More spin:Arizona Suspected Gunman Had 'Troubled Past,' But Mostly Flew Under Radar

[Jeanfromfillmore]

And the spin continues. The press is now quoting the Southern Poverty Law Center as a source of information. It seems everyone is groping and stretching to attach this guy to anyone or anything that is not to the left. It seems as though they would use magic if they thought they could stick this guy with a right/conservative organization or group. Just very telling, and becoming more transparent each day.
To them it couldn’t be that this guy was a nut job, no, he has to be a right leaning, racist, bigot, redneck, cracker, skinhead or he wouldn’t have done what he did.
I’m just waiting to see what they’ll fabricate to get their message across.

Arizona Suspected Gunman Had 'Troubled Past,' But Mostly Flew Under Radar
New details emerging about the suspected shooter behind Saturday's deadly rampage reveal a 22-year-old man with a troubled past who law enforcement say may have been influenced by American Renaissance, a pro-white publication.
A law enforcement memo based on information provided by the Department of Homeland Security and obtained by Fox News suggests that alleged gunman Jared Loughner -- accused of killing six people, shooting Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and wounding 12 others -- may have ties to the American Renaissance group, though it's unclear if he was directly affiliated with the publication or group.
The Southern Poverty Law Center describes the group as "white nationalist" whose leader, Jared Taylor, is "a kind of modern-day version of the refined but racist colonialist of old."
The memo states that there is "no direct connection" between Loughner and the group, "but strong suspicion is being directed at AmRen / American Renaissance. Suspect is possibly linked to this group. (through videos posted on his MySpace and YouTube account.). The group's ideology is anti-government, anti-immigration, anti-ZOG (Zionist Occupational Government), anti-Semitic."
The memo also includes information about the suspect's mother, who works for the Pima County Board of Supervisors and notes that Loughner has multiple arrests but no criminal record.
But Taylor, a 1973 graduate in philosophy from Yale University, told Fox News on Sunday that he had never heard of Loughner until Saturday and has checked the group's records going back 20 years and has not found any subscriptions for Loughner to American Renaissance publications.
He added he has no indication that Loughner ever attended any of the group's events, which have been held on the East Coast where the organization is based.
Taylor also denied references to the group as being "anti-ZOG."
"That is complete nonsense," he said. "I have absolutely no idea what DHS is talking about. We have never used the term 'ZOG.' We have never thought in those terms. If this is the level of research we are getting from DHS, then heaven help us," he said.
Loughner lives with his parents in a Tucson neighborhood that one neighbor described as part of an area that is notorious for "stash houses" for Mexican gangs to bring drugs into the U.S. and store them.
The neighbor, who asked only to be identified as Jon, said he volunteered at a phone bank for Giffords' 2008 congressional campaign. He said none of the neighbors seem to know any member of the Loughner household, which on Sunday was cordoned off. Two run-down jalopies outside the house along with a front walkway littered with empty paint buckets and a garden hose blocked the walkway and door while the entire front yard is covered in a tangled cactus tree.
Nothing like this has ever happened in this neighborhood. "We've had a number of good DEA busts," Jon said. "It's a shock, it really is. ... It's sad, it's been a sad day."
Another neighbor directly across from the home also did not want to give his name, but said a mother, son and father live at the house.
"They weren't real friendly," said the neighbor who described himself as 60 and retired. They mostly didn't talk to anyone and mainly stayed inside. "Loners," he called them.
Another neighbor, Anthony Woods, who was three years behind Loughner in school, said the father in the household was argumentative.
Woods said the dad would complain about everything from neighbors' trash cans on the street to standing too close to his property by the fence. Woods said law enforcement interviewed the mother and father at the Loughner house Saturday night.
"They confiscated a lot of things" from the house, he said.
Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said Saturday that Loughner had "a troubled past."
"I'm not a psychiatrist so I have no reason to believe the person was insane. Was he unstable? I would agree with that," he said.
Loughner was kicked out of Pima Community College following a series of run-ins with school officials and police at the colleges where he frequently caused disruptions in classrooms and elsewhere on campus, according to The Arizona Republic.
The tensions with school officials led to Loughner's production of a YouTube video in which he declared the college illegal, the newspaper reports.
The college said Loughner could only return if he received mental-health clearance, according to The Arizona Republic.
Loughner is suspected of posting a series of YouTube videos that show a focus on literacy and currency -- as well as his distrust in the government.
"Hello, my name is Jared Lee Loughner," one of the videos says, in words appearing on the screen. "This video is my introduction to you! My favorite activity is conscience dreaming; the greatest inspiration for my political business information. Some of you don't dream -- sadly."
The video, posted Dec. 15, later turns more political.
"The majority of citizens in the United States of America have never read the United States of America's Constitution. You don't have to accept the federalist laws," the video's titles say. "In conclusion, reading the second United States Constitution, I can't trust the current government because of the ratifications: the government is implying mind control and brainwash on the people by controlling grammar. No! I won't pay debt with a currency that's not backed by gold and silver! No! I won't trust in god!"
Loughner's last writing on his MySpace page was just hours before the shooting.
"Goodbye friends," he wrote. "Please don't be mad at me."
Records obtained from the Pima County, Ariz., criminal database also show Loughner was arrested in 2007 for possessing drug paraphernalia, a misdemeanor charge. The records suggest that Loughner paid a $20 fee and completed a court-ordered program for drug offenders.
Three months later he was cited for running a stop sign, according to court documents.
Another record shows a 2008 arrest for what’s described as a "local charge" in Marana, Ariz., 20 miles northwest of Tucson. The non-criminal charge was dismissed.
A senior U.S. law enforcement official told Fox News that the gun used in Saturday's massacre was a Glock semi-automatic 9-mm. gun with extended magazine. Witnesses told law enforcement that the magazine was high-capacity, about 12 inches long.
U.S. officials told Fox News they know where the gun was purchased in Tucson and plan on questioning the store's owner. The Washington Post reports that Loughner bought the handgun on Nov. 30 at a Sportsman's Warehouse in Tucson.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/01/09/arizona-suspected-gunman-no-stranger-to-trouble/#ixzz1AZDt2195

