Monday, January 10, 2011

We Told You So. . .

First off, this post will offend a lot of my right-wing friends, and while I hate to be dick, I am angry, and this post is meant to share my anger with the world in a constructive way. Hopefully, you will understand why I'm angry, rather than get offended. But, with that said, we (the Left) told you (the Right) that your rhetoric was going to get someone killed. And it may have.

On Saturday, when I heard that Representative Giffords was shot, I immediately had a picture of a suspect in mind - white, conservative, and in his mid-20's to mid 40's. And guess what - so did everyone else. When asked, Giffords' father pointed the finger directly at the Tea Party, as did the Sheriff, and every other Democrat and/or liberal in this country. There's a good reason for that - Sarah Palin put a crosshairs on Giffords, her office was vandalized during the health care debate, protesters showed up to her events fully armed, and her Republican opponent held fundraisers where his supporters could shoot an M16 at target with her name on it.

Now, it may be the case that the gunman was not a conservative or a Tea Partier, but rather a lone nutjob with his own agenda. But here's the thing - does he fixate on Giffords without so much heat put on her by the right? Does he even know who she is? We don't know that much. But if it is true that he had no connection with the right wing, don't celebrate, or blame liberals, but rather, breathe a sigh of relief because you got lucky. Really lucky. By the way, in the two days that have passed since the shooting, Senator Bennett and Representative Danny Davis have both received death threats

And if you want to respond to this post by saying that Democrats or liberals are doing this too, please cite specific examples - not from commenters on an open website, but examples from liberals similar in stature to Glenn Beck, Sharron Angle, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, hell, I'll even go with someone equal to Michelle Malkin's stature. And that's the difference - there are nuts on both sides, but the conservative leadership is actively courting the crazies. And we warned you that this could have serious consequences. Hell, the night before she was shot, Congresswoman Giffords wrote to friends and colleagues to tone down the rhetoric.

And so, I say, we told you so. But guess what, whatever indignation and anger you might feel is nothing compared to the anger we liberals feel over the shooting. Everyone is losing. Oh, and don't you dare complain about the politicization of this tragedy - the attempted assassination of a political leader is a political.

5 comments:

  1. Wow...pegging this on Conservatives? Really? This is a new low, even for you Jim. You want examples? How about the DNC putting out a heat map with bull’s-eyes on those Republican Congressmen they are "targeting". How about President Obama saying "when they bring knives to the fight, we will bring guns."

    There was this kind of vitriol in the 60's, in the 80's, in the 90's...it reached new heights in the 2000's when Bush was President. If anything, it has died down the last couple of years because anytime someone criticized our fair president they were called racist.

    The NYT, Krugmann and you all need to settle down. This shooting was committed by a mentally ill individual who had no political ties or preferences. But hey, if you want to say that speech makes a difference, how about we start toning down the violence in movies? How about we start controlling the lyrics of popular music? How about we start paying closer attention to the things we put on TV or more tightly watching the violence in video games? Oh wait, we can't do that because that would be against the constitution.

    And while we are at it, do you think this applies to Hinckley, Jr. when he shot Reagan? Or the two different plots that were foiled when Bush was President? Do you have the same feelings that the Liberals needed to tone down their rhetoric then? Just wondering.

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  2. Wow, talk about false equivalencies. Bringing a gun to a knife fight is a well-known quote from "the Untouchables," and didn't point a gun at anyone.

    And yeah there was vitriol at Bush, but neither Kerry nor Gore shot off a M-16 at his picture as part of a fundraiser, nor did they suggest to their supporters that if they lost that the supporter should "look into their 2nd Amendment options," a la Sharron Angle, or called for a violent revolution, a la Michelle Bachmann. And of course, there was the gunman who shot several police on his way to attack the Tides Foundation (inspired by Glen Beck), and the gunman who shot up a Unitarian Church (and was inspired by Bernie Goldberg).

    Now, none of this speech is forbidden, and is all covered by the 1st Amendment. But keep in mind that if we continue done this path, progressives will start shooting back. In fact, over the weekend, one of the shooting victims threatened to do just that.

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  3. You are the one saying that the quotes of conservatives are leading to murder. It is just as likely that the Untouchables quote was the driver of this attack in Phoenix as it was something Palin said. This guy was nuts...mentally unstable. Not a right wing wacko and for you to suggest any such thing is irresponsible and, to use one of your progressive terms, "Hate Speech".

    And, hey, whole idea of Progressives shooting back...don't color me as scared...pretty sure the conservatives are better armed! :-)

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  4. Misplaced? Wrong? No evidence?? Yup...sure looks that way. http://m.cnn.com/primary/_mP1gAH-iaRVgd2Eui

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  5. Thought you would find this "civil discourse" interesting...at a Common Cause protest Jan. 30 participants in the rally were captured on video advocating the assassination of Scalia, Thomas, Thomas's wife and Chief Justice John Roberts. Two of them explicitly called for Justice Thomas, the court's only black member, to be lynched. One man also asserted that Fox News president Roger Ailes "should be strung up," adding: "Kill the bastard."

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