In the next day or two, I'm certain two things are going to come up in the wake of the assassination of the Hon. John M. Roll, as well as the attempted (so far) assassination of Rep. Giffords. The right wing is going to point out that this terrorist was mentally disturbed (likely true, as are most terrorists), and folks on the left are going to feel guilty and start pretending that it would be inappropriate to 'exploit' this terrorist act as a political issue.
I'm sorry, but after the years of the radical right intentionally undermining people's trust in government, eroding gun control, using racist slurs, and violent images (Sarah Palin just last year published an image of Rep. Giffords in the crosshairs of a gun sight), this IS political.
To pretend otherwise is no different from an abused spouse saying "If I had just been more polite, my partner wouldn't have hit me so much."
There have been increasing violent threats and attacks by the radical right in the last four years, including mail bombs just this weekend against government officials, all of them Democrats, by the way -- a distinction that, if history is any indicator, will spread to moderate Republicans next, followed by any elected official. We can thank, among others, the Supreme Court's decision that the second amendment provides individuals with the right to take violent action against the government
In the meantime, after-the-fact platitudes by Tea Party folks will ring hollow, unless they follow it up with concrete action in their rhetoric, membership, and funding.
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I have no love for Gov. Palin, and as the days pass after this horrible, horrible incident I think much of the attention will be directed toward the rhetoric that has characterized so much of our public discourse of late. However, though this may seem like a distinction without a difference, in fairness to Palin I think it should be clarified that the image of the gun sight was placed over Rep. Giffords's district, and not her face or image itself. I think it was wholly inappropriate either way, but it wasn't quite as inflammatory as if it had been a picture of Rep. Giffords.
ReplyDeleteI assumed this post was satire, but for some strange reason I think you are not trying to be funny. Wow - instead of blaming the RIGHT, let's blame this dude who everybody said was a nutter! This (I can assure you) is not political. Having an area on a map placed in a gun sight does not cause a normal dude to off somebody. Your post displays the intellect of an infant.
ReplyDelete-Pat