[Twoller]

When the Obamination spoke up as this being a "national tragedy", you know that other things are in the works. The presence of an extended magazine for his Glock is bound to create some leverage for the anti-gun nuts. And the fact that he is not of middle eastern descent is going to keep his presence in the media eyes for a good couple weeks, for sure. More "home grown" terrorism.

[Mikell]

Why the Tucson Massacre Has Rattled U.S. Judges

In an interview last May, the director of the U.S. Marshals Service, John Clark, said threats against judges are on the rise. "In today's world there are more individuals who are more prone to threatening judges. I think a lot of it has to do with the availability of information with the use of technology and the Internet. Individuals can find out more about particular cases and judges' decisions. They can use the Internet sources to find out more about the judge."

All the more reason to listen to the people.


Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2041435,00.html#ixzz1AZwtj9nt



http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2041435,00.html?hpt=C2

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Sunday, January 9, 2011
Two Sicknesses On Display in Arizona
The shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the killing of several people by gunman Jared Loughner in Arizona yesterday has revealed two sicknesses.

The first and most serious is the sickness living in Loughner's head. Evidence in the form of farewell videos, internet postings, and the recollections of people who knew him reveal a profoundly disturbed person who had veered far into a paranoid world. Loughner's complaints about government mind control and other rants were not "anti-government" in any political sense, but anti-government or anarchist in the Ted Kazynski-deranged sense. We do not know Loughner's motives, but those motives whatever they were were the byproduct of Loughner's clearly delusional view of the world.

There also was a second sickness on display, and it was the swiftness and the vigor with which the left-wing blogosphere and some more mainstream Democrats immediately sought to blame Sarah Palin and right-wing "vitriol" in general for the shooting.

Within minutes of the shooting being made known, two of the highest profile left-wing bloggers, Markos Moulitsas of DailyKos and Matthew Yglesias of Think Progress, pulled out a 10-month-old electoral map used at a Sarah Palin website showing almost two dozen congressional districts being targeted, including Giffords' district. The map was similar to one used by the Democratic Leadership Committee to target Republicans in the prior election cycle, and as Howard Kurtz points out, simply typical of campaign rhetoric using military-themed language.

Markos explicitly accused Palin of having blood on her hands and Yglesias did so implicitly. Through retweets of this message and the map, the left-blogosphere (with some exceptions who took a wait-and-see attitude) took up the cudgel of turning this shooting to their political advantage. Think Progress ran updates with details on the Palin map and also an advertisement several months ago by Giffords' congressional campaign opponent also using military terminology. But clearly, Palin has been the focus, with a larger attack on "right wing vitriol."

Not surprisingly, Keith Olbermann -- one of the most hateful television personalities who names a nightly "Worst Person In The World" -- joined the chorus. Even The New York Times joined the fray, reporting on the Palin map in its initial coverage, and running a Paul Krugman blog post blaming right-wing rhetoric.

Numerous sources also are reporting that Judge John M. Roll, who was killed, had been the subject of threats because of an immigration ruling, but by all accounts Roll was not targeted and was at the event in a shopping area purely by coincidence. [Update: The Criminal Complaint filed this afternoon indicates Judge Roll intended to attend the event to speak with Giffords or her staff, but there is no indication Loughner would have known that.]

Yet not a single person pushing the blame-Palin line has offered a shred of evidence that Loughner ever saw Palin's electoral map, was motivated by it, was right-wing (anectodally it appears Loughner was quite left-wing as of a few years ago), was motivated by right-wing radio, or did any of the things being assumed by the left-blogosphere, the mainstream media and some Democratic politicians.

Not a shred of evidence connecting Loughner to Palin, the Tea Parties, or the right wing, yet the left-blogosphere, mainstream media and Democratic politicians have erupted into a frenzy of name-calling directed at Palin and those who oppose Obama's agenda.

Who knows what evidence will come forward in coming days, but based on what we know now, the attempt to blame Palin and opponents of Obama for the shooting is every bit as delusional as Loughner's attempt to blame government mind control.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time we have seen this type of reaction. The meme that opponents of Obama are crazy and dangerous has been an explicit Democratic Party campaign strategy for over two years. Here is just a partial list of events in which the left-wing and Democratic Party media operation has immediately blamed right-wing rhetoric, only to be proven wrong when the facts finally came out: Bill Sparkman, Amy Bishop, The Fort Hood Shooter, The IRS Plane Crasher, The Cabbie Stabbing, and The Pentagon Shooter.

