Accused gunman had no party affiliation

[harvey007]

Source: CNN

(CNN) - Accused Arizona gunman Jared Lee Loughner was not registered to any political party, and in fact hand wrote "independent" on two separate voter forms, county officials said Monday.

Read more: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/10/accused-gunman-had-no-party-affiliation/?hpt=T2

[rfranklin]

1. A Libertarian....in other words...

A Republican ashamed to admit it.

[No Elephants]

5. no.

[Freddie Stubbs]

6. AZ has a Libertarian Party he could have joined:

http://www.azlp.org/

[Xipe Totec]

8. Might as well join the procrastinator's club nt

[FarLeftFist]

31. ALL we heard from Teabaggers is that they are "Independents"

Thats all they kept saying, I remember them even saying "we are not republicans, we will vote against them too, we are Independents".

[raouldukelives]

39. Couldn't find a teabagger that would admit voting for Bush

Not a one. All independents.

[jmowreader]

76. Would YOU admit voting for Bush if you'd have done it?

Seriously: Admitting you voted for Bush is even worse than admitting you voted for Nixon, another one that elicited a lot of "don't look at me, I didn't vote for him" comments from Republicans.

[snappyturtle]

2. He may not be registered to a political party but he had a political agenda.

I think this in the M$M attempt to cool the situation.

[cali]

10. his agenda appears to have been dictated by his apparent psychosis

[melm00se]

26. fact based evidence?

[snappyturtle]

86. I think you can agree that JL specifically attended a political event, to

assassinate a political figure and her politically aligned supporters. He was definitely making a political statement. That's all I got at this point.

[Catherina]

62. A political agenda is not the same as a partisan agenda. n/t

[snappyturtle]

87. I'll stay with my thoughts on that. Political agenda is different and

what I want to use here.

[No Elephants]

3. Being registered independent means squat. I was registered "unenrolled" until

Dummya got re-elected (allegedly). Never voted Republican in my life, nor will I ever.

[bigworld]

4. Look at how the handwriting and signatures changed

between 2006 and 2008.

[melm00se]

27. good catch

might be a indicator of the time line for his developing a mental illness.

[slackmaster]

30. Yes, excellent observation

The man is mentally ill.

[JDPriestly]

48. 18 and then the next few years are, I have heard, the time

when mental illness is most likely to become most obvious.

[no_hypocrisy]

7. Apparently he lacked both political and religious affiliations.

He was a loner, didn't want to join groups.

He still could have been susceptible to angry rhetoric that made sense to him.

[Quantess]

9. "He still could have been susceptible to angry rhetoric that made sense to him."

Absolutely.

[cali]

11. and he could have been susceptible to hidden messages in "The Phantom Tollbooth"

[MindPilot]

12. "Independent" is a pretentious euphemism for far right wing.

It's what right wingers like to to call themselves when they are too cool for school; they fancy themselves great political thinkers who are above being constrained by a political party. I tend to gag a little whenever someone tells me they are "independent" because what it really means is "I believe every whack conspiracy theory there is."

[bigworld]

13. Not necessarily

There are some really middle-of-the-roaders left out there who can go either way. Others register as an independent just so they can make mischief in open primary states (like AZ). Others do it because they just don't know enough about politics either way. And yes, some do call themselves independent just to put themselves above the fray.

[ChazII]

20. Thanks for your common sense.

And thank you to the several others whose post stated similar thoughts.

[tpsbmam]

34. And I know many who've registered Independent due to disgust with

both parties. I know MANY progressive Independents, more since the Democrats started being as Republican-lite as too many are now.

[Rebubula]

14. Bullshit

No it is not. I am pretty sure that Bernie Sanders would also disagree with you.

I vote Democratic, but I am registered as an Independent. I feel as though I am not beholden to the DLC or any other group - only to my own interpretations of the world.

However...awesome blanket statement for a large swath of people.

[JDPriestly]

49. A paranoid person is quite likely to avoid affiliating himself in writng

with one group or another.

He went to the event to kill a Democrat. How much more do we really need to know about his political leanings?

Some people register Independent because they don't want their political beliefs to be made public. This would be especially likely in the case of someone who does not trust the "government."

