#World news RSS feed US politics RSS feed US Congress RSS feed United States RSS feed Tea Party movement RSS feed Republicans RSS feed US healthcare RSS feed Gabrielle Giffords RSS feed Cif America RSS feed Turn autoplay off Turn autoplay on Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off * Jump to content [s] * Jump to comments [c] * Jump to site navigation [0] * Jump to search [4] * Terms and conditions [8] Edition: UK * US Sign in Mobile About us * About us * Contact us * Press office * Guardian Print Centre * Guardian readers' editor * Observer readers' editor * Terms of service * Privacy policy * Advertising guide * Digital archive * Digital edition * Guardian Weekly * Buy Guardian and Observer photos * Subscribe Today's paper * The Guardian * G2 features * Comment and debate * Editorials, letters and corrections * Obituaries * Other lives * Sport * EducationGuardian * Subscribe Subscribe * Subscribe to the Guardian * iPhone app * iPad edition * Kindle * Extra * Guardian Weekly * Digital edition * All our services The Guardian home ____________________ [Comment is free] Search * News * Sport * Comment * Culture * Business * Money * Life & style * Travel * Environment * TV * Data * Video * Mobile * Offers * Jobs * Comment is free * Cif America Badge Michael Tomasky Blog In the US, where hate rules at the ballot box, this tragedy has been coming for a long time The shooting of Gabrielle Giffords may lead to the temporary hibernation of rightwing rage, but it is encoded in conservative DNA * + Tweet this + IFRAME: http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?app_id=17841205555826 7&href=http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011 /jan/09/us-shooting-republicans-giffords-loughner&send=false&l ayout=button_count&width=140&show_faces=false&action=recommend &colorscheme=light&font=arial&height=21 + [icon_reddit.gif] reddit this * Comments (…) * Michael Tomasky * + Michael Tomasky + guardian.co.uk, Sunday 9 January 2011 17.37 GMT + Article history About this article Close In the US, where hate rules at the ballot box, this tragedy has been coming for a long time | Michael Tomasky This article was published on guardian.co.uk at 17.37 GMT on Sunday 9 January 2011. A version appeared on p27 of the Main section section of the Guardian on Monday 10 January 2011. It was last modified at 12.35 GMT on Tuesday 11 January 2011. The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Tuesday 11 January 2009 Speaking of a man charged in connection with the shooting of 20 people, six of them fatally, in Arizona on 8 January, a comment piece asked, "Is he a nut? Of course he's a nut." Whatever feelings this event arouses, the Guardian's guidance on language involving mental health is unaltered: offensive and stigmatising terms are greatly to be avoided __________________________________________________________________ It was instructive to read elected Republicans' official statements in response to the Gabrielle Giffords shooting for what they did not say. The House Speaker, John Boehner, said: "An attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serve. Acts and threats of violence against public officials have no place in our society. Our prayers are with congresswoman Giffords, her staff, all who were injured and their families. This is a sad day for our country." Arizona Senator John McCain issued the following: "I am horrified by the violent attack on representative Gabrielle Giffords and many other innocent people by a wicked person who has no sense of justice or compassion. I pray for Gabby and the other victims, and for the repose of the souls of the dead and comfort for their families. Whoever did this, whatever their reason, they are a disgrace to Arizona, this country and the human race." All well and good, and I have no doubt every word is sincere. But you'll note that they are silent on the question of the violent rhetoric that emanates from the rightwing of American society. You don't have to believe that alleged shooter, Jared Loughner, is a card-carrying Tea Party member (he evidently is not) to see some kind of connection between that violent rhetoric and what happened in Arizona on Saturday. Is he a nut? Of course he's a nut. By definition, anyone who shoots innocent people like that has a screw loose. But nuts come in many varieties. There are some who think Dick Cheney planned 9/11, others who believe the CIA has installed eavesdropping devices in their fillings, and still others who insist they're the reincarnation of Mary Queen of Scots. So what particular type of nut is Loughner? We don't have a full picture yet. But we have enough of one. His coherent ravings included the conviction that the constitution assured him that "you don't have to accept the federalist laws". He called a female classmate who had an abortion a "terrorist". In sum, he had political ideas, which not everyone does. Many of them (not all, but most) were right wing. He went to considerable expense and trouble to shoot a high-profile Democrat, at point-blank range right through the brain. What else does one need to know? For anyone to attempt to insist that the violent rhetoric so regularly heard in this country had no likely effect on this young man is to enshroud oneself in dishonesty and denial. I would like to report to you that my