According to MSNBC, Rep. Giffords was shot point blank in the head at a public event in Tucson.
There are few details at this point.
NPR and MSNBC are reporting the congresswoman is dead, as are six others. The shooter is in custody.
UPDATE 12:50 p.m. – MSNBC is now reporting the congresswoman is in surgery – she’s not dead but she is very critical.
#1 by Uncle Rico on January 8, 2011 - 12:23 pm
NPR is reporting that Rep. Giffords has died.
#2 by Uncle Rico on January 8, 2011 - 12:25 pm
“We’ve diagnosed the problem. Help us prescribe the solution.” -SarahPAC
#3 by Glenden Brown on January 8, 2011 - 12:34 pm
I can’t begin to describe how much this sort of thing angers me. There’s no reason for it, no good can come of it. It just hurts people.
#4 by Becky Stauffer on January 8, 2011 - 12:45 pm
We know that Giffords was the target of threats and actual violence by self-avowed tea partiers, and her district was marked with a gun crosshairs on Sarah Palin’s own web site.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40978517/ns/politics/
#5 by Glenden Brown on January 8, 2011 - 12:56 pm
Apparently her AZ office was vandalized last spring after the vote on the Affordable Care Act.
#6 by James Farmer on January 8, 2011 - 1:06 pm
Absolutely incredible. This is just WRONG!
#7 by Uncle Rico on January 8, 2011 - 1:09 pm
Votes by Rep. Giffords yesterday opposing repeal of the health care law. Hmmm.
Roll Call No. 9
Roll Call No. 10
#8 by James Farmer on January 8, 2011 - 1:18 pm
Her father Spencer Giffords, 75, wept when asked if his 40-year-old daughter had any enemies.
“Yeah,” he told The Post. “The whole tea party.”
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/ariz_congresswoman_shot_in_head_YFTvsurRHy5OWGSRKnuK8J#ixzz1ATapcbLU
#9 by James Farmer on January 8, 2011 - 1:25 pm
Palin remarks:
“My sincere condolences are offered to the family of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims of today’s tragic shooting in Arizona.
On behalf of Todd and my family, we all pray for the victims and their families, and for peace and justice.”
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=485459383434
I will refrain at this point from jumping to conclusions, but it looks as though Sarah’s cross-hair strategy may have worked (or backfired).
#10 by Uncle Rico on January 8, 2011 - 1:48 pm
SarahPAC has changed its website within the past hour and removed her “top 20″ congressional representatives for which a “solution” was needed. What me?
#11 by Glenden Brown on January 8, 2011 - 2:17 pm
Msnbc is reporting that Giffords surgeon is optimistic about her chances.
#12 by cav on January 8, 2011 - 3:02 pm
A once-principled conservative movement of reasoned activists has turned into a mob — one that does not engage in civilized battles of ideas. Instead, these torch-carriers, gun-brandishers and tea partiers follow an anti-government terrorist attack by cheering a demagogue’s demand for the physical annihilation of those with whom he disagrees — namely anyone, but particularly progressives, who value “community.”
No doubt, some conservatives will parse, insisting Beck was only endorsing the “eradication” of progressivism but not of progressives.
These same willful ignoramuses will also likely say that the Nazis’ beef was with Judaism but not Jews, and that white supremacists dislike African-American culture but have no problem with black people.
Other conservatives will surely depict Beck’s “eradication” line as just the jest of a self-described “rodeo clown” — merely the “fusion of entertainment and enlightenment,” as his radio motto intones. But if Beck is half as smart as he incessantly tells listeners he is, then he knows it’s no joke.
In a melting-pot nation of slave descendants and immigrant refugees haunted by ancestral memories of despotic violence, Beck is deliberately employing coded and menacing language, warning his opponents not to believe Sinclair Lewis’ refrain that such horror “can’t happen here.” Beck wants adversaries to know that it can and it will — to them, and at his movement’s hands.
http://www.creators.com/opinion/david-sirota/it-is-happening-here.html
#13 by Becky Stauffer on January 8, 2011 - 3:25 pm
Disturbing information is emerging about the shooter.
I looked at the videos and I don’t understand his message, but he is clearly suffering from delusions. He doesn’t appear to be part of any group, and his philosophy is something unique and bizarre.
I doubt he is a follower of Sarah Palin. But I have to wonder, what does it mean that Palin changed her web site so quickly. Does she acknowledge her “crosshairs” images and language like “firing the first salvo” might be taken literally by some of her followers? Could she be acknowledging her words and images are over the line?
#14 by cav on January 8, 2011 - 5:13 pm
Am I correct in assuming only the mindless, pot-smoking Commie Hippie anti-Constitutional Socialist fringe could have thought a dysfunctional, croney-hobbled government, corrupt financial system, cheerleading corporate media and a plutocratic righwing cabal hellbent to restore neofeudalism would have created an environment enabling such mindless violence???
