This is a screengrab from Sarah Palin's website Take Back the 20, taken moments ago. One of the crosshairs in Arizona appears to be for the district represented by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a Democrat. (First iteration of Ms. Palin's map here.)
Rep. Giffords, who'd just won a third term, was shot today in the head outside a grocery store while meeting with constituents. The Arizona Republic is live-blogging coverage. The latest from them says Ms. Giffords is in surgery in very serious condition -- UPDATE: The paper says she's out of surgery and in intensive care. A federal judge, John M. Roll, and a Giffords staffer were also reportedly killed. MSNBC says the alleged shooter, 22, is in custody. In all, six people are reported dead. The toll includes a nine-year-old girl. Eighteen people were injured.
ADDING: As several commenters have noted, there's no indication that the alleged shooter was politically motivated. Even if the perpetrator turns out to have been seriously involved in political causes, which again there's no evidence of, his actions will likely remain senseless. What we can say is that today's shooting, whatever its motivation, comes after an election season that was marked by the language of violence, like Sharron Angle's call for Second Amendment remedies. And so today's literal violence in a political context will inevitably raise questions about the effect of violent rhetoric.
Firedog Lake and David Safier each link to an ad they say came from the Pima County Republican website in June. It invites people to a fundraiser for Ms. Giffords' opponent, Jesse Kelly. The ad urges:
Get on Target for Victory in November Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office Shot a fully automatic M15 with Jesse Kelly
At the time, candidate Jesse Kelly tweeted that the event had gone great -- "great turnout," "great success." He tweeted a couple of pics from the event, including this one:
Today Mr. Kelly tweets, "We are all deeply saddened by this morning's shooting. Gabrielle Giffords, the other victims, and their families are in our prayers."
Sarah Palin has offered her condolences over Facebook. After the November vote, Yahoo noted that Ms. Palin's Take Back the 20 campaign "scores a bull's-eye." Ms. Giffords' seat was one of only two Ms. Palin's favored candidates lost.
ADDING: House Speaker John Boehner issued a statement saying he's "horrified by the senseless attack." President Obama called it an "unspeakable tragedy."
After today's shooting, Ms. Palin's website went down. It's possible that it's simply being overwhelmed with traffic, though the error message I get says my browser "can't find the server." I was able to screengrab a couple of the pages before the site went dark. If you've got more, share links in the comments, please.
(H/T Aaron Naparstek)
Sarah Palin's map with Gabrielle Giffords' name.
From our original post last spring. You can also find this on Ms. Palin's Facebook note:
"ohnofPhoenix, get a hold of yourself. I am sorry for the tragedy in Arizona, but the perpetrator is clearly a disturbed man, and blaming a website or the Tea Party is irresponsible and inaccurate. Besides, anyone who has supported Obama, Pelosi or Reid has no business throwing the word "nutjob" around. "
No right? Really? What are you going to do? Stomp on his head at a rally? Bring guns to a rally to hammer your points home? The Tea Party and its leaders have been irresponsible and cavalier with their vitriol and threats of violence. When there is violence, such as the rally, and now, all of a sudden they're the voice of reason and we shouldn't call them out on it?
The majority of your party politics is based on hate speech. Don't reneg now.
I agree. The Tea Party are sore loosers who want the bring the country back to the days of the wild, wild west- gun slingers and all. They are nut jobs and nut jobs with guns!
The one I saw belongs to "Classitup10": www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uRjwPWaxiY&feature=BF&list=ULGZRTNOG-r6Y&index=5
Please watch this YouTube post by alleged shooter. Disturbing, to say the least.
#p/a/u/1/nHoaZaLbqB4
What we say, and how we say it, does influence others.
Full pic of Palin's "Target list" including list of names in "Business Insider" link:
Also view "The Christian Left" on fb that have the pic, too (they were the first I saw who made the connection, over 2 hours ago).
Watch this YouTube posted by the alleged shooter. Disturbing, to say the least. Google You Introduction Jared Loughner
I watched those videos - they were ramblings that made no sense to me at all.
