The targeting of Gabrielle GiffordsThe Arizona congresswoman shot on Saturday had ominously predicted the possible consequences of violent rightwing rhetoric
Alex Hannaford guardian.co.uk,
Sunday 9 January 2011 03.12 GMT
In March last year, Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona congresswoman who was shot in the head in Tucson around lunchtime on Saturday, was interviewed on the MSNBC news channel. Just the day before, she had voted in favour of Obama's healthcare reform, and that night, the door of her office was destroyed.
She told the interviewer she wasn't fearful for her life, but that protesters' rhetoric was becoming "incredibly heated". She was asked if the Republican leadership should have spoken out more to denounce the violence. Diplomatically, she said both parties should. But then, she recounted how she was on Sarah Palin's hit list. "We have the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district," she said. "And when people do that, they've got to realise there are consequences."
Giffords was referring to a map of the US that Palin had posted on her website. There were a number of gun sights; one was for Giffords. But shortly after the shooting on Saturday, it mysteriously disappeared from Palin's site.
That's not all. Giffords' Republican opponent in the 2 November race for a seat in the House of Representatives was Jesse Kelly. He had held a campaign event in which he invited his supporters to "Get on Target for Victory in November". He asked them to "Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office – shoot a fully automatic M15 with Jesse Kelly."
More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jan/09/usa-arizona
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