WSJ Columnist Taranto Uses Gabby Giffords' Injuries To Silence Her On Gun Violence

TIMOTHY JOHNSON/Media Matters for America:

Wall Street Journal columnist James Taranto questioned the authenticity of a New York Times op-ed authored by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords by claiming that the op-ed appeared online too quickly to have been written by someone "who has severe impairments of her motor and speech functions."

Giffords' April 18 op-ed was written in response to the failure of expanded background checks legislation. On January 8, 2011, Giffords was shot in the head during a constituent meeting in an attack that killed six and left 13 wounded.

Taranto's comments occurred on the April 19 edition of the National Rifle Association's news show, Cam & Company, where he said it was "odd" that the Times ­op-ed, which Taranto described as "Giffords' personal reaction as somebody who's been wounded by gun violence," was published approximately five hours after the Senate voted on background checks. Taranto cast doubt on the idea that Giffords had authored the piece, commenting, "So we are supposed to believe that somehow in less than five hours a woman who has severe impairments of her motor and speech functions was able to produce 900 publishable words and put in an appearance in the White House in the course of it."

From Cam & Company:

TARANTO: One fascinating thing about this is this piece was published no later than 9:03 PM on Wednesday evening, because that's when it first appears on the New York Times' Twitter feed. The last Senate vote on amendments to the gun bill was a bit after 6 [PM]. Giffords appeared at the White House at 5:35 [PM] when we saw that enraged rant by the president. The Manchin-Toomey [background check] provision was the first vote. That was at 4:04 PM. So if you read this piece it's presented as a cry from the heart, as Giffords' personal reaction as somebody who's been wounded by gun violence to the betrayal of these Senators. So we are supposed to believe that somehow in less than five hours a woman who has severe impairments of her motor and speech functions was able to produce 900 publishable words and put in an appearance in the White House in the course of it. So I think that's a little bit odd. 

Taranto offers no evidence for his offensive insinuation that Giffords would not have been capable of authoring the piece herself. He also ignores the possibility that Giffords could have authored the op-ed ahead of time in expectation of the widely-predicted outcome - hardly an unusual practice.

Taranto is one of a group of conservatives who offered personal attacks on Giffords for her Times op-ed. In the April 18 column that Taranto appeared on NRA News to discuss, he claimed that Giffords "turned out to be a practitioner of incivility and unreason" in the gun policy debate.  

Other attacks on Giffords by conservatives in media include:

• Writing for the National Review Online, Kevin D. Williamson criticized Giffords' op-ed by stating, "it should be noted that being shot in the head by a lunatic does not give one any special grace to pronounce upon public-policy questions." Williamson added that Giffords' op-ed was "childish" and "an embarrassment."
• Right-wing blogger Glenn Reynolds, who writes under the name Instapundit, had a similar reaction to Giffords' frustration with the Senate, advising her to "Try more respect and reason, less emotional bullying next time."
• In support of Reynold's comments, right-wing blogger Dan Riehl said that Giffords' tactics were "shameful" and "all but anti-American," and added, "I'm sorry you were a victim Ms. Giffords. But I refuse to be yours by surrendering my rights in the face of your over-emotional and fundamentally illogical pleading which is not only a form of bullying but the worst sort of emotional blackmail, as well."

Congressman Considers Gabby Giffords A ‘Prop’ For Gun Regulations

By Annie-Rose Strasser/Think Progress

Congressman Joe Heck (R-NV) on Tuesday agreed that he considers former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ), who was a victim of an assassination attempt two years ago, a “prop” in the debate over gun regulations.

Jon Ralston of Ralston Reports, uncovered the audio of Heck, speaking with conservative radio talk show host Alan Stock, agreed that Giffords was nothing more than a “prop” at the State of the Union:

STOCK: At the end of the president’s State of the Union when he said have a vote for Gabby Giffords, have a vote for this and that. I found that to be nauseating and you know what else is nauseating too is putting Gabby Giffords up there, who can’t even clap her hands, as a figure of somebody being — having shot her. I think it’s a shameful act putting her up there as a prop. I’m sorry. I really do.

HECK: Yeah, no I agree. I think again in the cloud of emotion surrounding Connecticut those who are anti-gun want to use that to limit their Second Amendment rights.

