>> production assistance for "inside washington" was provided by allbritton communications and "politico," reporting on the legislative, executive, and political arena. >> this week on "inside washington," the capitol and the country are shaken by the tragedy in tuscon as congress onewoman erroll giffords of fights to recover, we remember the six who died, including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--

>> hello, i am mark shields sitting in for gordon peterson. weeks like this make no sense. but once we paid tribute to the victims. president obama led a memorial service in tuscon. >> the loss of these wonderful people should make everyone of us strive to be better, to be better in our private lives, better friends and neighbors, co-workers, parents. and if, as has been discussed in recent days, their death helped usher in more civility in our public discourse, let us remember it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy. it did not. but rather, because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to

the challenges of our nation in a way that would make them proud. [applause] >> at times like these, the president is not simply the commander in chief, he is also expected to be the comforter in chief. colby king, do you think barack obama successfully comforted the nation wednesday? >> he covered addition to speaking to the nation, but he spoke for the nation also speaking to tuscon, suffering through the terrible tragedy, and he cast the holding where it belongs, on the problems of an iindividual out there, and not the finger-pointing and point scoring that took place that was really unseemly prior to wednesday. >> charles krauthammer? >> i think the president probably put an end to that

school is in no that was started in the mainstream press, particularly -- scurrilous and innuendo that was started in the mainstream press, particularly "the new york times," and his allies on the left, that this was a product of the political right. president obama refuted that, which was healthy, but it was a scandal what happened in the four days between the attack and the president's speech of this unwarranted and obvious to discredit -- obviously discredited attacks that made it glenn beck and sarah palin accessories to a series of murders of which they had nothing to do. >> comforter in chief? >> he did that as well, but it was important to stop the malice and incivil discourse of the days prior to the memorial service. >> we cannot have a two-minute

conversation without a little bit of -- >> you don't think -- >> the president, when he campaigned for the presidency, really wanted to get away from that. this is in some ways his comfort zone, the kind of conversation he wants the country to have. he was eloquent in promoting that and getting the country away, at least temporarily, from doing that kind of thing. >> jeanne cummings, your reaction? >> i am not sure he covered the nation, but i think he put events in context. he put that in the context of the victims, the best way we can honor them is to be better ourselves. that is the kind of voice that president obama had during the campaign that appealed to so many americans did in that

respect, he had a positive impact with that speech. >> even his strongest admirers have acknowledged that he, unlike president reagan or president clinton before him, has until now failed to connect emotionally with the american people. do you think this week was a change and that? >> i don't know if we have seen any real sea change. we have watched president obama now for 3 or four years as a candidate, and his first two years in office. he is who he is. he does not amount to the way clinton does. -- does not emote the way clinton does good to the degree he connects to the american people, he sets out to do that at an intellectual level. he is compassionate. if you look at polls, people believe he is compassionate, and they believe he is smart and has good intentions. i think that is to obama is and that is how he will connect, and

not as that emotional -- not at that emotional level that reagan and clinton could evoke. >> nina? >> there was only one moment in the speech were in use of personal emotion, when he started to talk about christina green. you could see him pull himself together. but he is a publicly dispassionate person. i don't think it is going to change. >> i don't see him that way, i know a lot of people don't see him that way. i see him in crowds and see crowds respond to him. it depends, i guess, on where you are. i see him just inside people and connect with people in a way -- excite people and attacked with people in a way that even reagan did, initially -- connect with people no way that not even reagan did, initially.

>> he had a problem, a crowd that was -- appeared in at appropriate -- inappropriate, a lot of according and hollering and cherry pie and it is as it stood on its in -- a in hooting and hollering in an auditorium he was uneasy. he walked in with michelle, there was cheering, and he looked uneasy but what he did in his speech, the first half when he talked about the dead, again, a he looked slightly uncomfortable when that would receive applause. then he reached the point with that electric moment when he said she opened her eyes, "gabby opened her eyes," and that is when the motion that everyone experience was in tune with the enthusiasm of the audience. he repeated it four times, and

the second half of the speech, inspirational, referring to the 9-year-old girl, was successful. it was an amazing display of oratorio skill in capturing and harnessing an audience. >> high praise indeed. sarah palin talked about the shootings in a video posted on facebook. >> acts of monstrous criminality begin at end with the criminals who commit them, not collectively with all the citizens of a state, not those who listen to talk radio, not with maps of the screen districts used by both sides of the aisle. journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite a very hatred and violence that they purport to condemn. >> pundits, bloggers, tv talkers had a lot to say about sarah palin this week. she released a video on facebook to comment on the tuscon shootings. did she unintentionally make a

