Gabrielle Giffords

Lawrence O'Donnell Yells at Arizona Congressman for Not Agreeing With Him on Gun Control
By Noel Sheppard | January 19, 2011 | 9:39 AM EST

In a fine example of the new civility at MSNBC, Lawrence O'Donnell on Tuesday actually yelled at an Arizona Congressman who didn't agree with him about the need for gun control following the shootings in Tucson.

The discussion on "The Last Word" really got heated after the host made the case to Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) that additional security at Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' (D-Ariz.) Congress on Your Corner event wouldn't have mattered because "The overwhelming majority of bullets fired by police officers always miss their target" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

New York Times Lectures on Civility Only Apply to Republicans, Apparently
By Clay Waters | January 19, 2011 | 8:47 AM EST

Metaphors are only acceptable in the hands of trained New York Times journalists:

“Republicans say they do not intend to change the name of the proposal, titled the Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act. Some Democrats have suggested that the ‘job-killing’ language was particularly offensive after the shootings, but Republicans rejected that notion.” -- Congressional reporter Carl Hulse, January 14.

ABC, NBC Fret Over Gun Show in Tucson, ABC Surprised Crowds ‘Aren’t Protesters, They’re Customers’
By Brad Wilmouth | January 19, 2011 | 7:46 AM EST

 On Saturday, both ABC and NBC ran stories fretting over the Crossroads of the West Gun Show that was held over the weekend in Tucson, Arizona. On ABC, at one point, correspondent David Wright seemed surprised that the large number of people showing up at the event were customers instead of protesters. After relaying that some members of Congress want more gun control laws and cautioning viewers that they should not "hold your breath for them to pass," he continued: "If you wonder why, just check out the crowd at today's gun show. These aren't protesters, they're customers."

Over on the NBC Nightly News, correspondent Kristen Welker noted that it is legal to carry concealed weapons in Arizona, "just as Loughner did last Saturday," as if a person with homicidal intent would decide to obey a law against carrying concealing weapons:

KRISTEN WELKER: Guns are permissible almost anywhere in the state, including many public buildings, and it is legal for people to conceal those weapons and carry them around, just as Loughner did last Saturday.

PAUL HELMKE, BRADY COMMISSION PRESIDENT: Arizona is only the third state in the country to allow people to carry loaded, hidden guns without any permitting process at all.

Keith Olbermann Misrepresents CNN Poll to Tie Sarah Palin to Tucson Shootings
By Noel Sheppard | January 19, 2011 | 12:50 AM EST

On Monday, Keith Olbermann cherry-picked a Daily Kos/PPP poll to bash the Tea Party as a violent threat to America's elected officials.

On the following day's "Countdown," the MSNBCer misrepresented an Opinion Research/CNN poll to tie Sarah Palin to the Tucson shootings (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Bozell Column: Who Is Eric Fuller?
By Brent Bozell | January 18, 2011 | 9:57 PM EST

OK, so conservatives have to be accused of fostering hatred with our alleged vitriol, the kind of vitriol which fuels the flames of violence, like we witnessed in Tucson except – well, except there wasn’t, and isn’t, a shred of evidence that the killer was influenced by any conservatives since a) he didn’t listen to or watch conservative programming and b) isn’t a conservative.

There is the hypothetical question: What if the perpetrator of violence were liberal? How would the media react then? How many would put Chris Matthews, Paul Krugman, Keith Olbermann and Co. on trial for creating the “atmosphere” of “hatred” so often ascribed to conservatives only?

In fact, it happened. One of Jared Loughner’s shooting victims was a local leftist activist, Eric Fuller, who last week was invited to ABC’s taping of an “American Conversation.” There, in front of all the cameras, he interrupted a local Tea Party activist by uttering what should be considered in this atmosphere to be a blood-curdling threat:  “You’re dead!” Police considered these words serious enough to have him removed and involuntarily committed to a mental institution.

Media Reality Check: By 8-to-1 Margin, Networks Target Conservative Speech after Tucson Shooting
By Rich Noyes | January 18, 2011 | 3:57 PM EST

Almost immediately after the shooting in Tucson that killed six people and left Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords severely wounded, the media establishment linked the attack with a debate about “civility,” suggesting an association between Jared Loughner’s rampage and the words and phrases used in national political debates.

 

Many of these network news stories offered ambiguous references to, as CBS’s Bob Schieffer put it on the January 9 edition of Sunday Morning, “the mean and hateful tone that now marks our modern politics.” Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter, in a soundbite on NBC’s Today the next morning, pointed his finger at “the left and the right” as contributing to what he termed “the climate of violence.”

