memeorandum: Halperin: Hey, why did conservatives defend themselves from being smeared? (Ed Morrissey/Hot Air)

5:50 PM ET, January 11, 2011

Top Items:

Daniel Carty / CBS News:

Poll: Most Americans Feel Rhetoric, Tucson Shooting Unrelated — Nearly six in 10 Americans say the country's heated political rhetoric is not to blame for the Tucson shooting rampage that left six dead and critically wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, according to a CBS News poll.

Global Grind:

Previous Headlines — Roger Ailes, the President of Fox News, spoke exclusively with Russell Simmons, the founder of GlobalGrind.com. Following the horrific shootings in Tucson, Arizona on Saturday, January 8, 2011, Mr. Simmons and Mr. Ailes spoke about the rising tension within the media.

Jennifer Epstein / The Politico:
Tim Pawlenty jabs Sarah Palin over ‘cross hairs’

Discussion: Instapundit, The Caucus, The Daily Dish, CNN and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

TwitLonger:
WikiLeaks — “WikiLeaks: treat incitement seriously or expect …

Discussion: blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Raw Story, AOL News, Mediaite, Guardian, CNET News, Mashable!, The Nation and The BRAD BLOG, more at Techmeme »

New York Times:
Palin, Amid Criticism, Stays in Electronic Comfort Zone

Discussion: Washington Post, The Caucus, TPMDC, Politics Daily, The Politico, Hotline On Call, National Review and Prairie Weather

Washington Examiner:
Paul Krugman's totalitarian temptation

Discussion: protein wisdom

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Poll: 57% of Americans don't buy media spin on Tucson massacre

Discussion: Commentary, Moonbattery, Big Government, The Sundries Shack, Elizabeth Scalia, CNN, JammieWearingFool, The Politico, RedState and NewsBusters.org

First Read / msnbc.com:
First Thoughts: The right pushes back

Discussion: Mother Jones

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
The Morning Plum — * Obama steps up: The President is set …

Discussion: The Daily Dish and Weigel

Robert Naiman / Common Dreams:
If Palin Lived in Pakistan, Could She Face a Drone Strike?

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Weasel Zippers and Guardian

Larry O'Connor / Breitbart.tv:
Twitter Users Wish Death on Sarah Palin

Discussion: Wake up America, The Right Scoop, iOwnTheWorld.com and Conservatives4Palin

The Huffington Post:

Peter King, Leading Republican, To Introduce Strict Gun-Control Legislation — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? … Rep. Peter King, a Republican from New York, is planning to introduce legislation that would make it illegal to bring a gun within 1,000 feet of a government official …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Firedoglake, Little Green Footballs, Salon, Hot Air, Ben Smith's Blog, Gawker, Raw Story, Washington Monthly, Valley Fever, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, CafeSentido.com and FrumForum

Lee Fang / ThinkProgress:
Rep. Peter King Says Muslims Aren't ‘American’ When It Comes To War

Discussion: CAIR and Religion Dispatches

Shira Toeplitz / The Politico:
Pete King bill would ban guns within 1,000 feet of lawmakers

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Note, Reuters, The Hill, WyBlog, ABCNEWS, Althouse and Joe. My. God.

Dylan Smith / TucsonSentinel.com:

Doc: Giffords ‘100 percent’ certain to survive — Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is “100 percent” certain to survive, said Dr. Peter Rhee, a surgeon treating her for a gunshot wound to the head. — “As a physician I'm going to get into a lot of trouble for this, but her prognosis for survival is 100 percent …

Discussion: Hot Air, TPMDC, The Politico, The Hill, Washington Monthly, Runnin' Scared, Gawker and Feministing

BBC:

Bill Clinton: Politics must change after Arizona attack — Mr Clinton said there was a need for care in political discourse — Former President Bill Clinton has told the BBC the US political climate must change after the shooting of a US Congresswoman and others in Arizona.

Discussion: Althouse

New York Times:
Loughner Grew More Paranoid in Last Year, Friend Says

Discussion: FrumForum

Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard:

Sanders Fundraises Off Arizona Murders — There has been no shortage of individuals and institutions that have sought to capitalize on the shootings in Tucson. Add Vermont senator Bernie Sanders to that list. — This afternoon Sanders sent out a fundraising appeal …

Discussion: Ballot Box, USA Today and National Review

The Note: Sen. Sanders Sends Out Fundraising Email Citing Arizona Tragedy

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog: Mixing fundraising and tragedy

Newsweek:
The Missed Warning Signs

Discussion: NationalJournal.com, Hot Air, NewsBusters.org blogs, Weasel Zippers and The Daily Beast

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

The “Politicized Mind” Of Gabrielle Giffords — David Brooks is astonished, sickened, appalled that an attempted assassination of a sitting congresswoman should be immediately regarded as something possibly ... wait for it ... political. In fact, Loughner must be seen in a context in which politics does not exist:

Discussion: New York Times, Swampland and National Review

David Brooks / New York Times:

The Politicized Mind — Before he allegedly went off on his shooting rampage in Tucson, Jared Loughner listed some of his favorite books on his YouTube page. These included: “Animal Farm,” “Brave New World,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,” “Through the Looking Glass” and “The Communist Manifesto.”

