Jason Loughner's Voting Record Protected by Washington Post: Voting Record Appears More Democrat than Republican

The Washington Post now is trying to distance itself from the vitriol of the left that seeks to further divide this country in the aftermath of the Gabrielle Giffords shooting. Chris Cillizza writes:

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, liberals sought to paint Loughner as an anti-government, tea party conservative. Conservatives retorted that Loughner lacked anything close to a coherent political philosophy -- a case strengthened by subsequent glimpses into his personal life that suggests someone struggling with mental illness.

Loughner's decision to affiliate as an independent rather than a Republican or Democrat would seem to affirm the sense that while he targeted Giffords in the attack, it was not a decision born of a set of deeply held political beliefs that fit neatly into either party.

Cillizza managed to look up the voting records of Jason Loughner. He discovers that Loughner voted in 2006 and 2008, but failed to vote in 2010. If there was any research of candidates Loughner supported, they weren't printed in the article. I wonder why. Surely they would ask those who knew him which candidates he supported. Did Loughner Barack "bring your gun to the knife fight" Obama?

Let me go out on a limb here. While Loughner is still relatively new to voting, consider he voted in 2006 and 2008, which were years with high Democratic turnout filled with the rhetoric of the winds of change, but he did not vote in 2010, which was a year of lower Democratic turnout and less enthusiasm for Democrats. While this doesn't prove anything, it sure helps make the case that in 2010, Loughner wasn't inspired by the Tea Party movement, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, or the GOP to get out and vote.