Various initial thoughts on Jared Loughner

First, Ross Douthat is right. Actual and attempted political assassins come from all angles of political opinion — or occasionally from none. (He cites George Wallace's would-be assassin, Arthur Bremer.)

That said, while he doesn't claim both sides are alike, by not discussing tea partier/Palinista language of the last year or so, he does allow one to infer he's making an equivalence argument.

Paul Krugman DOES get that right, including quoting Pima County, Ariz. Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, who said:

(I)t’s “the vitriolic rhetoric that we hear day in and day out from people in the radio business and some people in the TV business.” The vast majority of those who listen to that toxic rhetoric stop short of actual violence, but some, inevitably, cross that line.

And, since Douthat pulls out Oswald as counterintuitive to shoot JFK in wingnut Dallas circa 1963, let's go to Krugman again, to refute the "equivalence":

And there’s a huge contrast in the media. Listen to Rachel Maddow or Keith Olbermann, and you’ll hear a lot of caustic remarks and mockery aimed at Republicans. But you won’t hear jokes about shooting government officials or beheading a journalist at The Washington Post. Listen to Glenn Beck or Bill O’Reilly, and you will.

Speaking of Oswald et al — Gail Collins is right that gun control is an issue — Lee Harvey Oswald had had Loughner's 30-shot clip Glock, probably Speaker of the House John McCormack would have been succeeding JFK and Texas would be needing a new governor. Collins, though, doesn't delve into the "irony" of Rep. Giffords being anti-gun control, and that as a natural stance, apparently, not a political tactic.

Whehter Loughner had a political angle or not, many people wonder if he is mentally ill, in a clinical sense. Josh Rosenau points out in detail of how this "mentally ill = violent" is a horrible, horribly wrong, stereotype.

So, what will happen?

Palin won't draw in her horns. In fact, she'll bristle at the suggestion of doing so.

Gun control? Obama has no taste for it, we have a GOP House, and a gun-friendly Supreme Court. The only way to possibly get anything done is to tell Arizonans guns just like the one Loughner bought are also being bought in Arizona by Mexican drug gangs.

Mental health? Mentally ill, at least those of psychotic levels, will still be stigmatized and stereotyped.

Update, Jan. 11: The mental illness angle gets more, much more background.

Loughner was apparently enraptured with lucid, or "conscious" dreaming. (Sad irony, that Mr. Grammar Police called it "conscience dreaming" on his YouTube videos.

It even appears he had some dabbling in occult-type issues.

At the same time, showing how irrational movements can influence even those further beyond the rationality pale, Loughner may have had some connection with, and being influenced by, American Renaissance, a white supremacist group. At the same time, the Mother Jones story linked above about lucid dreaming references a Loughner acquaintance as saying his mother is Jewish.

Also per the Fox story linked immediately above, the rest of Loughner's family didn't totally impress the neighbors, either. The story doesn't say much about the family beyond "loners" with a cluttered yard, but, if they had political beliefs outside the mainstream, that will come out, too. I find it interesting that the family has commented very little on their sun, even before retaining any counsel that they may have.

Still no further word on a possible accomplice; if there is one, I would be VERY quiet, were I the head of American Renaissance.

And, The Daily Beast also notes that, even if Loughner is clinically mentally ill, the influences on that troubled mind seem to come pretty much from the far right. And, it's not just the Sarah Palins, it's the wingnuts posting comments on stories like this that reflect the problem.