Following the mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona that left six dead and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (R-AZ) in the hospital, there have been calls for politicians and pundits to back off violent rhetoric.
But tea party favorite Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) isn't about to let the tragedy change his tone.
Prior to the shooting, Republicans in the House introduced "The Repealing the Job-Killing Health-Care Law Act." Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) used the phrase "job-killing" eight times in one briefing on Jan. 4.
Most Republicans dialed back that rhetoric in the wake of the shooting.
"Whether it’s job-killing, job-destroying, job-crushing, job-ending, job-eliminating, job-preventing, job-limiting, job-hurting, job-excising, job-removing, job-exterminating, or job-doingawaywith – the point is clear," Cantor later said.
In an interview broadcast on ABC Sunday, Lee refused to follow Cantor's lead.
"The shooter wins if we, who’ve been elected, change what we do just because of what he did," Lee told ABC.
And Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) may agree.
Speaking to Fox News' Chris Wallace Sunday about whether Republicans would force a shut down of the government if Democrats didn't agree to deep spending cuts, McConnell used some violent imagery of his own.
"Nobody is going to put a gun to anybody's head here," he said.
