I thought this article from the WSJ opinion page had several good points.  And I'm sure you'll all agree!

 Interesting thoughts.

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

But surely in retrospect you must think that using rifle gun sights to target democratic opponents or Sharron Angle's (tea party candidate) stating that we need to "take out Karry Reid first" in reference to her gun control stance is pretty tasteless. I wasn't going to post on a right vs. left stance on this tragedy but I guess it comes to this.

Crazy people love their reality TV.

R_Flagg

A week after the tragedy in Tucson, the Left is beginning to realize it made an ugly and revealing mistake by immediately trying to tie the event to conservatives.

I read a poll recently that a majority of Americans surveyed don't believe conservatives were responsible for the shootings in Tuscon. I'm not surprised the WSJ would generalize all on the left into one lump and take the opportunity to politicize this. I personally know many people on the left who are not jumping to any conclusions. In fact, none of my liberal friends are blaming republicans for this.

The only thing that bothers that me is that there are probably thousands of people just as mentally ill or worse than Loughner out there who take things literally. (Like Angel's call to take out Reid) Our political leaders and TV political gossip..I mean political analysts...on both sides should really be careful in regards to their rhetoric and think about the words that come out of their mouths. I know, asking them to think before they speak is a lot to ask these days.

I think a bigger issue is that this country probably has a large population of mentally ill people. Usually crazy people can't hold jobs, have no access to health care which means no diagnoses or treatment, and usually are homeless or iive with their parents. Somehow though they can go into any sporting goods store or Wal-Mart and purchase weapons and ammo. There should be a better way to diagnose the illness and make sure it shows up on background checks.

R_Flagg

You are correct Sir. Mental illness is the problem with Loughner.

Regarding the public death threat from the Leftist, a guy who IS politically motivated:
The nutjob (Fuller not Loughner) said this a day before the public murder threat:

"And the first thing that I wrote down and what my reaction was to it was: "How many other people? How many other demented people are out there? It looks like Palin, Beck, Sharron Angle and the rest got their first target. Their wish for Second Amendment activism has been fulfilled—senseless hatred leading to murder, lunatic fringe anarchism, subscribed to by John Boehner, mainstream rebels with vengeance for all, even nine-year-old girls."

Here is a precient quote from a blogger John Hayward also the day before the threat:
" You might be seeing a lot of Eric Fuller over the weekend. He’s one of the people injured in Jared Loughner’s shooting rampage, taking rounds in the knee and back. He’s also a vicious bigot, and because he’s elderly and a military veteran, the Left is going to fall in love with him...
" Their wish for Second Amendment activism has been fulfilled,” Fuller ranted on, “senseless hatred leading to murder, lunatic fringe anarchism, subscribed to by John Boehner, mainstream rebels with vengeance for all, even 9-year-old girls.”
....
Fuller’s emergence as a beeping smoke detector amid the right-wing haze of the “Climate of Hate” has already drawn praise from Soros operative Eric Bohlert..."

.......

Could a screenwriter have invented such a glaring snapshot of a sicko Leftist? This episode should see more defections from the liberal left. Yes, no? " How many other demented people are out there ? "    Physician heal thyself.

Also, I notice the Deputy Sheriff is making statements in Tucson as Dopenik is pulled from the stage.

So is the point that when someone on the left makes a death threat, they are a nutjob, sicko, AND politically motivated? But someone who actually carries out a threat and shoots a democratic reporsenitive, is of course, just plain mentally ill. I sense some hypocrisy here.

I guess there is no difference between Lounger and Glen Beck either right? They are both sickos who hate the government and have made a call to arms to take the country back.

R_Flagg

Ok then, Fuller had no political motive. He was apolitical obviously.

Corrected.  Don't know where I got that idea. 

Fuller made a threat. He hasn't shot anyone. That is a big difference between the two.

Hours later, pay no attention to this :

Hi Raymond! You conviently left out that Loughners main obbsession was anti-imigration.  He hated represenative Giffords stance on this as do most on the right, but yes he was mentally ill and I surely would not lump him in with the righties. People tend to think I'm a lefty but I do not endorse Fuller's statement.

My main point in all this is that both sides need to be careful about the hateful rehtoric they spew out without thinking. There are so many crazies in this country that take this stuff literally. I do think there is a misconception between the views of wanna be reality star political commentators and your average Americans. Unfortunately there are crazy poeple in this country that believe every word from these commentators as they cannot think for themselves.

Glad you are here and we can have intelligent debate

R_Flagg

Spewing without thinking commentators, yes, that is a problem.

The middle of the road folks, the Independents and moderates are as usual the key to the future of this country. I am thinking that the swing in 2010 may well be continued thru 2012 ? 

...................

Side issue, not worth a new topic; here is a complete idiot--the new governor of Alabama. Are you kidding me? This jerk should be recalled.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_alabama_governor_christians

I don't know Raynond, we live in a country that demands instant gratification and change that directly benifits ourselves.  If things don't change fast enough to satisfy voters, I can see another swing back in 2012 just to make a point to Washington.

R_Flagg