I’ll be sparingly live blogging the events in Tucson here. Please join in with your own thoughts in comments. Here is the event schedule if you haven’t already seen it. I’ve already noted the oddities in that program so I won’t belabor them at this point. Let’s see what transpires.
Update (7:06): I’m already a little creeped out by all the boisterous cheering.
Update (7:09): I’ve decided not to live blog this. I’ll write up some thoughts after the memorial’s conclusion.
Update (8:19): It’s ending with a moment of silence. President Obama spoke for about 34 minutes, and jumped right into the calls to restrict political speech, even though he admitted that political rhetoric had absolutely nothing to do with the shooting. The entire spectacle has been repugnant and unpresidential, more resembling a pep rally or basketball sendoff than a memorial. I kept expecting people in the crowd to wave giant foam fingers or call for the hot dog vendor. This event provided no healing, only boisterous cheers drowning out what’s left of public decorum.
There was one good moment, when the heroes who saved Rep. Giffords’ life hugged her husband. But the rest was farcical, off note, inappropriate and grating.
Future politicos, please heed this advice. Never hold a memorial service in a university arena, and never give out T-shirts prior to the event. Those two choices set the tone for this entire spectacle. Some will excuse the bizarre atmosphere or blame it entirely on those in the audience to deflect attention from the president. But the president’s team had the final call on everything. They could have demanded a more suitable setting, and set a more appropriate tone. They didn’t. This gauche spectacle is the Obama administration’s fault. The tone of the event overshadowed whatever good words of comfort and honor were in his lengthy speech.
oh my, the cheering is creeping me out too! Does Wellstone memorial ring a bell?
I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed it. I turned to my wife as we sat down to eat and said, “are they cheering?” But I do want to say that y thoughts and prayers go out to all those killed and wounded, and their loved ones.
This is embarrassing… at 5:27 no one has mentioned the dead. This is a Memorial Service, right?
I’m no longer sure what this is.
It’s a circus with the typical cliches of students and hot air of a college president with constant applause. What kind of memorial service has so much applause? Okay, now Jan Brewer might lend some gravitas.
I think the tone was set with the invocation–the doors to the east, west, the combination of “masculine energy” and “feminine energy” in the center, given by some professor that I can’t even find on the school’s website.
The off-key trumpet on the Copeland didn’t help. Amateur hour… Obama’s office should have taken control of this goat rope. Oh, God now the President of Uof A is doing a campaign rally intro!
now for a change of pace…ugh Napolitano. I’m going to have nightmares.
About the only thing I can say after Napolitano began with “Thank you Tucson! Thank you Arizona!” is, if you liked the Wellstone funeral, you’re gonna loooove this memorial!
“Mortified” gets you to about one-third of what I’m feeling, watching this.
yeah, just look at the Prez’s expression. He must have been practicing in the mirror all day.
You know this President of the U Of A looks like he’s auditioning for public office… finally Napolitano provides some semblance of “memorial.” Will we see a promo for the U of A before the evening is over.
Eric Holder from the New Testament. I guess anyone can read aloud from it. Cheering? Cheering?
I am glad they are reading passages out of the Bible. It is appropriate. Again, my prayers and thoughts to those who have been killed and wounded, and their families.
It was a bad choice to have this in front of a bunch of idiot college students who think this is some kind of Obama pep rally. Even Obama is exasperated by the cheering.
That’s what I was thinking too. A different setting, lose the T-shirts, this would have had an entirely different tone. Whoever chose the U of A over, say, the largest church or cathedral or synagogue in Tucson, made a terrible choice.
Obama is eating this up. It’s all about him. That’s what it was intended for.
I agree with you….the cheering and clapping is totally disgusting. If I were one of the victim’s friends or family members I would be traumatized by that. Of course, it is ok to have a few laughs if you are reminiscing about one of the victims…but for G*d’s sake…this isn’t a pep rally or political rally! Can’t the students show some respect…guess not.
