Do Liberals Ever Turn Down Unearned Honors?

Apparently not:

Despite the country’s respect for former Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, not everyone in the military community was thrilled with Navy Secretary Ray Mabus’ Friday announcement that the Navy’s new Independence variant littoral combat ship (LCS) will be named for her.

“The Navy motto is Semper Fortis, Always Courageous,” said Mabus during the Friday ceremony with Giffords, who was shot last year during an assassination attempt in Tucson.

“Unwavering courage has defined the Navy for 236 years and it is what we expect, what we demand of our sailors every single day,” said Mabus. “So it’s very appropriate that LCS 10 be named for someone who has become synonymous with courage, who has inspired the nation with remarkable resiliency and showed the possibilities of the human spirit.”

According to a number of former and current military members, however, the decision to name the LCS after Giffords was not, in fact, “very appropriate.”

Retired Rear Admiral George Worthington, former commander of the Naval Special Warfare Command, told The Daily Caller that there are many people more worthy of a ship bearing their name.

“Here is the issue. There are a lot of dead Marines out there whose names could go on anything that appears to be an amphibious ship,” he said, explaining that a past recipient of the Medal of Honor, Dakota Meyer, might be a good candidate.

Worthington added his email “inbox” has been filled with messages from military friends who are “shocked and angered” by the decision.

I'm glad Giffords is recovering and will hopefully be able to continue a relatively normal life, but she didn't exactly throw herself in front of the shooter or do anything particularly courageous to merit such an honor. This was a politically correct choice.

Of course, the prime example of accepting undeserved honors would be Obama and his Nobel Peace Prize which was awarded after he'd been in office for two weeks and hadn't done anything. Even the Nobel committee is having second thoughts about that one.

NRA Won't Meet With Anti-Gun Zealots

Good.  From Daily Caller:

NRA says 'No way' to a meeting with anti-gun crusaders -- "More than two months after the Tucson shootings, the Obama administration is calling together both the gun lobby and gun safety groups to find common ground," reports the New York Times. The National Rifle Association's response was short and simple: No. “Why should I or the N.R.A. go sit down with a group of people that have spent a lifetime trying to destroy the Second Amendment in the United States?” asked NRA Chief Wayne LaPierre. According to the NYT, LaPierre sounds a lot like Obama at times. For instance, in his op-ed in The Arizona Daily Star, Obama suggested that law enforcement and legislators "focus on the people, not the guns.” This is basically the imperative form of "Guns don't kill people, Jared Loughner kills people." Obama knew the NRA would say no to a sit-down: “Some will say nothing short of the most sweeping antigun legislation is a capitulation to the gun lobby,” he wrote in his op-ed. “Others will predictably cast any discussion as the opening salvo in a wild-eyed scheme to take away everybody’s guns.” Replace "gun lobby" with "Bill of Rights," and "opening salvo" with "umpteenth volley," and you've nailed it, Mr. President.

The Tucson shooting was never about guns, it was about a crazy person who was obsessed with a congresswoman. Multiple existing gun control laws were broken, so why would we think additional laws would have stopped the carnage?

Mark Kelly Has a Tough Decision to Make

And he's planning the announcement tomorrow:

Astronaut Mark Kelly is expected to make a space shuttle announcement tomorrow. He is the husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords who was shot in Arizona several weeks ago. Tomorrow he will let the world know if he will command NASA’s final space shuttle mission that is slated to blast off in April.

According to Sen. Bill Nelson, a friend of Kelly and a former astronaut himself, said that it is “reasonable to expect” Kelly to be the commander on the final shuttle Endeavor mission. The reason is because his wife has made a remarkable recovery.

Nelson, who spoke with Kelly earlier today, said, “He's going to make his announcement tomorrow. I don't know what that's going to be. It is a tough decision for him but I think it's reasonable to expect that he will go on to command this mission in April, because I think Gabby is significantly improving every day.”

If Mark Kelly does decide to command the mission, he will begin training next week, but he would still be near Giffords, as she recovers in Houston. That would be a plus for the couple.

I fully expect that Kelly will take the Shuttle mission. His wife is doing remarkably well (from what I hear) and this will be the final Space Shuttle mission. Although I'm sure NASA will stay out of the decision, you just have to know they very badly want him in the commander's seat because of the P.R. value if nothing else.

