Democratic Congresswoman Gabby Giffords Executed In The Fascist State Of Arizona

UPDATE: Earlier reports that Congresswoman Giffords had died was premature and there are reports now that she is in critical condition and may survive. That would make it an attempted execution or attempted assassination. 6 other people, including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl were killed and a 12 others were seriously wounded.

Last fall I remember reading some right-wing bloggers and hack propagandists claiming that when Rep. Raúl Grijalva shut down his local offices after death threats and several shots fired into his office, it was all "a publicity stunt." A few hours ago I think I offended a young woman who follows me on twitter by referring to Arizona, where the real right-wing death panels are at work killing poor people on a regular basis, as a fascist state. This morning, at around 10AM Rep. Giffords was at a Congress-on-Your-Corner event at a Tucson grocery store. She was shot point blank in the head by a young, deranged fascist gunman, Tea Party terrorist Jared Loughner, 22 (on the right), who then started shooting indiscriminately into the crowd, killing several people and wounding over a dozen others, including at least two of Gifford's congressional staffers. Reports are coming out that there were two others involved, one who, like Loughner, is now in custody and one who is being looked for by police.


Giffords, 40, is a mainstream conservative, a Member of the Blue Dog caucus who, most recently, was one of the few Democrats refusing to vote in favor of Nancy Pelosi to lead the Democratic minority. She voted as frequently with the Republicans as with the Democrats on hotly disputed substantive issues. To fascists she's a flaming liberal or a communist and Sarah Palin described her as "a target." She was first elected in 2006 when she won an open Republican seat 54-42% (114,263- 89,104). She was reelected in 2008-- despite favorite son John McCain's 52% victory in the district-- by an increased margin 55-43% (179,629- 140,553).

In November she nearly lost her seat in the midst of two factors-- Democratic disappointment with legislators like Giffords supporting GOP policies and a veritable jihad against the mainstream by a very well-financed far right. Giffords was the victim of millions of dollars of lies and calumny, questioning even her patriotism. She managed to scrape by with a 49-47% win against a weak Republican opponent (133,046-129,405). Notice that about 45,000 of her 2008 voters abandoned her while the Republican falloff from 2008 was only half that. Republican hate groups like the China-financed U.S. Chamber of Commerce ($161,907.00) and the shady Big-Pharma-financed 60-Plus Association ($284,174.19) were able to buy an awful lot of hate. Mission accomplished? Federal Judge John Roll, who has received death threats from right-wing domestic terrorist groups because of a pro-immigrants ruling, was also murdered. Krugman's got a reasonable reaction up at his Times blog.

We don’t have proof yet that this was political, but the odds are that it was. She’s been the target of violence before. And for those wondering why a Blue Dog Democrat, the kind Republicans might be able to work with, might be a target, the answer is that she’s a Democrat who survived what was otherwise a GOP sweep in Arizona, precisely because the Republicans nominated a Tea Party activist. (Her father says that “the whole Tea Party” was her enemy.) And yes, she was on Sarah Palin’s infamous “crosshairs” list.

Just yesterday, Ezra Klein remarked that opposition to health reform was getting scary. Actually, it’s been scary for quite a while, in a way that already reminded many of us of the climate that preceded the Oklahoma City bombing.

You know that Republicans will yell about the evils of partisanship whenever anyone tries to make a connection between the rhetoric of Beck, Limbaugh, etc. and the violence I fear we’re going to see in the months and years ahead. But violent acts are what happen when you create a climate of hate. And it’s long past time for the GOP’s leaders to take a stand against the hate-mongers.

Update: I see that Sarah Palin has called the shooting “tragic”. OK, a bit of history: right-wingers went wild over anyone who called 9/11 a tragedy, insisting that it wasn’t a tragedy, it was an atrocity.

The assassin made a video:



And Palin tried to change history, 1984-style, by deleting one of her violent posts:



And Loughner's MySpace page has been deleted-- although here's a screen shot. Is that glock the murder weapon?



Inappropriately, CNN announces "There's nothing to indicate this is terrorism." That would be true in a world where the right-wing bomber who blew up the Oklahoma City Federal Building was also not a terrorist. Or does "terrorism" on mean Muslim violence to CNN now, like Fox? As Jared Mull tweeted earlier, if Loughner were Muslim, "we'd be torturing him and invading Yemen. But he's a crazy white dude, so be nice guys; don't politicize." Isn't anyone who shoots up a crowd in an assassination attempt "crazy" by definition? Anyway, it's important for Arizona to get back to listening to as many hours of Glenn Beck as possible asap. Dave Neiwert, author of The Eliminationists, knows what a danger Beck and Palin and their violent hate talk is. His post at Crooks and Liars is worth reading. And I'm guessing that NJ Senator Frank Lautenberg had Beck in mind when he issued this statement a few moments ago:

“We are all shocked and saddened by the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and other innocent people today. Rep. Giffords was innocently pursuing her interest in serving the public when she was shot in this maniacal act. America must not tolerate violence or inflammatory rhetoric that incites political violence.”

UPDATE: Today Might Be A Good Day For Boehner To Come Out In Public And Cry

But for some Republicans, the attempted assassination of a Democratic Congresswoman, the murder of a federal judge and 5 other people and lots of wounded people is a reason to celebrate. I expect these fools will follow Palin and start deleting their website, so here's a screen chat of the chatter on the right today. Proud to be a Republican today (and everyday)? No? Watch more Fox News.



Alan Grayson served on Gabby Gifford's Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee and was a huge fan of hers. He wrote about his feelings at HuffPo today but I've extracted some of the less personal lines:

I know nothing about the man who shot Gabby, and what was going through his mind when he did this. But I will tell you this-- if he shot Gabby out of hatred, then it wasn't Gabby he was shooting, but rather some cartoon version of her, drawn by her political opposition. Because there is no way-- NO WAY-- that anyone who really knows Gabby could hate her or hurt her. She is a kind, gentle soul.

Grayson doesn't mention who created that twisted and distorted cartoon version but we all know that creating those caricatures has made millionaires out of social misfits like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann and other right-wing celebrities who thrive on pumping hate into the culture, hate that sad, deranged cretins like Jared Loughner don't have the ability to resist. So who's to blame? Rupert Murdoch? Roger Ailes? Or all of us who tolerate and reward this kind of anti-social behavior?