nation is in shock, and that we will work together to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again. Alas, neither of these things is close to true. Of course an event like this is hard to believe in the moment; but in the context of our times, it's really not surprising at all. Last summer, a California man armed himself and set off for San Francisco with the express intent of killing liberals at a nonprofit foundation that had been pilloried by Glenn Beck and others. Only the lucky accident of his arrest en route for drunk driving prevented the mayhem then. The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence has documented more than two dozen killings by or arrests of rightwing extremists who intended to do serious political violence since 2008. One Tennessee man killed two worshippers at a liberal church, regretting only that he had not been able to ice the 100 liberals named by author Bernard Goldberg as those most responsible for destroying America. Giffords herself received threats after voting for the healthcare reform bill, and shots were fired through the window of her district office. An event like this has been coming for a long time. As to the future, some things will change, at least for a while. Sarah Palin will be deeply diminished by this. Speaking about the now well-known cross-hairs imagery over the map of Giffords' congressional district on Palin's website, Giffords herself last year expressed concern about "consequences". Palin pooh-poohed this at the time. Her unctuous and hypocritical "prayer" for Giffords and the other victims will mollify only those who think she can do no wrong. But in general, this hastens that blessed day when we no longer have to pay attention to her self-serving lies and idiocies. Republicans and even Tea Partiers will have the sense â again, for a while â to steer clear of directly gun-related rhetoric. We won't be hearing much in the near term about "second amendment remedies" and insurrection and so forth. But this will be temporary. Guns are simply too central to the mythology of the American right, as is the idea of liberty being wrested from tyrants only at gunpoint. For the American right to stop talking about armed insurrection would be like American liberals dropping the subjects of race and gender. It's too encoded in conservative DNA. In addition, contemporary American conservatism has been utterly arrested by this ridiculous paranoid fantasy that our government is a tyranny. Here was Republican Congressman Paul Broun of Georgia, speaking in Washington last April on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing: "Fellow patriots, we have a lot of domestic enemies of the constitution, and they're right down the Mall, in the Congress of the United States â and right down Independence Avenue in the White House that belongs to us. It's not about my ability to hunt, which I love to do. It's not about the ability for me to protect my family and property against criminals, which we have the right to do. But it's all about us protecting ourselves from a tyrannical government." The year before, this same Broun singled out then-Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, as one such "domestic enemy of the constitution". He was re-elected last November with 67% of the vote. This kind of rhetoric will go into hibernation now, but only for a bit. Because not only is it too central to rightwing mythology; it is central to Republican electoral strategy. This is one of those things that no one says, because it can't really and truly be proved forensically, but everyone knows. Get people to hate liberals. Get them to think not only that liberals have ideas for the country that are wrong â get them to believe that liberals despise the country and are actively attempting to hasten its demise. Say progressivism isn't just invalid or even dangerous, but "evil" and a "cancer," as Glenn Beck says. Fear gets people to the ballot box. Direct responsibility for what happened Saturday? No. Mentally ill people are mentally ill. The Beatles weren't responsible for the messages that Charles Manson heard in their music. But there's a difference. Paul McCartney had no earthly reason to think that an innocent song about a fairground ride (Helter Skelter) would lead a man to commit barbarous acts of murder. Today's Republicans and conservative commentators, however, surely understand the fire they're playing with. But they do it, and a tragedy like Saturday's won't stop them, as long as they can maintain a phoney plausible deniability and as long as hate continues to pay dividends at the ballot box. * Print this Printable version * Send to a friend * Share * Clip * Contact us * larger | smaller Email Close Recipient's email address ____________________ Your first name ____________________ Your surname ____________________ Add a note (optional) _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ Send Your IP address will be logged Share Close Short link for this page: http://gu.com/p/2m9te * StumbleUpon * reddit * Tumblr * Digg * LinkedIn * Google Bookmarks * del.icio.us * livejournal * Facebook * Twitter Contact us Close * Report errors or inaccuracies: reader@guardian.co.uk * Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@guardian.co.uk * If you need help using the site: userhelp@guardian.co.uk * Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: +44 (0)20 3353 2000 * + Advertising guide + License/buy our content World news * US politics · * US Congress · * United States · * Tea Party movement · * Republicans · * US healthcare · * Gabrielle Giffords More from Comment is free on World news * US politics · * US Congress · * United States · * Tea Party movement · * Republicans · * US healthcare · * Gabrielle Giffords * More on this story * Tributes to congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords outside her district office in Tucson, Arizona Jared Lee Loughner note reveals aim to assassinate Gabrielle Giffords Investigators examine whether far-right organisations played a role in Tucson shooting that killed six * Video Video: Gabrielle Giffords shooting: reaction in Arizona * Gunman linked to grammar extremist * Interactive Gabrielle Giffords's injury explained * Shooting reignites row over rightwing rhetoric * 'Does she have any enemies?' 'Yeah. The whole Tea Party' * Editorial: Wild west politics * Martin Robbins: The quest for the mind of Jared Lee Loughner * An act of political violence in a polarised country * Jessica Valenti: Shooting highlights 'man-up' culture in US politics * Alex Hannaford: The targeting of Gabrielle Giffords * Gallery The shooting of Gabrielle Giffords * Gabrielle Giffords: Liberal, but a pro-gun pragmatist * Jared Lee Loughner: erratic, disturbed and prone to rightwing rants * Online reaction to shootings * Congress security under review after shooting Related * 9 Jan 2011 Tucson shootings: the online reaction * 11 Jan 2011 Arizona shootings fallout â live blog * 1 Aug 2011 US debt limit deal - as it happened * 12 Jan 2011 Sarah Palin's 'blood libel' blunder * Print this Printable version * Send to a friend * Share * Clip * Contact us * Article history Email Close Recipient's email address ____________________ Your first name ____________________ Your surname ____________________ Add a note (optional) _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ Send Your IP address will be logged Share Close Short link for this page: http://gu.com/p/2m9te * StumbleUpon * reddit * Tumblr * Digg * LinkedIn * Google Bookmarks * del.icio.us * livejournal * Facebook * Twitter Contact us Close * Report errors or inaccuracies: reader@guardian.co.uk * Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@guardian.co.uk * If you need help using the site: userhelp@guardian.co.uk * Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: +44 (0)20 3353 2000 * + Advertising guide + License/buy our content About this article Close In the US, where hate rules at the ballot box, this tragedy has been coming for a long time | Michael Tomasky This article was published on guardian.co.uk at 17.37 GMT on Sunday 9 January 2011. A version appeared on p27 of the Main section section of the Guardian on Monday 10 January 2011. It was last modified at 12.35 GMT on Tuesday 11 January 2011. Comments 889 comments, displaying oldest first Sort comments by [Oldest] Submit * This symbol indicates that that person is The Guardian's staff Staff * This symbol indicates that that person is a contributor Contributor * Latest * 1 * 2 * 3 … * 16 * 17 * 18 * Next * Corcoran 9 January 2011 5:42PM This is a truly scandalous piece of writing smearing any kind of thought that is, these days, classed as 'right-wing'. I would like to remind you that * + Recommend (512) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * shrikandushma 9 January 2011 5:43PM Yet when a muslim army shrink goes postal he's just a nut. * + Recommend (687) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * reallyevilmonkey 9 January 2011 5:44PM I am not a fan of the Republicans but this this incident isn't their fault. * + Recommend (445) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * EgotisticalUsername 9 January 2011 5:46PM This is a disgusting article, making cheap political points before the bodies are even cold. Shameful. * + Recommend (748) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * GermanicusRex 9 January 2011 5:47PM So it has been proven that the gunman was influenced by "right wing" rhetoric and that his motivations were entirely political, inspired by The Tea Party? No thought not. * + Recommend (392) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * EgotisticalUsername 9 January 2011 5:47PM And can I remind this author that there was plenty of equally violent rhetoric issuing from the left when Bush was in power. But maybe that's "different"? * + Recommend (421) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * kikithefrog 9 January 2011 5:48PM "You don't have to believe that alleged shooter, Jared Loughner, is a card-carrying Tea Party member (he evidently is not) to see some kind of connection between that violent rhetoric and what happened in Arizona on Saturday." When the Ford Hood killer was reported as saying "Allah Akhbar" as he killed, everyone from President Obama down was saying, "don't jump to conclusions" and urging people not to judge the majority of Muslims from the actions of this one man. Yet your "some kind of connection" is, so far, based on nothing. "Evidently not", indeed! From his ravings this Loughner, who listed both Mein Kampf and The Communist Manifesto as favourite books, along with Alice in