Both sides are going to have to tone it down.
.
#15 by Larry Bergan on January 8, 2011 - 6:58 pm
There is an unmistakable pattern in America – over decades now – of “lone gunmen” shooting at politicians, and other high profile people, with no discernible reason whatsoever.
John F. Kennedy
Robert Kennedy
Martin Luther King
John Lennon
Ronald Reagan
What is going on!
#16 by Larry Bergan on January 8, 2011 - 7:02 pm
Did I miss any?
#17 by Larry Bergan on January 8, 2011 - 8:21 pm
I don’t want to dampen anybody’s wise desire not to jump to conclusions, but (as an unarmed man), let me squeak out the fact that Republicans haven’t been real good at nuance as of recently.
#18 by Glenden Brown on January 8, 2011 - 10:52 pm
Larry – what’s coming out about the alleged shooter is kind of scary. Sounds like he was someone who was not in his right mind. It’s a tragedy in several ways.
#19 by cav on January 8, 2011 - 11:36 pm
He is reportedly a 22-year-old veteran of the War in Afghanistan named Jared Laughner.
Heaping platters of PTSD all around.
#20 by Larry Bergan on January 9, 2011 - 12:03 am
Guess I forgot about “lone gunman” Timothy.
#21 by cav on January 9, 2011 - 8:29 am
Rumors the army rejected (one of) the perp(s).
http://www.uberlinks.org/blog/new-picture-second-suspect-wanted-in-shooting?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed:+Uberlinks+(Uberlinks+News)&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
Might just scracth the lone gunman scenario.
#22 by Richard Warnick on January 9, 2011 - 11:42 am
Surveying the cable news coverage and the Sunday morning talk shows, it seems that the almighty media is willing once again to engage in mostly unbridled speculation. However two rules are being strictly observed.
(1) This is a Tragedy according to everybody from the President on down. Tragedy in Tucson. Not “terrorism,” that’s a forbidden word even though the shooter described himself as a terrorist on YouTube.
(2) Nobody on TV is allowed to suggest we do anything to keep guns out of the hands of crazy would-be assassins. This is especially relevant given that Rep. Giffords is a gun rights supporter who might change her mind on this issue now.
#23 by Becky Stauffer on January 9, 2011 - 12:51 pm
Everyone is falling all over themselves saying what an avid supporter of the 2nd Amendment she is. I think they’re all scared of the “gun rights” people who will suggest, of course, that anyone who might advocate ANY kind of regulation, licensing, or God forbid, prohibition for certain people to obtain guns, must be ANTI 2nd Amendment, anti-constitution, unpatriotic, and unAmerican. I’ve taken that flack myself.
#24 by Uncle Rico on January 9, 2011 - 2:07 pm
Supplement to Richard’s rules:
(3) Do not dare suggest that vitriol and agitprop, especially if coming from the right, could conceivably have any radicalizing affect on those who hear it. That only happens with muslims and niggas who listen to rap.
#25 by Uncle Rico on January 9, 2011 - 2:13 pm
[Sarah]
How many retards’ll listen to me
and run up in the school shootin when they’re pissed at a
teach-er, her, him, is it you is it them?
“Wasn’t me, Sarah Shady said to do it again!”
Damn! How much damage can you do with a pen?
Man I’m just as fucked up as you woulda been
if you woulda been, in my shoes, who woulda thought
Sarah Shady would be somethin that you woulda bought
that woulda made you get a gun and shoot at a cop
I just said it – I ain’t know if you’d do it or not
[Chorus]
[Sarah]
How the fuck was I supposed to know?
#26 by glenn on January 9, 2011 - 3:00 pm
MK Ultra maybe, the “lone nutter”? Ya right.
Ever notice that all the assassins have 3 names? Lee Harvey Oswald, Jared Lee Loughner, John Hinckley Jr.,(known to the Bush family), John Allen Muhammad (DC Sniper), Mark David Chapman (Lennon’s killer), James Earl Ray, (MLK’s killer), Sirhan Bashara Sirhan (RFK’s killer) and so on, they are always referred to by their 3 names in the media, Sirhan Sirhan the exception but his name is memorable. They roll off the tongue nicely. The people that kill the assassins if necessary have 2 names and are always referred to as so in the media, ex. Jack Ruby. Where is his middle name?
Timothty wasn’t a lone gunman, he had help, as do probably all of these “lone nutters” There have been reports that Laughner had help. I bet those rumors disappear faster than a 20 on a New York sidewalk.