Sick, sick, sick…
Well, as long as BHO is in the Oval Office, folk outside of the US will have to look outside the Oval Office, but within the US, to take the US seriously.
This is a pep rally. Unbelievable. It sounds like they’re happy this all happened. Constant applause, even at the mention of the dead.
” It sounds like they’re happy this all happened.” Most of them are.
This is now a political rally. Wow. Obama is trying to make this a solemn occasion, I think he really wants it to be such. The cheering that he cannot control takes away from all of it.
No, he’s eating this up.
Gabby opened her eyes for the first time because Obama was there! He said it about 6 times. Okay, now honoring Hernandez with his praise. Always about him.
After the campaign rally, he’s going to distribute loaves and fishes.
Weird, …hubby and I are eating dinner and I said what is all that cheering about??? I was shocked! And the opening Indian prayer was strange (as I have heard better ones).
The young man who is an aide for Rep. Gabbie Giffords, was eloquent and humble and he brought some sensitivity to what had started out as a rally for some college football game. Gov. Brewer gave a lovely speech, too. I noticed the cheering was much more muted for her than Sec. Janet Napolitano. Overall, this is one the weirdest memorials I have listened to.
He’s lost it. he’s playing to the crowd now. Normal Americans should be appalled by this. I am. Sounds like he’s at the convention. How can people be this tone deaf? Is it me?
Yes its you
No, its not just you; its everybody who still has at least one functioning brain cell left in their heads…ghastly behavior for a “memorial.”
By the way, why didn’t BO put on this sort of show following the murders of 13 at Fort Hood? No one in that state willing to wear the t-shirts?
He was doing well, and looking presidential. Until he started clapping…
Why doesn’t he just give the State of the Union now and save some time? This will come back to haunt him. President’s have to create dignity at an event like this. He has absolutely no feel for anything other than politics. And… now he’s actually started on gun control, etc. Has he no shame? Now he’s started the discourse… next election… he’s toast.
Sheesh…how long is he going to speak? Would GWB have gone on this long? Would he have even done something like this?
Okay, now we begin with the “discourse.” He’s giving the class a lecture.
Here comes the politics, he’s laying the blame right at the feet of talk radio while making it sound like he’s saying we shouldn’t.
Instead of saying “this was the action of one deranged individual,” he’s talking about “expanding moral imaginations”
In language that sounds like it’s calling for healing, it’s actually making digs at political opponents.
Is Chris Matthews’ leg tingling?
I agree when I heard that loud clapping in front of his mike. He really doesn’t have the gravitas to pull this off. He’s trying to be sincere, but he just can’t do it.
“occasion to turn on each other”… “empathy” opening the way for Obama, the healer! “hopes and dreams bound together” … remember that October rally about one nation united? Tell your spouse how desperately you love him/her. Kindness. Mortality. What matters is not status…but how well have loved and what part we have played in making the lives of other people better. I’ve heard these cliches from too many of my college freshmen. “American family”…except for Republicans. Phyllis, she’s our mom. Baloney! We heard this at the Virginia Tech massacre by that crazy poet Nicki Giovanni. Someone get a priest, please. (A real one, not a shaman.)
“It’s a gift to be simple…” closing anthem… irony at its best.
I missed “Rules of Engagement” for this.
He’s getting in “civil discourse” (I knew it!) …to make the dead “proud” (applause from the brainwashed college students). How does he know what 9 year old Christina believed? At what kind of memorial do people give a standing ovation to the speaker? Christina was “given to us on Sept. 11, 2001″? “To us”? How dare he exploit these deaths? Obama trying to help us “heal”? (Fox News guy). Some kids yelling out to the college president, more cheers when he thanks Obama. Oh, I know why he chose to give this at a college! 2008 all over again. That’s his base, the mushbrains on campuses. Moment of silence. Can they do it?
Wow, really? I must have had the alternate audio program on or something. I didn’t hear a lot of what you all heard.
I heard a great deal of boisterous cheering at a memorial. Entirely inappropriate.
I agree about the cheering, and as I said just above, I wish someone would have looked sternly out and said. “Don’t cheer. This is a memorial. Have some respect.”