Wonderland, seems to have picked up his mad ideology from anything and everything. The references to currency were vaguely right wing. The anti-religion vaguely left wing. He sounds like just a madman to me. * + Recommend (391) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * ohsocynical 9 January 2011 5:48PM Well said MT! * + Recommend (695) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * GermanicusRex 9 January 2011 5:49PM After Stephen Timms was stabbed I didn't see a mass outcry about Islamic rhetoric regarding Iraq and Afghanistan. Funny that. * + Recommend (259) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * Corcoran 9 January 2011 5:49PM This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn't abide by our community standards. Replies may also be deleted. For more detail see our FAQs. * hermionegingold 9 January 2011 5:50PM Today's Republicans and conservative commentators, however, surely understand the fire they're playing with. But they do it, and a tragedy like Saturday's won't stop them hear, hear!. i'd like to think the likes of bill o'reilly & ann coulter would be laughed at were they to operate their particular brand of hatred in the british media. good article. brace yourself michael, i suspect this is going to get messy. * + Recommend (977) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * LucyQ 9 January 2011 5:50PM I am thinking about the violently obscene social problems in Pakistan and can't find too many degrees of separation between that culture and the American one. Must Right Wing equate with socially dysfunctional, violent religious cultures? It was a lot sickening to turn on the TV news of America and see/hear the usual invoking of the gods for the dead. Doesn't everyone know that the gods don't exist and that is why there is no special, magical intervention for your football team or to protect a child in the line of fire from a bullet? * + Recommend (222) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * ClowninAround 9 January 2011 5:51PM Mr Tomasky; You do remember that pseudo documentary "The assassination of George Bush" don't you? Maybe you missed all those "Bush - kill yourself" T shirts. This is no time for bipartizan rhetoric. * + Recommend (294) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * toesion 9 January 2011 5:51PM We dont know anything about this guys motivations, his reading list has a whole range of ideological leanings and his youtube videos are just random thoughts with no bias toward left or right. It seems you have just made up that he had right wing leanings. * + Recommend (198) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * UnashamedLibertarian 9 January 2011 5:51PM This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn't abide by our community standards. Replies may also be deleted. For more detail see our FAQs. * ClowninAround 9 January 2011 5:51PM Ooops I meant partizan rhetoric. * + Recommend (8) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * adastram 9 January 2011 5:53PM The shooting of Gabrielle Giffords may lead to the temporary hibernation of rightwing rage, but it is encoded in conservative DNA "Rightwing rage" as you call it, is a relatively new phenomenon. Has it crossed your mind that there are genuine reasons why many ordinary people are very angry? * + Recommend (122) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * Contributor RedMutley 9 January 2011 5:53PM This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn't abide by our community standards. Replies may also be deleted. For more detail see our FAQs. * BritishHonduras 9 January 2011 5:53PM What a load of crap....sir...we have no idea what drove this man to kill! You are worse than the nut cases over here who jump to conclusions without facts! All we know is that this dude is a leftwing nutcase, who burn our flag, is anti government and takes anti-depressant medication.... In America, we have the freedom to debate...like it or not! With our gun laws we will have murders committed because of our freedom to debate....We are use to it and will get over it! You should take a chill pill, get some facts before you blog! * + Recommend (189) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * Fulton 9 January 2011 5:53PM The role of the media in amplifying these voices doesn't seem to have been given enough weight in the article. It's not just that you have the likes of Sarah Palin painting crosshairs and talking about "don't retreat-reload." The media consider her good television and copy and promote her. The Guardian not excluded, there's times I've thought some Guardian journos must have a crush or something. Instead, of challenging the extremism, the extremists get injected into the mainstream because wackjobs means ratings or page views or whatever. So you have a situation where the demands of 24/7 news cycles encourages giving a prominence to people who talk in violent terms. It's a vicious cycle. Inevitably, a paranoid nut is going to start thinking "heh! it's not just me thinks like this, it's senate candidates, and ex-governors and talking heads on tv shows!" and that nut is one step nearer to shooting someone. And the media are just as much enablers of that as those who use hatred as part of their electoral strategy. * + Recommend (364) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * Aspadana 