Arizona has closed primaries, but if Loughner was a Limbaugh fan, he might have registered Independent on the mistaken belief that he could then cross over and vote as Limbaugh was instructing people to vote. Remember that?

[onenote]

51. He went to the event to kill Giffords who is a Democrat. Whether her party affiliation mattered

to him is completely unknown at this point.

[JDPriestly]

64. If it did not matter, he was definitely not a liberal or a Democrat,

but he might not have identified himself as a conservative or libertarian either.

But, his frustrations were focused on a liberal politician. If the political rhetoric on the right did not use so many militaristic, fearful and physically aggressive images and figures of speech, it is unlikely that he would have acted out in that political venue. He might have acted out elsewhere, and he might have killed himself.

The rhetoric of the right-wing fanatics draws the attention of people like Loughner to liberal politicians. Loughner hears the catch phrases and incorporates them into his strange imaginings. And out comes some crazy obsession.

So whether Loughner really believed in conservative theories or in liberal ones is not the issue. He probably was not capable of really understanding either. It is the kind of imagery and aggressive suggestion that is used on the right, the manipulation of audiences with fear, that causes a person like Loughner to attack a liberal politician.

That is the reason that right-wing media needs to take some responsibility for the effects that its suggestive language can have on irrational people. It is not a matter of political philosophy. It is a matter of images and incitement of emotional responses.

The same is true for certain other cultural icons. Very violent movies and other such things can cause troubled people to become even more paranoid than they are. The media including Hollywood but especially those who create video games and the right-wing folks on TV and radio need to consider that a small segment of their customers can be incited to violence by their products.

[24601]

84. Yes, a blue-dog Democrat who voted against Nancy Pelosi for

speaker. And he did kill a "Republican" judge. And he thinks 9-11 was an inside job by Bush/Cheney. Just coincidences?

[zappaman]

66. +1000

nicely put!

[hack89]

16. You need to talk to the people of New England

The high proportion of independent voters in New England -- in Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, they outnumber registered Democrats and Republicans -- makes it fertile ground for independent candidates.

[The Wizard]

17. Ask "Independents"

how many times they voted for a Democrat.
Saying you're an Independent is saying you vote for Republicans but won't admit to being a bigot.

[quakerboy]

36. That is only one thing that it is

The way I observe the spectrum right now, it goes something like this


Independant/progressive/green/communist----Democrat----Independant----Republican----Independant/tea party/libertarian/nazi


His lack of party affiliation could mean almost anything, unlike his reliance on the constitution, say.

[bullwinkle428]

40. Exactly. Spend any time listening to liberal talk radio, and you'd

be amazed at the number of self-described "independents" that call in, and just absolutely parrot the latest set of talking points from Rove's or Frank Luntz's fax machine!

[MindPilot]

52. Those on the left very rarely describe themselves as "independent".

They use words like "liberal" or "progressive". When someone tells me they are "independent" it has about the same rhetorical tone as "some of my best friends are..."

[Kali]

41. oh bullshit

az has some strange constituencies and they vote all over the board

my very own sister is registered independent and votes 99% Dem

[Catherina]

63. Bullshit. Plently of leftwingers are sick of partisan democratic party politics

and want no affiliation with liberalism or capitalism. Don't fool yourself.

[sadbear]

15. This isn't even an issue

We knew he wasn't a Democrat. But that's irrelevant. The political climate that the right has created, which this tragedy must be viewed through, is the issue.

[Veronica.Franco]

18. This image states he was registered Republican ...

http://img171.imageshack.us/i/jllrs add . j p g/

in order to view the pic ...


Appears valid to me ....

[bigworld]

29. This is likely a fake

.. unless something official comes from the Bureau of Elections, these are too easy to concoct on a computer.

[Kali]

42. county recorder said he was independent first registered on 2006

last voted 2008

[mommalegga]

67. You mean this supposed right wing

Palin-lovin, healthcare hatin teabagger missed the 2010 election!!!!

Blaming this on the rhetoric of one side or the other is nuts...

Hell who's to say he wasnt driven to rage from all the Dem vitriol against Repubs and decided to lash out against the Dem side?

Or perhaps to many violent Xbox games? Or too much Gangsta rap? Or too much violence on TV?

No one really knows, and never will most likely

The man is insane. Nuff said.