Listen to it:

Giffords has made a remarkable recovery since she was shot through the head at a town hall in a parking lot in Tucson, AZ, two years ago. In fact, the experience has prompted Giffords, along with her husband Mark Kelly, to found an organization called Americans For Responsible Solutions, devoted to combating gun violence.

UPDATE

Heck’s office release this statement on the incident:

My statement was in reference to the idea of gun control grab coming out of Washington DC. Of course there is no way that I think that Gabby Giffords is a prop… Should I have come to her defense? You know, in a fast-moving interview, in retrospect, I should have said something but I didn’t. I was just looking to get past that and talk about gun control in general.

Gabby Giffords launches group to counter gun lobby

By Alastair Jamieson and Becky Bratu, NBC News

A national initiative aimed at curbing gun violence was launched by former US. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, on Tuesday -- the second anniversary of the shooting that killed six people and left her critically injured.

A new campaign website, Americans For Responsible Solutions, promised to “launch a national dialogue and raise funds to counter influence of the gun lobby.”

The couple last week visited Newtown, Conn., where a gunman opened fire in an elementary school, killing 20 children and six adults in December. They also met with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a gun control advocate.

“In response to a horrific series of shootings that has sown terror in our communities, victimized tens of thousands of Americans, and left one of its own bleeding and near death in a Tucson parking lot, Congress has done something quite extraordinary - nothing at all,” the pair wrote in an editorial published Tuesday on their site and in USA Today.

Conn. politician apologizes after saying Giffords should 'stay out of my towns'

"Achieving reforms to reduce gun violence and prevent mass shootings will mean matching gun lobbyists in their reach and resources," they wrote in the column.

"This country is known for using its determination and ingenuity to solve problems, big and small. Wise policy has conquered disease, protected us from dangerous products and substances, and made transportation safer. But when it comes to protecting our communities from gun violence, we're not even trying  -- and for the worst of reasons."

Gun control advocates zero in on new  tactic

In an interview with ABC News, the couple said the visit to Newtown brought back a lot of memories of their own ordeal two years ago.

“And you hope that this kind of thing doesn’t happen again. But you know what? It does happen again,” Kelly said.

Officials marked the two-year anniversary of Giffords’s brush with death in Tucson on Tuesday. The city rang bells at 10:11 am local time, when Jared Loughner went on the shooting spree that killed 6 people and left 13 more injured, including the congresswoman.

Former Giffords intern Daniel Hernandez, who applied First Aid to his downed boss in 2011, told NBCaffiliate KVOA of Tucson that he is sick of gun violence. “There’s no excuse for standing back and saying we’re not going to do anything this time,” Hernandez said. “It’s been far too long, there have been far too many deaths.”

Republican Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said that she remains open to new state restrictions on guns, according to the Associated Press. Brewer has vetoed two gun bills in recent years that would have expanded the right to carry firearms in public.

“It will be something that I’m sure will be addressed in the Legislature and my ears are all open, and I’m certainly anxious if there is a solution that we get it done,” Brewer said.

Kelly and Giffords said they are both gun owners and strongly support the Second Amendment, but they acknowledge the need to prevent guns from ending up in the “wrong hands.”

The couple hope to work with politicians to take gun lobbyists head-on and engage the country in a discussion about preventing gun violence.

They also hope to establish a requirement for a comprehensive background check for the private sale of guns, and address the issue of the treatment of mentally ill people in the United States. Another issue they hope to tackle is that of high-capacity magazines.

"An extended magazine is used to kill people," Kelly, a veteran of Desert Stom, told ABC, "lots of people."

Nine Months After Giffords Shooting, GOP Congressman Jokes ‘You Have To Have Shot Someone’ To Win Office In Arizona

By Marie Diamond/Think Progress


After the mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona, in January that claimed six lives and wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D), politicians from both parties pledged to clean up their violent rhetoric. But apparently this lesson was lost on Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) who made light of gun violence during a congressional hearing on Friday.

REP. STEVE COHEN (D-TN): If you have a law in Arizona and they don’t have that prohibition in Ohio the person in Ohio who comes to Arizona can have a gun when they couldn’t have one in Arizona. I know in Arizona you have to have a gun.