The facts will come out about the shooting and murder by Loughner. Until then, we'll be subjected to the sickness of people who seek to use the crime to their political advantage and who will worry about the facts later on, if ever.

In the meantime, our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the deceased and those injured.

Update: Congresswoman Giffords took part in the reading of the Constitution on the floor of the House last week, an event which was denounced by the left-blogosphere and some Democrats as a stunt and a reflection of a fetish:
Interestingly, Think Progress posted this video on its YouTube channel back in November, of Democratic pollster (and former Hillary Clinton campaign manager) Mark Penn arguing that Obama needed "another Oklahoma City" in order to reconnect with the people: The manner in which the left-wing is seeking to exploit this crime reflects an attempt to replicate the political success Bill Clinton had after the Oklahoma City bombing.

Indeed, Politico reports (h/t Gateway Pundit) that a Democratic strategist is advising as follows:
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.”
Update No. 2 - Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, whose press conference yesterday has been widely cited as proof that right-wing vitriol led to the killings was just interviewed by Meghan Kelly on FoxNews (approx. 4:45 p.m.) and for the first time was forced to commit as to whether he had any evidence that Loughner actually listened to or was influenced by such political rhetoric. Dupnik admitted "it's just my opinion period" and that "I don't have that information yet."

http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2011/01/two-sicknesses-on-display-in-arizona.html

[Jeanfromfillmore]

This was a post I found on an article in the LA Times. Something to think about.

When Nidal Malik Hasan killed 13 people and wounded 30 others in the Ft. Hood massacre, the media was ever-so-careful to point out that this was the act of *one* deranged individual, and that his actions should in no way be an indictment of the Muslim faith. However when another deranged individual, Jared Lee Loughner, goes on a killing spree, the media is only-too-happy to automatically link and indict conservatives, the Tea Party, the midterm elections, and any other “injustice” it can think of to lump in. People are dead, though that won’t stop The Left from exploiting this horrible tragedy for their own political spin.

[Rim05]

There also was a second sickness on display, and it was the swiftness and the vigor with which the left-wing blogosphere and some more mainstream Democrats immediately sought to blame Sarah Palin and right-wing "vitriol" in general for the shooting.



I must disagree with you. I would not call it a sickness, I would call it 'remembering what that person said'. Palin has said many dumb things that were to incite her followers. When she posted that congressional map with the cross hairs of her targets, I was amazed that no one of the right did not tell her to TONE IT DOWN.
Michelle Bachmann, is another inciter. Look at her eyes and her out of control manner.

I will name a few of the worst ,
1. Sara Palin
2. Michelle Backmann
3. Glenn Beck
4. Rush Limbaugh

There are many more. People should be more aware of what their words can do to an already out of touch mind.


This is not just about the GOP. Everyone is screaming about Freedon of Speech, I think they forget about being responsible.
I look at the picture of that little girl and words are beyond me.

[Ayatollahgondola]

I must disagree with you. I would not call it a sickness, I would call it 'remembering what that person said'. Palin has said many dumb things that were to incite her followers. When she posted that congressional map with the cross hairs of her targets, I was amazed that no one of the right did not tell her to TONE IT DOWN.
Michelle Bachmann, is another inciter. Look at her eyes and her out of control manner.

I will name a few of the worst ,
1. Sara Palin
2. Michelle Backmann
3. Glenn Beck
4. Rush Limbaugh

There are many more. People should be more aware of what their words can do to an already out of touch mind.


This is not just about the GOP. Everyone is screaming about Freedon of Speech, I think they forget about being responsible.
I look at the picture of that little girl and words are beyond me.

Targeting free speech as a measure to prevent tragedies like this is like targeting walking and running as the causes of blisters on your feet.

[Jeanfromfillmore]

I must disagree with you. I would not call it a sickness, I would call it 'remembering what that person said'. Palin has said many dumb things that were to incite her followers. When she posted that congressional map with the cross hairs of her targets, I was amazed that no one of the right did not tell her to TONE IT DOWN.
Michelle Bachmann, is another inciter. Look at her eyes and her out of control manner.

I will name a few of the worst ,
1. Sara Palin
2. Michelle Backmann
3. Glenn Beck
4. Rush Limbaugh

There are many more. People should be more aware of what their words can do to an already out of touch mind.


This is not just about the GOP. Everyone is screaming about Freedon of Speech, I think they forget about being responsible.
I look at the picture of that little girl and words are beyond me.

Rimo, the left has done the same thing in the past as this article points out.