9 January 2011 5:54PM You don't have to believe that alleged shooter, Jared Loughner, is a card-carrying Tea Party member (he evidently is not) to see some kind of connection between that violent rhetoric and what happened in Arizona on Saturday. As the Tea Party is made up of different groups whose only commonality is they've had it with the two mainstream parties, and as Loughner evidently isn't a Tea-Party member, why ask your readers to imagine that he is or that he represents the DNA of a loose coalition which doesn't share a DNA, political or otherwise ! You know what they call this kind of thing ? Spin. You know what caused this massive public cynicism with our political process ergo the Tea Party ? Spin. * + Recommend (163) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * MacRandall 9 January 2011 5:54PM In sum, he had political ideas, which not everyone does. Many of them (not all, but most) were right wing. He went to considerable expense and trouble to shoot a high-profile Democrat, at point-blank range right through the brain. The Guardian has reached a new grubby low with this piece of trash. Six people died yesterday Tomasky, none of whom had anything to do with Glen Beck, Bernard Goldberg, HCR, or any wing of any political party, your complete lack of reference or attention to them notwithstanding. * + Recommend (251) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * wotever 9 January 2011 5:55PM LucyQ Must Right Wing equate with socially dysfunctional, violent religious cultures? Fraid so, just check the comment on this thread. * + Recommend (586) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * Drewv 9 January 2011 5:56PM "Hate at the ballot box", and by extension in the public realm, is such a common thing. So many democracies have regular punch-ups, physical fights, in parliament for example, of which the US Congress - oddly - seems to be spared completely. The thing that politicians all over the world will say of their opponents, burning your ears is the least of it. So I don't think that the degree to which political opponents throw vitriol and hateful speech at each other, says anything about the likelihood of lone citizens resorting to violence. For that, it makes more sense to look to the America-specific culture of anti-government rhetoric, guns and militias. * + Recommend (25) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * whizgiggle 9 January 2011 5:56PM Whether or not this incident was inspired by the truly despicable rhetoric that passes for acceptable in US politcal discussion, it has brought the issue into public debate. To an outsider, the tone of some of the statements and posturing among US politicians and commentators is genuinely disconcerting, and I think a bit of reflection on the part of those that engage in it will help everyone. * + Recommend (197) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * LordPosh 9 January 2011 5:56PM This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn't abide by our community standards. Replies may also be deleted. For more detail see our FAQs. * Contributor RedMutley 9 January 2011 5:57PM It's almost as if Egotistical Username and Germanicus Rex feel like they need to be extremely defensive about this. * + Recommend (401) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * Continent 9 January 2011 5:57PM Reading this McCarthy era comes to mind. McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism * + Recommend (155) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * kikithefrog 9 January 2011 5:57PM Lucy Q asks, "Must Right Wing equate with socially dysfunctional, violent religious cultures?" A couple of sources are saying that Loughner was anti-religious. His videos say something about how he won't trust in God. This does not make other anti-religious people responsible for his mad actions. Though if it turns out the anti-religion part of his views was significant I will await with interest all the demands from the Guardian's writers for atheists to turn down the rhetoric. * + Recommend (75) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * Raymond82 9 January 2011 5:58PM This is a disgusting article, making cheap political points before the bodies are even cold. Shameful. As cheap as some comments on the events in Egypt or Pakistan Yet when a muslim army shrink goes postal he's just a nut. If anything mass shootings in America in the media are often written off as just loners, mentally ill and completely unavoidable * + Recommend (74) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * peacefulmilitant 9 January 2011 5:58PM Michael Tomasky All well and good, and I have no doubt every word is sincere. But you'll note that they are silent on the question of the violent rhetoric that emanates from the rightwing of American society. What about the violent rhetoric that comes from your side? Every tread here on CiF that mentions âthe Bush and Cheney war crimesâ (and God know there is at least one of them every week) contains at least half a dozen calls for their execution. Have I ever heard you or any other CiF contributor condemning that (for its not so implied violence)? What about the original engineers of leftwind hatred â Marx and Engels â that apparently served as inspiration for this excuse of a human being? What about the fact that your side immediately pinned the outrage that happened yesterday (committed by a mentally disturbed person with leftist/anarchist views) on the Tea Party and the evil Republicans (Palin, Limbaugh, etc.)