Blaming political speech demeans the shooting

I was appalled by the Sunday Gazette headline on page 1: “Has harsh discourse crossed a line?” Apparently the who, what, where and when were overlooked for the why, with despicable conclusions.

To suggest that speech had anything to do with a madman's actions is insane. People were shot, a congresswoman was shot, people were killed. That is the story, and it is a horrific story. It had nothing to do with political speech. To suggest so is to demean what happened and use this terrible story for political gain.

There is no evidence that this shooter in Arizona was influenced by anything but his own sick mind. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the people hurt and killed deserve much better than to be used by the media as a political one-upmanship tool.

I will continue to pray for all those who were hurt in this awful and senseless violence.

Diana Bredenberg

Cedar Rapids