Arizona Massacre Prompts Political 'Cheap Shots'
When Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords collapsed outside the Safeway in Tucson Saturday morning, felled by a hail of bullets that killed six and wounded another 13 innocent people that had come to see her, some were quick to claim that the carnage was the product not merely of the tortured mind and trigger-happy fingers of the alleged shooter, 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner.
Rather, many on the American Left said the horror could be traced to the malign influence of American conservatives; members of the Tea Party; right-wing pundits Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck; former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin; and Fox News.
That was the narrative of culpability spun in the immediate aftermath of the shootings by some leading liberal commentators and Democratic politicians -- despite warnings from religious leaders, lawyers, academics, ethicists, reporters and historians that such a rush to judgment only further deepens the partisan divide in America, and further poisons its discourse.
Within minutes after the attempted assassination of Giffords -- indeed, at a point when it was still erroneously believed in many quarters that she was dead, and the identity of her shooter was not publicly known -- some commentators, absent any credible evidence, were already busily laying blame for the atrocity in political terms. Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman blogged at 3:22 p.m. ET Saturday: "We don't have proof yet that this was political, but the odds are that it was."
Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, a Democrat, also found a political element in Saturday's bloodshed. Dupnik argued that the "vitriol" of the country's harshly polarized political climate was partly to blame, arguing that unbalanced individuals are uniquely "susceptible" to vitriol. Dupnik added, in an interview with Fox News' Megyn Kelly: "We see one party trying to block the attempts of another party to make this a better country."
Asked by Kelly if he had any evidence Loughner was in any way influenced by political "vitriol," Dupnik offered none. "That's my opinion, period," he said.
Krugman, in his blog post on the Times website, went on to mention Giffords' presence last year on Palin's "infamous crosshairs list." This was a map, disseminated by Palin's political action committee, SarahPAC, denoting the districts of 20 vulnerable House Democrats with images of crosshairs overlaid on each. The map was accompanied by a caption saying: IT'S TIME TO TAKE A STAND. Giffords herself, during her narrow campaign victory over a Tea Party-backed opponent last year, had complained about this choice of imagery, telling MSNBC: "The way that (Palin) has it depicted, the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district ...When people do that, they've gotta realize there are consequences to that action."
Unnoted by Giffords then, or Krugman now, is the routine use of similar language and imagery by both parties in a culture obsessed with "battleground" states. Indeed, a nearly identical map, included in a Democratic Leadership Committee publication in 2004, featured nine bullseyes over regions where Republican candidates were considered vulnerable that year, and was accompanied by a caption reading: TARGETING STRATEGY. A smaller caption, beneath the bullseyes, read: BEHIND ENEMY LINES. The map illustrated an article on campaign strategy by Will Marshall of the Progressive Policy Institute.
Krugman's blog post on Saturday linked "the rhetoric of Beck, Limbaugh, etc." to "the violence I fear we're going to see in the months and years ahead," and added: "Violent acts are what happen when you create a climate of hate." Yet in all of the grammatically hobbled writings and statements that Loughner posted on the Internet -- in which, ironically, one of his chief obsessions was others' poor grammar -- the failed student and awkward loner made not a single reference to talk-radio or the TV hosts Krugman cited, to the health care debate or the Tea Party, to Sarah Palin or Fox News.
Still, Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., found conservative lawmakers and Fox News at fault. The eight-term lawmaker told the Bergen Record Saturday: "There's an aura of hate, and elected politicians feed it; certain people on Fox News feed it."
Pascrell, for his part, has appeared as a guest on Fox News at least 159 times, dating from a January 2002 appearance on "The O’Reilly Factor" ("Honor to talk to you," Pascrell told host Bill O’Reilly, at the end of their segment) to an appearance last month on "Your World with Neil Cavuto" -- 38 days before the Tucson massacre. "The nation needs to be united right now," Pascrell told the hosts of "Fox & Friends" last Jan. 28, nearly a year before he blamed the network and GOP politicians for the attempted assassination of Giffords. "We don't do the nation any good by simply dividing amongst ourselves."
Without mentioning Palin by name, Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, the number-two Democrat in the Senate, alluded on Sunday to the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee in his discussion of the causes of the violence the day before. Durbin invoked "don't retreat, reload," a phrase from a well publicized Twitter message once sent by Palin, as the kind of "violent" sentiment that can provoke incidents like Saturday's. "These sorts of things, I think, invite the kind of toxic rhetoric that can lead unstable people to believe this is an acceptable response," Durbin said on CNN’s "State on the Union" program.
Some prominent commentators objected to these comments.
"To try to place blame before an investigation has occurred is in itself inciting hatred," countered Christian missionary Franklin Graham. Reached by Fox News minutes after returning to the United States from Haiti, where he had hosted Palin on a humanitarian mission last month, Graham offered prayers for the wounded and dead, and cautioned against ascribing a political motivation or origin to the violence.
"Because we may disagree with a person from another political party, and something bad happens to that person, does that mean that we are responsible for what happens to that person? By no means. But If somebody calls for someone to go out and shoot someone in the head, then that person is just as responsible as the person who pulled the trigger."
Historian Douglas Brinkley agreed.
"We've got to be careful here that we don't use this as a censoring moment, or use this as a Democrats-beating-up-on-Republicans (moment), or using it as an opportunity to humiliate anybody who's affiliated with the Tea Party movement," Brinkley said. The author of numerous acclaimed biographies, Brinkley has edited the collected papers of the late Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, and won the 2007 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award for "The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast."
"There are definitely times when you have fallout from politics," Brinkley told Fox News in an interview from Austin, Texas, "but we don't want to lose the central point here: that this is a deranged person, that there's nobody serious in the Republican Party that would want to see such a heinous event happen at a Safeway. So we've got to be careful not to be braggadocio, not to use this, if you're a Democrat, as a weapon."
Reporter Pete Williams, who covers legal affairs and the Supreme Court for NBC News, steered his viewers away from a political explanation for the violent attack on a political figure. "The initial picture we're getting is that this is not what you would call, in the traditional sense, a politically motivated act," Williams said. "This seems to be the actions of a very disturbed individual."
That call was widely heard on Fox News.
"I don't know whether he's insane or not, but I do know that we need a reasonable discussion of what was going on with this man," said Peter Johnson, Jr., a Fox News legal analyst. "(Loughner's Internet) statements, taken together with the police conduct with regard to his known activities -- especially taken with the fact that he was rejected by the Army -- paints a disturbing picture of a mind that appears not to be intact. ... And we need to understand that the spinning wheel of recrimination at this point should be based on the facts, and not based on some rhetorical determination."
Juan Williams, the liberal Fox News analyst and historian of the civil rights movement, said Sheriff Dupnik "speaks for a lot of people" who would like to see the tenor of the American political debate dialed down a notch. "People realize that in the era of Obama, a lot of highly charged vilification of the president has been going on, particularly during the health-care debate," Williams said. "So people are alert for anything that could possibly be tied to the highly polarized political environment."
At the same time, Williams recalled the "bump" in public opinion polls President Clinton received when, in the wake of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, he attacked right-wing radio hosts. Williams urged Democrats to refrain from adopting a similar tactic today.
"Some on the left are taking cheap shots," Williams said, "to try to keep Republicans on the defensive. In all honesty, I don't see any direct connection between any Republican group and this shooter ... who is a psycho nut-job."
Peter Wehner, a senior fellow at the Ethic and Public Policy Center in Washington, called the comments by Krugman, Durbin, and other liberals "sickening."
"People were taking a terrible human tragedy and using it as a political club, and there wasn’t even a moratorium of 24 hours, or even 24 minutes," said Wehner.
A veteran of several Republican White Houses and the co-author of "City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era," Wehner said it would have been "legitimate" if the Tucson massacre had provoked a dialogue about gun control, because conservatives often seize on terrorist incidents to frame national security debates. But he also saw a double standard at work. "When (former Rep. Alan) Grayson called his opponent 'Taliban Dan' (during Grayson's losing re-election campaign last year against GOP challenger Daniel Webster)," Wehner said, "I didn’t notice the left being concerned about an atmosphere of violence."
Palin has issued a statement expressing her "sincere condolences" to those affected by Saturday’s shootings, but has not responded to suggestions that her statements, often studded with references to hunting and firearms, played some role in the Tucson massacre.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/10/arizona-massacre-prompts-political-cheap-shots/#ixzz1AfVfQKfp