Scary!
"You don't have to accept the federalist laws. Nonetheless, read the United States of America's Constitution to apprehend all of the current treasonous laws"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHoaZaLbqB4&feature=player_embedded
Jared Loughner
Thank you for posting. I'm new to the blog and my attempt to copy and paste the link failed. Is there a trick I'm missing?
You need to be approved by site administration before you can post links.
Is that a new rule Covah? How do you apply for approval?
This site has the website before:
Here is the perpetrator's Facebook page:
http: // www.facebook.com / profile.php?id=100001964854765
remove spaces to get to page
As you can see, he is a Tea Party person.
I searched earlier for him on Facebook- he didn't appear to have one. Also if you look at the wall of this, it has lots of recent activity. It looks like it's a forgery, someone just created it.
Definitely a fake page. All the info is simply copied from his MySpace page. And the FB page was created after the suspect was already in custody.
Want to see what the tea party is really all about, check this out.
According to them this was a plot hatched by the president in order to take away their guns. I am not kidding.
I'd suggest you join patriot action network so you can enjoy it to the fullest extent possible.
John McCain had one brief moment during his presidential campaign where it appeared he realized where the anti-Obama and anti-Democrat hate and fear mongering were leading, and when he was at that fork in the road he made the choice to 'win at any cost' instead of dialing back the violent rhetoric. Instead of showing any leadership qualities or abilities, Sen. McCain allowed his ill-advised choice of a running mate to make fear, hatred and violence a part of their campaign. Since Mrs. Palin would never have been elevated to the level of national politics on her own, I fault Sen. McCain for both foisting this simple- minded woman's concepts and skewed perceptions on this country, and for failing to put the needs of this Country ahead of his own desires. It was the beginning of the end, and since the campaign, the majority of elected Republicans and Republicans seeking election have done everything in their power to foment fear and hatred, and legitimize violence as a means of 'taking' what they couldn't achieve via Democratic elections and voting. Until someone in the current Republican party exhibits any leadership qualities, takes responsibility for the mess they've created, takes steps to rein in the lunatic fringe, and replaces the current anti-government, anti-Democrat, anti-Obama violence laced rhetoric with a call for respect due all elected officials, all of this Nation's citizens, and all decent human beings in the world, I have no hope for the future of this Country.
SCMT - Well said!
Twitterer @cwilk archived Sarah's "Back the 20" at http://d.pr/I8hP
I'm a little skeptical about downloading a zip file off the internets. Anyway to make this accessible without downloading?
I guess you can't post links.
just do a search on patriot action network
Screenshot of the ORIGINAL FACEBOOK POST before it was edited, taken earlier today:
http:// thesmithian.com /post/ 2655317872/ palins- facebook - page -carries - a- map - featuring -20
I wonder will Issa ask for an investigation into this matter?
Sarah Palin's offer of condolences on her Facebook page is deplorable. She didn't even condemn the shooting. Arrest this evilness for accessory to attempted murder!
Paul and others who seek to divorce actions from rhetoric that has been flowing very very freely in recent times: it's naive to think there is no correlation. The analogy to yelling "FIRE" in a crowded place is extremely appropriate, in that anyone who instigates such dire consequences for others does remain responsible. Yes - there must be time and room for more details to come out - yes - it is the shooter not the gun who is at fault, but those who feed the mindset of such a shooting (especially the so-called unspoken legitimacy of doing so, "hint-hint-wink-wink" - do pave the way for others to act in precisely the way the protestations would otherwise appear to disclaim. It's disingenuous to even attempt to step back and say there's no responsibility among those who feed the hate - the "no compromise", the "just reload" mindset.
Exactly, just like churches who feed the anti-abortion nut jobs and then claim innocence.
Shep Smith of Fox News says that his researchers found extremely disturbing, politically oriented Internet posts under the name of the shooter, Jaren Laughner.
you said in March:
"Palin hunts people. Figuratively, of course."
