We cannot walk away from this one.
We cannot blame one nutjob for the shooting of 19 people Saturday in Tucson, Ariz., and wash our hands of it.
We cannot pretend that this is only about him and not about us.
Worst of all, we cannot say we were not warned.
For more than two years, sensible people have been pleading with their fellow Americans to tone down the rhetoric, to quit with the demonizing, to end the fear-mongering.
In what kind of country, the sensible people asked, do political leaders across the board not condemn a sign at a rally that reads: “We left our guns at home — this time”?
In what kind of country do people show up at presidential speeches with guns on their hips?
In what kind of a country do callers to radio shows routinely smear those with whom they disagree — beginning with our president — as “traitors” and “un-American,” while pandering hosts say only, “Thanks for the call.”
If we continue this way, the sensible people warned, something will happen.
And now something has happened.
U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, was meeting with constituents outside a supermarket Saturday — a “Congress on Your Corner” event — when a young man walked up, aimed a gun at her head and started shooting.
As we wrote this, Giffords was fighting for her life in a Tucson hospital. Six people were dead. Twelve others were wounded.
--snip--
The safe observation for us to make now — you will hear it from others all week — is that the angry and irresponsible talk that might lead an unhinged person to pick up a gun is common across the political landscape, from right to left.
But that simply is not true.
Overwhelmingly today, the fear-mongering and demonizing flow from the right, aided and abetted by cable TV and talk-radio hosts. They may represent only the irresponsible fringe of conservatism in America, but they are drowning out the thoughtful voices of the vast majority of conservatives.
Need we remind our readers about this?
Bachmann has condemned the shooting, her "tears are flowing". But she can do more. She's a congresswoman. She has a "bully pulpit" which she uses often. Pima County Sheriff Clarence W. Dupnik:
Pima County Sheriff Clarence W. Dupnik offered an emotional, angry assessment of the state of America in the wake of the shootings in Arizona, saying that two of his close friends -- Ms. Giffords and Judge John Roll - were among the victims.
Mr. Dupnik called the shooting a "very sad day for Tucson" and a "horrendous, horrendous, senseless, unbelievable crime." And then he blamed the crime on the rhetoric -- presumably political rhetoric -- in the country.
"When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government," he said. "The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on this country is getting to be outrageous and unfortunately Arizona has become sort of the capital. We have become the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry."
... will Minnesota also become a "Mecca for prejudice and bigotry"? Is there something Bachmann can do to help prevent that?
Yesterday, before the tragedy I put up a post about Bradlee Dean's radio ministry of hate. Will Bachmann continue to support Bradlee Dean and his ministry of hate? Here is a sample of the prejudice and bigotry they spew on the airways every week:
UPDATE: Politico "Mother of 9-year-old: 'Stop the hatred'"
Roxanna Green, the mother of the 9-year-old killed during the mass shooting in Arizona on Saturday, has implored the country to "stop the violence, stop the hatred" that led to her daughter's violent death.
In an emotional interview Sunday morning on MSNBC, Green spoke about how her daughter had been born on Sept. 11, 2001 and had been featured in a book called "Faces of Hope." Less than 24 hours after Christina Green died, her mother asked for people not to forget her daughter, the youngest victim in the shooting rampage.
"I just want her memory to live on, she's a face of hope, a face of change," Roxanna Green told MSNBC. "Stop the violence, stop the hatred."
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