Political People Exploiting the Arizona Shootings

There is something not right about the time on the airwaves given to those who are using the time to talk about Rep Gabby Giffords and the Arizona shootings. First it was the young man who was a Gifford staffer. He had a nursing course under his belt and utilized it to possibly save her life in the moments after she was shot in that Safeway parking lot.

Now it is Senator Gillibrand and Rep Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. These two women were part of the Presidential entourage that travelled to Tucson for the memorial service conducted at the University of Arizona. The two women, both Democrats, have hit the talk show circuit to tie it all into the wonders of the Obama administration.

Gillibrand said on a Sunday morning show that Giffords embodies all that President Obama was speaking to in his speech at the memorial. Her reasoning is that Giffords is a good person fighting mightily to survive.

Gillibrand is finding her political star rising after recognition for successfully moving the 9/11 responders bill to passage. It appears she is milking the rise in exposure, whether that is correct or not.

Wasserman-Schultz is known for her hyper-partisan rhetoric in her television appearances and interviews. She performs perfectly as she robotically stays on message uttering the White House talking points of the day. She is not a good representative to be calling upon everyone to pull together.

Those who are sitting on panels discussing 'bi-partisanship' are a motley crew. The likes of Al Sharpton and Paul Krugman on Meet the Press are too much to tolerate for a thoughtful viewer. Sharpton is a professional instigator and when the truth is not on his side he makes up a storyline. Remember Twana? Krugman was the first out of the chute to accuse the Republicans and the Tea Party crowd for the shooting, a mere three hours after the shootings in his New York Times opinion piece. That was false, too, but he rushed to judgement. Really poor judgement.

Rep Giffords, while a truly compelling story, is not the only victim of this tragedy. She and the little nine year old girl who died are the two most focused upon. It is understandable but it is not right. The others injured and the others killed have a story, too.

Senator Gillibrand pushing forward the notion that the two parties should sit amongst themselves during the State of the Union address. It is a token gesture and nonsensical. It's another feel good gesture to make those participating feel better. Those very ones who have raised the tone of discourse to the point it is today are the ones advocating the touchy-feely stuff.

It would be a little more palatable if those hogging the camera now to preach about civility and bi-partisanship actually had a bit of history of doing so themselves. From Obama on down the line, the Democrats have shown nothing but hyper-partisanship since the 2009 inauguration and have shown no desire to do the work of reaching out to the opposition's ideas or solutions. It is hard to believe that in a year that will be spent by the Democrats getting President Obama re-elected, the call for bi-partisanship is motivated by anything other than political posturing. Especially now with the Republican majority in the House of Representatives and a slim Democratic majority in the Senate.