[Twoller]

Accusing public speakers of indirectly inciting incidents like this is itself incitement. It creates respectability in the minds of othes potential assassins who may seek inspiration from those public speakers. And nobody is directly inciting anyone to assassination or any other acts of violence.

Another thing to observe is that this man was not a terrorist and if anyone is being incited, it is not to terrorism. And meanwhile we are obliged to tolerate open incitement to terrorism from the Muslim community.

And so it is a "massacre". But massacres are pretty tame stuff these days when every day somebody straps on explosive and kills at least ten people in some crowd somewhere in a suicidal act. Jean is right. Hasan killed thirteen people and he regularly consumed open calls for terrorism. He wasn't an assassin, he was a terrorist.

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Here is what NewsBusted is exposing as the the leftist spin on this tragedy.


Gabrielle Giffords
Arizona Shooting Coverage Is a Media Campaign to Criminalize Conservatism
By Brent Bozell | January 10, 2011 | 15:59
Managing Editor's Note: Media Research Center President Brent Bozell issued the following statement after a thorough, two-day review of how the media have covered the tragic shooting in Arizona.
Implicating a conservative tie to this heinous act of violence or to Jared Lee Loughner, who is no conservative, is nothing short of a naked campaign to criminalize conservative thought.
Sadly, those who point their finger are at the nexus of hypocrisy. Take the unidentified “veteran Democratic strategist” who told Politico that, ‘they need to deftly pin this on the tea partiers … Just like the Clinton White House deftly pinned the Oklahoma City bombing on the militia and anti-government people.’

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/category/people/gabrielle-giffords#ixzz1Ag2q78md

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-bozell/2011/01/10/arizona-shooting-coverage-media-campaign-criminalize-conservatism



Networks Tout Democratic Sheriff's Warnings That 'Climate of Political Vitriol' Created Shooting

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/category/people/gabrielle-giffords#ixzz1Ag3OdMv4

ABC, NBC and MSNBC on Monday all eagerly hyped the complaints by an Arizona sheriff that the "anger and bigotry" of everyday Americans contributed to Saturday's shooting. None of the journalists interviewing Clarence Dupnik identified as an elected Democratic official. (ABC's Jake Tapper did in a separate piece.)
Former Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe and lauded Dupnik: "I think in part a lot of public officials are timid. The Pima County Sheriff is not. He is speaking out, and too few others have because they're worried about retribution."
Brokaw, directly making a connection, added, "And that's something that those of us on this side of the camera also have to be thinking about and not just be feeding that. Look, Sarah Palin with "Don't Retreat; Reload," and the crosshairs on the map."