Mk Ultra mind control makes malleable nuts effective assassins. The science is sound, the German’s experimented with it, the Russians do it all day. So do we. You just have to wonder.
http://www.wanttoknow.info/050626mkultra
Google “Operation Paperclip” if you want to know where some of the worst Nazi’s went after the war.
Becky, we watch multi million dollar aircraft through the crosshairs dump bombs on innocents from beginning to end on TV. Same is true of drones. Over the line, this country is over the line by now.
Rogue state, with Bubbles Obama signing the pentagon checks and ordering drone strikes. Been a while since you been here Becky, how you like Obama now?
He’s a plant, and not the “green” kind, though he is friends with BP, and they have a green logo. I guess that will have to do.
#27 by glenn on January 9, 2011 - 3:18 pm
Historical note. In 1765 Governor Hutchinson the American born Tory governor of Massachusetts instituted on crown orders the Stamp Act. The French and Indian Wars were still ongoing, ended in 1767. The point is the colonists were strapped, and the tax was a final straw. A mob went to Hutchinson’s mansion, gathered up his treasured possessions and burned them in a pile before his very eyes. Then they demolished his “elegant home”. The irony is that Hutchinson was privately against the Stamp Act but who he represented made him an enemy of the People. This is a a full 11 years before the Declaration of Independence.
I do this to describe what civil unrest is truly like historically, people get killed for their beliefs, innocents as well, and high standing people with their public personas make for easy targets with lasting resonance.
Sign of the times.
For example if you were a supporter of the government prior to 1776 and were a vocal and prominent Tory, there was a pretty good chance you would be tarred and feathered. While most view this practice as a novel form of hazing, the fact is, 9 times out of ten it was death sentence, a slow and miserable one. Only if you had money and people who loved you could the tar be removed from your body before it killed you.
The government is making enemies of it’s people in the same way it makes enemies all over the world tramping around. We pay for it, so by now, nobody has any sympathy for Americans who will not stop their intrusive government overseas, and growing discontent with it here.
Let’s see what becomes of Loughner. If he dies quickly in a “mishap” that will be a grand clue for me.
#28 by cav on January 9, 2011 - 6:17 pm
RE: link in comment #21. The Twitterverse is saying the person of interest was a cab driver, who has been interviewed and cleared. He simply took Loughner as a fare, went into store to make change.
#29 by cav on January 9, 2011 - 6:25 pm
Here it is:
Authorities clear man called ‘person of interest’ in Giffords shooting case
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/article_51bb5006-1bd6-11e0-9fec-001cc4c002e0.html
#30 by Federal Farmer on January 10, 2011 - 10:31 pm
How can anyone connect this shooting to Sarah Palin or the TEA Party? If you are upset for the “target” comment, please also condemn the Daily Kos for putting a “bullseye” on the representative for similar reasons.
This is the most absurd and shameless politicization of a tragedy I’ve ever witnessed. If we are going to blame Sarah Palin and Co. for the shooting, let’s also blame Marx for the Kennedy assasination… Robert Redford for the murder of John Lennon, and Jodie Foster for the Reagan shooting.
Bottom-line: there is absolutely no evidence connecting the TEA Party and/or Sarah Palin to the shooter. If we must determine the shooter’s politics, it’s more reasonable to say he was a “left-wing” radical. Nevertheless, I personally don’t feel inclined to attach such a label, as the shooter is obviously insane. No political creed could change that fact.
Finally, a quote from Glenn Reynolds: “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..”
Those of you who are trying to score political cheap shots by means of this tragedy should be ashamed of yourselves.
#31 by Richard Warnick on January 11, 2011 - 4:26 pm
FF–
I agree that the shooter in this instance was probably a nutcase with ideas that may be hard to categorize, but he was definitely anti-government. Don’t you think it would be a good idea for the Tea Partyers to tone down their eliminationist rhetoric from now on, and leave the guns at home?
There have been at least two, possibly three or four recent terrorist incidents by right-wingers in which the perp was demonstrably not insane, just radically right-wing. For example, the Glenn Beck follower who got into a gun battle with the California Highway Patrol last July on his way to assassinate people at the Tides Foundation and ACLU in San Francisco.
I for one would like Beck, Palin, Limbaugh, et al. to say something apologetic. Not likely, because they never, ever admit their ideas are wrong!
#32 by Larry Bergan on January 11, 2011 - 4:52 pm
Richard said:
That is such a great point. What is up with that? They aren’t even allowed to call Timothy McVeigh a terrorist on television.
#33 by Richard Warnick on January 11, 2011 - 5:02 pm
I suppose the term “terrorist” is now reserved for someone like Julian Assange, who the government wants to vilify even though he hasn’t done anything illegal.
#34 by Larry Bergan on January 11, 2011 - 7:22 pm
From guardian.co.uk:
And since Karl Rove has friends in very high places there and here, I’m getting worried for Mr. Assange.