When the news broke yesterday that there was a shooting at an event for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the response for most was immediate: concern, prayers, and hope that the perpetrator is caught immediately and punished severely. Politics didn't matter in that moment; if someone shoots at one of our elected leaders, that person is an enemy of us all. The response for a few others was equally immediate: Sarah Palin.

This has become a recurring pattern for liberal commentators over the past few years. Something bad happens and somehow, without any evidence at all, it is Palin's fault and, more broadly, the Tea Party's. That was the first reaction of Markos Moulitsas and Matt Yglesias yesterday. It was widely taken up by the left side of the blogosphere who managed to convince themselves that Gabrielle Giffords had been shot on the express orders of Sarah Palin. Not kidding.

Remember, all this liberal posturing about Sarah Palin's gun rhetoric took place before we knew anything about the shooter. In fact, at that time we didn't even know how many shooters there were. Giffords had been reported dead, then alive, then unknown. For a while it was unclear whether she had been the target or the federal judge who was also killed. This uncertainty about the facts went on for most of the afternoon. But liberals kept a steady faith: this is all Sarah Palin's fault.

How is it that people who endlessly protest that they are part of the "reality-based community" can't even wait for the facts before proclaiming the state of reality? The truth is, liberals were posturing about Palin's "extremist rhetoric" long before the shooting, so it doesn't matter what the facts on the ground are or how disconnected she ultimately is from the event. She's still at fault.

And that's what happened as the facts slowly emerged about Jared Lee Loughner. Based on his internet sites, he appeared to be nuttier than Planters and it seems that his actions were based not on anything he saw or heard from Sarah Palin, but rather his own mental illness. There is no evidence, whatsoever, that he was a devotee of Palin or a Tea Partier. No evidence that he ever came into contact with the "extremist rhetoric" on the Right at all.

Doesn't matter. Liberals have assumed that he heard "right-wing vitriol", that it motivated him, and that as a result, all charged political speech should be condemned. This makes no sense at all because, at this point, we don't know anything about whether Loughner heard any of this "dangerous" rhetoric, much less whether it motivated him. And so every newspaper this weekend and all the cable news shows are fretting about "extremist rhetoric". Without any evidence, whatsoever, that political rhetoric had anything to do with the shooting.

Maybe we'll find out he was active in the Tea Party. But I doubt it. His favorite books included "Mein Kampf" and the "Communist Manifesto." He favorited a flag-burning on YouTube. Not your typical Tea Partier, anyway.

I imagine we're going to have a few years now where candidates and campaigns are going to tiptoe carefully around charged rhetoric and the newspapers will forever be linking Giffords and Palin for an explanation. Entirely without evidence. Imagine that. Liberals have used an unrelated event to confirm their liberal ideas and score low-hanging fruit off of an atrocity.

More: Definitely check out Legal Insurrection's review of the attack and the liberal response. He's got a great list of the violent attacks over the past few years where Liberals started out blaming the Tea Party only to discover that the criminals were either a-political or out-and-out Leftists.

Later: It shouldn't come to this, but in light of the overwhelming media coverage somehow linking the Arizona shooting to Palin and the Tea Party, it's worth highlighting what we all know already: "extremist rhetoric" is by no means evident only on the Right.

Here's the President dangerously suggesting gun violence to his followers.

Here's Markos Moulitsas putting Congressmen, including Rep. Giffords, on a "target list."

Do I think that these men are responsible for the violence in Arizona? Of course not. There's no evidence that Loughner even heard or read this stuff. That's the point. Without a single shred of evidence that "extremist rhetoric" encouraged the attack, the Left has decided that it simply must have contributed. Because they want it to be so, dammit, that's why.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:38 AM | Comments (535)
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The new year brings cause for rejoicing (in the literary arena, anyway). There are a couple of new releases that I feel compelled to add to my ever-growing stack of books.

