Fifteen months after the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords led to calls for politicians to tone down their rhetoric, Republicans and Democrats are prominently using “war” in their respective campaign messages.
Members of both parties had urged their colleagues to ratchet down the animus following the January 2011 assassination attempt on former Rep. Giffords (D-Ariz.), who was targeted by a gunman during a political event in her district.
Yet just over a year later, Democratic leaders are accusing Republicans of waging a “war on women,” while GOP presidential hopefuls, including Mitt Romney, have charged President Obama of engaging in a “war against religion.”