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/category/people/gabrielle-giffords#ixzz1Ag3JyGhh

Hillary Clinton Calls Giffords Shooter 'An Extremist'


Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has weighed in on the shootings in Tucscon telling an audience in the United Arab Emirates, "We have extremists in my country" (video follows with partial transcript and commentary):

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/category/people/gabrielle-giffords#ixzz1Ag3YYdjA

Barbara Walters Defends Sarah Palin: Blaming Her For Giffords Shooting 'Very Unfair'

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/category/people/gabrielle-giffords#ixzz1Ag3wyj00

NBC's Lee Cowan Highlights Palin Map As Possible Rationale for Attack on Gabrielle Giffords

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/category/people/gabrielle-giffords#ixzz1Ag47iOhw

On Monday's Today show, NBC's Lee Cowan, inspired by Arizona Sheriff Clarence Dupnik's blaming political rhetoric for the Gabrielle Giffords shooting, highlighted Sarah Palin's Web site map featuring crosshairs on Giffords' district, as he scolded: "Not since Timothy McVeigh attacked the federal building in Oklahoma City has a crime sparked so much attention on anti-government rhetoric. That map Sarah Palin put up on Facebook last year, targeting Congresswoman Gifford's seat, made Gifford nervous, even then."
To underscore Dupnik's charge about political rhetoric, in addition to citing the Palin crosshairs map, Cowan aired clips from various health care and immigration protests, but paid close attention to those opposed to the Democratic agenda including Republican Congressman Joe Wilson, as seen in the following excerpt:

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/category/people/gabrielle-giffords#ixzz1Ag426FWD


Ex-Newsweek Editor Howard Fineman Counsels Obama on How to Spin Shooting for Political Gain
Within hours of the mass shooting in Arizona, former Newsweek editor Howard Fineman on Saturday was offering Barack Obama tips on how to manipulate the outburst of violence for his political advantage.
Making comparisons to Bill Clinton's response to the Oklahoma City bombing, he lobbied, "...Obama may be able to remind voters of what they like best about him: his sensible demeanor. Amid the din and ferocity of our political culture, he respectfully keeps his voice down, his emotions in check and his mind open."
The piece, which appeared on the left-wing Huffington Post, featured this coldly calculating follow-up: "That is the pitch, at least. The trick is to make it without seeming to be trying to make it. He will, after all, be speaking at a funeral."

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/category/people/gabrielle-giffords#ixzz1Ag4LpQ52
WaPo Editorial: 'Violent Metaphors' Don't Kill People, 'Guns Kill People'
While many liberal media outlets are obsessing over conservative political rhetoric they insist leads to incidents like the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Arizona), the Washington Post today has opted instead to exploit the tragic shooting to push for gun control.
"The early evidence raises questions about mental illness and indiscriminate access to guns," the Post complained in the subheadline to its top January 10 editorial, "Carnage in Arizona.":
The temptation will be, as Arizona and the nation mourn the dead and hope for the recovery of the wounded, to infuse the terrible attack with broader political meaning - to blame the actions of the alleged 22-year-old gunman, Jared Lee Loughner, on a vitriolic political culture laced with violent metaphors and ugly attacks on opponents. Maybe. But metaphors don't kill people - guns kill people.
Of course the Post editorial board went on to see a broader political meaning in the tragedy, namely, the "need" for more gun control:

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/category/people/gabrielle-giffords#ixzz1Ag4clwuE


Here It Comes: In Shooting's Wake, Media Gear Up to Slime Conservatives

The recent shootings in Tucson, Arizona were absolutely horrible. Because of the actions of one demented misfit, there is terrible suffering, society has been deprived of productive citizens and families will never be the same.
Jared Loughner was a volatile powder keg that was bound to explode, but the sad fact of the matter is that although there were many people who viewed him as dangerous, nobody could do anything about it.
The bare facts alone are tragic and sordid enough but I noticed that something is creeping into the reporting of the incident. Some of the more left-leaning media would like us to believe that this demented young man went on his murderous spree because he belonged to some fringe far-right organization or had sympathies toward the Tea Party’s political agenda.

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/category/people/gabrielle-giffords#ixzz1Ag4m3YwM


George Stephanopoulos Highlights AZ Sheriff Who Blames Shooting on 'Atmosphere of Hate'
ABC's George Stephanopoulos on Monday offered a platform to the Arizona sheriff who has lashed out in the wake of Saturday's state's spree shooting. Additionally, unlike colleague Jake Tapper, the GMA host failed to mention the political ideology of the sheriff, Democrat Clarence Dupnik, who has attacked those who "try to inflame the public on a daily basis."

[Jeanfromfillmore]

And more from NewBusted. There is plenty more on this there that I didn't add. Go check it out.

After getting the latest information on the act of violence, Stephanopoulos observed, "You believe, you said very clearly you believe the political climate has helped create an atmosphere of hate that can touch people like Jared Loughner." He asserted that Dupnik "hasn't pulled any punches."
Tapper pointed out in a seperate story that a friend referred to Loughner as a "liberal," but Stephanopoulos ignored this information. He highlighted ties to a possible racist group instead: "But, how about the ties, that he might have had some loose ties to that white supremacist website American Renaissance project?"

