Democratic Congresswoman Among 12 Shot in Arizona

We can all agree that incidents like this put violent rhetoric in a bad light. We can all agree that this should force people like Palin to distance themselves from that sort of rhetoric.

But the quoted paragraph is where this sort of thinking goes a step too far and into silly, unthinking partisanism.

Heated rhetoric has existed as long as there have been politics. Murders have existed as long as there have been people who want different things. The fact that the two occasionally overlap is inevitable. They always have and always will. Correlation, in this case, is not causation.

 

Words and images are powerful, especially when used in concert in ways that cut to emotionally charged issues. They're why people usually earn a lot more money to mislead and obscure truth than to deliver vetted, accurate information in balanced context.

 

Looking at the date, it clearly tell us that this plan didn't come to fruition.

People say and write a lot "empty" threats. Only those who go off the "deep end" are the ones who will go through it.

Thanks, Roscablo. I wonder why people are resorting to that story right now when it done last March?

 

I wouldn't bet on that description yet. CNN has shown they're not the best at getting facts right, as shown by their contradiction on whether Giffords died.

 

Obviously YankeeFan you did not live through the political outrage on college campuses during the Vietnam era.

 

A lot of elected Democratic politicians in that cllp, eh? If your point is wackados exist on both sides, I concede. Only one party puts their in charge.

Second Amendment solutions. Please show me the "both sides" equivalent to that phrase or, quite honestly, pound sand. Or, fuck off, if you prefer.

 

True, of course. But earlier reports also had it as a young person.

I don't have statistics, but my impression of politically motivated killers is of an older person (older than 21 that is) who feels he's been systematically screwed over.

21 would be very young to have developed that kind of motivation.

I wonder if a young staffer might have been the target. If 12 people were shot, it doesn't sound like she was the only target or maybe even a target.

 

Hospital spokeswoman now on CNN saying 10 victims, including the Congresswoman, are in surgery. All are critical, including a child.

 

The amount of victims is definitely surprising to me. That is a question that has confused me.

 

You know, every person on this board is a journalist, or at least has some interest in journalism. So it might behoove us all to hold off on the opinionizing until there's a better idea of just what the fuck happened and why. A little professional pride, you might call it.

 

Eyewitness -- former ER doc -- reports 25-or-so year old white male came out of store, walked up to Congresswoman, fired point blank at her head, then fired indiscriminately around the scene until he ran out of ammo; he then fled, only to be tackled by one of the staffers.

The ER doc eyewitness says it took 30 minutes for EMS to arrive.

Source: http://gawker.com/5728501/arizona-congresswoman-shot-outside-grocery-store