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On Monday's CBS Evening News, anchor Katie Couric used the Tucson shooting to go after gun ownership: "As we reported, Jared Loughner purchased his gun legally....Saturday's attack is now putting the state's gun laws under a magnifying glass." In the report that followed, correspondent Dean Reynolds declared: "Arizona has among the most permissive gun laws in the nation." Reynolds portrayed…

On Sunday, New York Times political reporter/columnist Matt Bai wondered if we are at the start of a “terrifying new” moment in political violence in “A Turning Point in the Discourse, but in Which Direction?” Bai argued that the act of Republican politicians saying standard political things was somehow fueling the rhetorical flames. He at least appeared evenhanded at the beginning. Within…

MSNBC's Contessa Brewer on Tuesday spread the blame for Saturday's spree shooting, singling out "vitriolic right-wing talkers and the Tea Party." Several groups seemed to be on Brewer's list, with the notable exception of Jared Loughner. He was only mentioned as a failure of the mental health system. Closing the 12pm hour of News Live, Brewer summarized, "We've been following the fallout…

Oh c'mon, this is too easy. Here's a paragraph from former Congressman Paul Kanjorski's op-ed in the New York Times, published online yesterday, in the print edition today ("Why Politicians Need to Stay Out in the Open"): We all lose an element of freedom when security considerations distance public officials from the people. Therefore, it is incumbent on all Americans to create an…

MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell continued her crusade against Sarah Palin today, reiterating the fallacious contention that the former Alaska governor is at least partly responsible for the shooting rampage in Tucson, Arizona that left six dead and a congresswoman critically injured. On her eponymous afternoon program, Mitchell criticized Palin's "campaign tactics" in an interview with former…

Three days after a mentally-deranged man — whose backyard in Arizona featured a bizarre shrine decorated with a human skull and rotted oranges — killed six people and severely wounded Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the liberal media continue to cynically link Sarah Palin, the Tea Party and mainstream conservatives with the crime. There is, of course, absolutely no evidence that…

"Is it time to rethink the Second Amendment?" MSNBC anchor Richard Lui asked viewers of the January 11 "Jansing & Co." on the way to commercial break around 10:15 a.m. EST. [Video after page break; MP3 audio available here] Lui was teasing an upcoming segment in which MSNBC anchor Chris Jansing would interview House Intelligence Committee chairman and former FBI agent Rep. Mike Rogers (…

Make sure you check out Tuesday's all-new episode of NewsBusted:

Rush Limbaugh took to the airwaves Monday to blast the media's response to Saturday's shooting in Tucson, Arizona. In a lengthy segment on the topic, he called the media's reaction "utterly, childishly silly, embarrassing." Limbaugh went on to speculate that the liberal media will try to use the shooting - and the conservative movement's supposed complicity in it - to silence opposing…

During MSNBC's live coverage immediately following Saturday's attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), correspondent Luke Russert theorized that the shooting was probably a violent reaction to the passage of ObamaCare, for which Giffords cast an affirmative vote. "Remember, this is the deepest fear that was in the back of everybody's mind going through the health care…

On Tuesday's Early Show, correspondent Ben Tracy acknowledged that the facts in the Tuscon shooting do not support media spin that the tragedy was incited by right-wing political rhetoric: "Authorities tell CBS News that Loughner's attack on Congresswoman Giffords' was not partisan, but more likely because he was anti-government in general and she was a symbol of it." Minutes later, co-host…

According to Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos, there's "no evidence" that the Arizona shooter was motivated by political ideology. But, that didn't stop the ABC host from speculating during a discussion with possible Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty. After allowing that "crazy voices" inside Jared Loughner's head probably prompted the rampage, Stephanopoulos …

Two of the most toxic political commentators in the nation tried to make the case Monday that violent political rhetoric emanates far more from conservatives than liberals. Fortunately for the small number of viewers watching MSNBC's "The Ed Show," Tony Blankley was present to set Ed Schultz and Bill Press straight (video follows with transcript and commentary):

NBC's Andrea Mitchell just can't let go of the media spin that political rhetoric, specially from conservatives like Sarah Palin, is somehow partly to blame for the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords as on Tuesday's Today show, she questioned if Palin's use of crosshairs on her Web site to target Democratic districts was "inflammatory?" Mitchell couldn't even report that "There is no direct link"…