President Barack Obama led Americans in national mourning yesterday after an Arizona shooting tragedy unleashed a polarising debate about the violent rhetoric rocking US politics.
Mr Obama flew to the southwestern state to lead a memorial service for the six people who were killed and the 14 wounded in the assassination attempt on congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who is fighting for her life in a hospital in Tucson.
His trip came after the family of the 22-year-old alleged gunman Jared Loughner said they were “so very sorry” about Saturday’s assault and as surgeons gave an upbeat forecast of Democrat Mrs Giffords’s condition.
And it came as the House of Representatives put forward a resolution condemning the attack and honouring the victims, with House Speaker John Boehner underscoring the importance of solidarity among lawmakers drawing inspiration from their stricken colleague.
“Our hearts are broken, but our spirit is not,” Mr Boehner told the chamber yesterday.
“We’re thankful, so thankful that Gabby is still with us,” he said, but it was clear that the House remained stunned by the inexplicable attack.
“This body has yet to fully register the magnitude of this tragedy,” Mr Boehner said, choking back tears.
House majority leader Eric Cantor called the shooting “an attack on the very essence of democracy and representative government.”
President Obama led the service at the University of Arizona in Tucson, at a time when he is trying to revive his bond with US voters.
Millions watching nationwide listened to the President’s words of healing, compassion, hope and a call for a more civil national discourse.
Some liberals haved claims that a climate of hate whipped up by conservative figures like Sarah Palin may have tipped Loughner over the edge and exposed malign divisions in US politics.
Yesterday Mrs Palin, the former Republican vice presidential hopeful and a possible White House contender in 2012, forcefully rejected any responsibility for the shooting spree and accused critics of “blood libel” for tying her fiery political rhetoric to the assassination attempt Mrs Giffords.
“Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. They begin and end with the criminals who commit them,” she said in a video message.
Surgeons meanwhile gave an upbeat outlook for Mrs Giffords, as she remained in intensive care after brain surgery.
“She’s holding her own,” said Michael Lemole, the head neurosurgeon who operated on Mrs Giffords, adding that she was still responding to simple commands, a key sign for her recovery prospects.
Mrs Giffords took a single bullet to the head in the shooting at a public event outside a supermarket in Tucson, which killed six including a federal judge and a nine-year-old girl.
The New York Times reported that police had been called to the Loughner home on more than one occasion before the attack and quoted a friend as saying the alleged killer was skilled with a gun.
“He was a nihilist and loves causing chaos, and that is probably why he did the shooting, along with the fact he was sick in the head,” Zane Gutierrez, 21, told the paper.