Tim Griffin: Republican Congressman Blames Obama, Democrats For Capitol Shooting
Tim Griffin says Democrats are to blame for Thursday’s attempted attack on the White House and Capitol Building in Washington.
The Republican Congressman from Arkansas was tweeting updates to his followers of the attack on Washington, which reportedly involved a woman trying to ram a security barrier near the White House and then racing to the Capitol Building, where she was shot by police.
“Gun shots outside the Capitol,” he tweeted.
Then, one minute later, Griffin took the opportunity to blame Democrats for the incident.
“Stop the violent rhetoric President Obama, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. #Disgusting”
Republicans and Democrats have been locked in a battle over a funding measure needed to pay federal bills, an impasse that has led to the first government shutdown in 17 years. A small fraction of Republicans have refused to relent unless Democrats agreed to take apart or delay Obamacare, but President Obama said the matter is not up for discussion.
As the shutdown ran into its second day, emotions have run high in Washington with each side taking public shots at the other.
Shortly after making the remarks, Griffin apologized. The tweets no longer appear on his Twitter page.
“The victims and their families are in my thoughts and prayers,” Griffin said in a text message to BuzzFeed. “The shooting today is a terrible and inexcusable tragedy and an act of terrorism. No one but the shooter is to blame.”
“We are still processing information about this shooting, but as I have been saying for days, we all need to choose our words wisely because violent rhetoric only coarsens our culture, creates an atmosphere of incivility and is not helpful. I tweeted out of emotion but agree that the timing was not helpful,” Griffin said.
But the apology didn’t stop Tim Griffin from suffering a harsh and immediate backlash on Twitter. Many people tweeted angry messages, and his remarks have been picked up by a number of blogs and news outlets.