story about yourself and not -- herself and not tuscon? >> she did not make it about herself. within hours of the shooting, which had no connection to her what to overcome her name was linked in the ap, "new york times," all over the airwaves, linking her and other conservatives with the shooting spread this is a species that should never had to be made there was never a shred of evidence about any connection. by mid-week, we learned from a friend of the shooter, loughner, he did not listen to political radio, did not watch tv news. he was not interested in the news, not in the politics, was not of left or right. this was an act of probably a paranoid schizophrenic. there's no question he was acting under mental illness. not a shred of evidence. why did her name come up? those who brought it up are the ones who have to answer to that that was calumny, and i am

waiting for apologies from those who raise that name from the beginning. >> sarah palin is a central figure, and that whole thing of "blood libel," there was intense reaction. >> i agree with charles that there is certainly no evidence she is linked -- he is linked with her in any fashion. however, once she chose to make a video, then she bears responsibility for what she said in her own video. in that sense, i think it is widely thought -- well, republicans i have talked to, as well as observers of politics, believe that the tone was off, and that was more about what she experienced, and was widely upset about. but if you are going to decide to make a statement, she would have been better off being more

attuned to the victims and the tragedy that had occurred in tuscon. it seems to me that sarah palin seems ambivalent about her future. she has spent a lot of time doing things that probably don't set up a presidential campaign, like the reality tv show. now she is moving in a different direction, perhaps trying to at least reserve the right and do more professional things. but in that environment, she has got to start doing it right, and she missed it. >> she did not say anything -- she went aground for awhile, then she does this super- polished the video in front of the fireplace with an american flag, almost as if it is a presidential arrest, teleprompter, will hold 9 yds. she does it the day the president is going to speech. i don't know who her advisers

are, but that is not smart politics. just assuming the "the blood libel", it is out of ignorance, which is what i do assume, you don't make a story about your denial. you have a conversation with a friend or reporter, but not with that timing. it was such a strategic blunder. >> colby king, michael gerson, a former george w. bush speechwriter, said that sarah palin pastas addition was 6.sarh palin -- -- sarah palin's video was ronald reagan and spiro agnew. >> sorry, i don't buy that description. it is cute but it does not do anything for me. charles scott hammer said --

charles krauthammer said that after the election, seven polish and go back to alaska and read -- sarah palin should go back to alaska and read. that is good advice to take . the use of "blood libel," is out of ignorance. i don't think she understood the concept that is about. the reason that they made the connection, wrongly, sarah palin to the shootings is because of some of the imagery she used in her own political rhetoric. it is not unique to talk about prosser's and targets and things like that, but when you say we will resort to second and then in response -- second amendment response, but don't retreat, remote, you'll have that immediately come to mind -- don't retreat, reload, you will

have that immediately come to mind. was she unfairly attacked? yes. but she has this problem of going too far, and she went to far with that stain of blood libel and made herself the victim, and she did not have to do that. >> just one point, it was sharron angle who said "second amendment remedies." >> one other point, the person who talked about being in the crosshairs is the congresswoman who was shot, and she said at the time that words have consequences. >> charles that something you wanted to add about blood libel. >> "the wall street journal" had bad term in headlined the day before in an opinion piece in nobody -- that term in a headline today before in an opinion piece and up to complain at all. alan dershowitz, a liberal democrat, a defender choose from

the time sharansky to the israeli defense forces, said there was nothing wrong with that. he himself used the word in a report about the gaza declaration, and the anti- defamation league admitted that it is common parlance for a false accusation. >> but they criticized her use of the term. >> they had a mild rebuke after admitting -- >> i read every word of the deed statement. it was a criticism. -- the adl statement. it was a criticism. >> one overlooked part of this is national mental health policy, basically institutionalizing people with a desperate any political implication when it comes to this -- it institutionalizing people with elvis. any political implication what

comes to this? >> what reason facilities are in trouble is because of funding cuts, and we are not in a position to throw money at them again. we have had a virginia tech, a number of these incidents, and we're learning from them that the community college he attended is coming under criticism, but frankly, they paid attention and try to get him into treatment. it may well be this could have been the next virginia tech if they had not pprojected a student body. even if we cannot fix everything legislatively or whatever, it is a conversation that must take place. we have to continue to learn from these incidents. >> in some ways this is a legal question. if you think about an individual, one can add the state in voluntarily lock you up? that is the criterion for denying you the right to have a gun. short of that, or criminal

conviction of some kind, what are you going to say to people you cannot have a certain right? people are not always crazy who are accused of being crazy. on the other hand, we have a lot of a very disturbed people out there walking out and we don't seem to have developed a way, and i cannot think of one, to force them into treatment. >> it has to do with the way in which -- there is a stigma associated with it. we don't talk about it, we don't like to identify it as a problem with an individual in families. we have made a terrible mistake when we fail to great enough mental health facilities to handle people. we have a lot of people, look outside, walking the streets who ought to be getting the kinds of services they are not receiving. they are talking to themselves but we have all seen them. we know what this is about.