UPDATE from Politico:

Mark Kelly, husband of wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, will fly the space shuttle Endeavour's final mission in April, according to a source familiar with the decision.

Nanny Bloomberg Goes After Guns...in Arizona

Perhaps Nanny Bloomberg should worry about clearing the snow in Manhattan rather than spend $100,000 to hit gun shows in Arizona:

Weeks after the shooting in Tucson, sellers at an Arizona gun show allowed undercover investigators hired by New York City to buy semiautomatic pistols even after they said they probably couldn't pass a background check, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday.

"After Tucson, you would think that people, particularly at a gun show in Arizona, would have been much more careful in enforcing the law," he said. "That unfortunately in some cases wasn't the case."

Bloomberg has authorized similar sting operations around the country as part of a push for tougher federal laws to help keep guns off the streets of New York.

But in the sensitive aftermath of the shooting Jan. 8 that killed six people and critically wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the mayor was questioned about the time and place of his hidden-camera investigation, a $100,000 operation conducted almost clear across the country.

"Let me get this straight: From New York City, they are going to send people to Arizona to look into this?" said state Sen. Ron Gould, a Republican. "They might take a look a little closer to home if they are concerned about guns getting in their state."

Both New York City and State have tremendous fiscal problems and yet Nanny can spend $100,000 of the city's money to fund this gun/witch hunt.

Nanny Bloomberg wants to be America's mayor...literally. He doesn't see the boundaries of New York City as a limit on his power. The guy's dangerous and I guarantee you he has his sights set on the White House (to use a politically incorrect gun metaphor).

SOTU Ribbons of Silliness

Ebony and ivory, together again:

Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., and Michael McCaul, R-Texas, have asked lawmakers attending the State of the Union to wear black and white ribbons in honor of the Arizona shooting.

Lawmakers plan to place an empty chair in the audience in honor of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who is now in a rehab facility in Texas after being shot in the head on Jan. 8. Thirteen others -- non-lawmakers -- were injured and six killed, including a federal judge.

The letter to colleagues reads in part:

"In tribute to the victims of the Arizona tragedy, we encourage Members, and everyone attending the State of the Union address Tuesday night to wear a black/white lapel ribbon.

"The tragic shooting on January 8th wounded our friend and colleague, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and caused the deaths of six and wounding of twelve others. The black/white ribbon has been a symbol of unity and hope for the entire Tucson community in the wake of this event. The white ribbon represents hope for a peaceful, nonviolent society. The black ribbon is in remembrance of all who have died and been wounded as a result of violence.

"As the Tucson community works to heal and comes together in solidarity, Reps. McCaul and Wasserman Schultz believe it would be fitting that Members, Administration officials and others, wear these ribbons on Tuesday as a symbol of solidarity with the community and the nation."

If you really want to wear something to show solidarity, how about just wearing an American flag pin? Do we really need any more symbolism than that?  I'm thinking the evening will end with everybody holding hands and swaying to "We Are the World".

And, you know when it becomes politically correct to wear a certain ribbon those who abstain may find themselves faced with an angry mob:

Pima County Shuts Up Sheriff Dumb***

About time:

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department has suddenly turned off the flow of information in the January 8th mass shootings in Tucson. Shortly after noon Tuesday Sheriff’s PIO Jason Ogan released this terse, one-line statement:

“Until further notice, due to a controversy between the Sheriff’s Department and the County Attorney’s office, no further information reference the January 8, 2011 shooting will be released.”

The statement put an end to an interview that Sheriff’s Bureau Chief Richard Kastigar had been scheduled to give just 45 minutes later, at 1:00 PM. Kastigar had agreed to come to KGUN9′s newsroom to discuss security videos recorded in the Safeway parking lot the morning a deranged gunman opened fire, killing 6 people and wounding or injuring 14 others, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. CNN had booked a satellite interview with Kastigar, to be conducted by journalist Wolf Blitzer.

This Sheriff has done everything he can to undermine the case against the Arizona shooter. He's tried to blame Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, various other entities such as the Tea Party, and has been a first-class media whore. His words will come back to haunt the prosecutors as the case goes on and the defense uses them to frame an excuse for the shooting.

