Arizaona Congresswomen Gabrielle Giffords was shot yesterday and is in critical condition. The moderate democrat is a tough critic of the state's immigration laws and is in favor of health care reform. She narrowly won her re-ellection against Tea Party member, Jesse Kelley, last November.
The first Jewish wowan elected to the House from Arizona has been targeted and harassed last spring after healthcare votes. She is also on Sarah Palin's "targeted list."
The suspect, Jared Loughner, is not formally associated with the Tea Party. According to today's New York Times article.
The healthcare reform is greatly debated between Democrats and Tea Party members. How does this effect the movement to repeal health care reform?
It is sad that some people feel the need to resort to acts and threats of violence in an effort to prove or argue political stances. The fact that Sheriff Dupnik said, "It’s not unusual for all public officials to get threats constantly, myself included," is just ridiculous. It is a shame that our society works this way. I can't imagine what public officials and their families have to endure in terms of threats based on politics. In terms of the effects on the health care reform issue, I agree with Mr. Phillips from the article: one side should not blame this tragedy on the other side. This tragedy seems to be the result of an extremist. I do not think one side can hold the entire other side accountable and use it for political gain based on one person's recklessness and stupidity.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Kaitlin said and I honestly can't even imagine, no matter how good the rhetoric, how an isolated terrorist act such as this could be used for political leverage in the health care reform debate which is primarily a debate about public finance and welfare economics. However, unfortunately, history as well as current affairs gives us ample examples of how acts of terrorism have derailed political movements and legislation worldwide. Let's hope U.S representatives can refrain from falling into such a trap.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really unfortunate event. I'm glad that this isn't any everyday occurrence due to political dissent in our country. With that said, I think it does a little to help health reform's case. Ignorance of radicals generally serves to harm a cause. While it shows how strongly some people feel about the issue, I hope and believe that it will only galvanize those who support our new health care bill.
ReplyDeleteI am tempted to argue that such acts of violence do more harm than good for any opposition of Gabrielle Gifford. This act of retaliation places Ms. Gifford in the corner as victim and the "allies" of the attacker as a mockery.
ReplyDeleteHistory has shown that such assassination attempts only strengthen the cause that the assassinated support (MLK, Malcolm X, Abraham Lincoln, ect...). History has also shown a negative consequence for the assassinator, which goes to show that karma's a drag.
I'll be interested to see how this all plays out
I don't want to beat a dead drum but this is an extremely sad story. It is unfortunate that there are still people in this world that are that stupid. After reading Laura's post, I wondered if the motive behind the shooting was entirely political standpoints or if it was also an attack on her religious beliefs. It seems like most of the radical political behavior involves other topics like abortion and stem cell research. It is interesting to me that viewpoints on healthcare are driving people to murder.
ReplyDeleteThe whole situation is nauseating at best. It says something to me that not one quote is about how shocked anyone is. What the hell is going on in this supposed great country of ours? I am a firm believer in a lot of things, and I cannot think of a single one that I would shoot someone over. It pisses me off that we have so many things to address in this country, and instead we have to spend our time covering a shooting because some idiot doesnt like her politics. Nice
ReplyDeleteArizona has quite the record this past year, in regards to inflationary political acts and legislation. I for one, believe the more we talk about this event in regards to health care, the more we let it interfere with the actual national debate and dialogue. As Jenhagir said, we cannot let an isolated terrorist act be used as partisan leverage. It is events like this that make me lose faith in the world.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that such a desperate act of extremism would not exactly 'get the job done' in terms of proving a point. Whether or not the act was to prove something or to have the Democrats change their health care views, it didn't work. Both sides seem to be coming together to support Ms. Giffords and mourn the death of the 6 individuals that were killed. Just an awful act of desperation.
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