Tucson Tea Party Leader: We Won't Change Our Rhetoric After Giffords Shooting

[Joanne98]

A leader of a Tucson-area tea party group condemned the mass shooting in Arizona that included Rep. Gabriel Giffords (D-AZ), but told TPM that this doesn't mean her group is going to tone down their rhetoric: "I think anytime you start suppressing freedom of speech, I think it's wrong. I live here and I didn't hear anything that concerned me in terms of inciting violence."

Allyson Miller, a founder of the 500-member Pima County Tea Party Patriots, told TPM in an interview today that the members of her group, as well as the entire city of Tucson, were "deeply saddened" by the events of today and said "there is no place for violence" in political debate.

"This is outrageous," she said.

Miller was quick to distance her group from the shooting and said that she felt she had to go on the defensive after news of the tragedy began to spread. "I did feel, you know, very like 'why are they jumping to this conclusion before they even knew the person's name?' They're jumping to this conclusion that it has to do with the hotly contested Congressional race," she said. "Well, apparently, from what I've seen so far...it's looking like that's not the case."

The race she's referring to was between Giffords and Jesse Kelly, a tea party-backed Republican, who held one event in June that said "Get on Target for Victory in November Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly."

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/01/tucson-tea-party-leader-we-wont-change-our-rhetoric-after-gifford-shooting.php?ref=fpa

I'm SHOCKED I tell you!

[xchrom]

1. no, because they want incidents like oklahoma city, the massacre yesterday,

tiller's killer, etc.

they won't be held responsible and it will have a chilling effect on the population.

republicans know what they're doing here.

[liberalmuse]

2. They are yelling, 'Fire!' in a crowded theater.

That kind of 'free' speech has consequences. I hope the families sue Palin and her ilk for their use of violent imagery and graphics that helped create and perpetuate the environment that led to yesterday's massacre.

[RBInMaine]

3. Take responsibility for your LIES and VIOLENT RHETORIC you nasty rotten right wing THUG.

[russspeakeasy]

4. Couldn't have said it better....

[lunatica]

5. Have free speech all you want, but you're 100 % accountable for it

[treestar]

6. Assholes.

Of course not.

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. Just think how agitated they would get if they were the target of the same rhetoric.

What hypocrites.

[boomerbust]

8. These people are the classic

Right wing draft dodging cowards. They are all for everybody else fighting their battles, but just the thought of having that fire returned on them is unacceptable. Dick Cheney cones to mind. And "Sweaty Uncle Teddy" Nugent. Cowards every one of them.

[StopTheNeoCons]

9. All teabaggers need to be targeted, all the time, everywhere

All teabaggers need to be targeted, all the time, everywhere

[Dawson Leery]

10. The teaklan will stop at nothing.

These bastards only hate government when their side is not controlling it.