? Wasnât that a clear case of incitement (or at the very least symptom) of hatred? * + Recommend (147) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * dynamic22 9 January 2011 5:59PM Looking at the the shooter his leanings seem to be particular anti-religious and anti-government of the "Anarchist" sort. These political leanings are very idealogically disposed from a heavily Christian Republican and within that a Tea party movement who seem to be targeted here. Why is this point not made yet ? Are journalists too silly to recognize an anarchist from a republican? * + Recommend (55) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * Celtiberico 9 January 2011 6:00PM Well, it's not a bad article, but it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. Obviously, the likes of Palin and Beck have been ratcheting up the Goebbels act, but the trouble is that this is only accepted by their enemies, just as the problem of Islamist violence is denied by many who are afraid of being seen as 'Islamophobic'. Nothing Orwell wouldn't have recognised... * + Recommend (41) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * RightWingTroll 9 January 2011 6:00PM LucyQ Must Right Wing equate with socially dysfunctional, violent religious cultures? Not at all. Have you been to right-wing Singapore and right-wing Switzerland? * + Recommend (71) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * kikithefrog 9 January 2011 6:00PM RedMutley, "It's almost as if Egotistical Username and Germanicus Rex feel like they need to be extremely defensive about this." That's because Mr Tomasky's article is attacking them. Note the use of war metaphors. It does not signify any propensity to violence on your behalf, or theirs, or Mr Tomasky's. Politics as War, like Sport as War, is just a metaphor in common use. Same goes for Sarah Palin's "targeting" metaphor. No one but a paranoid should think it means that she actually wanted harm on Ms Gifford. * + Recommend (56) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * Contributor RedMutley 9 January 2011 6:00PM British Honduras says: What a load of crap....sir...we have no idea what drove this man to kill! You are worse than the nut cases over here who jump to conclusions without facts! And then immediately follows it up with: All we know is that this dude is a leftwing nutcase, who burn our flag, is anti government and takes anti-depressant medication.... Is this intentional irony? Almost certainly not. Then this - which I think is quite superb: In America, we have the freedom to debate...like it or not! With our gun laws we will have murders committed because of our freedom to debate....We are use to it and will get over it! This is brilliant. Freedom to debate = shooting people and shooting people = freedom to debate. * + Recommend (592) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * EgotisticalUsername 9 January 2011 6:00PM This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn't abide by our community standards. Replies may also be deleted. For more detail see our FAQs. * thegreatfatsby 9 January 2011 6:00PM The shooting in Pakistan of Salman Taseer and the shooting of an American Congresswoman are related by mindless, extreme and imbecilic stupidity. The far right in America run on rails as distanced from reality and sanity as the Islamic extremists in Pakistan. Each are Anchored in ridiculous adherence to religious mantras far removed from sense and reality. Each demonise their perceived enemies. Each offer scope for violent corruption. Yin and Yang. * + Recommend (231) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * noorjivraj 9 January 2011 6:01PM so whats the difference between the blind hatred of Al-Qaeda and the Tea Party, Palin, the Bible Bashers and Co?? This is demo-crass-y?? Keep it ... * + Recommend (60) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * Contributor teaandchocolate 9 January 2011 6:01PM So, as I thought, you can only have a say in American democracy if you are right-wing and you have a bigger gun than your neighbour. Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and the res of the right-wing nuts should apologise. They are an abomination. * + Recommend (485) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * megasox 9 January 2011 6:01PM maybe such a dreadful act might make Sarah Palin think thrice before putting target imagery on her web site * + Recommend (122) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * lefthalfback 9 January 2011 6:02PM Mike Tomasky has accurately stated the issue. We have had 20 years of increasing rage from the Right. the loathsome comments of Congressman Brown-on the anniversary of the first major Right-wing Terrorist strike in those 20 years- are not atypical. And he was re-elected by 67% of the Georgians in his District. look at these comments demanding "...proof..." that the shooter was motivated by Right-wing hatred. What would satisfy you? A confession? A Liberal by the standard of arizona, Jewish Congresswoman gets shot in the face. The Sherriff of the County decries the fact that certain radio and TV