Congresswoman Giffords at her swearing in ceremony last Wednesday with new Speaker of the House John Boehner.
It's with extreme sadness that I have to report the shooting death of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona. Congresswoman Giffords was at a public event in Tuscon when a young gunman in his late teens/early 20's rushed up to her and began to "indiscriminately" fire into the crowd. Congresswoman Giffords, who was shot point blank in the head, was taken to the hospital where she was shortly pronounced dead. Six other people were killed and several mothers wounded, including several members of Congresswoman Gifford's staff.
At first, this would look to be more of a random shooting than a targeted assassination. Yet it was obvious that Congresswoman Gifford, a 40 year-old Democrat, was the most important person at the event that was taking place outside an ironically-named Safeway supermarket. Bystanders body tackled the alleged shooter as he tried to flee and is now in police custody. For the moment, no motive has been revealed. Congresswoman Giffords, it ought to be added, was one of 20 congressmen and congresswomen "targeted" by Sarah Palin last year in opposition to the health care bill.
I'll stay on top of this as details emerge.
Update: Apparently, Sarah Palin wasn't the only one to literally target Rep. Giffords. Her Republican opponent, Jesse Kelly, held a rally last June 12th in which he urged his supporters to "Get on Target for Victory in November Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office. Shoot a fully automatic M15 with Jesse Kelly."
Update 2: MSNBC is relaying that Congresswoman Giffords is out of surgery and is expected to make it and her prognosis is "very optimistic." But Federal Judge Rolls was killed in the attack in which 18 were injured. Dr. Peter Rhee just said "Congreswoman Giffords is not deceased." The one fatality that Rhee's Hospital had admitted is a small child of nine.
Update 3: Name of Gunman: Jared Loughner, 22, according to the Political Carnival. This is from Loughner's Youtube channel:
I think we can conclude this wacko's a right winger.
Let me guess. All the fault of the Republicans. Psychotic nuts are pscychotic nuts ny freind whatever their political bent.Pills won't help. As of now she is alive in surgery and hopefully will recover. BC
"Psychotic nuts are psychotic nuts my friend whatever their political bent." Yes true, i'm with you on that. but in current (albeit stubbornly receding) reagan era of the USA, more nuts live on/with the "right". No matter his purportedly "schiz" reading list, Loughner is more "right" than "left" because: 1. "peeing on the tree of liberty" rightwingers are decidedly more violence & carnage obsessed/loving than wimpy, caving, compromising, treehugging, bipartisanship leftwingers. 2. nowadays, tgabbers boast/tout their familiarity/emulation with/of marx, alinsky, et al historical "radical lefties". Faving The Communist Manifesto is congruent with wingnutism.
"... lays squarely at the feet of Rush, Beck, Brewer, Angel and especially Ms Crosshairs herself - Palin" Lushbo and Bleck certainly love this. I don't recall reading anything about Angle or Brewer opinions of "Assembly of Christian Soldiers of God 40 Virgin Goats" activity. Gunnut-pandering Palin? Doh, Palin/Nugent and the other violence-lovers own this.
Oh, no, BC, let's just conveniently forget and never mention, as Lamar Alexander orders us to, Palin putting up that national map with bullseyes over 20 congressional districts and Gifford's opponent, Jesse Kelly, exhorting his supporters to shoot off M15s with him.
I think we know what Al Gore would call all that: Inconvenient truths.
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BC
Yes true, i'm with you on that. but in current (albeit stubbornly receding) reagan era of the USA, more nuts live on/with the "right".
No matter his purportedly "schiz" reading list, Loughner is more "right" than "left" because:
1. "peeing on the tree of liberty" rightwingers are decidedly more violence & carnage obsessed/loving than wimpy, caving, compromising, treehugging, bipartisanship leftwingers.
2. nowadays, tgabbers boast/tout their familiarity/emulation with/of marx, alinsky, et al historical "radical lefties". Faving The Communist Manifesto is congruent with wingnutism.
"... lays squarely at the feet of Rush, Beck, Brewer, Angel and especially Ms Crosshairs herself - Palin"
Lushbo and Bleck certainly love this. I don't recall reading anything about Angle or Brewer opinions of "Assembly of Christian Soldiers of God 40 Virgin Goats" activity.
Gunnut-pandering Palin? Doh, Palin/Nugent and the other violence-lovers own this.
I think we know what Al Gore would call all that: Inconvenient truths.