Lerner is absolutely correct. Why was Obama not investigating the incendiary hate talk of right-wing Republican media prior to this shooting? There were on Fox News and S. Palin, nothing short of indirect and carefully worded death threats aimed at Obama as well. This is pretty outrageous; Obama 's inability to get angry with the Right, even when they verge on assassination talk. I really blame Obama for this event, given that he's had plenty of time, as Lerner commented, to investigate Fox News and Sarah Palin's use of language in Congress. But we've got a president who actually favors the Right over the Left, so no such investigation will ever occur.

I see where he's coming from, but the piece is too frothing and non-substantive. TO can do better.

Politicians like Peter King (Who instigates against American Islamics) should be investigated but they are the ones now holding the wrong hearings.

Democrats are, at best, overly cautious. How exactly can the government you ban speech, ban rhetoric? Would Palin have anything to say if it were banned? Or Ron Paul?

And I am really kind of tired of hearing how Bush was called a Nazi. Not by anyone important. Not really shown in media. And Bush had torture and such going on. The health care bill, mostly an industry bill, is not socialism, so they have bloated rhetoric with absolutely no reason behind it.

Palin had targets on congressional districts with an advisory to reload and evidently shoot. In today's society, when you actieley cheer any and all to do with guns, this is incitement to crime, to murder.

If it were reversed they would certainly blame Democratic officials and office holders. Guilt by association is their way of conducting business and politics now. They do it now having nothing to do with assassinations or violence, nothing to do with anything logical or real. They wish they had something so direct.

Democrats will do nothing, not even try and force hearings in the House. They are overly cautious and never point out these thinsg. Most of November's losses were close and it was usually Blue Dog Dems who lost. Average of two districts per state. Not anything like a landslide, nor anything to do with rejecting liberalism.

So nothing will be done. The media is supine and doesn't even know how to act responsibly anymore. They report rhetoric and manufacture their own. And the loudest win, no matter the reality and truth.

I know where Rabbi Lerner's coming from. As a Jew I fully comprehend that Jews are the proverbial canary in the coal mine. The canary has now died. What are the rest of the miners going to do to get out? How will leadership/management deal if the rest of the miners die? It won't matter how they feel, but what they do will matter a great deal to society.

Interestingly Eric Cantor, another Jew and Majority Leader of the House, has just declared the House will not meet this week. I wonder if he spent enough time in Sunday School or listened to his rabbi when he was growing up.

I think he's got his priorities mixed up. The job of the Republicans may be to unseat Obama--that's their privilege--but Cantor is Leadership and the message he's sending is that you walk away from a problem since it doesn't meet your priorities.

Cong. Cantor, PRIORITIES CHANGE with the time. I may not agree with yours, but I firmly believe the House should be meeting to discuss the place of unregistered and concealed small firearms in our country. This is not to prevent the ownership of them, (lest it be said I'd cancel the Second Amendment, perish forbid,) but rather to keep track of where they are, so an "unbalanced" (not my term) person such as the man who shot Cong. Giffords can receive the help he clearly needs and, hopefully, prevented from owning--much less using-- such a weapon.

Refuah shlaymah to Cong. Giffords--and to Cong. Cantor as well if you don't get the gist of my message.

"but because they feel that their legitimate concerns about the selfishness and looking out for number one are never heard by the Left"

I'm sorry, but we are a NATION, nations are supposed to look out for each other, not "number one".

So long as we have private industry of some kind, the "number one" will take care of itself.

there is no "legitimate concern" about selfishness. If you want to be "selfish", a rather mild word for what republicans have been doing to this nation's least fortunate, elderly, and sick, move to an anarchy like somalia where you can be selfish all you want.

Rabbi Learner's commentary loses some of it's force because of the major defect in the global Jewish community's 'parasol' of defence: the conflation of anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. The antics of the panoply of -PACs causes widespread resentment towards Zionism and the nasty racist little apartheid state of Israel. What initially seemed to be a brilliant defensive idea is now bearing negative fruit - with the consequence that once again the broader Jewish community will suffer from the evils of the wealthy & political power-brokers of Zionism...

If Isreal had killed this American citizen, then we wouldn't have had this tragedy. Why doesn't some wag make that argument?
The rabbi puts religion in front of common sense and apparently hasn't read anything about Clinton via Wikileaks. We have separation of church and state, can the author handle the idea that we don't have separation of Government and Corporation? Quite signifigantly, evangelical types (pro war, pro aggression) are very pro Israel. It has something to do with the abhorrently xenophobic idea that one religious group are the "chosen". Remember how God told the last Bush to attack Iraq?

A "left-wing" "pothead" is how a former classmate describes Loughner.