Judge Roll Died a Hero

New information has come out about the Arizona shootings that reveal that Federal judge John Roll died trying to protect another victim of the shooting:

The chief investigator for the sheriff’s department here has for the first time publicly described the brief and gory video clip from a store security camera that shows a gunman not only shooting Representative Gabrielle Giffords just above the eyebrow at a range of three feet, but then using his 9-millimeter pistol to gun down others near her at a similarly close range.

The video, according to Richard Kastigar, the investigative and operational bureau chief of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, also reveals that Judge John M. Roll appears to have died while helping to save the life of Ronald Barber, one of Ms. Giffords’s employees. Mr. Barber, who was near Ms. Giffords when he was shot twice, has since left the hospital. [...]

In describing the video, the most detailed account yet of the initial five-second burst of fire, Mr. Kastigar said Judge Roll was “intentionally trying to help Mr. Barber,” adding, “It’s very clear to me the judge was thinking of his fellow human more than himself.”

The judge guides Mr. Barber to the ground, shields him with his body, and then tries to push himself and Mr. Barber away from the gunman, who was no more than three to four feet away as he fired, Mr. Kastigar said.

“He pushes Mr. Barber with his right hand and guides him with his left hand. The judge was on top of him and is covering up Mr. Barber, literally lying on top of him, and his back was exposed,” Mr. Kastigar said.

The judge was shot in the back.

He put himself in harm's way to safe another. He's a hero.

Investigators Fail To Turn Up Evidence to Support Left's Slanders

Daily Caller sums it up:

Small army of investigators fails to dredge up evidence that Loughner was politically motivated -- Three Washington Post reporters filing copy from Arizona found that "a team of 250 federal investigators and 130 local detectives trying to understand why Jared Lee Loughner went on his alleged killing spree" have "conducted more than 300 interviews with family, friends and neighbors since the shooting," but "remain stumped about what ultimately prompted the 22-year-old's descent into violence." You'd think that if it were "heated rhetoric" or "aggro campaign maps" or "hate floating in the air like spirit smog" that inspired Loughner, somebody would've found something by now, right? Right? 

And don't miss Iowahawk's CSI: Tucson.

It Wasn't Post Traumatic Stress Disorder That Made Eric Fuller Nuts

He was nuts before he was shot in Arizona and later threatened to kill the local Tea Party leader. Many on the left are trying to use PTSD to excuse his behavior, but it appears he's been a little off for quite awhile. From Gateway Pundit:

On the morning of the Safeway shooting Fuller reportedly was seen arguing with a former Marine. This occurred before Loughner arrived and started his killing spree.

Marilyn Zerull, who ran for office recently in Tucson for the state house of representatives, is familiar with Eric Fuller. She shared with me today her experiences with the far left activist.

Last year between the primary and general elections Fulller was the inspector of elections at the polling station she worked at in both the primary and general elections. First of all, just after the primary, during the training session, Marilyn said she was warned about Fuller. She knew he was confrontational. So she was worried. He acted very bizarre during the training sessions. During the day he would stand up in the middle of room and do leg kicks and karate chops.

One time, during the primary elections, Fuller went outside and started screaming at a woman who was handing out literature beyond the 75 foot limit. He chased her to her car. The woman was very frightened and locked her doors. Eventually, she fled to another station. Fuller also had a run-in with the police that day.

Sometime between the primary and general elections, Al Melvin was holding a town hall. It was pretty civil. Afterwards, Eric Fuller came over and started a confrontation with Marilyn. He just started arguing loudly and spewing the typical leftist talking points. Fuller is always reportedly looking for opportunities to argue with Republicans. It’s what he does.

They worked together again during the general election at the same polling station. Eric Fuller would get up and go play the piano during the day and he talked about how good democratic policies were to the people coming into the polling place.

Marilyn felt Eric Fuller was disturbed and felt it was important for him to stand trial.

There's more at the link.

I'm wondering how much guilt is playing into Fuller's behavior? According to reports I read when the shooting started he dropped and played dead, and then once the suspect was captured rather than help others around him he drove himself to the hospital. Could his lashing out at the Tea Party guy had something to do with guilt he felt over his own actions the day of the shooting? Just a thought.

AZ Shooter Was a Truther, Bush Hater

I'm beginning to think he would have made a lousy Tea Party Patriot:

He became intrigued by antigovernment conspiracy theories, including that the Sept. 11 attacks were perpetrated by the government and that the country’s central banking system was enslaving its citizens. His anger would well up at the sight of President George W. Bush, or in discussing what he considered to be the nefarious designs of government.

