I was surprised to see how quickly a conservative

Judson Phillips speaks

activist slipped from condemning the violent attack in Tucson to chastising unnamed members of the left.

The New York Times reports the statement of Judson Phillips, Tea Party Nation’s founder:

(Note: Tea Party Nation is a marginal for-profit group, but Phillips gets disproportionate attention from mainstream media.   See that he feels compelled to label Giffords a “liberal” before explaining that her politics are unimportant.  He then takes aim at “the hard left” which will use the event to victimize the Tea Party.)

Arizona Congressman Gabrielle Giffords was shot and killed along with several others in Arizona. Giffords was conducting a “Congress on your corner” event when the shooting occurred. Six others were killed as well.

The shooter has been taken into custody and let’s hope he gets the death penalty he richly deserves.

Congressman Giffords was a liberal, but that does not matter now. No one should be the victim of violence because of their political beliefs and certainly a member of Congress should not be shot and killed on a street corner.

Take a moment to say a prayer for her and her family, as well as the others who were so tragically murdered this afternoon.

At a time like this, it is terrible that we do have to think about politics, but no matter what the shooter’s motivations where, the left is going to blame this on the Tea Party Movement. Already on liberal websites, the far left is trying to accuse the Tea Party of being involved.

While we need to take a moment to extend our sympathies to the families of those who died, we cannot allow the hard left to do what it tried to do in 1995 after the Oklahoma City bombing.

Does Tea Party Nation promote a vigorous and honest dialogue?  This is the fundraising call from their home page:

Tea Party Nation is hard at work to defeat liberals and their socialist agenda! We need your help in this fight!