Lawmakers continue drumbeat for more civil political discourse

Lawmakers continued the drumbeat for more civil political discourse Sunday, despite one of the two doctors serving in the Senate noting that the discussion should not be linked to the actions of a mentally ill man in last weekend’s Tucson shooting.

Updating viewers on Rep. Gabrille Giffords’ (D-Ariz.) condition, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand noted on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the Arizona Blue Dog had called for more civil debate before being shot in the head at a meet-and-greet with constituents.

“We have to as leaders, as a body of government, come together and do the people’s business,” she said.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on NBC that he and Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn are “good examples” of lawmakers who disagree politically but “keep it civil.”

Schumer suggested that if lawmakers “tone it down then maybe the media will be less vociferous.”

Coburn said all the talk of political discourse shouldn’t suggest that there was a connection to a “mentally deranged” suspect, Jared Lee Loughner, 22, falling through the cracks of the system and being able to legally buy a gun.

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“I’ve pretty well been disgusted with all of the right and the left after this episode,” Coburn said, noting they continue to press a connection to the shooting.

“We’re disconnecting what the real problems are in this country,” he said.

Gillibrand said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that a proposal for Republican and Democratic lawmakers to sit together later this month during President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address might just be a symbol, “but it’s a good place to start” on working together and creating a more civil environment on Capitol Hill.

Schumer announced Sunday that he and Coburn are going to sit together during the speech.

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said among lawmakers’ biggest challenges will be “taking this tone into the future.”

Asked about her past use of harsh rhetoric, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said on the show that she plans to use words more carefully. She has no plans, however, to “debate my values and my constituents’ values any less vigorously.”

In an apparent shot at talk radio hosts, Wasserman Schultz said it is time to “push the shock jocks out” of public policy debates.