Politics means never having to say you're sorry.

Yesterday's post was written to be non-partisan. I hope I succeeded. Today, not so non-partisan.

Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik criticized vitriolic political rhetoric during a press conference about the assassination attempt on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. He in turn was criticized by Sen. Jon Kyl and vitriolic right wing bloggers for having the temerity to suggest that perhaps the tone of  political conversation might have contributed to the attack. Some have even called Sheriff Dupnik's comments an attack on the 1st Amendment.

Have you ever walked into a room full of children to find family heirloom in pieces on the floor and ask "What happened?" The 1st one that says "I didn't do it" is the culprit. Perhaps if the Sheriff's criticism didn't hit the target, the response wouldn't be as vociferous? More importantly, in Brandenberg v. Ohio the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously found that speech likely to incite imminent lawless action is not protected by the 1st Amendment.  I believe an attempt to kill a U.S. Representative qualifies as imminent lawless action. Also, Sheriff Dupnik never suggested abridging anyone's 1st Amendment rights. He merely suggested exercising restraint in rhetoric,a nuance obviously lost to right wing hate mongers. Finally, Sheriff Dupnik did not ascribe the counterproductive caustic rhetoric to either (any) political philosophy. The offense taken by the right wing blogosphere proclaims "the lady doth protest too much, methink."

Instead I suggest the offended angry right go learn the lesson of Sue Lowden.  Ms. Lowden was the front runner for Nevada Republican nomination to challenge Harry Reid for Senate. Polls showed Lowden way ahead of Reid in a general election. (Un)fortunately Ms. Lowden, while attempting to criticize Pres. Obama's health care reform initiative, made a remark about bartering chickens for health care. When asked about her non-21st century approach to affordable health care, Lowden chose to reiterate rather than retract the statement. Both Harry Reid and Sharron Engle capitalized on this gaffe. Engle won the Republican nomination and Harry Reid won the Senate race. A simple "I chose my words poorly" and Sue Lowden would likely be Senator Lowden and the Republicans might control the Senate. That's the power of "I'm sorry."

The responsibility for the high volume discord pervasive in today's political climate does not rest solely with any party. Still if one (either) party is unwilling to consider they're portion of the mess jointly created, the mess can't be cleaned, not even for the memory of a nine year old girl.

Silence isn't golden.

There was a shooting yesterday in Tucson, AZ.  There were shootings in other cities in the world, too. The target  in Tucson was Representative Gabrielle Giffords. The shooter killed six and wounded nineteen. The shooting took place at a scheduled public event for Representative Giffords. Speculation is that the shooting was politically motivated. I don't think the victims families care about the shooter's reasons.

In October I posted about thuggery during the last weeks of the 2010 midterm election. I cited cases of intimidation on behalf of Republican candidates and the milquetoast (if any) response of the candidates. To be clear, scare tactics are non-partisan.  To further clarify, Sen. Rand Paul, Rep. Eric Cantor or any other politician are not responsible for the shooting in Tucson yesterday.  The responsibility for the shooting rest solely with the assassin and any accomplices, no one else. I apologize that the only examples I cite involve Republicans; both sides have quietly benefited from bullying. The incidents I selected were readily available to me.

The Pima County Sheriff expressed his displeasure at the vitriolic tenor of political discourse in this country.  I agree with him but the approach is too simplistic. Although violence (as was in this case) is calculated the results of violence are random.  3 senior citizens, a nine year old and a judge are among the collateral damage of yesterday's shooting of Rep. Giffords. Now that it's timely to say something, it's also too late. You can't wait until people are dead to decry violence and it's causes. If you want to lead from the Capitol or the Statehouse, from in front of a camera or at a microphone you need to call this stuff out before the word "victim" is used. Every day violence must condemned. It isn't newsworthy when you talk about it everyday. That's the point.