A Republican Congressman from Arkansas apologized after tweeting disparaging remarks about Democrats during the shooting on Capitol Hill.
Shortly after shots were fired on Thursday, Rep. Tim Griffin tweeted:
Gun shots outside the Capitol.— Tim Griffin (@TimGriffinAR2) October 3, 2013
One minute later, he tweeted: "Stop the violent rhetoric President Obama, Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi. #Disgusting." which he soon deleted, according to the Huffington Post and Washington Post.
He followed up about a half-hour later with a longer statement, also sent via Twitter:
"The victims and their families are in my thoughts and prayers. The shooting today is a terrible and inexcusable tragedy and an act of terrorism. No one but the shooter is to blame," he wrote. "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."
But Rev. Sharpton was unconvinced by the apology, excoriating Griffin for his remarks on Thursday's PoliticsNation.
"You have what we don't know what the attack was and he immediately blames it on the president, Senator Schumer, and Congresswoman former Speaker Pelosi, not even knowing what he's talking about," Sharpton said. "Not even knowing if it was some - God forbid - a terrorist attack. It could have been -- those could have been the ones that were being targeted."