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/category/people/gabrielle-giffords#ixzz1Ag56GqxX


New Republic Editor: 'The Arizona Shooting Is Not a Product of Right-Wing Rage'

Although your humble correspondent has crossed swords (nanny note: "crossed swords" is strictly a metaphor) with the senior editor of the The New Republic in the past, he highly recommends Jonathan Chait's latest article in The New Republic, "The Arizona Shooting Is Not A Product Of Right-Wing Rage," as required reading for those members of the mainstream media who have blamed the "right-wing" for the shootings of Congresswoman Gabrille Giffords and others in Arizona on Saturday.
Despite the fact that most of Chait's article displayed some refreshing mental clarity I do have some caveats about it because he does revert to slamming conservatives for supposed extremism on other matters. However, those problems with the article aside for the moment, let us first take a look at Chait correctly chastising those quick to blame "right-wingers" for the Arizona shootings:

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/category/people/gabrielle-giffords#ixzz1Ag5TOq2x

Today Show Links Sarah Palin to Giffords Shooting

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/category/people/gabrielle-giffords?page=1#ixzz1Ag5n4tZg


CBS's Cordes: 'Increasingly Angry Tone in Politics' May Have Led to 'Culture of Violence'

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/category/people/gabrielle-giffords?page=1#ixzz1Ag5u8OTP


Wash Post Columnist Who Wanted to Bash Tea Partiers' Teeth In Trashes Boehner, Conservatives for Harsh Rhetoric

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/category/people/gabrielle-giffords?page=1#ixzz1Ag61neFq


ABC's Jake Tapper Pokes Holes in Attempts to Blame Conservatives for Arizona Shooting

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/category/people/gabrielle-giffords?page=1#ixzz1Ag6BTr3C


AP: Giffords Shooter 'Believed the U.S. Government Was Behind 9/11'

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/category/people/gabrielle-giffords?page=1#ixzz1Ag6Mm9pe


Open Thread: 'The Politics of Blood Libel'

In the Wall Street Journal, law professor Glenn Reynolds, of Instapundit fame, recounts some tactics of the left's ongoing crusade to pin Saturday's tragic Tuscon, Arizona shootings on Sarah Palin. Reynolds recalls points made at NewsBusters and elsewhere, and concludes thusly:
To be clear, if you're using this event to criticize the "rhetoric" of Mrs. Palin or others with whom you disagree, then you're either: (a) asserting a connection between the "rhetoric" and the shooting, which based on evidence to date would be what we call a vicious lie; or (b) you're not, in which case you're just seizing on a tragedy to try to score unrelated political points, which is contemptible. Which is it?

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/category/people/gabrielle-giffords?page=1#ixzz1Ag6iw8on


NYT: 'It's Legitimate to Blame Republicans and Their Most Virulent Supporters in the Media'

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/category/people/gabrielle-giffords?page=1#ixzz1Ag79oCSz

[Patriotic Army Mom]

Wow Rimo, I don't agree with you. You should hear what the liberals have said, that is down right a call for war and revolution. This is very sad and any mind sick person could have done this. Before Palin ever entered the picture, this mind sick kid was doing this stuff. I'm sure his drug use helped him out. He is responsible for his actions and his drug use helped his messed up mind get more messed up. No one is responsible but this man himself.

[Rim05]

Targeting free speech as a measure to prevent tragedies like this is like targeting walking and running as the causes of blisters on your feet.

Why don't we address free responsible speech. In the past I don't think we needed to add responsible speech.

I stand by what I posted above.

[Ayatollahgondola]

Why don't we address free responsible speech. In the past I don't think we needed to add responsible speech.

I stand by what I posted above.

Because the first amendment is so important to our way of life and our government, there can be so very few codes to restrict speech. One of the few is civil lawsuits, which can be brought when certain offenses occur. You can sue for monetary damages, and some cases an injunction or restraining order, but generally we cannot silence people by decree. Another way is spreading opposing speech to counteract that which is not always agreed with. But basically the law cannot further designate what is or isn't responsible speech. There is only responsible listening.

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Obama Officials Use Fox News to Smear Conservative Group in Shootings