FRANKS: In Arizona sometimes to gain office you have to have shot someone. I’m joking, of course. I hope that the media understands that.

Watch it, courtesy of Political Correction:

Despite his immediate qualification that he was merely joking, Franks’ record speaks volumesabout how much he values gun safety. In the wake of the Tucson shooting, he infamously said, “I wish there had been one more gun” that day. Franks latest insensitive comments about gun violence in Arizona make it seem like Jared Loughner, the man accused of the Tuscon shooting, is the logical successor to Giffords.

Franks made his comments while the House Judiciary Committee was considering Rep. Louie Gohmert’s (R-TX) radical bill that would allow, among other things, people from states with concealed carry laws to bring guns to DC, despite it being forbidden by local gun regulations. Franks voted down Democratic amendments that would have prevented sex offenders, people on the Terrorist Watch List, those with misdemeanor convictions for stalking, and domestic abusers who have restraining orders against them from carrying guns legally outside their home states.

In Same District Where Rep. Gabrielle Giffords Was Shot, GOP Auctioning Off A Glock .45 At Fundraiser

By Zaid Jilani/Think Progress

The Pima County GOP — which is in the same district where Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was shot early this year — is holding a very insensitive fundraiser this week. The party is holding araffle fundraiser, and the prize is a Glock handgun, the same category of weapon that was used to shoot Giffords:

As the Huffington Post’s Alex Brant-Zawadzki notes, “With 125 tickets, at $10 a ticket, the [Pima County Republican Party] could pull in a cool $1,250″ with the off-color fundraiser.

Giffords’ GOP Challenger: So, Can I Run Again Already?

By Alex Seitz-Wald

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was successfully moved to a rehabilitation center in Houston today after a miraculous recovery since being shot in the head two weeks ago. While most politicians from both parties have hoped for a speedy recovery, some have questionedwhether Giffords should be allowed to continue to hold her seat or be forced to vacate it since she is incapacitated — a question the Republican who challenged Giffords last year also appears to be asking. According to Arizona Capitol Reports (subscription-only newsletter), Jesse Kelly is so antsy to challenger her again, that he requested a legal inquiry as to whether he could run again if Giffordslost her seat:

Attorney Lee Miller, who serves as legal counsel for the Arizona Republican Party, told our reporter Kelly’s campaign contacted him earlier this week to find out how the seat would be filled if Giffords couldn’t serve.

The next day, the newsletter added:

Yesterday’s item about Jesse Kelly exploring a special election for the CD8 seat in the wake of Giffords’ shooting created waves in Tucson political circles, one source from south of the Gila said today. ‘I think Jesse Kelly has more problems than just dealing with a Yellow Sheet story. It’s probably going to be picked up by Politico,’ said the source.

The last time Kelly ran, the former Marine ran a campaign ad urging suporters to “get on target for victory in November.” “Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly,” it continued. (HT: Salon)

M.C.L Comment: Mr. Kelly you sir are worthless right wing piece of shit..

Conservative Blogger Calls For Giffords To Resign, Says Holding Seat Akin To ‘Political Brett Favre’

By Lee Fang

In an article published on theloop21.com, John Wilson, a “regular contributor to Hip Hop Republican,” mused that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) should resign her seat as she recuperates from her gunshot wounds. Citing media reports about Gifford’s medical condition, Wilson compared Giffords to the late Rep. Gladys Spellman (D-MD), who went into a coma while in office. He then asked, “Should constituents allow members to hold onto their seats like political Brett Favres with no concept of when it is time to go?” FrumForum, the conservative news site managed by former Bush administration official David Frum, promoted the article on its website this afternoon.

Thankfully Rep. Giffords is on the road to recovery. However, it will be long, arduous and unpredictable. There is no doubt her constituents mourn for her and her family. But does that mean they should also go without representation in Congress? Certainly not. [...]

Stepping down from one’s office is nothing to be ashamed of. In actuality, the shame lies in not being honest with one’s own self about the responsibilities that voters have entrusted in one and the expectations they have. Constituents should expect that an official will either be appointed or a special election held within six months, not years. This current Congress should take this issue up immediately and in consultation with Giffords’ family and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer come to an appropriate remedy.

