Quote:

---

By TERRY TANG and AMANDA LEE MYERS, Associated Press Terry Tang And Amanda Lee Myers, Associated Press – 20 mins ago

0 TUCSON, Ariz. – Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot in the head Saturday, an aide was killed, and an unknown number of others were wounded when an assailant opened fire outside a grocery store as the Democratic lawmaker met with constituents, officials said.

C.J. Karamargin, a spokesman for Giffords, said the congresswoman was in surgery as of 1 p.m. local time and that an unspecified number of Giffords staff members were injured in the shooting. Karamargin said he had no other information on the conditions of the injured or on the circumstances of the shooting.

Congressional officials said an aide to the Democrat was killed, and unknown number of others were injured, including staffers to the lawmaker.

President Barack Obama called the shooting "an unspeakable tragedy" and that such "a senseless and terrible act of violence has no place in a free society.

U.S. Capitol police say the shooter is in custody as one official said he carried out the attack with an automatic weapon. The officials who described the events did so on condition of anonymity, saying they were not permitted to comment publicly.

"I am horrified by the senseless attack on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and members of her staff," newly elected House Speaker John Boehner said. "An attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serve. Acts and threats of violence against public officials have no place in our society. Our prayers are with Congresswoman Giffords, her staff, all who were injured, and their families. This is a sad day for our country."

Click image to see scenes from the Arizona shooting


AP Photo/Arizona Daily Star, Dean Knuth

Three hours after the shooting, the L-shaped shopping center in Tucson was blocked off by police and had fire trucks and other vehicles in its parking lot that blocked the view of the store's front door. No shell casing could be seen from the area 500 yards from the store where reporters and photographers were kept.

Giffords, 40, was re-elected to her third term last November. She was a member of the Arizona House and Senate before coming to Washington.
Related Articles

* Obama: 'Some' killed in Arizona shooting
* Full text: Obama's statement on congresswoman's shooting
* Congresswoman Giffords shot by gunman, in surgery
* Congresswoman Giffords shot, badly wounded in Arizona

Map

Giffords tweeted shortly before the shooting, saying: "My 1st Congress on Your Corner starts now. Please stop by to let me know what is on your mind or tweet me later."

Giffords is married to astronaut Mark E. Kelly, who has piloted space shuttles Endeavour and Discovery. The two met in China in 2003 while they were serving on a committee there, and were married in January 2007.

Giffords was first elected to Congress amid a wave of Democratic victories in the 2006 election, and she won a narrow victory against a tea party favorite in the 2010 election.

She has been mentioned as a possible Democratic nominee in 2012 for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Jon Kyl, who has not said whether he'll run again, or for the governor's office in 2014.

The shooting comes amid a highly charged political environment that has seen several dangerous threats against lawmakers but nothing that reached the point of actual violence.

A San Francisco man upset with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's support of health care reform pleaded guilty to threatening the Democratic congresswoman and her family, calling her directly on March 25 and threatening to destroy her Northern California home if she voted for health care reform.

In July, a California man known for his anger over left-leaning politics engaged in a shootout with highway patrol officers after planning an attack on the ACLU and another nonprofit group. The man said he wanted to "start a revolution" by killing people at the ACLU and the Tides Foundation.

Giffords herself has drawn the ire of the right, especially for her support of the health care bill from politicians like Sarah Palin.

Her Tucson office was vandalized a few hours after the House vote to approve the health care law in March, with someone either kicking or shooting out a glass door and window.

Despite the animosity she has generated from the right, Giffords describes herself as a former Republican and current Blue Dog Democrat.

"You know, actually as a former Republican, you know, I consider myself someone who is pretty in the middle, I'm a blue dog Democrat, and one that is interested in making sure that our country maintains our prosperity and frankly, our superiority over other countries and that's where we look at these threat, obviously our defense budget, our level of education," she said in an interview with Fox this week.

___

AP Special Correspondent David Espo contributed to this report from Washington

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Niki2:
Ditto Anthony and Happy. It's awful, and to me at least, all the violence mentioned is an illustration of how the awful, divisive rhetoric, can escalate to actual violence. My own fear is that this may be the first (with the new situation), but not the last. I'm also not surprised it first happened in Arizona...

I hope she pulls through INTACT, not just that she pulls through, and my heart goes out to the families of those killed and injured.


Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

---

Quote:

---

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by TheHappyTrader:
I don't really know what to say right now, I really didn't expect something like this to happen (successfully, or perhaps almost successfully) in the United States.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by AURaptor:
The war has begun.


Choose or perish.





" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by TheHappyTrader:
Really guys? I thought RWED would view this with a little more intelligence than Facebook. Everything has to be a partisan statement...