Well, I've got the YouTube link but I can't post it here. This might help--after the www and the Youtubedotcom add this:
/user/Classitup10#p/u/1/nHoaZaLbqB4
I've got screen shots and text copies also.
Certain aspects of the media (Beck, Limbaugh) have been very publicly and very obviously inciting this type of behavior for quite a while. Palin has also been doing her part to participate in that type of rhetoric. Many of us have been trying to call attention to it for months and months. It was only a matter of time before some nut job acted on it and now that's it's come to fruition, there will be the usual denials. People will state that the tea party does not condone this type of behavior. Maybe they don't, but they sure could have fooled me... Take back America indeed... from what? from whom?
I'm so saddened by this but also outraged.
I hope Ms. Giffords pulls through, my heart is with her and all the others who were hurt and/or killed and their families.
In moments of tragedy and shocking news, it is easy to jump to conclusions or conspiracy and search for someone to blame. I am not dismissing anything said here. I am only asking for a modicum of restraint until we find out more about the incident and the shooter.
Please, let's try and be reasonable and patient, this only just happened.
Do you see a problem with people jumping to conclusions when it comes to blaming President Obama for everything?
You are right though. This is a national tragedy that deserves restraint. If only we exercised restraint and judgment before we invaded Iraq.
<sigh>
Sam, you make me sad.
This is what makes Democrats a much more thoughtful and reasonable party than the other options out there.
OTOH the problem with Democrats is too many of them don't realize you can't reason with unreasonable people. They're usually the ones that use words like "reasonable" and "patient" reflexively.
Someone committed more than a crime today -- they committed an overt act of political terrorism. They attempted to disenfranchise an entire congressional district at point blank range. They tried to take away thousands of people's representation in the political system with a bullet.
How many attacks does it take to get the point across to you? These people don't want to deal with you. They don't want to bargain with you. They don't care about your reasonableness and patience. They don't want to hear you. They don't want to talk to you. They want you gone.
Truth is sad. That's why we can never face it in America.
Part of me wants to be reasonable... the other part, well, it isn't being rational after a lune with a gun cuts short the life of a 9yr. old. THAT part of me would like to string the little snot up in a public square and beat him to death.
You don't know me, and you don't know just how far off the mark that is- but this kid is resorting to resolution with a weapon.
That means, by virtue of thinking folk, that the boy was clearly not in his right mind. TUPAC01 is right on the money. These folk -- the principles of free speech don't sink in that it means we protect the speech of those we find most offensive- period.
Speech is powerful. And words do have effect. We ask each other to be thoughtful, but there was never a guarantee in the system that anyone would mind their words, or soften their rhetoric, and they are NOT in control of themselves.
John, you are correct that we are searching for answers. Our culture solves murders in an hour on TV... so, yeah... a lot of folk imagine that investigation is that fast. And, in that search- you can bet your sweet bippy that many of us, those with long memories, remember the stinkin' things some folks have said... and put those things together. While we have nuthin definitive, there are questions to be asked.
The forum, here, however,really isn't the space to find answers. It IS a place for us to vent, mind you. Considering the legitimate anger we have developed [I include myself in the number that thinks of DeMint, Angle, and Palin when I think of folks that stirred this pot... and I may not be able to 'tie them to the conspiracy,' but I feel that their position as people that have at least been public servants, or ARE public servants. I might be mistaken, but I do hold them responsible for the impact of the words they drop into the universe.
Don't take me wrong, I am outraged by many things I have heard in the last election cycle. However, I don't think connecting that rhetoric to the actions of this person or persons, at this point, is anything more than conjecture and may ultimately be irresponsible.
Has it occurred to anyone I wonder, that the inflammatory statements here may inspire some mentally unbalanced person to go assassinate Sarah Palin, or John McCain? And are then those who made them responsible for that death?
