Lexington's notebook | The shooting in Tucson

Congresswoman Giffords

By Lexington

AS OF this writing, the motive of the person who shot Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and some of those with her at an event in Tucson is unknown. President Obama said on Saturday afternoon that she had been "gravely wounded" and that others have died. John Boehner, the House speaker, has said that "an attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serve". Nonetheless, the question hovering in the background after such tragedies is whether the killer was motivated by politics. Gabrielle Giffords is known as a moderate, pro-business Democrat. She is Jewish, and a proponent of immigration reform in a state where illegal immigration has become an inflammatory issue in recent years. One tea-party group, the Tea Party Nation, has already issued a statement predicting that "the left is going to blame this on the tea-party movement".

The shooting may turn out to have had nothing at all to do with politics. But if it was motivated by politics—domestic politics—there will now ensue a great debate about the sometimes hateful tone of electioneering in America. Without wishing to pre-empt that discussion, is it too much to ask politicians who use apocalyptic language to remember that inflammatory words can have dangerous consequences? I was struck at the swearing-in of the 112th Congress earlier this week by the good grace and cheer of both parties as power was transferred from Democrats to Republicans. It was as if all the rancour of the mid-terms had been turned off like a switch. That's a relatively easy trick for most of the worldly types who fight elections. They know that besmirching opponents, impugning their motives and and stirring up exaggerated fears about the future are all part of the democratic game. Out in the audience, however, there will sometimes be a credulous soul who never understood that it was a game.

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