>> charles, the reality is that it is not a powerful political lobby. >> it also goes against our ideas of autonomy. we thought it is a good idea to have given up 50 years ago putting people in mental institutions -- snake pits there were called, and sometimes often is. the problem is we had swung so hard to the other side. every day we stepped over a homeless person on the the street who should be in a shelter, cared for, which a meal, warmth, and the repeat, and we don't come because of the worship of this autonomy to the other end of this skill is that we end up with a virginia tech or loughner in tuscon. >> how will the shootings at arizona to the work of the congress? >> our hearts are broken but our spirit is not. this is a time to lock arms and

a prayer for the fallen and when did -- and wounded and resolve to carry on a dialogue of democracy. they may not yet have all the final answers, but we already have the answer that matters most, that we are americans and will make it through this difficult period. we will have the last word. >> speaker of the house john boehner. he leads a house understandably devastated about congresswoman gabrielle giffords and the events in tuscon. jeanne cummings, the congress is scheduled to start work next week repealing health care but is there a chance we will see a difference in tone and rhetoric and substance? >> it is a certainty that we will see some change. the speaker is talking to members, telling them to be mindful what happened this week, and also to be mindful of the messages from the midterm.

john boehner from the get go has set a very dignified towne in te house. that is that he took out of the election -- that is something he took out of the election, that the people want the government to do its job but to stop all the cats fighting. john boehner has absorber that message and is trying to pass that on to members. they are saying "we will." what they say is that it will be different, that it will be faced on policy disputes, disagreements, rather than ideological disagreements. it will be, i think, one of the first health care debates we see where we don't have a lot of rage and fire and fury. >> boehner has done some shrewd things to take a couple of people out of potential leadership decisions to add very

incendiary rhetoric. that is before this happened pratt having control over the herd of cats he has got is going to be extremely difficult. but if people can abstain from calling each other the enemy or socialists and communists, we will have come out at least for a week or two, done pretty well. i suspect that for republicans, this is not what they planned. this takes some of the fire out of the debate. it does. >> what do you call bernie sanders if not a socialist? but on a serious note, the speaker has done really well. he said the right tone from the beginning after the election. he did not have a spirit of trying. he talked about being given a lease on the house -- he did not have a spirit of triumph.

he talked about being given a lease on the house. there will be no change in the agenda. it will be a change in the tone. there is no question that there will be a change in tone to by everybody. i think postponing the activity of house for a week was completely appropriate, and presuming on a quiet note. but still, tissu -- tough issues, and objectives on health care reform is the proper id. i think it will last for a while, but no change in substance brough. >> colby, do you share the optimism of your colleagues? >> know. there will be a temporary change, but the tone will not change. there are consequences to repealing the health-care bill. some may like the idea of -- when you concentrate on what they're trying to achieve by

repealing the health care reform bill, it is the kind of thing that stirs the juices. people will react to it. we will see it comes through in the rhetoric of the floor of the house, as it should. this is a very serious, serious undertaking that the republicans are about to do, because they know they cannot achieve what they want, but they will do it because it drives, a political point. politically, you have to respond to that. >> final thoughts on this story. >> i want to live up to her expectations. [applause] i want our democracy to be as good as christina imagined it. i want america to be as good as she imagined it. all of us, we should do everything we can do to make sure that this country lives up to our children's expectations. [applause] >> president obama remembering 9-year-old christina taylor

green, who was born on 9/11. as we closed the program, i am struck and reminded by are fred allen ginsberg -- our friend allen ginsberg -- a white republican judge was killed on the way to meet his friend, a democratic congresswoman who was jewish. her life was saved by an injured, a mexican-american intern and later by a korean-american surgeon. >> our dream for the best of america, and the truth of the best of america. there are parts that are not so wonderful, and what the president was calling on everybody to do is help the good part to triumph over the ugly and evil part. i am cynical enough to be not sure what is going to win. >> i did it is a beautiful

portrait of for our country is today -- of where our country is today. i wish we ever take it live up to that portrait -- every day could live up to that portrait, and we don't. but perhaps that is something else we can take out of this tragedy, how diverse this country is, how successful it can be as a diverse country as well. >> colby, 20-year-old daniel hernandez heard the gunshot and ran towards it, rather than away, a natural reaction. >> that is why he is a hero and why the president would like to call him a hero. so many of the people run the other way at the sign of danger. the fact that he did that distinguishes him from a lot of people in this country --. . >> charles, did he come from your medical experts and background, pulled her up? >> it is a close thing, and she

was losing a lot of blood. they got to her in 38 minutes. a truly remarkable. a tribute to american diversity, your wisdom, how strong this the society we are -- hero was and, how strong a society we are. it should have been a week of nothing but sorrow and grief in answer to the, the thinking about common humanity. unfortunately, it was a week or a lot of calumny. the president rightly ended it on the good note. >> gordon peterson will be back next week. >> for a transcript of this broadcast, log on to insidewashington.tv.