Wilson says he is calling for Gifford’s resignation in deference to her constituents who need active representation. However, it seems quite early to make that call. Giffords could be released from the hospital and enter rehab as soon as this week. Since the tragic shooting in Arizona, she only missed one substantive vote. Furthermore, Wilson never voiced a demand for resignation last year when former Rep. Nathan Deal (R-GA) missed over one hundred votes while campaigning for governor or when former Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) missed a crucial vote on unemployment extension.

Police Seize ‘Large Amount’ Of Weapons From Blogger Who Praised Gifffords Shooting: ‘1 Down And 534 To Go’

By Alex Seitz-Wald

Police in Arlington, MA this week seized a “large amount” of weapons and ammunition from local businessman Travis Corcoran after he wrote a blog post threatening U.S. lawmakers in the wake of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). In a post on his blog (which has since been removed) titled “1 down and 534 to go” — 1 referring to Giffords and 534 referring to the rest of the House of Representatives and the Senate — Corcoran applauded the shooting of Giffords and justified the assassination of lawmakers because he argued the federal government has grown far beyond its constitutional limits. “It is absolutely, absolutely unacceptable to shoot indiscriminately. Target only politicians and their staff and leave regular citizens alone,” he wrote in the post.

“We certainly take this as a credible threat,” Arlington police Captain Robert Bongiorno told reporters, adding that “multiple federal law enforcement agencies” were involved. Authorities also suspended Corcoran’s gun license, though he is currently not facing any charges.

Corcoran calls himself “an anarcho-capitalist” and while his blog has been taken down, based on his Twitter page, he appears to hold views similar to those of many in the anti-government libertarian wing of the conservative movement, like many tea party activists. Anarcho-capitalism is a radical subset of libertarianism, and is often referred to as “libertarian-anarchy.” For example, echoing calls from many on the right, Corcoran tweeted, “it is unconstitutional for the Feds to even run a department of education.”

In a Twitter exchange with reporter Laura Leslie, Corcoran lays out a conventional anti-government philosophy, and explains in depth why he views assassination as legitimate:

“I assert that the US federal gov has grown unconstitutionally large, and the legislature exceeds the powers delegated to it by the people,” Corcoran wrote. “As per the Declaration of Indep, when a gov becomes destructive those ends, it may be abolished,” he continued, “and the most moral approach is that which spares the maximum number of lives. Thus, assasination is a legitimate tool.”

He goes on to further justify assassination as “morally legitimate,” citing “Catholic Just War doctrine” among other theories, and explains, “It’s illegal, yes, but it’s not un-American. America was founded on the idea of shooting gov officials. Lexington Concord!” In another tweet, he writes, “I disagree with murder. …but shooting politicians who pass illegitimate, unconstitutional laws is not murder.” And in case there’s any doubt about his sincery, he writes, “Nope, it’s not a joke. I’m 100% serious.”

He also appears to be a fan of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), re-tweeting a positive message about him in May: “Lefties: Before you start fringe-baiting Rand Paul, note that he’s better on civil liberties than most Democratic senators. And Obama.” He seems to dislike liberals, writing, “You so-called liberals make me laugh – you’re all for free speech until someone disagrees, then it’s ‘report him!’” He also accuses the Daily Kos of “Stalinism.”

Tea Party Express fundraises off reaction to Arizona shootings

By Sahil Kapur A leading tea party group is raising funds based upon public reaction to the Tucson, Arizona shootings.

In an e-mail sent to supporters Wednesday, the California-based conservative group Tea Party Express invoked the tragic shootings of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and nineteen others, asking for donations to fight back against liberals in the media who cite inflammatory right-wing rhetoric as a possible instigator for such violence.

"Instead of prayers for the victims and their families, the Left was consumed with using this massacre to score political points by blaming the tea party movement, Gov. Sarah Palin and now Rush Limbaugh," read the e-mail, which was reported by AlterNet.

Six were killed in the Tucson atrocity on Saturday, including federal judge John Roll and an aide to Giffords, and at least a dozen wounded, including Giffords.

Progressives were quick to call on conservatives to tame their rhetoric, pointing to, among other instances, a map of the United States published by Sarah Palin which included crosshairs over various Democratic districts, including Giffords's.

