There’s a guy in Alabama who’s going a little over the top, wouldn’t you say, in his response to health care reform:
The same day a brick crashed through her Niagara Falls office, Rep. Louise Slaughter (D) says her staff discovered an assassination threat aimed at her family members. The Democratic headquarters in Rochester was also targeted.
Agreed we don’t need that.
Democrat Bart Stupak reportedly received messages reading: “You’re dead. We know where you live.” His office released some of the messages it has received since the health care bill passed, declining to add further comment. “I hope you bleed, you (two-word expletive) and get cancer in the (not a nice word) and die, you (same two-word expletive),” one male caller told the congressman between curses.
A fax with the title “Defecating on Stupak” carried a picture of a gallows with “Bart (SS) Stupak” on it and a noose attached. It was captioned, “All Baby Killers come to unseemly ends Either by the hand of man or by the hand of God.”
“I think it is astounding that we are seeing this wave of vigilantism,” said Mark Potok of the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center.
The anti-abortion lawmakers also received a voice mail from a woman at his Capitol Hill office that said: “You are a bastard and a baby-killer.”
At the Democratic Party offices in Rochester, New York, windows have been smashed with bricks.
Hoyer says at least 10 members of Congress have reported threats.
The Tucson, Ariz., congressional office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was also vandalized a few hours after the House vote.
In Virginia, someone cut a propane line leading to a grill at the Charlottesville home of U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello’s brother after the address was posted online by activists angry about the health care overhaul. Perriello also said a threatening letter was sent to his brother’s house.
RNC chairman, Michael Steele said: “This November, they’re going to pay. So let’s start getting Nancy ready for the firing line this November”.
Sarah Palin talked about “targeting” certain members of Congress with “crosshair” icons on a U.S. map. “Don’t retreat–reload”, said Ms. Sarah.
CBC (Canadian) News reported:
On this day they (health care protesters) were clearly the majority and everyone cheered them on when they performed these miserable acts.
Making all this even more reprehensible were the actions of many Republican members who took to appearing on a balcony overlooking the legislature’s lawn and urged on the chanting crowd.
Keep in mind these Republican representatives of the American people were looking at placards with images of Obama in a coffin, hanging nooses and Nazis.
As well, there were several that referred to the new Republican senator from Massachusetts, Scott Brown, the anti-health-care campaigner who took Ted Kennedy’s old seat, with the message: “If Brown can’t do it, our Brownings will.” This latter message appeared over the drawing of an assault rifle.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/03/24/f-rfa-champ.html#ixzz0jAEFSBG0
Nice country we have here, don’t we? I weep for our kids and our grandkids. If this rhetoric isn’t stopped (and clearly, the mainstream media is doing nothing to stop it–thus providing tacit agreement), I fear an uprising, with many innocent people getting caught up in the “crosshairs”.
Agreed. Most of those spotlighted actions are rehensible. Our language can be used to incite protests or riots. I’ve seen pretty inflamatory statements even on this site.
People are angry. Nothing wrong with that. I fear things may get violent if our liberties are taken away.
It is now reported that Rep. Eric Cantor’s office was shot at. Reckless rhetoric and actions seemingly are not limited to one side of the political spectrum.
Fox News: Later Thursday, however, Richmond police said in a news release that the bullet had been fired into the air around 1 a.m. Tuesday. It finished its arc back to earth at a sharp downward trajectory, breaking a window pane on the bottom floor of the two-story brick building where Cantor’s campaign leases the top floor.
The spent bullet hit the floor about one foot inside the shattered pane. No one was in the building at the time. A police investigation has yielded no suspects.
Probably no less offensive than calling someone a bad name.
“The devil is in the details”
After reading both views of the above shooting. I followed the link to FoxNews.com and read their story. My opinion now is that this politician got caught stretching the truth. “It is reckless to use these incidents as media vehicles for political gain,” Cantor told reporters.
I agree with Mr. Cantor- on that one.