Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) in critical condition, 6 others killed in Arizona

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

This issue is not about left or right. It's about a mentally sick guy going off. Politics played little or no role in this and if it did, it did not involve Palin, the Tea Party or anything else. Anyone claiming otherwise is being very disingenuous and should reexamine their life immediately. 

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I'll also repeat that I agree completely with Xahar and I also of course agree with Duke.

What Duke said seems to imply that even talking about undesirable political rhetoric and tamping violent symbolism and rhetoric down in this country is the same as saying "It's Sarah Palin's fault!" which is the only thing that seems to be bothering me about this thread. It's become a controversial point in this thread (look at anything Cinyc has said, for example) to even suggest that the political climate has become too heated or our culture has become too obsessed with violence.

There's nothing to suggest the political climate caused this to happen. We've seen tons of anarchist types go off on shootings before. This is just the first time one of these crazies shot a public official. While the possibility is still there that the heated environment factored into this, I doubt it did. Did this guy know who he was shooting? Or did he just go crazy and shoot up a bunch of people at a public place?

I'll admit I don't know many details of the thing, but I feel like people are trying to make this into "oh politics caused this" when in reality this was just a deranged individual doing the same thing as the VTech or Columbine killers.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

This issue is not about left or right. It's about a mentally sick guy going off. Politics played little or no role in this and if it did, it did not involve Palin, the Tea Party or anything else. Anyone claiming otherwise is being very disingenuous and should reexamine their life immediately. 

LOL

Dude, there is no evidence to suggest this guy even watched TV or knew anything about the politics of the day. If you can prove to me otherwise, fine, I welcome you, but don't laugh at me because you're convinced in your mind that this was some sort of right-winged backed plot.

This guy was clearly a sick individual who needed help, not some political operative. If you seriously believe otherwise, then I don't know what to say.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

And news comes out today that this man really had no idea what the political environment was in this country - as I suspected.