In a sign that the national dialogue has only grown more rancorous since the attacks, the message claimed liberals were trying to "blame us for a mass murder" and control their speech, adding that "we're not going to stand for that kind of treatment."

The e-mail continued (emphasis theirs): "That's why we've asked you for your support. Let's show the Left that instead of us being silenced, that there awful attacks on us will only backfire and that the tea party movement will be stronger than ever!"

And it concluded: "Please, make a contribution online right now to the Tea Party Express," before offering a link for people to donate.

The conservative activist group isn't alone in referring to the tragedy in fundraising messages.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an Independent, e-mailed supporters wondering if "right-wing reactionaries" spurred the violence, arguing that the incident was "not some kind of strange aberration" given the political climate.

President Barack Obama gave a televised speech about the Tucson shootings Wednesday, urging for national unity and civility in the wake of the horrific murders.

In a sign that the national dialogue has only grown more rancorous since the attacks, the message claimed liberals were trying to "blame us for a mass murder" and control their speech, adding that "we're not going to stand for that kind of treatment."

The e-mail continued (emphasis theirs): "That's why we've asked you for your support. Let's show the Left that instead of us being silenced, that there awful attacks on us will only backfire and that the tea party movement will be stronger than ever!"

And it concluded: "Please, make a contribution online right now to the Tea Party Express," before offering a link for people to donate.

The conservative activist group isn't alone in referring to the tragedy in fundraising messages.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an Independent, e-mailed supporters wondering if "right-wing reactionaries" spurred the violence, arguing that the incident was "not some kind of strange aberration" given the political climate.

President Barack Obama gave a televised speech about the Tucson shootings Wednesday, urging for national unity and civility in the wake of the horrific murders.

The Right's Rising Tide of Violent Rhetoric

by Eric Boehlert

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords appears be the latest victim of anti-government violence that has taken hold in America since 2009. It’s a wave of violence that’s cresting along with a tide of hateful, insurrectionist rhetoric that far too many conservatives refuse to condemn. Instead, the toxic talk is routinely defended as being nothing more than spirited debate.

It’s not. It’s deadly. And until those in positions of power say so, the dangerous rhetoric is likely to continue.

Whether that rhetoric played a role in the gun massacre that erupted at the Tucson shopping center on Saturday, we don’t yet know. Note that over the weekend the local Arizona sheriff, Clarence Dupnik, condemned “the vitriolic rhetoric that we hear day in and day out from people in the radio business and some people in the TV business,” and especially the influence it may have on “unbalanced” people, like the Tucson shooter.

What’s undeniable is that the attempted assassination of Giffords took place against a right-wing media backdrop that has been targeting the government, and specifically Democrats, in an unconscionable manner:

* “The suicide-bomber-in-chief, Barack Obama”

* Beck suggests Obama admin might kill "10 percent" of population

* Quinn: "Yes," Obama is "trying to destroy the country"

As facts of the Giffords shooting continue to come in, let’s understand what has transpired in recent months as right-wing partisans have rushed past any sense of common decency and responsibility to endless attack and condemn Democrats. For instance, let’s recall that last March when Congress was preparing to vote on passing health care reform, partisans in the far-right press denounced the vote in apocalyptic language as they depicted Democrats as monsters who deserved to be physically tortured.

Recall that at the same time, a surge of political violence erupted across the county as Democrats became the target of what were essentially terrorist attacks.

• Rep. Tom Perriello's (D-VA) brother's address was erroneously posted online by a Tea Party blogger who invited activists to descend on the house. A gas line outside the brother's house was cut.
• Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) was the target of threatening faxes and phone calls, including death threats.
• A brick was thrown through the window of the Democratic Party office in Rochester, New York.
• Rep. Anthony Weiner's office in Kew Gardens, New York, had to be evacuated after suspicious white powder was found in an envelope mailed to the office.
• A thrown brick smashed a window at Rep. Louise Slaughter's district office in Niagara Falls, New York.
• Slaughter also received a message claiming that "snipers were being deployed to kill those members who voted yes for health care," according to Politico.
• The FBI arrested a California man for making threatening phone calls to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
• A tossed brick demolished a window at the Sedgwick County Democratic Party headquarters in Wichita, Kansas.
• A devoted Glenn Beck fan left a serious of death threats (“Kill the fucking Senator! “) on the voice mail at the office of Sen. Patty Murray

And of course, there was the attack on Gifford’s Tucson office last March. Hours after voting in favor of health care reform, vandals smashed the front door, along with a headquarters window. Days later, Gifford spoke about being targeted.