hosts have made the County an epicenter of bigotry and prejudice. Res Ipsa Loquator. rave on conservative loonies. Your own words condemn you. * + Recommend (534) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * Contributor RedMutley 9 January 2011 6:02PM Kikithefrog Politics as War, like Sport as War, is just a metaphor in common use. Same goes for Sarah Palin's "targeting" metaphor. No one but a paranoid should think it means that she actually wanted harm on Ms Gifford. There are an awful lot of paranoids with guns in the US. I know this. You know this. Sarah Palin knows this. Pretending otherwise is sheer dishonesty. * + Recommend (394) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * harryboy 9 January 2011 6:02PM The year before, this same Broun singled out then-Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, as one such "domestic enemy of the constitution". He was re-elected last November with 67% of the vote. So what ? In November Obama was calling Republicans 'enemies' - or doesn't that count ? Also MT forgot to mention Gifford voted against Nancy Pelosi last wweek for speaker - wonder if that had anything to do with the shooting. It's as valid a question as any from MT. * + Recommend (42) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * MotorBacon 9 January 2011 6:02PM I'm glad we have right wingers to blame for this. Otherwise people would be blaming heavy metal and video games. Which honestly, is so ten years ago. We just need a good narrative, facts be damned. Among the suspect's favorite books were The Communist Manifesto, and Mein Kampf. One of his old friends says he was politically liberal. But who care it's Sarah Palin and other conservatives who are at fault for this. Just like Marilyn Manson was at fault for Columbine, and we all knew that a day after. * + Recommend (100) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * lightacandle 9 January 2011 6:03PM This is what happens when you follow the politics of 'hatee' we can see it happening in this country with the right wing's targeting of the more vulnerable in society who make easy targets. Even here on Comment is Free we are seeing an increase in traffic of offensive remarks targeted at those columinists who are more to the left and likewise against any commenters. We need to tread very careful here - and I hope the right wing here take note of what this sort of talk and campaigning can do. This is the latest on this sorry affair ........ "Giffords was also the target of a campaign event advert for her opponent, Jesse Kelly, which invited supporters to fire a gun with the candidate. It read: "Get on Target for Victory in November. Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office. Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly". John Ellinwood, Kelly's spokesman, said he did "not see the connection" between fundraisers featuring weapons and the shooting. It's a disgrace, inhumane and totally immoral - is this really the sort of society we want to live in? I hope lessons are learned. * + Recommend (363) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * whizgiggle 9 January 2011 6:04PM PeacefulMillitant I think there is a difference between what anonymous commenters on a newspaper website say, and what popular political commentators say. Try and find examples (and I'm sure they exist) from well known leftist commentators if you wish to make a fair comparison. (Am I the only one that finds the left/right false dichotomy embarrasing and childish?) * + Recommend (99) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * mintberrycrunch 9 January 2011 6:04PM I'm glad the American right have turned their hatred on their own people for a change instead of murdering thousands of innocents across the world. * + Recommend (89) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * masaski 9 January 2011 6:05PM You cannot hold your inflammatory tongue for one second can you? When are you going to realise that the left/right are the same in American politics? And yet you still roll out the standard literary red/blue bitch fight as 6 people lie dead. You are a disgrace to start using this already for political gain and there are many like you already across the controlled media doling out this dangerous rhetoric... You should be ashamed. * + Recommend (125) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * jereboam 9 January 2011 6:05PM When everybody who wants a gun gets one, when your 'media' is controlled by right wing head cases and Fox 'News' bubbles up from your sewers everyday, when Republican ideas of political campaigning include cartoons of Obama dessed up as Hitler, when nut jobs like Sarah 'cross-hairs'' Palin are funded by looney billionaires, and when your educational system produces some of the most stupid people on the planet .......... well, it was just a matter of time. Time we had a serious debate in the UK about whether we still wish Cameron/Clegg to drag us into becoming the 51st state, or whether we turn towards the light, and Europe. * + Recommend (138) + Responses (0) + Report + Clip + | Link * Latest * 1 * 2 * 3 … * 16 * 17 * 18 * Next Comments on this page are now closed. On Comment is free * Most viewed * Zeitgeist * Latest Last 24 hours 1. [Daniel-Pudles-3001-003.jpg] 1. 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