[bemildred]

68. So is it "Hell who's to say", or is it "The man is insane. Nuff said."

If you want to spread doubt, you have to be doubtful.

[mommalegga]

70. Both

"Who to say" what his motivation was....

But we all can reasonably conclude he was coo-coo for cocoa puffs...

Better?

[bemildred]

71. Here:

I don't expect anything is going to penetrate your wall of denial, but give it a shot anyway.

Jared Lee Loughner, the 22-year-old resident of Tucson identified by police as the gunman in Saturday's rampage, left a series of indications revealing the mentally unstable state of his mind and the extreme rightwing causes he supported in the run up to the tragedy.

Just hours before he embarked on the shooting, he posted a message on his MySpace page saying: "Goodbye friends. Dear friends, please don't be mad at me." He also posted a YouTube video of written slides called My Final Thoughts. In it, he wrote: "Jared Loughner is in need of sleep."

In a series of videos, he gave a rambling account of obsessions and paranoias that appeared to be troubling him with increasing intensity up to the catastrophe. They included references to conscious dreaming, or "conscience dreaming" as he called it, a process of directing one's own dreams that he is thought to have practised. Another was a belief in the gold and silver standard of currency – a favourite topic of the rightwing of American politics that is regularly propounded by the Fox News commentator Glenn Beck.

The tone of Loughner's rantings is almost exclusively conservative and anti-government, with echoes of the populist campaigning of the Tea Party movement. "Don't trust the government listener!" he said in one video, accusing Washington of mind control and brainwashing.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/09/jared-lee-loughner-rightwing-rants

[sweetloukillbot]

50. I can't get that to open, but is it the one where "Tucson" is spelled wrong?

All the reporting is saying he is registered Independent - I'll trust that over a jpeg on the Internet.

[amb123]

19. This "story" is a failed attempt to blame the Tucson Shootings on Democrats/Liberals.

Nothing more. Your MSM at work.

:grr:

[Igel]

43. Really?

Look, it's not about us. It's about him.

Making it about us would keep us from understanding him. It makes blaming somebody other than us more important than figuring out what actually motivated him.

It assumes that all the world, everything, cleanly breaks into "left" and "right", which is to say, "good" and "bad" or, put a third way, "us" and "them". There are left/good/our views, with everybody left/good/us having the same coherent set of views while the right/bad/their views are equally coherent and bad.

[slackmaster]

21. Party affiliation is not the issue

The man is a paranoid schizophrenic.

[Rozlee]

22. Misspelled "Independent?" Sounds like a teabagger to me.

[slackmaster]

24. 22 years old, mentally ill, and dropped out of school

It's not surprising that his spelling is less than perfect.

[shanti]

57. yet

he was big into grammar (conscious/conscience)....go figure.

[onenote]

53. have you failed to notice how many misspellings appear on DU?

[Codeine]

65. If bad spelling is a sign of teabaggerism then this place is Tea Central. nt

[Kweli4Real]

23. Don't most teapartiers/teaparty sympathizers ...

identify themselves as Independants?

[slackmaster]

25. No, most of them are Republicans

Not that it matters.

[FarLeftFist]

32. Thats not what they've been saying the whole time.

They, when pressed on the issue, would say they were Independents and vote out republicans too.

[slackmaster]

33. My prediction is that it will turn out that the shooting was not based on ideology

This story nails it IMO, but it will be buried and ignored because nobody can make political hay out of it:

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/01/jared-lee-loughner-friend-voicemail-phone-message?page=1

[Kali]

44. the more that comes out the more I agree with you

the whole world is not as obsessed with politics like "we" are - especially kids in their early 20's - ha!

I sure can see how the crap the right spews could easily (and likely has/will continue to) influence mentally ill people, this looks more and more like a sad sick coincidence - if Giffords had happened to be a repuke, I imagine the situation would have been just the same.

It is possible that the investigators know more, but you would think the internet whizes would have found some more activity - say a freep name or postings on other forums by the guy. So far I haven't heard of anything, but the rumor of one supremacist site - with links for any of us to look so how many have that history on their own computers?

Hell the guy's you tube channel got "subscribed" to on Gifford's site after this happened!

[Name removed]

73. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[slackmaster]

28. Delete, wrong place

:hi:

[DumpDavisHogg]

35. Wasn't it already confirmed he's a registered Republican?

Somebody posted a form a couple days ago from the Secretary of State's office showing he is a Republican. I don't know where Pima County is getting its info from.

[DumpDavisHogg]

37. OK, I see now...

The ones on CNN's site are from 2006 and 2008. The more up-to-date form from the Secretary of State said he is a Republican.

[Igel]

45. Probably not.

The image that provides proof seems to be circulating in two forms. The info wasn't released from the Secretary of State, either, so how it was put in the public domain is a bit of a mystery.

Convenient, unexplained. I'll say "Photoshop" until more evidence surfaces--for example, exactly what graphics editing program was actually used to produce the image.

[alp227]

72. Rathergate, anyone? n/t

[grahamhgreen]

38. But definitely anti-Democrat.

[onenote]

54. haven't seen evidence that he was partisan. more anti-government

[grahamhgreen]

59. Don't you mean evidence OTHER THAN he shot a Democrat?

[onenote]

60. have you seen any evidence that he shot her BECAUSE she was a Democrat?

I haven't, but if there is any, I'd be curious. He shot his Representative, someone with whom he had intereacted, apparently in a way that upset him.

[grahamhgreen]

78. I have not seen proof but

I consider the fact of the shooting to be evidence.

OTOH, he could have chosen one of his Republican senators...

[slackmaster]

85. He shot a federal judge who was appointed to the bench by George H.W. Bush

Based on a recommendation by Senator John McCain.

http://judgepedia.org/index.php/John_Roll

[Zoeisright]

46. So? His writings speak volumes. He listened to Bleck (sic) and the rest of those

asshole bigmouths on the right wing crazy end.

[onenote]

55. and how, exactly do you know what radio he listened to and have you shared

your knowledge with the authorities?

[PSPS]

47. "Party affiliation" has nothing to do with it.

You have a mental case immersed in a culture of right wing violence-laced rhetoric during every waking hour and things like this will happen.

[hugo_from_TN]

56. Unregistered loser

High School dropout
Rejected by the army
Kicked out of Community College
Lived at home with parents

[Name removed]

58. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MrMickeysMom]

77. Isn't that the truth? I think it pretty much ends there, too

Why do you have to be affiliated with a party when party affiliations change all the time. Pretty soon, the people in the Republican party aren't your parent's Republican party...

Pretty soon, there are a lot of loosers who defect from anything, and it shows in their every day life.

Such is the affiliation here of dropping out, being rejected by the military due to not having a fucking clue, doing the same with community college.

And, the family someone now is left to wonder why... I have my answer here.

[bemildred]

61. Seems clear he was not a Democrat anyway, or a progressive. nt

[Rex]

69. Keep spinning CNN!!! I know you guys feel responsible too.

CNN/Foxnews - the worst thing to ever happen to news.

[Name removed]

74. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[daleo]

75. Madness has no purpose, but it can have a plan

A plan it picked up from right-wing media hatred.

[Frank Cannon]

83. Thank you for that, Mr. Spock.

"Jim, madness has no purpose or reason, but it may have a goal."

One of my favorite Star Trek quotes ever.

[daleo]

89. It's a great line, and very apt in this case

I was hoping someone would pick up on that.

[ncdemclt]

79. Inquiry

Look, I know I’m new to the board, and in all likelihood will be branded as a bagger – but fuck it. Nobody really knows who this nutcase affiliated himself with, or what thoughts he woke up with on the morning of 1/8. That being said, even though the repugs have the house, I’m sure an investigation will take place.

We constantly talk about repugs labeling people, yet the above posts do the exact same fucking thing. It seems as though 75% of the people here want people to get along, but fuck it if you disagree with them at all. If I’m off base please let me know, but it seems as though we are doing the same friggin thing.

[bemildred]

80. Not much sense of irony I take it?

Welcome to DU.
:hi:

[Liberty Belle]

81. So are many Teabaggers.

[BrightKnight]

82. Tea Party - n/t

[HuckleB]

88. So what?

I was a registered "Independent" for years, and I still voted for Democrats and Democratic policies 95 percent of the time. This is a meaningless item, especially for someone so young.

On the other hand, one can wonder about the content of this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x543232