“Our office corner has become a place where the Tea Party has congregated. And the rhetoric has become incredibly heated. Not just the calls, but the emails, the slurs,” she told MSNBC. “We’re on Sarah Palin’s targeted list, but the way she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district. And when people do that, they’ve gotta realize there’s consequences to that action.”

Perhaps most telling at the time was the fact that veteran members of Congress told Giffords that they’d never seen the kind of angry, anti-government madness that was unleashed surrounding the health care vote.

But rather than unequivocally condemn, or even rationally discuss how the violent rhetoric had become increasingly indefensible, and rather than encouraging partisan activists to dial it down before somebody got hurt, conservative pundits urged followers to forge ahead with their calls to arms, even blaming Democrats for bringing the deadly threats and acts of violence upon themselves by voting in favor of health care reform.

Indeed, after bricks were being thrown through offices windows and audible death threats left on answer machines, the conservative media mocked the idea that Democrats were being targeted and suggested the well-documented incidents had been somehow manufactured. Last March, Glenn Beck complained, “It's almost as if the left is trumping all of this up just for the politics."

Rush Limbaugh agreed: “Our side doesn't do this kind of stuff. It's all made up -- 95 percent of it's made up and it's being done to divert everybody's attention."

And from Andrew Breitbart's site, Big Government: "We doubt these threats are actually real and, certainly wouldn't condone them."

Chilling.

For those who didn’t get the point, Fox News’ Stephen Hayes shrugged off the acts of violence and threats, suggesting, "This happens all the time," while his Fox News colleague Charles Krauthammer said, "I'm sure a lot of this is trumped up."

Or as the Daily Caller’s S.E. Cupp put it on Fox News at the time, "Democrats who did this, who sort of rammed this down our throats regardless of the fact that it actually won't save us any money -- it's is going to bankrupt us and that the American people didn't want it -- want us to feel sorry for them that they've gotten a couple of angry, you know, voice mails. They should read my e-mail. You know, what did they expect? No one condones threats. No one condones the violence, but I'm glad people are angry. I hope they stay angry.”

Even after Byron Williams, in a jailhouse interview, told reporter John Hamilton that he was heavily influenced by Glenn Beck’s conspiratorial rants at the time when Williams plotted to assassinate leaders at the Tides Foundation and the ACLU, what did Sarah Palin do? What did Fox News’ Palin do in response to a direct request that she act as a true leader and call for a cooling off of the increasingly deadly rhetoric that had become a cornerstone of the conservative movement? Palin reaffirmed her support of the talker’s incendiary fear mongering: “I stand with you, Glenn.”

Whatever the reason for Saturday’s semi-automatic killing spree in Tucson, what’s inescapable is that the government and government officials have been elevated to prime targets of physical attack in the last two years. We’ve certainly never seen them targeted so casually within segments of the popular media. The spike in attacks, both the actual attacks and threatened ones, comes amidst a spike in explicit, insurrectionist rhetoric that singles out the government as being a source of intentional evil within America.

There’s a political and media movement in this country that’s eagerly painting a bull’s-eyes on the back of the U.S. government and its representatives. Not surprisingly, more and more marksmen are taking aim.

David Frum On Tucson Tragedy: Let’s Blame Pot Rather Than Easy Access To Guns

By Zaid Jilani Following Saturday’s tragic shooting of several people, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), by 22-year old assassin Jared Loughner, many have asked how someone who displayed so many obvious characteristics of mental instability was able to easily obtain access to a semi-automatic firearm. As Time Magazine’s Nathan Thornburgh points out, Arizona has particularly weak detection and reporting of mental health. (It is technically illegal to sell firearms to the mentally ill.) In a post on FrumForum, conservative pundit David Frum dismisses renewed calls for gun control and instead says that the incident should “remind us why we regulate marijuana,” noting that Loughner is suspected of being a marijuana user. He writes that there may be “renewed pressure to control the weapons that committed the crime,” but instead chooses to place blame on the “trend these days toward a more casual attitude and easier access to…drugs”:

After horrific shootings, we hear calls for stricter regulation of guns. The Tucson shooting should remind us why we regulate marijuana.Jared Lee Loughner, the man held as the Tucson shooter, has been described by those who know as a “pot smoking loner.” [...]