“I think he feels the people should be able to govern themselves,” said Ms. Figueroa, his former girlfriend. “We didn’t need a higher authority.”

Breanna Castle, 21, another friend from junior and senior high school, agreed. “He was all about less government and less America,” she said, adding, “He thought it was full of conspiracies and that the government censored the Internet and banned certain books from being read by us.”

Among the books that he would later cite as his favorites: “Animal Farm,” “Fahrenheit 451,” “Mein Kampf” and “The Communist Manifesto.” Also: “Peter Pan.”

Sounds like the average resume' of a diarist for the DailyKos...or a host on MSNBC.

iPod Kills Jogger

Not really.  I was just applying the same type of logic to this story the left was applying to the Arizona shooting:

An Amtrak train struck and killed a woman who was listening to music while jogging along the tracks, police said on Saturday.

Amanda Byrne, 18 of Rowe, N.M., apparently was listening to music on an earpiece or headset as she was jogging along the tracks in Rowe, New Mexico on Friday afternoon and did not hear the train’s warning horn as it approached her from behind, Lt. Eric Garcia said Saturday. Byrne also was wearing a headband that covered her ears.

Clearly an iPod ban will be necessary.

ABC Hides the Threat From the Left

Anyone surprised that ABC refused to air footage of the threat made by J. Eric Fuller towards the Tucson Tea Party leader?  Not only didn't they air the footage of the arrest or point out the situation in which the threat was made, they offered an amazingly incomplete account of the event. The speaker is Christiane Amanpour, ABC's in-house America-hater:

AMANPOUR: As our town hall concluded, one of the victims of the shooting, who was in our audience because agitated and was detained by security. James Eric Fuller, who was shot twice last Saturday, took offices at what another audience member had said and mumbled what seemed to be a threat. He was charged with a misdemeanor and involuntarily committed according to the Pima County Sheriff’s office.

Fuller didn't "mumble", he screamed, and his invective was directed at the local Tea Party leader, another inconvenient fact for ABC.

Had this been a Tea Party member shouting a threat at a liberal, do you think ABC would have shown the video?  You bet.  It would have been the entire segment.

Arizona Shooting Victim Goes Nuts, Charged With Threatening Tucson Tea Party Leader

This guy has been unhinged since the shooting a week ago, and today during a taping for a town hall meeting he flipped:

Toward the end of the town hall meeting Saturday morning, one of the shooting victims, J. Eric Fuller, took exception to comments by two of the speakers: Ariz. state Rep. Terri Proud, a Dist. 26 Republican, and Tucson Tea Party spokesman Trent Humphries.

According to sheriff's deputies at the scene, Fuller took a photo of Humphries and said, "You're Dead."

Deputies immediately escorted Fuller from the room.

Pima County Sheriff's spokesman Jason Ogan said later Saturday that Fuller has been charged with threats and intimidation and he also will be charged with disorderly conduct.

I have sympathy for the guy since he's had to go through such a traumatic event, but he's been spouting off all week about the Tea Party, Sarah Palin, and all kinds of things that have since been proven to be unrelated to the shooting. If anyone's rhetoric is going to get someone hurt, it's his.

"There Was Giddy, Almost Punch-Drunk Excitement on the Left"

That's how Charles Blow in the NY Times describes the attitude of the left once they heard a congressman had been shot:

Immediately after the news broke, the air became thick with conjecture, speculation and innuendo. There was a giddy, almost punch-drunk excitement on the left. The prophecy had been fulfilled: “words have consequences.” And now, the right’s rhetorical chickens had finally come home to roost.

The dots were too close and the temptation to connect them too strong. The target was a Democratic congresswoman. There was the map of her district in the cross hairs. There were her own prescient worries about overheated rhetoric.

Within hours of the shooting, there was a full-fledged witch hunt to link the shooter to the right.

“I saw Goody Proctor with the devil! Oh, I mean Jared Lee Loughner! Yes him. With the devil!”

The only problem is that there was no evidence then, and even now, that overheated rhetoric from the right had anything to do with the shooting. (In fact, a couple of people who said they knew him have described him as either apolitical or “quite liberal.”) The picture emerging is of a sad and lonely soul slowly, and publicly, slipping into insanity.

I have written about violent rhetoric before, and I’m convinced that it’s poisonous to our politics, that the preponderance of it comes from the right, and that it has the potential to manifest in massacres like the one in Tucson.

But I also know that potential, possibility and even plausibility are not proof.

The American people know it, too. According to a USA Today/Gallup poll released Wednesday, 42 percent of those asked said that political rhetoric was not a factor at all in the shooting, 22 percent said that it was a minor factor and 20 percent said that it was a major factor. Furthermore, most agreed that focusing on conservative rhetoric as a link in the shooting was “not a legitimate point but mostly an attempt to use the tragedy to make conservatives look bad.” And nearly an equal number of people said that Republicans, the Tea Party and Democrats had all “gone too far in using inflammatory language” to criticize their opponents.

Great. So the left overreacts and overreaches and it only accomplishes two things: fostering sympathy for its opponents and nurturing a false equivalence within the body politic. Well done, Democrats.

That's a pretty damning column for the left, especially appearing on the pages of the NY Times. It's clear the effort to demonize various conservatives and conservative organizations badly backfired.

The Lefty Talking Points Fell Flat

Powerline has the details from a recent poll in the aftermath of the Arizona shooting:

This Quinnipiac poll provides more evidence that hardly anyone buys the Democratic Party's spin on the Tucson murders. When asked "What do you think is the main reason for the Arizona shooting; failure of the mental health system, lax gun control laws, overheated political rhetoric, or do you think this is a situation that could not have been prevented?" respondents answered:

* Mental health system: 23%
* Gun control laws: 9%
* Political rhetoric: 15%
* Couldn't have been prevented: 40%
* Don't know/no answer: 14%

If a large asteroid struck the earth, those 15 percent are the ones who would say it was Sarah Palin's fault.

Better yet, perhaps, is this finding: Poll respondents were asked, "Who do you think is more responsible for using heated political rhetoric, liberals or conservatives?" The answers were:

* Liberals: 36%
* Conservatives: 32%
* Don't know/no answer: 32%

This wasn't how the Democrats planned it. It makes you wonder where all those people are getting their news.

Fail.

Political Cartoon of the Day

Absolutely correct:

Are All These Calls for Civility Really Just Calls for Censorship?

Yes.

Let's just look at how things progressed this past weekend. Within moments of the news of the shootings various members of the left, aided by the idiot Sheriff Dumb*** of Pima County and many in the mainstream media, began to claim that people like Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, the Tea Party, and others were somehow complicit in this shooting because of their "heated political rhetoric". None of those accusations were deemed to be uncivil.

However, when Palin and Limbaugh responded to those scurrilous charges their responses were immediately deemed uncivil. Apparently the new definition of incivility is daring to respond to outrageous accusations. The left doesn't want civility, they want silence.

And now that it's become obvious that the shooter wasn't influenced by political rhetoric (according to a good friend he never watched the news, listened to talk radio, and didn't even vote in the last election), wouldn't it be civil for those who made the bogus charges to apologize for their hasty accusations?  Have any such apologies been forthcoming?

No.  All we've heard are calls for reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine (government-enforced censorship), more laws that wouldn't have stopped this shooting, and demonization of conservatives who dare to go against the politically correct view of the incident.

To the left civility is like bipartisanship, a one-way street.  And if they can bully us into "civil" discussions they know they can effectively censor our speech.

It's okay for political rhetoric to get heated.  It should be heated at times because we're talking about important issues that affect the future of the country.  Ours is not a nation of wimps, though there are those who actually believe wimpiness is a virtue.  We need to continue to passionately support the issues in which we believe, and equally passionately opposed those who would do this nation harm.  If that's considered uncivil, so be it.

It's Time For Congress to Get Back to Work

The mainstream media, as evidenced by this LA Times article, is trying to force the GOP to cancel their plans to repeal Obamacare by asserting that a new emphasis on civility would require such a move.

As lawmakers promise a new era of comity after the Arizona shooting attack that left six dead and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) in critical condition, Republican leaders grappled with how and when to return to an issue that brought political discourse to a boiling point.

A House vote to repeal the healthcare law, put on hold after Saturday's shooting of 19 people in Tucson, presents Republicans with an unexpected challenge.

If they move too quickly, GOP leaders risk appearing tone deaf to pleas to reject overheated rhetoric — the leading of example of which is the healthcare debate last year.