By Cliff Kincaid | January 9, 2011
The only certain fact about the motivation of Arizona killer Jared Loughner is that, like the lunatic who opened fire on the Pentagon last March, he is a pothead. Several people who knew Loughner say that he was a serious abuser of the drug and “liked to smoke pot.” What’s more, Loughner had been arrested in 2007 for possessing drug paraphernalia.
The use of marijuana has been linked to mental illness, including psychosis, and increases the kind of paranoia exhibited by Loughner in his writings.
However, Jennifer Griffin of Fox News recklessly and irresponsibly claimed on Sunday morning that the killer was a political conservative. Using Obama officials as her sources, she reported that “intelligence gathered by the Department of Homeland Security and shared with state officials across the United States” had revealed “a strong suspicion” that the shooter was influenced by a conservative publication called American Renaissance (AR).
This publication is on the right side of the political spectrum and is politically incorrect because of its criticism of racial preference and “diversity” programs and immigration policies that weaken the strength of a country. It has scheduled a Feb. 4–Feb. 6, 2011, conference in Charlotte, North Carolina.
One would have expected that a “conservative” news channel dedicated to fairness and balance would not be so quick to publicize the charges or “suspicions” of some anonymous federal officials in the Obama Administration who seem anxious and eager to smear conservative groups.
But without bothering to get a response, Griffin claimed, “This is based on some of the videos he posted on YouTube. This group’s ideology is anti-government, anti-immigration, and anti-Semitic.”
But a review of Loughner’s YouTube videos finds nothing about American Renaissance.
To make matters worse, it turns out that Griffin not only did not contact AR for a response but badly mischaracterized the nature of the publication.
Jared Taylor of American Renaissance told AIM that he first heard about the charge from CNN, not Fox News. He said that when he found out about the story on the Fox News website, he emailed several Fox News correspondents denouncing the allegations. “I got no response,” he said.
Eventually, he was contacted by James Rosen of Fox News. But that was after Fox News analyst Juan Williams, recently fired by National Public Radio, cited the charges as if they were true on Fox News Sunday.
Apparently using the questionable Griffin story as his source, Williams was quick to claim “there are connections between him [the shooter] and this group, American Renaissance, I think they’re called, and they are strongly anti-immigrant, they’re anti-Semitic and they’re anti-government.”
Nothing Williams said was backed up by the facts and he did not cite any.
Taylor told Rosen that the charges are “scurrilous” and that he took issue with the reference to his group being “anti-ZOG” (Zionist Occupational Government).
“That is complete nonsense,” Taylor said. “I have absolutely no idea what DHS [Department of Homeland Security] is talking about. We have never used the term ‘ZOG.’ We have never thought in those terms. If this is the level of research we are getting from DHS, then Heaven help us.”
In a statement on the publication’s website, Jared Taylor went into more detail and countered: “No one by the name of Loughner has ever been a subscriber to American Renaissance or has ever registered for an American Renaissance conference. We have no evidence that he has even visited the AR website.”
He added, “American Renaissance condemns violence in the strongest possible terms, and nothing that has ever appeared in it pages could be interpreted as countenancing it.”
A subsequent story by Griffin claimed that American Renaissance was mentioned “in some of his [Loughner’s] internet postings and federal law enforcement officials are investigating Loughner’s possible links to the organization.”
But no evidence of such postings or links was cited or has surfaced.
In this Griffin story, the source became a “law enforcement memo based on information provided by DHS and obtained by Fox News…” She falsely characterized American Renaissance as “a pro-white racist organization.”
Giving it a high degree of credibility, Greta Van Susteren of Fox News insisted it was “an internal memo” that was “put out by DHS” and reproduced the entire thing.
While American Renaissance is critical of government affirmative action programs and unrestricted immigration, there is no evidence of anti-Semitism, and there is no evidence that American Renaissance by any objective standard is a racist organization. It does deal with racial issues. But so does the Congressional Black Caucus.
The memo in question supposedly said, in relation to AR, “…no direct connection—but strong suspicion is being directed at AmRen / American Renaissance. Suspect is possibly linked to this group. (through videos posted on his myspace and YouTube account.). The group’s ideology is anti government, anti immigration, anti ZOG (Zionist Occupational Government), anti Semitic. Gabrielle Gifford is the first Jewish female elected to such a high position in the US government. She was also opposite this group’s ideology when it came to immigration debate.”
Jared Taylor countered: “AR is not anti-government, anti-Semitic, or anti-ZOG, as is clear from the 20 years of back issues that are posted on our website. The expression ‘ZOG’ has never appeared in the pages of AR, and we have always welcomed Jewish participation in our work. Many of the speakers at American Renaissance conferences have been Jewish.”
What’s more, Taylor noted that, “Gabrielle Giffords is not the ‘first Jewish female elected to such a high position in the US government.’ Barbara Boxer has represented California in the Senate from 1993, and Dianne Feinstein has done so since 1992. There are at least six Jewish congresswomen listed by Wikipedia as currently serving in the House. If this memo is typical of the research done by the Department of Homeland Security, our country is in serious danger. I telephoned DHS today to try to get the bottom of this nonsense, but apparently there is no homeland security on Sundays. The person who answered the phone said no one is there and that I should call back on Monday morning.”
He added, “Fortunately, some of the media organizations that have been reporting this story have contacted me, and have reported my assertion that American Renaissance knows nothing at all about Jared Loughner, that we condemn all violence, and that we cannot possibly be described as anti-Semitic.”
After going on the air with the false and malicious charges about AR, Fox News finally published a story with a response to the charges under the headline, “American Renaissance Denies DHS Charges, Any Affiliation With Shooter.”
A later Fox News story reported, “New details are emerging about Loughner as a law enforcement memo based on information provided by the Department of Homeland Security and obtained by Fox News suggests he may have ties to the American Renaissance group, though it’s unclear if he was directly affiliated with the publication or group.”
It is apparent that Fox News is backing away from the story, after already doing damage to and smearing the organization.
By this point, however, dozens of liberal-left media outlets and bloggers have already cited Fox News as the source of the claim that the killer was involved in a conservative group.
Taylor called for an investigation into how and where DHS obtained the bogus information and who leaked it to Fox News.
“I’d like to know where they are getting this nonsense,” Taylor told AIM. “What else are they telling other people?”
http://www.aim.org/aim-column/obama-officials-use-fox-news-to-smear-conservative-group-in-shootings/