Senseless Act Fuels Senseless Politics

Those of us Americans who live in the world of sanity are still attempting to put our arms the senseless tragedy of the assassination attempt on Representative Gabrielle Giffords, (D:AZ), which left her gravely wounded.

Representative Giffords was holding an event called "Congress on Your Corner" at a Safeway grocery store in northwest Tuscon when a deranged imbecile shot her in the head at point blank range. The gunman killed six others, including Federal Judge John Roll, and wounded another dozen or so.

Congresswoman Giffords was known as a moderate, blue dog Democrat who is well respected on both sides of the isle. I have seen a dozen or so interviews with Rep. Giffords, most notably during somewhat frequent appearances on FOX News "On The Record", hosted by Greta Van Susterin, and have always found her to be principled and respectful.

Although Giffords was not considered a controversial public servant, the Police have indicated Giffords was targeted. Giffords was a supporter of the Obama health care overhaul, but fought the administration hard on border security issues. At this point, it is unclear if any of these or other political positions played a role in the assassination attempt.

In a most unfortunate turn of events, although regrettably expected, many on the far left wing have turned to throwing blame at every conservative political opponent they can think of, from the Tea Party to Rush Limbaugh.

MSNBC's Keith Oblermann immediately played the political card and assessed blame:


Sarah Palin, in an effort to identify supporters of Obamacare who were up for election to be challenged, utilized a map of the United States which had targets placed on the geographical map of the locations of these members of Congress. This illustrative chart, retrospectively, was ill advised in the design. To be clear, no sane individual or group thought the bulls eye to signal the literal action of shooting someone, and everyone knows it.

Olbermann talks about Rep. Allen West speaking of not letting his opponent come out of his home. I recall, it was union thugs on the left that actually terrorized the family of a Bank of America executive, with a child at home, and prohibited them for leaving their home.

Glenn Beck regularly makes the case for non-violence on his radio and television programs.

Olbermann's piece is quick to place blame on conservatives, but curiously left out rhetoric of President Barack Obama. Over his first term, Obama spoke of political opponents saying "They bring a knife, we bring a gun", told Latinos "We are going to punish our enemies" and vowed to fight Republicans with "hand to hand combat".

NY Times Economist Paul Krugman, veering from his supposed area of expertise, has blamed the right as well, suggesting they create a climate of hate. As usual, Krugman is out of line and completely wrong.

For what it is worth, most reports identify the killer, reported to allegedly be Jared Loughner, to be on the left side of the political isle.

What happened in Arizona yesterday is an attack on America, our freedoms and our system of government. The fact that in our political discourse an elected official is not safe from physical harm is something that cannot be tolerated.

Perhaps most sickening regarding the tragedy in Arizona was that a beautiful 9 year old girl, Christina Green, was among those murdered. Recently elected to student council, young Christina had an interest in the political arena and was taken by a neighbor to meet Rep. Giffords. The Green family is like many families in America, with Christina and her mother being supporters of President Obama and her father on the opposite side. Christina, ironically born on September 11, 2001, hoped to attend Penn State.

Perhaps, from both sides of the isle, we can think of Christina as we seek to conduct our political differences with civil discourse and respect. Contrary to media reports, every single Tea Party event I attended did just that. It is for our children, like Christina, that we are so passionate about stopping the transformation of America.

My thoughts and prayers are with all the victims of the unspeakable tragedy. After proper travel through our legal system, I demand the perpetrator be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I hope he is executed, not after 20 years of appeals, but six weeks from Tuesday.