Today in the Washington Examiner January 10, 2011

Byron York - Journalists urged caution after Ft. Hood, now race to blame Palin after Arizona shootings



Public officials, journalists, and commentators were quick to caution that the public should not "jump to conclusions" about Hasan's motive. CNN, in particular, became a forum for repeated warnings that the subject should be discussed with particular care.


"The important thing is for everyone not to jump to conclusions," said retired Gen. Wesley Clark on CNN the night of the shootings.


"We cannot jump to conclusions," said CNN's Jane Velez-Mitchell that same evening. "We have to make sure that we do not jump to any conclusions whatsoever."


Fast forward a little more than a year, to January 8, 2011. In Tucson, Arizona, a 22 year-old man named Jared Lee Loughner opened fire at a political event, gravely wounding Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, killing a federal judge and five others, and wounding 18. In the hours after the attack, little was known about Loughner beyond some bizarre and largely incomprehensible YouTube postings that, if anything, suggested he was mentally ill. Yet the network that had shown such caution in discussing the Ft. Hood shootings openly discussed the possibility that Loughner was inspired to violence by---Sarah Palin.




Timothy P. Carney - No, now is not the time to discuss our 'political rhetoric'


What if we could go back in time, six years, and change only our political rhetoric, with the sole aim of preventing this massacre. Can anyone prescribe a course of action with any confidence they could reduce the probability of Loughner doing what he did?




Susan Ferrechio - Political rhetoric blamed for shooting -- but whose?


There is no evidence Loughner took action in response to anything said or published by the Tea Party or any other group. If anything, his political views appear muddled and some have described him as "goth" and "left wing."


Julie Mason - Moderate Giffords an unlikely target for hate crime


With her warm brown eyes, friendly manner, astronaut husband and moderate political views, Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was an unlikely target for what investigators indicate was a hate-fueled shooting rampage in her Tucson district.




Susan Ferrechio - House suspends work on Obamacare after shooting


House Republicans suspended their work this week, including a much-anticipated vote on Obamacare, in response to the shooting rampage in front of a Tucson, Ariz., supermarket that left six people dead and Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords clinging to life.


In a conference call with House Democrats and Republicans, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said he was canceling the regular schedule, including the Wednesday ballot on a bill to repeal the health care reform law.




Timothy P. Carney - Lawmakers start cashing in on health care 'reform'


Democrat Earl Pomeroy's vote for the health care bill may have cost him his seat in Congress, but it also earned him a job on K Street.


Last week, on the last day of Pomeroy's 18-year stint as North Dakota's at-large congressman, K Street giant Alston & Bird announced that he was joining the firm's health care lobbying division.


The congressman is merely the latest lucky winner in the Great Health Care Cash-out, a tawdry spectacle that further sullies Washington's lobbying culture, and also demolishes President Obama's insistent claims that his health care push was a battle against the special interests. In truth, the bill's subsidies and mandates are a boondoggle for the powerful drug industry and were received warmly by hospitals and the doctors lobby.