Local Pols Differ on Rhetoric's Role in Shooting

Since the shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in a Tucson supermarket parking lot, some are engaging in the “soul-searching” urged by the Pima County sheriff on the effect angry, uncivil political discourse is having on the country.

“The sheriff from Pima County was spot-on in his assessment about this vitriol and radical banter” having the potential to incite “unhinged people,” said Walter Garvin, chairman of the Northampton County Democratic Committee.

Others such as Wayne Woodman, chairman of the Lehigh County Republican Committee, said the sheriff's statements serve his own political agenda. "It obscures the real tragedy both of the victim and the problem of what happens to people who may be suffering from undiagnosed emotional and mental health problems. So people who have a political agenda like to leverage off of other people's tragedies."

Garvin concurred with the sheriff’s criticism of broadcast and cable television news shows’ incendiary, anti-government rhetoric for contributing to a volatile climate. He said words and imagery used by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s map of cross hairs over Democratic opponents’ districts and “don’t retreat, instead reload” gun imagery aren’t “just hints of violence, it’s almost suggestions of violence.”

Conservative Fox talk show commentator Bill O’Reilly appeared at the State Theater in Easton on Saturday, but briefly addressed the Giffords shooting at the end of his show. O’Reilly did not mention the sheriff’s criticism of broadcast and cable television news, said several people who saw the show.

The language and behavior of the Tea Party is also under scrutiny since the shooting. Hours after his daughter was shot, Giffords’ father, when asked if his daughter had any enemies, replied, “The Tea Party.”

Joe Wozniak of Easton, a conservative who attended the O’Reilly show, said he sympathizes with many Tea Party views. He said the Giffords shooter was a lone gunman and there was no link between the shooting and the current political climate. “I don’t feel the Tea Party is an angry movement,” he said.

 Mike Lordi, spokesman for the Tea Party in the Lehigh Valley, said the organization would not comment on the statements by Giffords’ father or the sheriff.

“We feel it’s a terrible tragedy and everyone’s prayers and thoughts go with at all the victims and families involved,” Lordi said.

Mike Daugherty, chairman of the Lehigh County Democratic Committee, said while it was not possible to make a direct link between the shooting and the heated political climate, statements like former Nevada GOP candidate Sharron Angle’s “Second Amendment remedies” were “over-the-top.” 

“I do believe in the future [the Giffords shooting] will have people be more aware of what they are saying and hopefully will tone down some of the rhetoric.”