Maybe it’s just my expectations were so low. Or maybe I’m in a good mood, as unusual as that is.
All of those atmospherics were within the president’s team’s control. They could have done things differently, and his speech would have come off as about 95% good even to a critic like myself. But atmosphere counts for an awful lot, and in this case in my opinion it overshadowed his speech.
– in the spirit of the pep rally, let us consider these wise words:
Oooh Where’s that tiger
where’s that tiger where’s that tiger where’s that
tiger Hold that tiger hold that tiger hold that
tiger hold that tiger Hold him choke him kick him
pokin’ Where’s that tiger where’s that tiger where
oh where can he be Low or highbrow they all cry
now where can that tiger be [choir]
Whip it hard till it moans whip it hard till it
groans let her grip start to clip its claw Where’s
that tiger… [guitar]
Where’s that tiger where’s that tiger where oh
where can he be Low or highbrow they all cry now
where can that tiger be
T-shirt giveaway and some girl screaming I love you to
Obama as he stepped up to the podium? Cheering? Ill give credit to
Obama for his speech being decent, if a bit long for this type of
service, but his people really flubbed it letting a memorial
service be treated like a political rally by the crowd. I think the
venue was wrong for this sort of thing. Holding it in a big college
auditorium turned what could have and should have been a decent
memorial service into an embarrassment. Also, it was totally
inappropriate to give a memorial service a theme. That is a bad
on the O. Theme-ing the service gives the impression that was is a
political event, not a sevice to honor the fallen.
It’s called “Esteem” and it’s a hearing implant! You can get the info on Rushlimbaugh.com! Maybe then you’ll hear the same thing the REST of us heard; shouting, cheering, applause during non-applause lines like, “If there are puddles in Heaven Christine is splashing around right now!”
Besides, even if you didn’t HEAR it, perhaps you should have your eyes checked. As “Newton” asked, (Post #31, above.) “What kind of memorial has souvenit T-shirts?” A. One where Obama is the “guest” speaker!
Do you HONESTLY think all those students were there to “honor the dead and wounded?” If it isn’t obvious they were there to catch a glimpse of Obama, well, I can pretty much tell whom YOU’RE going to vote for in ’12! Shame on Obama and shame on YOU! This was supposed to be a memorial, not an early election speech! (Oh, you GET it, all right!)
Everybody here is much smarter than all these talking heads on Fox News who are too dimwitted to see how Obama cleverly slipped in digs at critics (spot on, Patrick). Can these overpaid commentators not see through all the theater? Good night.
Had I planned this so called “memorial service”, I would have used the largest church or synagogue I could find. There would have been a Marine color guard. I would have made sure to get the personal clergyman or woman of every person injured or killed to speak.
I think I would have found some family members of each person killed to speak.
And then brief somber remarks by the President, with a prayer for the families of the fallen and one for the family of Loughner who are going through their own personal and particular Hell right now.
It should never have been allowed to degenerate into this political pep rally farce which it became. This was not about the families or the fallen. It was a photo op and it was disgusting.
Tell me again… What kind of memorial service has souvenir T-shirts?
Compare and contrast:
http://tinyurl.com/ca8rek
Now, tell me who is “eloquent”.
You nailed it thats exactly what should have
happened…alas it did not.
Barrys entire speech was fatuous feel-good
gobbledigook.
No minister, priest or rabbi (Shamans dont cut it)- a real
secular humanist memorial. But Holder, Napolitano and Obama
suddenly got religion. Obama implied his mere presence at the
hospital caused Representative Giffords to open her eyes – for the
first time! He said we should talk nice from now on for
Christinas sake. No hymn but we got Aaron Copelands A gift to be
Simple. No benediction but some goofy free verse poem. Throw in
the tee shirts and the incessant creepy cheering and it was
irreverent and markedly weird.
Actually, A Gift to be Simple, or more correctly Simple
Gifts is an old Shaker hymn/dance.
And also just (coincidentally?) happens to be O’s inauguration song played on the cello by Yo Yo Ma.
Hee!
Mary is spot on + the fellow who commented on selling
t-shirts at a Memorial. How appropriate to read from the Bible, too
bad kicking out the money-changers part was left out. What would
happen if undergrads ran the government? is still the best comment
on the Obama administration.
I feel really badly for you and most of the commenters
here. You have such animus in your hearts and hatred for your
political opponents. So sad. You are so very sad.
Yahoo! This is your celebration
Yahoo! This is your celebration
Celebrate good times,come on! (Let’s celebrate)
Celebrate good times, come on! (Let’s celebrate)
There’s a party goin’ on right here
A celebration to last throughout the years
So bring your good times, and your laughter too
We gonna celebrate your party with you
Come on now
Celebration
Let’s all celebrate and have a good time
Celebration
We gonna celebrate and have a good time
It’s time to come together
It’s up to you, what’s your pleasure
Everyone around the world
Come on!
Yahoo! It’s a celebration
Yahoo!
Celebrate good times, come on!
It’s a celebration
Celebrate good times, come on!
Let’s celebrate
We’re gonna have a good time tonight
Let’s celebrate, it’s all right
We’re gonna have a good time tonight
Let’s celebrate, it’s all right
Baby…
We’re gonna have a good time tonight (Ce-le-bra-tion)
Let’s celebrate, it’s all right
We’re gonna have a good time tonight (Ce-le-bra-tion)
Let’s celebrate, it’s all right
Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Celebrate good times, come on! (Let’s celebrate)
Celebrate good times, come on!
It’s a celebration!
Celebrate good times, come on! (Let’s celebrate)
(ad lib)
Come on and celebrate, good times, tonight (Celebrate good times, come on!)
‘Cause everything’s gonna be all right
Let’s celebrate (Celebrate good times, come on)
(Let’s celebrate)..
ZOMG! Yeah, you should NEVER criticize a Democrat. Thats
hate speech. I H8 H8ers!!
You are right. The president’s speech was magnificent. The setting- at a university- was full of hope and deep emotion. College kids are full of youthful vigor.
I am a conservative, but, after reading this blog, an independent. I would like to transcend blind, partisan poilitics.
Obama desereves applause. His words were tanscendent and healing. I wish the Obama haters could see beyond their tiny ideological horizons. But, they are, sadly blinded by ideology.
P.S.
I did not vote for Obama. And, more than likely, will not vote for him again.
I couldnt believe the FOX panel commenting on this.
Krauthammer was in near rhapsodies over Obamas demeanor and even
Britt Hume was cautiously approving, although he did say it seemed
somewhat like a pep rally. Were they talking about the same event
we just saw?
t-shirts? What an outrageous insult to the victims and
their families. Shameless. You think they cant top themselves. You
think they have descended as far as they can into the gutter. And
then they go even futher. What next? Bobbl-head dolls of the
beautiful 9 year old girl?
As everyone was leaving they started playing Imagine by
John Lennon. Now this is a great song. I even agree with some of
the sentiments. But this was NOT the appropriate venue for that
song. This is a group of people who think they are above normal
social conventions and I think, are genuinely confused when us
regular folks are offended by what they do… Patrick
“Imagine” is a good song for this event. It is irreligious-anti God- and all about one worldism
I love this blog. You should be on Fox News.
Patrick, Im SURE the bereaved families were comforted by a
song which includes the line imagine theres no Heaven. Funny
thing about the song. At the time of his death John Lennon was
renting FIVE expensive apartments. IIRC 2 or 3 of them were used
just for storage of his possessions (imagine theres no
possessions).
I hate to break this to you guys, but he knocked it out of
the park. Do you really think that Chris Wallace. Britt Hume, and
Charles Krauthammer are delusional? All the early speakers were
so-so at best and there was that odd clapping and cheering, BUT the
clean-up hitter came through. Just wondering; in your opinion, did
he do ANYTHING well? Never mind.
– I give to you:
Well, here we are, well, here we are!
Just watch us rolling up a score.
We’ll leave poor Harvard behind so far,
They won’t want to play us anymore.
We’ll roll the score so very high,
That you will hear them sigh:
Well-a Boola, Boo, Boola, Boola, Boo,
Boola, Boo, Boola, Boola, Boola, Boo!
Boola, Boola, Boola, Boola,
Boola, Boola, Boola, Boola,
When we “rough-house” poor old Harvard,
They will holler Boola Boo. (Rah! Rah! Rah!)
Yale, Eli Yale!
You can find hints of we shouldnt fight, should we? in
his speech. But for the most part it was Campaign Obama ™,
sounding wonderful and above it all while his underlings did the
partisan dirty work (campaign slogan T-shirts at a memorial
service?)
The FOX panel was trying to be nice and give Obama the BOD. I will give him half a BOD for trying, and still think this service was an embarrassment. Obama simply can’t speak effectively at a solemn event. It seems he needs a rowdy crowd to feed off of, thus the college venue packed with his supporters and the t-shirts and the campaign atmosphere his choices created.
Look up Bush’s remarks at Virginia Tech to see how a man of dignity does it.
And did you catch, It was not! ?? He who hath ears, let
him hear.
I watched FOX News and their discussion afterward. I agree
with this group – this was a nightmare. I have to agree that Obama
seemed to be trying to make it solemn for a while, then reverted to
form as he lapsed a few times into his black preacher cadence and
back out again. Universituh? Dude. Youre from Chicago. I was
struck by Our Lord Obama causing Christina to open her eyes -
reminded me of the person who worked on his campaign who ignored
her breast cancer and finally succumbed. Obama mentioned that she
wanted to be buried in an Obama t-shirt. Why, oh why, didnt they
tell people there would be no cheering? There were grieving
families there. What decent person would cheer the death of a young
womans fiance? What the heck is wrong with these people?
There have been a number of times in the last couple years
when Obama has been stiff and come across as unfeeling and not
compassionate. Tonight was NOT one of those times.
I totally agree, BP. Obama couldn’t have done any worse if he’d shown up in a tuxedo t-shirt.
Tone deaf. Hyperpartisan. Effing ugly.
The part where he said that Giffords opened her eyes after he left her room was creepy. Messianic? He wishes. MessySatanic is more like it.
And the incessant shrieking from the school girls? Were the Jonas Brothers there or something? I just don’t get it.
Wellstone2.
The kiddies got free t shirts. Hot dogs this time too?
My guess is Obama will do better among the people who did not see the speech live, and only watch the excerpts, than among those who did see it as it happened, because of the crowd reaction.
It was obvious that the loudest — if not the largest — group in the crowd really didn’t come there for a memorial service; the service was just an excuse to come and cheer Obama like it was the 2008 campaign all over again. That can’t help but have given a lot of viewers out there who also didn’t tune in for a pep rally a “WTF?” moment.
Crop the inappropriate crowd noise out and just show the highlights, and the speech will likely play a lot better with folks watching the 11 o’clock news or the morning network shows (where I doubt the word ‘boisterous’ is ever going to be mentioned). The White House will probably be better off long-term if most people were watching ESPN or Lifetime tonight.
I disagree with those posting here. I’m not sure what speech you all watched. The President’s address at the memorial was pitch perfect and apparently very comforting to those in the room. He struck exactly the right tone on all fronts with a speech he wrote and delivered (wo the much-maligned teleprompter). The suggestion that Obama inferred any restriction on “free speech” is ludicrous. The President suggested a more civil discourse to confront the magnitude of our problems. Nobody was muzzled. Why is a general call to civility such an affront to conservatives? I took my young children to a town hall meeting and it was a frightening event for them due to the lack of civility. That can’t be the best we can do. I am all for a full and vigorous debate so long as it’s factual and civil. I think that serves our nation’s interests and is certainly the example I want to set for my children.
I’ve heard nothing but high praise for the speech and clearly those mourning appreciated the President’s words. There was not a dry eye in the house according to those in attendance. And this was not a White House event. Obama was a guest in Tuscon and he worked with the plan and audience assembled by the state of AZ and the University. The President had no control over the enthusiasm of the crowd, which clearly applauded in unlikely places but you can hardly blame the President for that. Or…maybe you can. It was also sunny today and really should have been cloudy in light of the national mood. Obama!
G’wan home your mudder’s callin’…
t-shirts now available on ebay.
Looked and sounded more like a campaign rally to me. Utterly tasteless and inappropriate to the occasion.
Dwight, even if the violinist plays well, he might not change the culture of the rock ‘n’ roll setting they’ve found themself in.
Obama brought baseball cleats, to a basketball court.
The only thing I have to add which hasn’t already been said is that I found it odd that the politicians, along with Hernandez and Giffords’ husband were cordoned off from everyone else in the stadium, *including* the families and friends of the other victims. It was as if they were “second class” suffering citizens, compared to the people connected with Giffords (her aid and husband). I mean, Giffords wasn’t even killed in the attack; why does she get special consideration when other, innocent people were killed?
And where was the desire for the President and First Lady to offer solace to the grieving? After the event, they made a little time for the other families (the non-Gifford mourners), all so they could glad-hand and pose for pictures. At a memorial service!
The lack of decorum was stunning. Simply stunning.
I thought Obama did an okay job with his speech until he started politicizing it with his admonition to tone down our rhetoric. He couldn’t help himself there, could he?
If he thinks he’s salvaged his failing presidency with this performance, he’s sadly mistaken…
– comments rebutting D-wight, et al. No more PJM for me.
The trolls win…
Krushchev once said that no matter how humble his
beginnings, a political leader achieves the stature of his office.
In that case, we need plan b implemented toot sweet, because of
what the current occupant of the Oval Office has done to the Oval
Office. Who else remembers the movie, The fall of the Roman
Empire with Alec Guinness, Sophia Loren and Christoper Plummer?
Art does imitate life, because of what Commodus did to the Roman
Empire looks like what BHO did to the US.
T-shirts? Nice touch – reminds me of a gang-bangers
funeral…
Are you a journalist? If so, Im quite confused on how you
could have missed that … 1. The event was scheduled by the
University of Arizona. They are the ones who determined the venue
and not Obamas people. Additionally, you may have missed that the
line to the event was over 1 mile long at one point. This is the
only venue in Tucson that could hold this many people. 2. The
T-shirts were distributed by the U of A and donated from a
community printer. I hope that you will clarify both of these
points to your audience and ensure they understand the
details.
And the President of the United States had absolutely no say or coordination on these decisions.
Pull the other one, Buckeroo, it’s got bells on it.
“[T]he line to the event was over 1 mile long at one point. This is the only venue in Tucson that could hold this many people.”
I think you may be confusing cause and effect. Based upon the makeup of the crowd and the Obama cheering I believe the line was more people wanting to see the President than people wanting to memorialize the victims. And while you are correct that the UofA orgainzed the event, the White House was certainly not without “pull” to change it if desired.
I am not shy about criticising Obama when he deserves it, and he often does, but I think you are wrong this time. I think Obama did fairly well here. He clearly repudiated the Palin Did It crowd, by clearly saying that comments by others had nothing whatever to do with the killers actions. He also wisely refrained from any calls for new gun control, or regulations on political speech. And his calls for civility were balanced and general, not blame directed, and could have applied just as much to the shrill Palin Did It crowd as it could to the right.
As for the cheering, I agree it seemed a little strange to me, but that was the crowd, not Obama. Obama had a suitably serious tone.
Richard40 is right–Obama echoed Palin in criticizing those who said that political rhetoric inspired the probably-schizophrenic shooter. Personally, I thought this was a great speech. As far as the cheering, yes this was something of a pep rally for Tucson, a grieving and confused city. I believe, actually, that Bush would have given approximately the same speech. I think a lot of posters here are poisoned by hate. Couple of relevant quotes:
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?