A shameless right-wing scumbag is how you've been described, 00:12. By me.

Probably another Nazi like the assassin.

This is a great article by Rabbi Lerner. Reassuring to hear him weigh in so rationally. We don't know much about this person, at this point, and I understand they are investigating for a group, but his emerging psychological profile seems unsurprising .. mixed up in general. An anti-semite, probably upset about immigration -- an issue which has a lot of racist groups, who are never that far from antisemitism themselves (scratch a racist find an antisemite - though of course they have their token hispanics and jews among them to "prove" they're not); continued -

- continued - some of them are desparately - like this young man - in need of health care themselves (i.e. he obviously needed to be under psychiatric care - another poster elsewhere suggested he has schizophrenia), and yet, they are shrieking in fear about a socialist boogeyman under America's bed. They are very stirred up by the kind of talk by people like Sarah Palin - and the ones who are the most mentally disturbed most likely to act it out. I have spent some time on forums *communicating* with some of these people who obsessively hate Obama and anyone who supported him and have opinions in the tea party mold, and in all honesty, they all sound a lot like this or not far from it, if you hang out with them long enough. They're all big on gun rights, and even if you support the 2nd amendment in a general sort of way, if they *smell* liberalism in you at all, they are convinced you are still the enemy who must be wiped out, by all sounds of how they communicate on line. It will be interesting to find out his views on abortion and stem cell research, as well. He killed a nine year old child, but I would not be surprised if he thinks "abortion is murder" and "so is stem cell research.

Typicall nonsense spewed by various political news organizations: the anit-semetic angle ! ridiculous but always sooo important ! Even when the jewish retirement home burned down in France, the first card was the anti-semetic angle . But of course when it was later discovered that the arsonist was himself jewish and a former employee of the home , no retraction ! Hey I want these hate mongers and I mean those who "use" the anti-semetic angle to be identified and vilified for this hate which they spew from the outset !

Why are the mentally ill allowed to obtain semiautomatic weapons in America?!

This insanity is ultimately structural, more the fault of society in general than that of a single deranged individual.

The shooting is obviously the fault of liberals.

For example: Without the pluralism of liberals, America would be a good Christian-fascist nation that would not tolerate Jews in positions of power. And then they wouldn't be killed. I mean, FDR was a liberal, and if he had not helped stop Hitler, there would be no Jews left in the world. So yet again you see.

Further: Liberals support gun control. But as we clearly saw from this event, guns "save lives". Especially semiautomatic pistols in the hands of the mentally deranged.

And then: The congresswoman targeted supported healthcare and opposed the draconian immigration law. Which clearly must show something or other that right wingers can use against liberals--haven't figured it out yet, but must be something.

Can't you see this is all the fault of liberals?

Righ-wing "logic": Anyone who supports extending healthcare to millions of fellow citizens deserves to be shot.

That's why they call 'em "pro-life" . . .

P.S. Let's up the military budget while we're at it! And torture some more shepherds.

This article - just in at T.O. - explains why Obama should have responded to Fox News, instead of ignoring them, even as they made clear threats on his life and the life of other people. Instead, he sat back and did nothing while there was plenty of grounds for him to send the FBI into Fox News and drag O'Reilly and the others out with handcuffs; even questioning them; and putting them in a cell for a while would have perhaps helped quell this sort of incendiary rhetoric directly meant to provoke a violent outbreak. It is not legal to threaten to kill any politician or journalist on the air, or in any public discussion, and so questioning them would have been appropriate and right by the FBI.

Why is there so much blame placed on "white male Christian[s]"? Your isolation of one ethnic and religious group is highly inappropriate. I think "pot-stirrer" is a more apt description of Lerner than "peace maker."

This is an example of the kind of comment Lerner's writing encourages (3 comments above me):

"The shooting is obviously the fault of liberals. For example: Without the pluralism of liberals, America would be a good Christian-fascist nation that would not tolerate Jews in positions of power. And then they wouldn't be killed."

I shudder to think what kind of bizarre parallel universe such a person must inhabit.

According to an article in Mother Jones, citing Bryce Tierney (a friend of Jared Loughner who received voice mail from him on the day of the shooting), Jared's mother is Jewish. Apparently Jared Lee Loughner’s mother Amy Loughner is a member of the same Reform synagogue as Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

So, Rabbi Lerner, unless you can refute this with contrary information ... please check your facts before slinging around accusations of 'anti-Semitism' around.

A correction and apology to non-Jews would seem appropriate in the circumstances.

Republican leaders such as Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin have diagnostically progressed from mere Freudian "projection" to full blown anosognosia.

//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection
//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial
//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anosognosia, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia