Poll on Tucson Response: Obama 78%, Palin 30%

[lakhota]

Poll: Obama Arizona Shooting Response Gets High Marks From Democrats and Republicans

A Washington Post-ABC News poll released on Monday finds that both Democrats and Republicans approve of how President Barack Obama has responded to the recent shooting in Tucson, Ariz. in which numerous victims were wounded or had their lives taken.

The survey comes in the wake of the president addressing the tragedy at a memorial service for the victims at the University of Arizona.

According to the survey, 78 percent say they approve of Obama's response to the incident, which was allegedly committed by 22-year-old Jared Loughner, who has been charged and remains in custody awaiting trial.

The poll finds that 71 percent of Republicans approve of the president's response. By contrast, only 30 percent overall say they approve of how Sarah Palin has responded to the tragedy.

"I believe we can be better," Obama said in his speech at the Arizona memorial. "Those who died here, those who saved lives here -- they help me believe. We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another is entirely up to us."

The Washington Post reports:

After calls from political leaders in both major parties to temper the rhetoric following the massacre, Americans are optimistic that Obama and Republicans in Congress will be able to work together this year on important issues. In the poll, 55 percent said they are optimistic that the two sides will do so, up seven percentage points from an ABC News-Yahoo! News survey taken just before the shootings.

Nevertheless, in the wake of the Arizona shooting, Americans remain split on whether heated political discourse fosters a climate that could encourage violence. ABC News reports:

On the Tucson shootings specifically, 54 percent of Americans do not think the political discourse contributed to the incident, while 40 percent think it did. Those who do see a connection divide on whether it was a strong factor.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/17/obama-arizona-shooting-re_n_810110.html

Detailed Poll Results: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/postpoll_01172011.html?sid=ST2011011702561

[deziloooooo]

"After calls from political leaders in both major parties to temper the rhetoric following the massacre, Americans are optimistic that Obama and Republicans in Congress will be able to work together this year on important issues. In the poll, 55 percent said they are optimistic that the two sides will do so, up seven percentage points from an ABC News-Yahoo! News survey taken just before the shootings"
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Now if the parties involved only believe what the public believes

[lakhota]

McCain Calls Obama a 'Patriot,' Rejects Critics Who Say He's 'Unworthy' to Lead

Sen. John McCain lost a bitter campaign against Barack Obama in 2008 and has been at loggerheads with him for much of Obama's first two years in office. But the Arizona Republican this weekend called Obama a "patriot" intent on using his presidency to "advance our country's cause" and rejected accusations -- many coming from members of his own party and the tea party movement -- "that his policies and beliefs make him unworthy to lead America."

McCain made his comments in an article he wrote for The Washington Post opinion page, posted on Saturday, in which he praised Obama for giving a "terrific speech" in Tucson at a tribute for victims of the shooting rampage that took place there a week ago.

McCain said that Obama had "comforted and inspired the country" and performed an important service by encouraging "every American who participates in our political debates -- whether we are on the left or right or in the media -- to aspire to a more generous appreciation of one another and a more modest one of ourselves."

"Our political discourse should be more civil than it currently is, and we all, myself included, bear some responsibility for it not being so," McCain said.

More: www.politicsdaily.com/2011/01/16/mccain-calls-obama-a-patriot-rejects-critics-who-say-hes-un/

[deziloooooo]

""Our political discourse should be more civil than it currently is, and we all, myself included, bear some responsibility for it not being so," McCain said."
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Some , from the left too, would be all over McCain as a hypocrite and other thiongs..however, I welcome his thoughts in the article.

Possibly with his winning the recent election, I doubt he is thinking another term, he is set for the next six years, he is now able to start being the statesman he could be .

I don't expect him to go over to the other side and he will fight for what he believes in politically, but if he is ready to be a partner in this governing of our nation, possible joining other moderates, independents, thinking Lieberman, and those in his party as a bull work against any radical movement, yes thinking Tea Party, then That would be a good thing and I welcome it.

I missed that , thanks for posting it Lakhota, if he really feel as he says in the article, it is a better day today.

PS And no, you didn't have to put a comment on it , it says it all.

[Deleted]

McCain made his comments in an article he wrote for The Washington Post opinion page, posted on Saturday, in which he praised Obama for giving a "terrific speech" in Tucson at a tribute for victims of the shooting rampage that took place there a week ago.


I will say this about President Obama, he is the BEST public speaker that I know of in politics. To bad that I don't agree with most of what he says (but at least I get to hear something that sounds good, unlike hearing President Bush who struggled to put 2 words together).

BTW: How about adding President Obama & Palin's names to the spell checker? I've got a feeling that those names will come up more than just a few times in the next couple of years.

[deziloooooo]

Jan 18, 2011 11:57:37 GMT -5 @oldtex said:

McCain made his comments in an article he wrote for The Washington Post opinion page, posted on Saturday, in which he praised Obama for giving a "terrific speech" in Tucson at a tribute for victims of the shooting rampage that took place there a week ago.


I will say this about President Obama, he is the BEST public speaker that I know of in politics. To bad that I don't agree with most of what he says (but at least I get to hear something that sounds good, unlike hearing President Bush who struggled to put 2 words together).

BTW: How about adding President Obama & Palin's names to the spell checker? I've got a feeling that those names will come up more than just a few times in the next couple of years.

Oldtex, it may have been to early for you , but kennedy was all so something, even better in that he really got into being one of the people, so relaked and yet if you google the "Berlin speech given at the wall" "I too am a Berliner " you also get the emotional impact he could make and there was a press conference one whn he was in Paris, where he says to the press words to the effect:
"Hello, I am Jack Kennedy, I'm the one who accompanied Jacky Kennedy to Paris "{Jackie his wife was getting all the press on that occasion} which gives you a idea of his natural humor.

Clinton {Bill} isn't to shabby either.

[deziloooooo]

Jan 18, 2011 14:30:17 GMT -5 Lady Gaga Gaga Snerd said:

Obama's "response" to the tragedy? What response? Giving a speech? What did it actually require him to do other than his usual nothing? When he was required to do something as in the case of the oil spill , he did his usual nothing other than speech making. Big whoop.

So your suggesting possible he should have gone on another vacation, ignored the happenings in Tuscon, the service, gone see the perp and kicked the mans butt, or smarter, had his SS people go in and do it, after all he es the POTUS, there are certain protocols to up hold.

What are you saying ..words to you mean so little?

Some times after a event like this..all that is left are words. if presented properly, with respect , with honesty and sincerity. For the survivors, the victims, the recovering , the people suffering the trauma of the event. The words are what one looks for to explain the unexplainable, to start the healing and begin to stop the mourning.

In all these ways He DID do that properly. If you do not see that then I say you are wrong in your feelings. It's not your opinion on this you are just wrong.
Accept that or not, when one is wrong they are wrong.

[deziloooooo]

Jan 18, 2011 14:46:23 GMT -5 Lady Gaga Gaga Snerd said:

Yes, he gave a decent speech. That is what Presidents do. But, no, I don't respect his words, sorry. His words mean very little to me.
My point is that he "responded" well because on his part it only required a minimal response. And, the fact that we are even talking about it shows that people didn't even expect he would handle that appropriately in the first place or it would be a non issue.

"I don't respect his words, sorry. His words mean very little to me."

Your loss then. To bad.

[deziloooooo]

Jan 18, 2011 14:47:04 GMT -5 Lady Gaga Gaga Snerd said:

If you do not see that then I say you are wrong in your feelings. It's not your opinion on this you are just wrong.
Accept that or not, when one is wrong they are wrong.

Read more: notmsnmoney.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=politics&thread=1812&page=1#ixzz1BPyqDkkU

Nope. Not accepting that.

Don't have to, your still wrong.

[robinking]

I didn't realize Palin was running for office there. The President's speech was great and non-political, but he allowed his supporters to turn a SOMBER event into a classless political rally. Absolutely disgusting... and if I had been a victim or the relative of one, I'd have walked out!

[deziloooooo]

Jan 18, 2011 15:23:25 GMT -5 robinking said:

I didn't realize Palin was running for office there. The President's speech was great and non-political, but he allowed his supporters to turn a SOMBER event into a classless political rally. Absolutely disgusting... and if I had been a victim or the relative of one, I'd have walked out!

your referring I think the exuberance of the crowd started by the students and picked up by tghe rest of the audience. Either you have been missing from here , discussions or you don't go along with posts trying to offer exoplanations of that.

A release after a week of complete dispair, emotional collapse by so may who live there, finally theh beginning of release to get their lives back to normal again, startee when off thye cuff Ptesident mentions the opening of the eyes, emotional joy of, the celebration of the heroes of the event, the head held in the lap , pressure applied as shootings continuesd. the ones who stopped the perp, the remarkis of the hopes of the little girl..all honest and natural and no you wouldn't,

"and if I had been a victim or the relative of one, I'd have walked out"
Your just being dramatic, even though you may come back and say "Yes you would have".

You would have stood, cheered at the right moment along with the rest, and had tears in your eyes as the rest of the audience and many of the TV viewerers did too, me included.

[Deleted]

<< You would have stood, cheered at the right moment along with the rest, and had tears in your eyes as the rest of the audience and many of the TV viewers did too, me included. >>

I stopped cheering Obama's expert prompter readings for some time now.

[ed1066]

I will say this about President Obama, he is the BEST public speaker that I know of in politics.

He reads speeches written by other people off a teleprompter. I'll be impressed if he can show leadership, competence and patriotism (I'm not holding my breath). Until then, I regard him as little more than a con man who swindled his way into the White House and spends most of his time now paying back the people who bought his ticket...

[marjar]

Jan 18, 2011 16:35:58 GMT -5 @ed1066 said:

I will say this about President Obama, he is the BEST public speaker that I know of in politics.

He reads speeches written by other people off a teleprompter. I'll be impressed if he can show leadership, competence and patriotism (I'm not holding my breath). Until then, I regard him as little more than a con man who swindled his way into the White House and spends most of his time now paying back the people who bought his ticket...

Haven't most presidents done the same? Presidential speech writers.

[Deleted]

As a Tucsonan, I think Obama did okay, but it was long for my taste. I do like that after the shootings he never attacked Arizona, conservatives, or specific people for the shootings, while MANY other people did.
On the other hand, the attack on Palin and others was off the wall wrong, and I am okay with them fighting back however they choose. As a conservative Arizonan I felt offended and angered by the blahblahblah following the senseless shootings while we all were numb with grief and shock, and I wasn't called by name like several conservative talkers were. How, exactly, would one expect someone accused by irresponsible people of being responsible for a mass murder to react???

[safeharbor37]

The problem with the premise of this thread is that it assumes that both Obama and Palin were addressing the tragedy in Tucson. Obama was, but Palin was not. Palin was addressing the scurrilous attacks on her by "the media."
Further, Obama's speech was very good as you'd expect, he being a good speaker.
The old saying is, "Don't start arguments with those who buy ink by the barrel." It still applies although it is no longer "ink" that's most significant.
The Poll phrasing the question so that it appears that Obama and Palin were addressing the same issue was [were] misleading ~ of course that's not surprising. The use of "blood libel" by Palin was ill advised, although the term was appropriate, because it opened up the "anti-semitic" bag of worms [The Anti-defamation League pretty much gave Palin a pass on the use of the term, although they thought it [as I did] ill-advised.]
Obama's response, to the degree there was one, seemed "Presidential" and people expect that sort of thing. I'd say that Obama looked better than Palin, but they were not in comparible situations. Let's face it, Palin isn't the President [yet].

[Tennesseer]

I specifically looked for teleprompters when President Obama was giving his speech. There were some long television camera shots showing the president speaking and the guests in the front row. I never saw a teleprompter around the whole area.



