I’m local in Tucson and local rumor is that the shooter is a young man, late teens to early 20s.
Eric Robert Rudolph, the right-wing abortion clinic bomber, only avoided the DP by plea arrangement. He got 4 consecutive life sentences instead.
Two of the three racist scum who murdered James Byrd, Jr., are on death row; the other is in for life with parol eligibility in 2038, and only gets to breathe fresh air for one hour a day, as he is in protective custody even in prison.
While neither pro-life sentiment or racism is a “right wing” trait (except for in your mind, and other rabidly left-wing partisan hacks), both of these instances should indicate a willingness for the general public at large to punish so-called “right-wing” violence as well.
I wish we had more information. There can be a huge difference between a random act of violence and a politically motivated killing. Note, though, that during the health care debate (such as it was) Giffords had a brick thrown through her window.
I wonder whether, if it turns out to be politically motivated, it would fall under any terrorist statutes.
I’m hoping it’s not politically motivated. I’m not even going to speculate- it’s so shitty to consider.
I must be a rabid left wing partisan hack, because I’m pretty sure pro-life sentiment is a right-wing point of view.
I’ll just leave Sarah Palin’s Facebook page here:
That’s a nice target you got on the congresswoman there, Sarah.
Since the shooter apparently is in custody and alive, I am fairly certain we’ll have within the next day or so a pretty clear idea as to the background of and motivation for this attack.
Ipso facto.
Personally, I’ve seen enough pro-life bumper stickers side-by-side with Obama/Biden stickers on the backs of vehicles to get the impression that it isn’t universally true that pro-life = right-wing/conservative.
I also see enough pro-second amendment stickers next to Obama/Biden stickers to also get the impression that it isn’t universally true that pro-second amendment = right-wing/conservative.
Maybe I’m just getting wisdom in my incipient decrepitude (it must be the growing number of gray hairs that I’m too lazy or insufficiently vain to get rid of), but I’ve come to realize that people, in general, and all the issues that they believe in, are not cookie-cutter caricatures of sharply delineated political/religious/social beliefes.
Exceptions abound, of course; feel free to join either camp as your whim takes you.
You’ve heard of this place, right?
Sometimes a target is just a target.
You’re not cynical enough. The Republicans will be shouting out for his execution in order to distance themselves from the murder.
Now you’re just being silly. No political position is universally associated with one side or the other. There are liberals who think taxes are too high and conservatives who insist on on-demand abortion. The point remains.
What? You people are talking about the issues?
She had a D attached to her name. That makes her a Goddamned Socialist Who’s Destroying America. Who fucking cares what she actually stood for? She’s a Democrat. She was scum.
This was a nut who got fed enough bullshit to believe that what he did was Right and Just and Protecting God’s America. I’ll be glad to be proven wrong, but I don’t think I will.
Because Rep. Giffords is a federal official, jurisdiction will likely fall to the federal justice system, not the state’s. First-degree murder is punishable by life imprisonment or the death penalty; second-degree murder is punishable by life imprisonment. Even if she survives, her assailant will spend a very long time in prison.
The state does have jurisdiction over any non-federal victims, and so the assailant may be looking at the death penalty anyway.
The right wing has been threatening and occasionally indulging in violence against its political opponents for many years. When they slap a target on something, it’s meant as a threat. This is I’m sure exactly what Sarah Palin and her fellow right wingers were hoping for.
You don’t recognize a gun scope sight? You really have to disassociate yourself from realty to claim those are anything other than that.
And sometimes a target is a target. Keep raising the temperature of domestic politics, and well, there may be consequences. Mind you, I’m not American, and nobody knows really what happened here, but keep on trucking Republicans!
I want the person brought to justice, but I don’t much care whether he gets a life sentence or the death penalty. Rather, I want a light shined on the hatemongers who promote fear and greed. They’ve broken no laws, but they have seriously damaged our society.
I don’t care about Republican politicians myself. Some of them are assholes, but I’m willing to bet not all are.
What I want to see is Palin and Beck and FOX condemning this. I want them to say “This was wrong, this shouldn’t have happened.” I want the stupid bitch who made “Don’t retreat, reload” into a catchphrase to say out loud that this wasn’t what she meant and that the guy deserves execution.
I don’t think it’ll happen, though. They’ll use plenty of circular language, but it’ll boil down to “Well, if she hadn’t been destroying America, this wouldn’t have happened.”
ETA: And while, yes, I’m fully prepared to believe it was a single nut who was completely off his rocker, it only takes one violent act in the wrong place at the wrong time to incite mass violence. Shot heard 'round the world, anyone?
There are conflicting reports on whether she is dead or in surgery at a hospital. I’m still hopeful that she is indeed alive.
Will you? Wil you really be glad to be proven wrong? From the tone of several posters, I get a pretty good impression that they would just love for this to be about partisan politics played out in graphic violence, to some political point-keeping end.
If that’s the case, the only moral leg up they have on the shooter (and his so-far unconfirmed motives) is that they haven’t actually killed anyone.
And if they are hoping for this kind of violence to be about politics, well, to my mind, that makes them the same kind of scum they accuse their opponents of being.