There’s certainly no shortage of instances of the Left deploying violent rhetoric, but how evenly did the media divide the blame during the first few days of this national debate about civility? MRC analysts reviewed all 55 broadcast network stories or segments discussing the discourse from just after the shooting (January 8) through the evening of the national memorial service on January 12, reviewing the ABC, CBS and NBC morning, evening and Sunday talk shows.

Palin Calls Out Media for Implicating Her in Tucson Shooting, CBS Has Amnesia
By Kyle Drennen | January 18, 2011 | 1:35 PM EST

On Tuesday's CBS Early Show, congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes reported on Sarah Palin's first interview since the Tucson shooting: "She accused the Left and the news media of trying to destroy her message, trying to destroy her, said she was being accused of being an accessory to murder." Cordes forgot to mention her role in furthering those accusations against the former Alaska governor.

After playing a clip of Palin's Monday interview on Fox News' Hannity, Cordes mentioned: "The early response I'm hearing from some on the Left about this interview is, 'Look we never said she was an accessory to murder, we simply said she was an accessory to in-civility in politics.'" On the day of the shooting, reporting for the CBS Evening News, Cordes implied Palin played a role in inciting the violence: "Giffords was one of 20 Democrats whose districts were lit up in cross hairs on a Sarah Palin campaign Web site last spring. Giffords and many others complained that someone unstable might act on that imagery."

NYT Public Editor Arthur Brisbane Almost Admits Liberal Bias Skewed Tucson Coverage
By Lachlan Markay | January 18, 2011 | 1:10 PM EST

On Saturday, the New York Times's Public Editor offered a milquetoast apologia for the paper's leading role in falsely ascribing blame for the Tucson massacre to conservative pundits and politicians.

Nowhere in the column did Public Editor Arthur Brisbane address columnist Paul Krugman's false smear of Rep. Michele Bachmann, noted in a letter sent by NewsBusters to Brisbane's office on Friday.

Brisbane attributed the rush to blame, at least in part, Sarah Palin and other conservatives for the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others at a Tucson Safeway to the Times's generic efforts "to define the context of a story, to set up a frame for it, sometimes before the facts can be fully understood."

Olbermann Cherry Picks Poll to Bash Tea Party as Violent Threat to Elected Officials
By Noel Sheppard | January 18, 2011 | 10:34 AM EST

Keith Olbermann on Monday cherry-picked a new poll to bash the Tea Party as a violent threat to elected officials.

As he discussed new findings in a Daily Kos/Public Policy Polling survey about who thinks violence against the current American government is justified, the "Countdown" host highlighted the Tea Party's number while conveniently ignoring demographic groups that responded at an equal or higher rate (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Open Thread: Hugh Hewitt Takes on Politico Editor Over Liberal Bias
By NB Staff | January 18, 2011 | 9:06 AM EST

On Monday, conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt hosted Politico.com editor John Harris to discuss Politico's coverage of the aftermath of the Gabrielle Giffords shooting. Hewitt charged that Politico's reporting - both on the Tucson massacre and in general - has been driven hard to the left in recent years. Here's full audio of the exchange, via Breitbart.tv:

NY Times Reporters Defend Paper's Coverage of Tucson Shootings, Dubiously Denies It Blamed the Right Wing
By Clay Waters | January 18, 2011 | 7:56 AM EST

New York Times media reporters Jeremy Peters and Brian Stelter sounded a little defensive in Monday’s Business section story on the political blame game that immediately followed the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the killing of six others in Tucson. The confusing headline: “After Tucson, Blanket Accusations Leave Much to Interpretation.”

For every action in politics today, there’s an overwhelming and opposite reaction.

Last week, the reaction came from conservative politicians who bridled at suggestions in the media that Jared L. Loughner may have been influenced by right-wing rhetoric and talk radio when he killed six people and gravely wounded Representative Gabrielle Giffords in a rampage on Jan. 8 in Tucson. In her video address on Wednesday, Sarah Palin said that journalists and pundits should not manufacture “a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence that they purport to condemn.”

The question left unanswered: which journalists and pundits?

Olbermann: If a Conservative Tried to Kill a Liberal the Right Would Blame the Victim
By Noel Sheppard | January 18, 2011 | 1:19 AM EST

Keith Olbermann started his Special Comment Monday boasting that he was the only political commentator in America that has "expressed the slightest introspection, the slightest self-awareness, the slightest remorse, the slightest ownership of the existence" of violent rhetoric in the nation.

Roughly twelve minutes later, the "Countdown" host concluded his nonsensical blathering by stating, "In an actual open and shut slam dunk case in which a partisan of the Right attempted to kill one of the Left, the Right would blame the victim" (video follows with transcript and loads of commentary):