After the Tucson shooting, there may be renewed pressure to control the weapons that committed the crime. But what about the drugs that may have aggravated the killer’s mental disease? The trend these days seems toward a more casual attitude and easier access to those drugs. Among the things we should be discussing in the aftermath of this horror is the accumulating evidence of those drugs’ potential contribution to making some dangerous people even more dangerous than they might otherwise have been.

It should be noted that, of course, marijuana is illegal. However, the extended magazine that Loughner used in the shooting — which allowed him to get off as many shots as he did before he was subdued — was illegal until the assault weapons ban expired in 2004. Additionally, in an interview Mothers Jones conducted with Bryce Tierney, a friend of Loughner, Tierney claims that the alleged shooter quit drinking and doing drugs in 2009 — years before the shooting took place.

Update The Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan notes that the Drudge Report is now exclaiming that Loughner is a "left-wing pothead."

Who is Jared Lee Loughner?

by Mark Potok

Is Jared Lee Loughner, the alleged mass murderer who shot U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, a right-wing extremist?

It’s hard to say. When you look at the Internet material he purportedly produced, the first impression you get is that the 22-year-old now in custody for the shooting of 19 people in Tucson was completely out of his mind, or at least mildly deranged. His writings will be virtually impossible for most people to understand, what with his references to unexplained numbers, his fondness for weird syllogisms, his unexplained references and his apparent semi-literacy.

That said, there are some clues.

At one point, Loughner refers disparagingly to “currency that’s not backed by gold or silver.” The idea that silver and gold are the only “constitutional” money is widespread in the antigovernment “Patriot” movement that produced so much violence in the 1990s. It’s linked to the core Patriot theory that the Federal Reserve is actually a private corporation run for the benefit of unnamed international bankers. So-called Patriots say paper money — what they refer to with a sneer as “Federal Reserve notes” — is not lawful.

At another, Loughner makes extraordinarily obscure comments about language and grammar, suggesting that the government engages in “mind control on the people by controlling grammar.” That’s not the kind of idea that’s very common out there, even on the Internet. In fact, I think it’s pretty clear that Loughner is taking ideas from Patriot conspiracy theorist David Wynn Miller of Milwaukee. Miller claims that the government uses grammar to “enslave” Americans and offers up his truly weird “Truth-language” as an antidote. For example, he says that if you add colons and hyphens to your name in a certain way, you are no longer taxable. Miller may be mad as a hatter, but he has a real following on the right.

Loughner talks about how you “can’t trust the government” and someone burns a U.S. flag in one of his videos. Although certain right-wing websites are already using that (and his listing of The Communist Manifesto as one of his favorite books) to claim that Loughner was a “left-winger,” that does not strike me as true. The main enemy of the Patriot movement is certainly the federal government. And so-called Patriots have certainly engaged in acts like burning the flag.

Finally, I think Loughner’s reading list, although it included children’s books and a few classics, had an underlying theme — the individual versus the totalitarian state. Certainly, that’s the explicit central theme of Ayn Rand’s We the Living and Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm, among others. I would argue that that’s the way Loughlin seems to be reading The Communist Manifesto and Hitler’s Mein Kampf — as variants of a kind of generalized “smash the state” attitude.

Chip Berlet of Political Research Associates, which does similar work to that of Hatewatch, points out in a post earlier today that Loughner also makes a reference to a “second American constitution.” As Chip notes, that is commonly understood to refer to the Reconstruction amendments that freed the slaves and gave them citizenship, among other things. Chip says that “raises the question of a possible racist and anti-immigrant tie” in the Arizona shooting.

On top of that, Fox News is reporting on an internal Department of Homeland Security message suggesting some tie between Loughner and American Renaissance, a kind of white-collar racist group.

I can’t speak to those allegations. Outside of what Chip pointed out, I didn’t see anything that suggested racial, anti-Semitic or anti-immigrant animus in Loughner’s writings. Certainly, there’s nothing I saw at all reminiscent of American Renaissance, which focuses heavily on the alleged intellectual and psychological inferiority of black people.

