memeorandum: Suspect's Odd Behavior Caused Growing Alarm (New York Times)

3:40 PM ET, January 10, 2011

Top Items:

The progressive “climate of hate:” An illustrated primer, 2000-2010 — The Tucson massacre ghouls who are now trying to criminalize conservatism have forced our hand. — They need to be reminded. You need to be reminded. — Confront them. Don't be cowed into silence.

Discussion: The Mahablog, HillBuzz.org, alicublog, AOL News, iOwnTheWorld.com, Questions and Observations and Wake up America

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Climate of Hate — When you heard the terrible news from Arizona, were you completely surprised? Or were you, at some level, expecting something like this atrocity to happen? — Put me in the latter category. I've had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach ever since the final stages of the 2008campaign.

The Right Scoop:

Glenn Beck reads email from Sarah Palin — This is probably the closest thing we'll get to hear from Sarah Palin this soon on this weekend's unfortunate events. Glenn Beck reads part of an email from Sarah Palin to him in light of the massive smear job the Left is perpetrating against her.

Discussion: Washington Post

Glenn Harlan Reynolds / Wall Street Journal:

The Arizona Tragedy and the Politics of Blood Libel — Those who purport to care about the tenor of political discourse don't help civil debate when they seize on any pretext to call their political opponents accomplices to murder. — Shortly after November's electoral defeat for the Democrats …

Keach Hagey / The Politico:

Sarah Palin to Glenn Beck: “I hate violence” — Sarah Palin reached out to Glenn Beck over the weekend, and Beck read some of their email exchange on his radio show this morning. — “Sarah, as you know, peace is always the answer. I know you are felling the same heat, if not much more on this,” Beck wrote.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Obama London, ABCNEWS, Guardian and Daily Kos

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

Official: DHS has not determined any possible ties between Arizona shooter and right wing group — For the last 24 hours, the Web has been alive with speculation that the Arizona shooter has some sort of ties to a right-wing group called American Renaissance.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, National Review, YID With LID, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, DownWithTyranny!, Hit & Run, Fox News and 24Ahead

Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:
The Arizona Shooting Is Not A Product Of Right-Wing Rage

Discussion: Swampland, NewsBusters.org blogs, Brendan Nyhan and Big Government

Alex Pareene / Salon:
Watering the tree of liberty

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, National Review, Taylor Marsh, The Plum Line, NewsReal Blog, Wizbang and Sky Dancing

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
Still In Arizona — Prof. Krugman, who types at the speed of hate …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, New York Times and Veterans Today

David Frum / FrumForum:
What Palin Needed to Say After Giffords' Shooting

Discussion: The Daily Dish and Marbury

Glynnis MacNicol / The Wire:
Sarah Palin Responds To AZ Shootings Through Glenn Beck …

Discussion: Fox Nation, The Daily Caller and Mediaite

Jeff G. / protein wisdom:
“'I don't know what's in that nut's head. I would rather be safe than sorry'”

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, The Jawa Report and NationalJournal.com

NY Daily News:
Cupp: The left's sick Palin blame game

Discussion: Althouse

Nick Baumann / Mother Jones:

Exclusive: Loughner Friend Explains Alleged Gunman's Grudge Against Giffords — In a MoJo interview, the friend shares a message sent hours before the massacre. — Post Comment — At 2:00 a.m. on Saturday—about eight hours before he allegedly killed six people and wounded 14 …

NY Daily News:

Gabrielle Giffords shooting: Frightening, twisted shrine in Arizona killer Jared Lee Loughner's yard — A sinister shrine reveals a chilling occult dimension in the mind of the deranged gunman accused of shooting a member of Congress and 19 others. — Hidden within a camouflage tent behind …

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

Tragedy marks turning point for Palin — With a long list of enemies, a taste for incendiary rhetoric and responsibility for a campaign website graphic that placed gunsight logos on a map of targeted congressional districts, it didn't take long for Sarah Palin to get pulled into the orbit of Saturday's massacre in Tucson.

