Giffords: Palin Put Crosshairs on District, So Must ‘Realize There Are Consequences to That Action’
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Year: 2011
Palin Issues ‘Sincere Condolences’ on Facebook After Rep on Her ‘Target’ List Was Shot in Head, Scrubs Website
Sarah Palin reacted to the passage of the health-care reform last year by issuing a Unites States map showing districts of 20 Democratic House members who’d voted for the law and who she was targeting for defeat in the midterm elections last November. On the map, the targeted districts were indicated by icons that resembled gun sights — crosshairs.
In announcing her campaign to unseat these 20 Dems, she created a little controversy by using violent rhetoric. “Don’t Retreat,” Palin urged her followers. “Instead — RELOAD!”
One of those crosshairs was on the district of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the Democrat from Tucson, Ariz., who was shot through the head at an event in her district today.
Six people were killed, including a nine-year-old girl, a Giffords staffer and U.S. District Judge John Roll. Twelve people, including Giffords, were wounded.
The alleged shooter Jared Loughner, 22, has been arrested. As of late this afternoon, Giffords was recovering from emergency surgery.
Soon after Rep. Giffords was shot, Palin’s people issued a statement on Facebook. Via Glynnis MacNicol at Business Insider’s The Wire:
Republican Reading Wreck
Public reading requires good locution
And the outgoing persona of a showman.
But one thing you really need
Before you begin to read
Is knowledge of what’s in the Constitution.
U.S. Unemployment Lowest in 19 Months
9.4%
U.S. unemployment dropped in December to its lowest level in 19 months, the Department of Labor announced Friday. The economy added 103,000 new jobs, up from November’s revised estimate of 71,000.
Fewer Americans Identify as Democrats
31%
Percentage of Americans identifying as Democrats, which dropped in 2010 to tie the lowest level in the last 22 years of Gallup polling. While Democrats still outnumber Republicans, at 29%, the percentage identifying as independents increased to 38%, making it the most common identification.
Boehner’s Alleged Affair – and Gingrich’s Confirmed One – Go Unmentioned by the New Yorker – Yes, the New Yorker
Peter Boyer’s nearly 9,000 word profile of Speaker John Boehner in the New Yorker last month filled in a few gaps in what is commonly known about Boehner’s biography, but there was a notable item missing — the fact that just four months ago the Capitol was aswirl with rumors that Boehner was having an extramarital affair with a (female) lobbyist.
Similarly, in describing events that led to the ouster in 1998 of House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Boyer omitted one of the central reasons — some would say the real reason — Gingrich was forced out: At the same time he was driving efforts to impeach Pres. Bill Clinton over a perjurious cover-up of an affair with a staffer, Gingrich was himself engaged in an affair with a congressional staffer, his current wife, Callista Bisek.