At this early stage, I think Loughner is probably best described as a mentally ill or unstable person who was influenced by the rhetoric and demonizing propaganda around him. Ideology may not explain why he allegedly killed, but it could help explain how he selected his target.

One thing that seems clear is that Giffords, who was terribly wounded but survived, was the nearest and most obvious representative of “the government” that Loughner could find. Another is that he likely absorbed some of his anger from the vitriolic political atmosphere in the United States in general and Arizona in particular. Perhaps no one made that point better than Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, speaking to a press conference yesterday. “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 has become sort of the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry.”

M.C.L Comment: Since this event happen the right are tripping all over themselves trying to paint Loughner a liberal, here's the problem with that I haven't heard too many liberals make Youtube videos railing against the government or talking about gold like a certain person who likes to talk about his 32 million dollar empire. The right can't find too many stories where liberals have lashed out in a violent manner against conservatives. But liberals can find many news stories when conservatives have taken the violent route to deal with political disagreement. The mainstream media have to hold their right wing cousins accountable when their incite their idiot followers to violence.

Democratic Offices Vandalized In Days Surrounding Health Care Vote

By Amanda Terkel

Rhetoric surrounding the health care debate has often been very violent, with Rep. Steve King (R-IA) just yesterday promising to “beat that other side to a pulp” and at least one Tea Party sign threatening gun violence if health care reform passes.

In recent days, several Democratic offices around the nation have also been vandalized. Although it’s unclear who the perpetrators are, all the incidents took place shortly before or after the House’s vote on health care yesterday:

– The glass front door of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ (D-AZ) Tuscon office was “smashed out” a “few hours after she voted in favor of health care reform.” Giffords’ spokesman C.J. Karamargin “said it was unclear if the glass had been shot out with a kind of pellet gun, if it had been kicked or smashed with an object. The door has been covered with plywood.”

– On the morning of March 19, someone threw a brick through the front window of Rep. Louise Slaughter’s (D-NY) Niagara Falls office. Monroe County Democratic Committee officials also said that a brick shattered the glass doors at their party’s headquarters in Rochester, NY on Saturday or Sunday.

In a more confusing incident, someone spray-painted the word “DORKS” on the window of the Knox County Democratic Headquarters in Mount Vernon, OH. ThinkProgress spoke to Jim Zak, Democratic Party chairman, who said that this morning, he received a call about the vandalism, which seems to have happened sometime after midnight last night. He said that he has “no idea who would have done it,” but noted that “things are running pretty high here in Knox County, as far as the health care reform bill was concerned.”

At the Code Red protest this weekend, Tea Party activists also spat on a lawmaker and shouted racist and homophobic slurs at others.

Update Politics Extra reports, "Someone reportedly threw a fist-sized rock through the front window of the Hamilton County Democratic Party headquarters Sunday night after Congress passed the landmark health insurance overhaul. Caleb Faux, the party’s executive director, finds it hard to believe the incident wasn’t related to the legislation’s passing." M.C.L Comment: The Republicans and the right wing media should be ashamed of themselves they know they don't care about what deficits the last eight years is proof of that. I bet if you brought up the amount of spending that went on during the Bush administration to Steve King that mental midget would spin it. The Republicans and the right wing media are playing a dangerous game here, due to two massive ass kicking they got in 2006 and 2008 the Republican base has been less then fired up by the brand and the Republican brand in a whole has taken a rough beating for the last eight years. So the Republicans and their media street walkers have decided to do is tap in that racism in their base to win, socialism is the new n-word right and right wing talk show hosts like Glenn Beck scaring his listeners and viewers by talking about President Obama as if he was a mysterious black man hell bent on changing the way his zombies live or Rush Limbaugh saying health care reform is another way to give those lazy black people a way to mooch off hard working, tax payin, white Americans. And Republicans have got in the act to incite the nuts themselves, Repugs usually hang back and let their buddies in the press do it but when you got douchebags like Steve King and Jim DeMint egging on people something has to be done. Because when one of these right wing loons step over the line and actually harm or even kill elected Democratic official, those forces that incited the person to kill will act like they have nothing to do with it and a few weeks later go back telling people their way of life is jeopardy.