Discussion: Mother Jones, CNN, Yahoo! News, ABCNEWS, Outside the Beltway, News Desk, Washington Monthly, Mediaite, No More Mister Nice Blog, Taylor Marsh, Opinionator and NewsBusters.org blogs

New York Times:

Suspect's Odd Behavior Caused Growing Alarm — TUCSON — In a community college classroom here last June, on the first day of the term, the instructor in Jared L. Loughner's basic algebra class, Ben McGahee, posed what he thought was a simple arithmetic question to his students.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The New Republic, The Angle, The Huffington Post, Wonkette, Box Turtle Bulletin, The Moderate Voice, USA Today, The Daily Beast, Washington Post, Guardian, AOL News, ThinkProgress, Yglesias, Hit & Run, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Chicago Boyz and The Agonist

Wall Street Journal:

Suspect Fixated on Giffords — Accused Gunman Went to Congresswoman's Event in 2007; ‘I Planned Ahead’ — TUCSON, Ariz.—Accused gunman Jared Lee Loughner appeared to have been long obsessed with U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. — A safe at Mr. Loughner's home contained a form letter …

Discussion: New York Times, Big Government, The Gateway Pundit, Caffeinated Thoughts, Firedoglake, Right Turn, Tablet Magazine, Don Surber, pandagon.net, NewsBusters.org blogs, The BLT, Gawker, Fox Nation and Atlas Shrugs, more at Mediagazer »

Christopher Beam / Slate:
Jared Lee Loughner's philosophy professor reflects on the shooting in Arizona.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog

Associated Press:
Shooting suspect's nihilism rose with isolation

Ryan Alessi / cn|2 Politics:

Giffords called for toning down ‘rhetoric and partisanship’ in email to Grayson on Friday — Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona said she wanted to promote ways to “tone our rhetoric and partisanship down” in a note she sent Friday to Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson.

Discussion: The Note, The Huffington Post, TPMDC and The Hill

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Ahead of shooting, Giffords wrote of need to 'tone our rhetoric …

Discussion: CNN, New York Times and News Desk

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Rubio rejects running as Republicans' VP nominee — Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R) said Monday that he has no interest in becoming his party's vice presidential nominee in 2012. — Rubio, a newly elected senator who's considered a rising star in the GOP, rejected running on the Republican Party ticket in two years.

Discussion: CNN, The Daily Caller and GOP 12

Alex Leary / St. Petersburg Times:
Rubio: Not open to VP nod

Discussion: Ballot Box, msnbc.com and Hotline On Call

The Politico:

Ashley Turton, ex-Congressional aide, found dead in burning car — A veteran Congressional aide who worked most recently as a lobbyist and was married to White House legislative affairs senior official was found dead in her car Monday behind the couple's Capitol Hill home following a low-speed car crash and subsequent fire.

Discussion: CNN, Politics Daily, Roll Call, Fortune, AOL News and Gawker

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Government-created climate of fear — One of the more eye-opening events for me of 2010 occurred in March, when I first wrote about WikiLeaks and the war the Pentagon was waging on it (as evidenced by its classified 2008 report branding the website an enemy and planning how to destroy it).

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Agonist, Guardian and Poynter

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

‘O’ author ‘has been in the room with Obama’ — That description, from the blurb Simon & Schuster is releasing today on a new, anonymous novel, doesn't narrow it down much. — The full description: — O: A Presidential Novel is a novel about aspiration and delusion …

Discussion: Gawker

Frank Newport / Gallup:

Within GOP, Huckabee Most Liked, Palin Best Known — Palin, Romney, and Gingrich trail Huckabee on Gallup's net favorable dimension — PRINCETON, NJ — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has the highest net favorable score among Republicans nationwide in a field of potential GOP candidates for 2012 …

Discussion: Hot Air, TPMDC, Washington Wire, The Hill, USA Today, Hotline On Call, The Politico, CNN, The Fix, Ben Smith's Blog and GOP 12

Monica Von Dobeneck / PennLive.com:

Dick Winters, of ‘Band of Brothers’ fame, dies — Dick Winters, the former World War II commander whose war story was told in the book and miniseries “Band of Brothers,” has died. — Dick Winters led a quiet life on his Fredericksburg farm and in his Hershey home until the book and miniseries …

Discussion: Post Mortem, Outside the Beltway and Shot in the Dark

City Journal:

The Hateful Left — Where incendiary political rhetoric truly resides in America — Judging from his website, I would guess that Jared Lee Loughner suffers from schizophrenia. The man who opened fire with a nine-millimeter Glock in Tucson, Arizona, on Saturday was obsessed with mind control and bizarre …

Discussion: Big Journalism

Laylan Copelin / Austin American-Statesman:

DeLay lawyers argue over punishment — UPDATED: Travis County prosecutors argued that Tom DeLay should go to prison today. — “He needs to go to prison, your Honor, and he needs to go today,” said prosecutor Steven Brand. — Brand said the judge could send a message that no one is above the law.

Discussion: Politics Daily, Washington Post and FrumForum