But if they delay the vote much longer, they could infuriate their most conservative supporters and "tea party" activists.

GOP leaders have avoided discussing the timing of any votes, although the House is expected to resume some of its business next week. Meanwhile, they've taken a softer tone and emphasized calls for unity.

"Regardless of what legislation is considered next week, we hope all members remain focused on substantive policy differences," said Laena Fallon, a spokeswoman for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.). Fallon added that Cantor believed that "this institution has an obligation to move forward doing the business of the people at the appropriate time."

The GOP was right to hold off a bit until the initial reaction to the shooting had run its course, but now that it's clear that the shooting was not motivated by partisan politics and had nothing to do with Obamacare, there's no reason to further delay the work of Congress. Schedule the vote and let's move on.  The GOP will get blasted for this vote no matter what so the faster we get it over with the better.

And given that half of the states are currently suing to stop Obamacare, there's plenty of support out there for a repeal.

What if They Held a Memorial and a Pep Rally Broke Out?

You'd pretty much have what happened last night in Tucson.  Up to the point of Obama's speech most reactions I was reading ranged from appalled to mortified.  The crowd and early speakers seemed to have no real idea why they were there.  John Podhoretz gives his reaction:

Never before in the annals of national moments of mourning have the words spoken been so wildly mismatched by the spirit in which they were received.

The sentences and paragraphs of President Obama's speech last night were beautiful and moving and powerful. But for the most part they didn't quite transcend the wildly inappropriate setting in which he delivered them.

There was something about the choice of place, a college arena with the appropriate name of the McKale Memorial Center, that made the event turn literally sophomoric.

If there is one thing we expect from occasions of national mourning, it is, at the very least, a modicum of gravity. That gravity was present in the president's speech from first to last -- especially in the pitch-perfect response to the disgusting national political debate over the past couple of days.

"What we can't do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another," he said. "Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy."

Exactly right, as so much else in his text was -- a moment that truly deserves to be called "healing."

But the president's stunning speech was marred by the feeling of the evening that surrounded it and the appalling behavior of the crowd in Tucson listening to it.

It was as though no one in the arena but the immediate mourners and sufferers had the least notion of displaying respectful solemnity in the face of breathtaking loss and terrifying evil.

Thankfully, Obama's speech stuck to the reason they were there and didn't wander into Wellstone Memorial land, where a 2002 memorial service dissolved into a highly partisan political rally and became a national embarrassment. Obama did well, but whoever put this together needs a new job. The inclusion of t-shirts and cutesy slogans set the stage for a pep rally instead of a memorial. The audience failed as did the people who did the planning and didn't at least do a little audience education before it all started.

And for contrast, take a look at this post on the memorial following the Virginia Tech shootings.

Democrats Ignore Obama's Advice on Civility

Never let a crisis go to waste (from the Daily Caller):

1.) Catty Hill Dems can't resist spinning a tragedy-- Here are two good ways to win votes and influence people: Hours after a national tragedy, phone a reporter and spin the event this way: The Obama White House "need[s] to deftly pin this on the tea partiers….Just like the Clinton White House deftly pinned the Oklahoma City bombing on the militia and anti-government people.” When Pres. Obama instead says before a crowd in Tucson, "What we can’t do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another....Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations," the next best thing Democrats can do, apparently, is personally attack Rep. John Boehner for not flying to Tucson to hear Obama discourage personal attacks. Different aide, different day, same moral depravity: “Don’t you think they could have worked with the White House on timing to make sure he got on AF1?,” a senior congressional aide told The Daily Caller's Jon Ward on Thursday. “Hell, as speaker, he could have taken a delegation to Arizona on military air.” When it was pointed out that Boehner was already attending a memorial, in Washington, the aide argued that the speaker was skipping Tucson for an RNC event. “Tell these guys to give me a break. Bottom line: he’s not there and he’s Speaker of the House. He’s not there and is at an RNC event tonight. Period.” The aforementioned statements have nothing to do with why House Democrats are in the minority, but are two good reasons why they should stay there.

These guys are upset because their efforts to blame the shooting on the Tea Party, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, or whoever else they can think of has failed so badly. With their golden opportunity to capitalize on a tragedy slipping away they're becoming more and more desperate to manufacture a villain.