Jacob Weisberg / Slate:
The Tea Party and the Tucson Tragedy

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Big Journalism, Verum Serum, LewRockwell.com Blog, AmSpecBlog, The Huffington Post, Moonbattery and Right Wing News

Michael Barbaro / City Room:

Blizzard Mystery Solved? Air Bloomberg Was Seen in Bermuda — On the day after Christmas, a request came into the Bermuda airport: a private plane needed to be pulled out of its hangar and readied for takeoff. — The pilots seemed a bit anxious to depart.

Discussion: HillBuzz.org, Atlas Shrugs, Clusterstock, Runnin' Scared, Ben Smith's Blog, Gothamist, JammieWearingFool, FrumForum and Gawker

Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:

Quote of the Day: No, Both Sides Aren't Equally Guilty — From George Packer, who notes (correctly) that he called out the left for its ugly rhetoric in the runup to the Iraq War, on where today's ugly rhetoric mostly comes from: … This is too obviously true to need much defense.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, slacktivist, The Plum Line, Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog, Politics Daily and FrumForum

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

“On Extreme Right And Left” Ctd — This goes back to my debate with Pejman. David Corn insists that the difference between right and left rhetorical extremism is that the right has “institutionalized their side's craziness.” Juan Cole is blunt. George Packer concedes that George W. Bush …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Phronesisaical and Balloon Juice

Mary Katharine Ham / The Daily Caller:

Mark Halperin: Conservatives should turn the other cheek when scapegoated for murder — During a discussion on MSNBC's “Morning Joe” Tuesday, the panel conceded that conservatives and Tea Party activists were unfairly scapegoated in the wake of Jared Lee Loughner's shooting spree in Tucson …

Discussion: Instapundit, National Review and Pajamas Media

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Halperin: Hey, why did conservatives defend themselves from being smeared?

Discussion: Fox Nation, The Daily Caller, HillBuzz.org and Pajamas Media

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:

And Speaking Of Krugman And Double Standards At The Times... OK, I am back in Arizona. Pejman has a great piece on inflamed rhetoric which reminds me of this jaw-dropper - a Democratic Congressman who last fall said a Republican candidate for Governor should be shot has a guest piece in today's NY Times talking about civility.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Pajamas Media, The Reaction, Moe Lane, A Chequer-Board of Nights … and Patterico's Pontifications

Paul E. Kanjorski / New York Times:
Why Politicians Need to Stay Out in the Open

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Hit & Run, NewsBusters.org blogs, Raw Story, TPMDC and Pajamas Media

Michael Riley / Bloomberg:

Glock Pistol Sales Surge in Aftermath of Arizona Shootings — After a Glock-wielding gunman killed six people at a Tucson shopping center on Jan. 8, Greg Wolff, the owner of two Arizona gun shops, told his manager to get ready for a stampede of new customers. — Wolff was right.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Valley Fever, Wonkette, Guardian, GOOD, New York Times and Wall Street Journal

Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:
Jared Loughner's supremacists tie debunked

Discussion: The Plum Line

CNN:

Arizona law would block protesters from funerals — For more information, visit CNN affiliates KGUN, KOLD, KVOA, KPHO and KMSB. Read the federal charges against Jared Lee Loughner (PDF). — Tucson, Arizona (CNN) — The Arizona legislature is expected to pass legislation Tuesday targeting …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, TPMDC, Politics Daily, AOL News, Salon, Runnin' Scared, Raw Story, Veterans Today and Wake up America

Judson Berger / Fox News:
Arizonans Rally to Prevent Westboro Church Disruption of Shooting Victims' Funerals

Discussion: Verum Serum and Blog For Arizona

Arizona Republic:

Pima County sheriff should remember duty — On Saturday afternoon, with his friend Gabby Giffords in surgery fighting for her life, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik railed against the tense partisan politics - “the anger, the hatred, the bigotry” - that prompted the mass murders outside Tucson, in his view.

Discussion: Fox News, The Moderate Voice, HillBuzz.org, The Gateway Pundit and Shot in the Dark

The Note:

Chafee to Issue Talk Radio Ban — ABC News' Steven Portnoy reports: — State officials in Rhode Island will soon be ordered to stay off the airways, provided the interviewer happens to be a talk show host. — A spokesman for Gov. Lincoln Chafee tells the Providence Journal that talk radio …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Providence Journal and National Review

Sudeep Reddy / Wall Street Journal:

Downturn's Ugly Trademark: Steep, Lasting Drop in Wages — In California, former auto worker Maria Gregg was out of work five months last year before landing a new job—at a nearly 20% pay cut. — In Massachusetts, Kevin Cronan, who lost his $150,000-a-year job as a money manager in early 2009 …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Hot Air, Free exchange, AFL-CIO NOW BLOG, James Pethokoukis, The Foundry, Gawker and Calculated Risk

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Defending CPAC — An ally of CPAC organizer David Keene and of Grover Norquist pushed back hard this morning against the boycott move that Rep. Jim Jordan joined last night. — “A certain kind of social conservative has had an absolute veto over what social policy should be among conservatives …

Discussion: Hullabaloo