"I don't see the connection," he drooled...
"...During his campaign effort to unseat Giffords in November, Republican challenger Jesse Kelly held fundraisers where he urged supporters to help remove Giffords from office by joining him to shoot a fully loaded M-16 rifle. Kelly is a former Marine who served in Iraq and was pictured on his website in military gear holding his automatic weapon and promoting the event..."
"Arizona is a state where people are firearms owners — this was just a deranged individual. I don't see the connection between the fundraisers featuring weapons and today's shooting. I don't know this person, we cannot find any records that he was associated with the campaign in any way. I just don't see the connection."
John Ellinwood
Jesse Kelly's spokesman
"When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous and unfortunately, Arizona, I think, has become the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry."
Clarence Dupnik
Pima County Sheriff
4 comments:
Unless you can show that gun-owners or Arizonans in general are more violently unstable than the rest of the populations, I'm afraid I can't see the connection either.
What is the connection exactly? You need to spell it out. I'm dumb today.
A Question: Assuming this guy did have some beef with some element of our government, what is more likely to have pushed him over the edge? Something Jesse Kelly said, or Nancy Pelosi dismissing the concerns of millions as "astroturf"? Might not your attempt to tie Jesse Kelly in as part of the problem only push some of his supporters closer to the use of violence themselves? How would you feel if I blamed you?
Speaking of Sheriff Dupnik...
"Jan 8 (Reuters) - The suspect in Saturday's shooting rampage in which a U.S. congresswoman was critically wounded was unstable and had been known to make death threats in the past, the local sheriff said.
"Sheriff Clarence Dupnik of Pima County, where the shooting happened, told reporters the suspect had a troubled past. "All I can tell you is that this person may have a mental issue," Dupnik said.
"Dupnik said there had been earlier contact between Loughner and law enforcement after he had made death threats, although they had not been against Giffords."
So the local Sheriff was aware of this psychopath before the shootings last Saturday.
I wonder how many of the Sheriff's pronouncements on the motive behind this atrocity are merely a thinly vieled diversion from the culpability (and/or incompetence) of his own office.
I for one look forward to hearing more from Sheriff Dupnik as we learn more about the background - and specifically the local law enforcement awareness - of this psychopathic killer.
Daniel, I think it's interesting that a candidate would pose with an M16 on his campaign pictures. We don't see that in my neck of the Wisconsin woods. But then again, in the last November 2010 election, that would have probably not been a shock. Afterall, we've have three or four TEA Party gun rallies in the area over the past couple of years.
The ones in autumn of 2009 were open to all candidates to speak. Mostly Republicans and independents spoke. Interestingly, the rally in October before the November elections only invited and allowed Republicans to speak at the TEA Party gun rally. Some much for the independent bullshit being peddled by the GOTea.
The kid in Arizona was a wacko with mental issues. Time will reveal what was going on in the neighborhood of his mind.
Remember the Branch Dividians in Waco, Texas? Remember when government officials said they had crazy religious beliefs and lots of guns? As a good firend from Texas told me, that could be 70 percent of the state.
Isn't it interesting that there was a school shooting and a mall shooting last week and they only made it to page three in the local, big city daily newspaper. We don't even waste time on evaluating those shooters.
The issue here is political beliefs and violence. The issue is what drives people to do these deadly acts. I'm sure that the fact that percent of the commercials during last night's BCS Champiuonship game are dominated by violent acts doesn't have anything to do with it. I'm sure that realistic video games where you get to digitally kill people-like representation has nothing to do with.
Violence sells and there are plenty of willing customers across America. Insanity is as close as a bump on the head or a lack of vitamins or parents too busy to raise their kids...
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