First up is Stephen Hunter's latest Bob Lee Swagger book, Dead Zero. Bob is a senior citizen by now, so he makes for a somewhat unlikely action hero. Yet Hunter has always made his Swagger books about more than mayhem and gunplay; they are as much character-studies of our warrior class as much as anything. I've always thought that it was this sensitivity and understanding of the soldier's ethos that placed Hunter's novels far above the other thrillers you'd find on the bookshelf. (I still think the first Swagger novel, Point of Impact, was one of the best novels published in the last couple of decades. And Pale Horse Coming, which featured Bob's father Earl Swagger, might be far-fetched...but it is also one of the most entertaining and flat-out enjoyable of all of Hunter's books.)

If you don't read Thomas Sowell's books or columns, you should; he's probably one of the four or five best conservative economists and thinkers currently working. His classic work, Basic Economics, has been revised and updated. For people who are interested in the subject and want to go beyond Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson, Sowell's book is the one I recommend. It's not exactly light reading, but neither is it book packed with hard-to-understand jargon. Sowell is a good writer and a clear thinker, and this comes out in his prose - this book is even appropriate for late high schoolers (in fact, I think this book should be required reading for every high schooler in the land; it would pay large dividends later in life).

Finally, something more light-hearted: Patrick McConnell's Earl and Mooch: A Mutts Treasury. I've loved the Mutts strip for years, mostly because I love the old-school style and gentle humor of his work. Like Bill Watterson in Calvin and Hobbes, McConnell can combine humor, pathos, a little light social commentary, and philosophy in his strips without being preachy or boring.

What is everyone else reading?

Posted by: Monty at 05:14 AM | Comments (115)
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“Hand-carved from the finest Italian granite pixels”

Please forgive the crappier than usual post tonight. I was distracted watching this afternoonÂ’s New Orleans Saints' football practice. They looked pretty good and seem more than ready for next weekÂ’s playoff game.

Oh, and since SOMEONE was remiss in providing you a cheerleader today, here ya' go:

Don't everyone thank me at once... more...

Posted by: Genghis at 06:14 PM | Comments (775)
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As you may have heard, the Saints will be practicing later today.

Meanwhile, Rex Ryan says that Peyton Manning probably doesn't have pretty feet.

After All That Dismissivenes... Seattle's pissed and NO's flat -- 34-20.

Posted by: Ace at 03:06 PM | Comments (533)
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A commenter mentioned this possibility.

Yesterday, when I'd said the package-bomber (or package ignitng-devicer) was probably white, a commenter (sorry, forget who) agreed, noting his writing pattern ("Total bullshit") seemed to indicate a 20-something white loser college-dropout wannabe-profound sort of guy.

And it turns out that Jared Laughner is a white loser college-dropout wannabe-profound sort of guy.

Counting against this is geography, since it's a general rule that serial killers stick close to home or places they know well; while nothing precludes him taking a trip to the DC area right before his bloody swan song, it's not a typical thing; usually serial killers want to stick to areas they know for comfort/familiarity. (Laughner went to local community college in AZ, so he wouldn't know the MD or DC area from that.)

Still, it's a possibility. Who knows, maybe.

By the way, if it occurred to you as it did to me that it was very unlikely this psychotic joined the army, give yourself a cookie.

According to his YouTube profile, he went to a recruitment center, but no mention of actual enlistment. (If you believe that, which I do, provisionally.)

Hah! t-bird sums up the attitude of the MFM generally:

Either he's a Tea Party extremist or... please, no labels.

Posted by: Ace at 02:55 PM | Comments (436)
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She's tweeting more -- unless she's just making up an ever-more elaborate lie, I think she's on the level.

Tami reports her as tweeting:

This is a circus. Good Morning America just called me. it's loughner just checked my year book. I haven't seen him since '07. Then, he was left wing. more left. I haven't seen him since '07 though. He became very reclusive. he had a lot of friends until he got alcohol poisoning in '06, & dropped out of school. Mainly loner very philosophical. As I knew him he was left wing, quite liberal. & oddly obsessed with the 2012 prophecy. he was a pot head & into rock like Hendrix,The Doors, Anti-Flag. I haven't seen him in person since '07 in a sign language class He was a political radical & met Giffords once before in '07, asked her a question & he told me she was "stupid & unintelligent"

You know who had Gabrille Giffords on her "target list"? I don't mean Sarah Palin, I mean this screechy little girl.

