Jared Loughner and Charles Guiteau



Garfield--assassinated by a loon

 I said who was it that did it who was it that shot the president?
And he said it was Charlie Guiteau that shot Mr. Garfield and I said
Charlie Guiteau done shot down a good man good man
Johnny Cash, "Mr. Garfield," 1965.

Okay, point your finger at me if you must, but in my speculation about why Jared Loughner shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and killed six others--I see a man who had a distorted view of the world--who believed he had to insert himself into the public eye to make some sort of bizarre statement. Don't blame Tea Parties or conservatives.

On that last point, Pima County Sheriff brought up the “vitriolic rhetoric that we hear day in and day out from people in the radio business and some people in the TV business" at what should have been, if there is such a thing in such tragic circumstances, a routine criminal briefing for the press. There is no evidence that Loughner had a political motive for his crimes.

Charles Guiteau assassinated President James Garfield in 1881 because he believed God ordered it. Like Loughner, the warning signs were obvious with the mentally-unbalanced Guiteau. Garfield won the presidency, Guiteau believed, because of his efforts. A failed member of the permissive Oneida Colony, he was known as "Charles Gitout" there. Even hedonists have limits.

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