The political back-and-forth has escalated after Saturday’s massacre at a Tucson grocery store, which killed a federal judge and left Democrat U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords critically injured.

Ever since Jared Lee Loughner was identified as the suspect arrested for the massacre that killed six and wounded fourteen, speculations concerning the alleged gunman’s political affiliations has become the center of a media feeding frenzy.

At the same time, evidence has increasingly suggested that Loughner was a severely mentally disturbed individual whose jumbled views fall outside conventional political classification.

Liberal media commentators have widely blamed Tea Party rhetoric for the bloodbath, with many pointing fingers at Tea Party icon Sarah Palin for a graphic on her website showing crosshairs over opponents’ districts in a map of America.

“Mission accomplished, Sarah Palin,” tweeted Daily Kos founder Mark Moulistas after the shooting.

Conservative commentators have responded in turn with accusations of hypocrisy, pointing out that liberals, including President Obama, have often used similar rhetoric; they have also criticized the political left for turning a national tragedy into political football.

One of the most prominent voices blasting conservatives came from the pro-abortion lobby National Organization for Women which, hours after the event, called for a Justice Department investigation “to the fullest extent of federal anti-terrorist legislation” against a possible conspiracy by “right-wing extremists.”

In remarks that quickly went viral, Pima County Arizona Sheriff Clarence Dupnik also blamed violent political rhetoric from “certain mouths about tearing down the government.”

House assistant Democratic leader Rep. Jim Clyburn on Sunday castigated Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle, who had warned that Americans may resort to “Second Amendment remedies” if Congress does not listen to them. “There’s no way you cannot make that connection (with Angle’s rhetoric) unless you want to be stupid,” Clyburn said of the shooting.

CNN reported that Democrat Rep. Robert Brady of Pennsylvania announced one day after the shooting his plan to introduce a bill that would make the use of language or symbols that could be “perceived” as threatening or inciting violence against a federal official or lawmaker a federal crime.

But the father of the youngest victim, 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, said in a very emotional FOX News interview that further restriction on freedoms was not the answer.

“I know she wouldn’t want…restrictions,” said John Green, whose slain daughter was born the day of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. “After 9/11, travel became a nightmare. We don’t need any more restrictions on our society,” he said. “If we live in a country like the United States where we are more free than anywhere else, then we are subject to things like this happening, and I think that’s the price we have to pay.”

Other conservative sources, such as the Drudge Report, reacted to the anti-conservative vitriol by collecting examples of “violent” rhetoric from liberal leaders and media. World Net Daily revealed that Mark Moulistas, the founder of the top liberal blog Daily Kos who immediately blamed Palin for the shootings, had himself published a post in 2008 listing Giffords as one of many of lawmakers with “a bull’s-eye on their district” for being a “bad apple” Democrat.
“The use of military or violent metaphors in politics is hardly a new or partisan development,” wrote FOX News’ Chris Stirewalt.

“President Obama has talked about politics as a ‘gun fight’ and called Republicans ‘hostage takers.’ Democrats used similar targets on Web maps of Republican districts ripe for flipping,” he continued, referring to the controversial Palin graphic.

Meanwhile, there is so far no evidence that Loughner, registered as an independent, was attentive to current political voices. According to Tucson’s Tea Party organizers, Loughner has no record with the movement there.

One classmate of Loughner’s, Caitie Parker, has described Loughner as a “quite liberal” and “left-wing” individual obsessed with philosophical thought. Others described him as an “obviously very disturbed” young man, whose erratic behavior frightened several students at a community college, leading to his being banned from a pre-algebra class.

Data from what appears to be Loughner’s Youtube page show signs of what some have deemed right-wing influences, such as mistrust of government and “the current treasonous laws” and support for a return to the gold standard; other information displays left-wing tendencies such as a distaste for religion and a penchant for flag-burning. A shrine uncovered at Loughner’s residence Sunday, featuring a skull atop an altar, pointed to possible involvement in the occult, said experts.

Loughner’s obsession with grammar – the one conspiracy theory with which he confronted a befuddled Giffords in 2007 – was traced by Politico to activist and professional conspiracy theorist David Wynn Miller, a member of the Sovereign Citizen Movement. Both Politico and the Los Angeles Times described Miller’s unintelligible conspiracy theorizing as “far right,” and the description “far right” appears to have been added to Miller’s Wikipedia page two days after Saturday’s shooting, before the statement was moved down the page and changed to cite the LA Times hours later.

A media feeding frenzy also erupted over Loughner’s unsubstantiated ties to the “right wing” “racial-realist” group American Renaissance. The group denies Loughner was a subscriber to its magazine.

Although she won a tough re-election battle against a Tea Party advocate, Giffords herself is not clearly on the political right or left: while she sports a 100% pro-choice NARAL record and supports the gay rights agenda, Gifford is a Blue Dog Democrat who opposes excessive government spending, and is a proponent of tougher immigration laws. Arizona federal justice John Rolls, who was killed in the shooting, was appointed by President George W. Bush and a supporter of immigrants’ rights.

On Monday, Tea Party voices expressed horror at the politicization of the tragic massacre.

“To see the left exploit this for political advantage – some people have no conscience,” the Tea Party Patriot’s Mark Meckler told The Daily Beast. “It’s genuinely revolting…I think it sinks to the level of evil.”

Glenn Beck on his radio program Monday disclosed his email exchange with Sarah Palin, who wrote, “I hate violence. I hate war. Our children will not have peace if politicos just capitalize on this.”

“The media continues to toss blame around but they didn’t get [it] right,” Beck said, who also listed several counter-examples of violent liberal rhetoric. “[The media has] no evidence, you don’t have the full story, you don’t know what’s going on!”

Source: http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/political-feeding-frenzy-continues-as-bizarre-portrait-emerges-of-alleged-g