Local Party Chiefs Welcome Exception To Reaction To Tragedy

Yesterday's news that a senseless shooting in Tucson, Arizona took the lives of a Bush-appointed federal judge John Roll and five other innocent victims and left Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in critical condition brought a reaction that has become all too uncommon from the Left--blame people on the Right. Blame Sarah Palin and the Tea Party activists who had targeted Rep. Giffords in last year's election, ignoring the fact that the leftist Daily Kos blog had recently declared Giffords dead in its eyes because of her right-leaning views on many issues. Blame talk radio and proponents of immigration reform as Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik did before even bothering to investigate what possibly could have motivated 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner to commit such a horrific act, who subsequent news reports suggest was not driven by any right wing political ideology or bigotry and, in particular, immigration-related issues. Locally, Marion Co. GOP Chairman Kyle Walker and his Democratic counterpart, Ed Treacy, in a welcome move, issued this joint statement:

We join all Americans today shocked and saddened by the tragedy in Arizona. Politics is often the business of disagreeing. But it shouldn't descend into violence. One of the hallmarks of this great American experiment has always been the peaceful transfer of power. Violence has had no place. Violence and the rhetoric that incites it should have no place in our politics. We condemn these actions. Our thoughts and prayers are with the deceased and injured and their families tonight.

Hats off to Walker and Treacy for rising above the partisan fray and avoiding the temptation to turn this national tragedy into an excuse for scoring political points. My only caveat to their statement is that it is not clear the shooter was driven by political ideology as much as he was driven by mental illness based on news accounts of his state of mind prior to yesterday's shooting.

UPDATE: Pamela Geller hits the nail on the head with her reaction to the Left's attempts to politicize yesterday's tragic shootings to their advantage. She points out the reason the Daily Kos deemed Rep. Giffords as good as dead days ago was because she was among more than a dozen House Democrats who voted against Nancy Pelosi for House Speaker:

When Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head and six others were killed Saturday morning by a gunman Jared Loughner, the left wing smear machine went into high gear. Left wing politicians blamed the Tea Party (before the gunman was even named), and left wing hate sites blamed Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh for the shooting, when it was actually done by one of their murderous own. It’s always one of their own.


Loughner’s leftwing high school friend, Caitie Parker, remembers him as a “political radical”: “He was left wing,” she wrote; “As I knew him he was left wing, quite liberal.”

FOX News has reported that the shooter’s favorite books are the Communist Manifesto and Mein Kampf. Loughner is also reportedly an atheist. There’s an anti-bible quote in one of his videos: “Every United States Military recruit at MEPS in Phoenix is receiving one mini bible before the tests. Jared Loughner is a United States Military recruit at MEPS in Phoenix. Therefore, Jared Loughner is receiving one mini bible before the tests.”

Loughner also has a creepy “music video” up on YouTube, in which he is dressed as a terrorist and burns an American flag. FOX News has confirmed that the hooded figure in the video is indeed Loughner.

Also, Congresswoman Giffords is a major Blue Dog Democrat — almost so right wing that she would be considered a conservative in certain areas. She was on almost every important issue essentially a Republican. Her only major left position was support of Obamacare.

But on immigration, she is a blue dog. She supports Second Amendment gun rights and opposed the ban on guns in Washington, D.C. She is also a very strong supporter of border control.

The left hates her. The DailyKos put up a post on January 6, which has now been pulled, saying: “My CongressWOMAN [Gabrielle Giffords] voted against Nancy Pelosi! And is now DEAD to me!”

This shooting is what they teach, this is the poisonous fruit of their indoctrination. Clearly, Loughner is sick, mentally ill — but suckling at the lefty teat is deadly poison for the soul.

And look whose words provoke images of acting out violently one's political views:

** Obama: “They Bring a Knife…We Bring a Gun”


** Obama to His Followers: “Get in Their Faces!”

** Obama on ACORN Mobs: “I don’t want to quell anger. I think people are right to be angry! I’m angry!”

** Obama to His Mercenary Army: “Hit Back Twice As Hard”

** Obama on the private sector: “We talk to these folks… so I know whose ass to kick.“

** Obama to voters: Republican victory would mean “hand to hand combat”

** Obama to lib supporters: “It’s time to Fight for it.”

** Obama to Latino supporters: “Punish your enemies.”

** Obama to democrats: “I’m itching for a fight.”