If we wake up in the morning and someone has killed Sarah Palin and her family, will we say "good?" What does it say about us that we hold joy in our hearts for the death of a person?
Do we argue that all public statements should be guarded against the lunatic fringe that may misconstrue our words? Then what words should be guarded against? How are we to know what statements will incite the type of person that this man is beginning to appear to be?
I for one have had enough death and violence to last the rest of my lifetime and wish for no more, and call for none to be carried out in my name.
We're not talking just about Sarah Palin's hit list as if it exists in a parallel universe, separate from this world. You can argue that Palin and Pals' public violent rhetoric and symbolism have no effect on the actions of population, but as this article shows this connection has apparently crossed the minds of the SarahPAC team. If it hadn't why would they be furiously covering their tracks even as we speak. Some items not mentioned in the article:
* Palin has removed her "don't retreat, instead reload" tweet, which will live in infamy, and other vitriolic statements from her twitter account.
* Palin's team has been furiously deleting comments they don't agree with from her Facebook page, including comments suggesting a link between her rhetoric and the escalating violence. Apparently she doesn't mind denying Facebookers their first amendment rights. Ha.
* Others have noted that several conservative bloggers are removing references to Palin's hit list en masse.
Is there a link between Palin's violent rhetoric and the increasing political violence we're witnessing? I don't know. But I do know that "an innocent man don't run". Why is Palin "retreating" instead of "reloading"? Apparently someone on her team believes a case can be made for a possible link there, or they wouldn't be trying to bury the evidence, would they?
Even my favorite person of all time, Glenn Beck, said (when asked about Palin's hit list), "It's really easy in the context of what happened this morning to look back and say, I don't know if this was such a bright idea."
As I said, Palin's rhetoric doesn't happen in a vacuum. Here's a quick rundown of some highlights from the past couple of years:
* Mar. 2009 - Michele Bachman (R-MN) states that she wants the citizens of her state "armed and dangerous".
* Aug. 2009 - someone dropped a gun from their pants at a Giffords town hall meeting in Arizona.
* Jan. 2010 - Sharron Angle gives famous "second amendment remedies" speech, and also states "we have to take Harry Reid out."
* Mar. 2010 - Tom Perillo's (D-VA) brother came home to find a severed gas line after Tea Partiers posted his address online, thinking it was the Congressman's address.
* Mar. 2010 - Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) said that the windows of her Niagara Falls office were broken and she received voicemail referencing snipers.
* Mar. 2010 - Eric Cantor (R-VA) discovers that even Republicans aren't immune to having their office windows shot out. Perhaps his constituents figured out he doesn't celebrate Christmas.
* Mar. 2010 - Monroe County Democratic Committee (N.Y.) were vandalized when bricks were thrown through the windows.
* Mar. 2010 - Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) angrily shouts "baby killer" while Bart Stupak (D-MI) speaks on the floor of the House or Representatives. Afterward Stupak released tapes of violent threatening "baby killer" messages left on his voicemail, presumably not also by Neugebauer.
* Mar. 2010 - RNC Chairman Michael Steele said Nancy Pelosi should be put on "the firing line."
* Mar. 2010 - John Boehner (R-OH) states, in an interview, that congressmen who vote for the health bill would be 'dead men'.
* Apr. 2010 - Sarah Palin tweets "Don't retreat, instead reload" to her followers.
* Jul. 2010 - Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) office windows were shot at.
* Oct. 2010 - Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) offices were sent white powder through the postal service.
* Jan. 2011 - Explosive packages sent to the Maryland capitol building, the Maryland Department of Transportation and to the office of Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.
* Of course there are the widespread reports of death threats, threats to do bodily harm, offensive slurs, spitting, etc., too numerous to count at this point.
So you tell me... Think you can reason with these people?
excellent timeline, tupacs
1 down and 19 to go huh Sarah?
3 retired, most of the rest were not re-elected. If I recall the election results correctly there's only one more left on Palin's hit list. Unless the Tea Party decides to impose retroactive "reloads", in Palin-speak.