What I did notice was President Obama looking down at the podium top (by has hands) as if he were reading something off of cards. Not sheets of paper that might contain his whole speech but possibly a few note cards which might have helped him along with his speech.

[safeharbor37]

Them TelePrompTers is hard to spot sometimes.
"....as if he were reading something off of cards...." [Maybe he wrote something on his hands.]

[Tennesseer]

Jan 18, 2011 17:12:40 GMT -5 safeharbor37 said:

Them TelePrompTers is hard to spot sometimes.
"....as if he were reading something off of cards...." [Maybe he wrote something on his hands.]

And maybe he did. Pretty good for a 30 minute national speech versus a sit down infomercial chit-chat. Was Billy Mays the host of Palin's chat?

[safeharbor37]

"And maybe he did." Something like, maybe, "Try not to laugh."

[robinking]

I truly don't care about the "why" behind the rally... it was a memorial and not a party! Sorry, I thought memorials were for remembering the departed and not learning about some professor's Native American-Mexican heritage. I was disgusted. It was political at times and this bothered me. Period.

[Tennesseer]

Of course it would.

[safeharbor37]

The bottom line is [imho] that those who tried to turn [succeeded in turning?] the tragedy into a political event lost credibility. The public is smarter than some politicians seem to think [at least sometimes].

[ed1066]

I don't understand the point of comparing the "approval ratings" of an elected official to those of a private citizen. Would you please explain?

Obama's approval rating on this should have been 100%. This should not be a challenging thing for a president to deal with.

[deziloooooo]

Jan 18, 2011 16:35:58 GMT -5 @ed1066 said:

I will say this about President Obama, he is the BEST public speaker that I know of in politics.

He reads speeches written by other people off a TelePrompter. I'll be impressed if he can show leadership, competence and patriotism (I'm not holding my breath). Until then, I regard him as little more than a con man who swindled his way into the White House and spends most of his time now paying back the people who bought his ticket...

Why ed I am so surprised by your feelings,

I would never know from your past expressions on the man , so incite full too.

Weren't you the one actually praised the brand of Bathroom tissue he decided on to be used in the white house. One of those decisions the POTUS makes in the opening days of a new administration after a trial run of a week or so.

That he made his choice so quickly, plus choosing a brand you felt highly about, I believe with in the first week in fact versus George taking just short of a month, same decision, also a inferior brand in your mind.

You were impressed I thought in the reaction time , the forceful pronouncement as a indication of some thing new and refreshing in the new administration.

In retrospect however , possible I have it wrong, it has been over two years and no mention has been made of the item since.

Possible you found fault with the quick timeliness of his decision , not allowing for a full test of the item thus indicating his non thinking, consideration of, ramifications of, decisions from the hip that would not bode well for thoughtful thinking from the new administration.

Possible you could clear which one was correct, it's important as is your current thoughts on the POTUS.

In those, still a bit in shock on your feelings toward him, very, very surprised by them.

[billisonboard]

Obama's approval rating on this should have been 100%.

There is about 20% of the population who cut you off at, "Do you approve or disapprove of how President Obama..." "Disapprove"

[deziloooooo]

Jan 18, 2011 17:12:40 GMT -5 safeharbor37 said:

Them TelePrompTers is hard to spot sometimes.
"....as if he were reading something off of cards...." [Maybe he wrote something on his hands.]

You devil you..your a bad one. Funny though. ;D

[deziloooooo]

Jan 18, 2011 17:53:58 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

Obama's approval rating on this should have been 100%.

There is about 20% of the population who cut you off at, "Do you approve or disapprove of how President Obama..." "Disapprove"

Another good one , this thread is on fire..lots for the book of one liners

[Deleted]

I've driven lots of reservation Indians (yes-- they call themselves Indians here, or so the sign outside the res says-- "Welcome to the Tohono O'Odham Indian reservation." ) I love the Indians. They are warm, funny, don't seem to mind that I am a white female cab driver...... I do not think that guy that gave the "blessing" was one of them... just saying.... and he admitted he had never done it before, didn't he?? LOL!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cookies Galore]

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