Its not restricted to the Left. Some people on here in the wake of the tragedy were more interested in pushing a particular agenda than realizing that the affairs of the world can wait. There is nothing in life like being people being consumed by politics. We’d be happier without being obsessed with what politicians do. They don’t run our lives and this goes for Republicans as well as Democrats. You folks who think we need a health care vote THIS week, knock it off. Life will resume soon enough and we can all take the time to reflect on what it would be like if politicians were off our radar screens.
I think you will find that most people here were horrified and it was only when the left - and people such as the sheriff and Giffords’ parents - started accusing the Tea Party or some other unnamed evil right wingers of being behind the shooting that people here felt they had to defend themselves. They also had to counter the charge that the left was all sweetness and light and the evil Republicans were stoking things, and I think that was behind the attempt to find inflammatory words and actions from the left (which is much more prone to violent rhetoric than conservatives).
I think we should go ahead with voting as usual, because this shooting was not politically related. The killer was nuts and it now appears that he had an obsession with Giffords dating back to 2007, when he had some personal contact with her. This is tragic, but it’s not a crisis and it’s no reason to shut down the business of the United States and let the media rant 24/7 about the supposed evils of the Tea Party. Letting them do that will genuinely bring us to a political crisis, and that’s exactly what they want. So I say - a brief time-out to respect the dead, as you would do after any random disaster (for example, if Giffords had been killed in a plane crash), and then back to business.
For some people, throughout the political spectrum, politics takes the place of religion.
An event that would cause a normal person to take a moment to reflect, they analyze for leverage.
I'm surprised that the author of this article did not mention Paul Wellstone's memorial service.