Yes, both were shootings, and both Gabrielle Giffords and Martin Luther King were public figures, but there, the similarities end. Surely Holder didn't mean to imply that Dr. King was gunned down by an apolitical deranged man who paid no attention to politics. So apparently he is suggesting that there remains some political dimension to the attacks last week.
Although the facts have emerged making it crystal clear that politics had nothing to do with Loughner's attack, my guess is that those on the left -- in the media, included -- will continue to try to make linkages between the Giffords shooting and assassinations or political violence visited on liberals in the past.
Over time, as they know, memories dim and the "official version" as recounted endlessly by those speaking with a megaphone can shift people's opinions and recollections -- recall how the public view of the sexual harassment charges leveled against Clarence Thomas shifted (from more believing him than his accuser during the hearings, to more believing the accuser a year later -- after the Justice had gone silent but hostile media hadn't).
One wonders whether, despite all facts, the lefties in this country will continue to equate the Loughner shooting with political attacks -- until it becomes part of common lore through sheer repetition with no basis in fact . . . a little bit like the Superbowl Sunday myth.