to be postponed,
including proposed repeal of Barack Obama's
healthcare reform, the single issue with which
Giffords was most passionately associated.
Source:wwwguardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/09/gabrielle-giffords-shooting-rightwing-rhetoric
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