Who to primary? Well, I'd argue that we can narrow the target list by looking at those Democrats who sold out the Constitution last week. I've bolded members of the Blue Dogs for added emphasis.

I added italics to "target list," but Kos used that term.

The screechy little hysteric then writes:

Not all of these people will get or even deserve primaries, but this vote certainly puts a bulls eye on their district.

Emphasis added, again. When will Markos denounce himself?

The leftist media realizes that what they have on their hands is a nutter who is left-leaning to the extend he's anything, so their precious meme is about to go bye-bye. So they're getting it out there right now before it becomes inoperative.

Gay hater Michaelangelo Signoreli doesn't really care if the guy is Republican or not; either way, Republicans are to blame. For "dangerous ideas." Like the world's biggest liberal blog putting Ms. Giffords on a "target list," for example.

Thanks to DrewM and Slublog.

Posted by: Ace at 02:27 PM | Comments (185)
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Now you see it...

...and now you don't.

Via the Treach.

Over at Hot Air (and other sites), the game of pin-the-crime-on-the-party seems to indicate this guy was kinda left, as one of his favorite books was The Communist Manifesto (and another was Mein Kampf), and he favorited a video of the flag being burned.

As I've now said, I think the guy's primary ideology was teh crazy, and he seems to have plucked this or that idea from whatever source was at hand. And I'm not readjusting that guess now (having just adjusted it already). So I'm not going to say he's of the left, but the trail of all-over-the-map crazy is making it harder even for the MFM to claim with a straight face that he was a Tea Partier.

They will do that, still. They claimed Joseph Stack was a Tea Partier despite his concluding his suicide/terrorist manifesto with a quote from the Communist Manifesto. And the Discovery Channel shooter quickly morphed from radical environmental nut into "anti-immigration extremist" based on one bullet point out of 25.

The left-leaning stuff makes it a little harder for them to paint him as a Tea Partier, but they'll do it just the same. They like a good challenge.

Where's Ergie and Bill When I Need Them? Uh-oh. Who knows, I may have to do the full 180. I wonder if Ergie will join me in saying "I was wrong."

BTW, I don't know who Cathie Parker is so I don't have any reason to think she's credible on Laughner being a leftie. (I also have no reason to think she's not credible.)

Posted by: Ace at 01:37 PM | Comments (184)
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Seems, as expected, deranged, speaking of mind control and such.

Speaks pretty incoherently about large numbers of years BCE and ADE (which oldsters know as BC and AD I guess), 5% of the nation being "dreamers" like him, teaching children to replace a letter of the alphabet with another and so by creating some new language. Schizophrenic stuff, basically.

Also seems obsessive about backing the currency with gold and silver. Speaks about a third currency, also seems obsessed with the position of Treasurer.

Also writes that if you call him a terrorist, that's an ad hominem, so calling him a terrorist would be an ad hominem attack.

Here's some of his psychotic writing:

In conclusion, reading the second United States Constitution, I can't trust the current government because of the ratifications [sic; he seems to mean amendments]; The government is implying mind control and brainwash on the people by controlling grammar.

No! I won't pay debt with a currency that's not backed by gold and silver!

No! Iwon't trust in God!

He also mentions he didn't "write a belief" on his Army applicaiton, and the recruiter wrote: None. So, atheist.

The goldbug stuff is the only thing here I can see that associates him with the right (and then, only to the Ron Paul sort of Austrian economics wing). I should just note that money is an obsession of psychotic conspiracy theories -- there are endless speculations about the Masonic imagery on the dollar bills. Recently I was talking to a black guy, who was a strangely conspiracy-obsessed sort of guy, and he had this whole theory that all rappers were part of a Satanic conspriracy because they all show the "Eye of Ra" symbol (basically making a triangle with your fingers and looking through it), which looks like the eye on the dollar bill, and the government is a Satanic conspiracy too. This link is sort of on the same page as what this black guy was talking about.

One psychotic I personally became aware of was fond of writing, over and over, "THE FED IS IN THE FOOD." What that means, I don't know.

So, I'm not sure this is going to turn out to be a "deranged guy more associated with the right than the left," as that sort of currency-based conspiracy theory isn't really political at all, it's just a common trope of the psychotic. There may be so little actual political content to his thought it will be hard(er) for the media to say this guy was on the "right." It could just be that he already had the common psychotic obsession with mind-control-through-currency (or whatnot) and just glommed on to the goldbugs' complaints about fiat currency because it sounded good.

Posted by: Ace at 12:28 PM | Comments (323)
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From Gabe: 2nd suspect arrested?

Update: Hospital presser

10 taken to hospital, 1 dead, 5 in critical condition, rest stable without threatening injuries.

Giffords survived, doctor optimistic about recovery. She's out of surgery.

Dead patient was young child "about 9 years old".

Original Post:
Sheriff office holding a press conference.

Jared Laughner is the name of the guy under arrest.

Say suspect is 22 years old. Weapon was "a pistol with an extended magazine".

Won't confirm that he said anything at time of shooting.

He says they had 'limited' contact with him in past.

Won't confirm it was a federal judge, just a "federal employee" other than Giffords that was "very seriously injured". Other outlets are reporting the judge was John Roll, who had been under protective watch a few years back after he ruled a suit by illegal immigrants against an AZ rancher could proceed.

MSNBC says Giffords is expected to survive.

If this is his Youtube page, he's an anarchist nutjob, not a conservative. Check out the vid he favorited. It's a flag burning.

Posted by: DrewM at 11:51 AM | Comments (143)
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It's Now a Mass Murder: Seven dead, including Congresswoman Giffords.

Oh, and a child was killed too. I hope the assholes that post inciting shit on the internet along these lines (while posturing as responsible gun enthusiasts) take notice.

White Guy In Mid-Twenties: According to a witness who saw the (tackled and in-custody) shooter.

The gunman was young, mid-to-late 20s, white, clean-shaven with short hair and wearing dark clothing and said nothing during the shooting or while being held down, although he struggled at first. He didn't look like a businessman, but more of a "fringe character," Rayle said.

20-30 shots, so multiple guns, I think. It didn't sound right to me that 15 shots could be fired and 12 people hit.
...

Rep. Giffords is a Democrat, recently re-elected, so if there's a political motivation here (and their probably is, as she was holding a public event), that almost certainly means this is some guy mistaking himself for a True Patriot.

The Democrat, who was re-elected to her third term in November, was hosting a "Congress on Your Corner" event at the Safeway in northwest Tucson when a gunman ran up and started shooting, according to Peter Michaels, news director of Arizona Public Media.

At least five other people, including members of her staff, were hurt. Giffords was transported to University Medical Center in Tucson. Her condition was not immediately known.

This report says she was injured in the attack.

Thanks to rdbrewer.

Other Possibilities: Though I'd bet it was a deranged guy more associated with the right than the left, it could also be a La Raza type who's upset that her fake-border-enforcement position is even fake.

Shot In The Head? This report from the Tucson Citizen says she was shot in the head.

A commenter has said she's actually dead. I'm looking for updates; I don't know that. I'm behind on this, obviously. The commenter has retracted that "dead" statement and says it was an inference based upon the fact she was shot in the head at point blank range (see updates below), so that's likely to be a fatal wound.

Updates: Miss Marple, scouring Fox and Twitter, reports thus:

Information on Twitter and on Fox: 12 people shot according to Fox. Congresswoman Gifford shot in the head at point blank range.

Posted by: Ace at 09:39 AM | Comments (1045)
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