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SignyM:
Fucking right-wing assholes.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Kwicko:

John, I've never seen YOUR face, and I notice you don't post it on your videos, either.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by TheHappyTrader:

I claimed Iraq and Afghanistan were not like the holocaust because the Muslim extremists "started it" with 9/11 and that we weren't exactly rounding up American Muslims and seizing their property

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by NewOldBrownCoat:
I *D*I*D* think Arizona was one of those states that had a newly passed "open carry" law that was gonna reduce violent crime. An armed citizenry was gonna stop criminals with guns from shooting people.

Or maybe they kept it from being worse, made sure nobody but Democrats and liberal supporters got killed or wounded?

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by TheHappyTrader:
There's no reason to be an ass about this.

Alright, concerning what I said in a completely unrelated thread... I claimed Iraq and Afghanistan were not like the holocaust because the Muslim extremists "started it" with 9/11 and that we weren't exactly rounding up American Muslims and seizing their property, and other things you can read in that thread where it belongs. DT efficiently destroyed my argument and offered insight into the issue I was not previously aware of. I haven't posted there since because I didn't have anything worth contributing.

I refuse to pick a 'side' politically because I'm not overly fond of any of them, but this tenacious left wing hounding can make it difficult to remain neutral. I'm upset that those responsible for this tragedy this had no respect for the American people who democratically elected this official and was willing to kill for that. It doesn't matter whether I agree with Giffords or if she is a Democrat, what happened was wrong.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by BigDamnNobody:
What's the title of this thread?

---

Quote:

---

I can't help but feel that you would be far more likely to "pick a side" had this been someone with a Muslim-sounding name, though.

And I'm not trying to be an ass, but you hardly sound neutral. I notice you had nary a discouraging word to say to this particular partisan, for instance:

http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.asp?b=18&t=47072

---

Quote:

---

As for your prejudice against Muslims, I think saying things like "they started it" pretty well shows that to be the case. Or it shows a profound ignorance of recent history; take your pick, but neither of them paints you in a flattering light.

---

Quote:

---

I also mentioned that she was on Palin's so-called "hit list", with the graphic of a rifle-scope centered on her district. That isn't "partisan" of me to say; it's a fact. It exists. It happened. It's still on Palin's facebook page.

---

Quote:

---

As for me being a snarky asshole, I *AM* a snarky asshole! Did you not receive the memo? I thought it went to every new member when they signed up!

---

Quote:

---

I see the "Palin hit list" as misleading, but again, that wasn't directed solely at you. It most mostly about the choose or die comment. She was on Palin's "target list" for seats the Tea Party was competing for in the election. Targets have a tendency to look like... ya know, targets. I doubt a series of circles would look much better than the cross-hairs did after this incident.

---

Quote:

---

Choose and perish.And there you have it.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Kwicko:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by AURaptor:
The war has begun.


Choose or perish.

---

Which "war" is that?

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Kwicko:
Huh. Pretty sure it wasn't I who claimed that "The war has begun", so I don't know where you get that *I'M* "geeked up" about it. Seems you have this wet dream about waging war on "liberals", but you righties are always all about war, ain'tchya?

Also, I've made no mention of this guy's political motivations or leanings. I stated that Palin had targeted this congressperson. Seems the only ones ASSUMING that he's a right-wing whackjob are you right-wing whackjobs.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Kwicko:
Again, Rappy, you are inferring things and motives that I have not implied. All the partisanship, "geeking out" about some wannabe-war, and "phonied up" controversy is in YOUR mind, not mine. I made note of the FACT that Palin had this woman on her target list. I made no connection, but asked if there might be a connection. You're the one jumping to conclusions here, assigning motives and agenda where none have been made clear.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SignyM:
Fucking right-wing assholes.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by whozit:
MSNBC reported this a.m. that this looney was a far left liberal, you libs may want to tread lightly here, it wouldn't be the 1st time you raced you mouths with you brains in neuteral. I think if you try to tie the "Tea Party" or Sarah Palin to this you'll REALLY regret it this time.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by BigDamnNobody:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Kwicko:
Again, Rappy, you are inferring things and motives that I have not implied. All the partisanship, "geeking out" about some wannabe-war, and "phonied up" controversy is in YOUR mind, not mine. I made note of the FACT that Palin had this woman on her target list. I made no connection, but asked if there might be a connection. You're the one jumping to conclusions here, assigning motives and agenda where none have been made clear.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SignyM:
Fucking right-wing assholes.

---

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Kwicko:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by whozit:
MSNBC reported this a.m. that this looney was a far left liberal, you libs may want to tread lightly here, it wouldn't be the 1st time you raced you mouths with you brains in neuteral. I think if you try to tie the "Tea Party" or Sarah Palin to this you'll REALLY regret it this time.

---

Which is why I *haven't* tried to tie him to anything, because we don't know what his leanings are. Seems there's a rush by right-wingers to try to distance themselves from the guy, though. Looking at his YouTube stuff, he just comes across as a loon. That's probably too harsh - his ramblings seem more along the lines of a possible schizophrenic who's gone off his meds.



This Space For Rent!

---