Sure, killing a doctor's wrong -- but don't overreact! (Salon re: Assorted Wingnuts)

[struggle4progress]

Randall Terry says abortion provider George Tiller "reaped what he sowed," then invites reporters out for chicken
By Mike Madden

June 2, 2009 | WASHINGTON -- A day after Dr. George Tiller was murdered in his Kansas church, antiabortion groups had an urgent message for policymakers Monday morning: Sure, killing is wrong, but let's not overreact here.

"We call upon President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid, pro-choice leaders in the House and the Senate not to repeat the mistakes of the Clinton administration in the mid-'90s and use this tragedy for political gain," said the Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, head of the Christian Defense Coalition. Mahoney called a press conference on the steps of the Supreme Court to condemn Tiller's murder -- and also to hype last month's Gallup poll that found a narrow majority of Americans described themselves as "pro-life" rather than "pro-choice." (Never mind that a clear majority in the same poll also said abortion should be legal at least under certain circumstances.) "We have the loss of a life here. It would be a double tragedy for those who oppose the pro-life movement to take this episode and use it to paint the pro-life movement with a broad brush of extremism and violence." Mahoney couldn't manage to make Tiller's death sound very tragic, however. He got more worked up talking about President Obama's pro-choice policies. He read aloud a statement by the head of an allied organization, Operation Save America, that began, "Someone chose to end George Tiller's life," before moving on to pro forma condolences.

The administration sent U.S. marshals to protect abortion clinics on Monday, and pro-choice groups and advocates for abortion providers said they expected the Justice Department to bring the full force of the law down on Scott Roeder, the suspect in Tiller's death. But the message from Mahoney, basically, was that no matter how committed Roeder was to the anti-choice cause, there's no reason for the government to do much about it. And that Homeland Security report warning of right-wing terrorism? Still overblown, as far as Mahoney was concerned. He complained that it suggested pro-lifers and "other people of good will" were "somehow connected to terrorism."

Antiabortion activists had reason to be worried Monday. Tiller's murder is unlikely to help them win over more converts to their cause, regardless of the Gallup poll Mahoney was touting. The press conference was in front of the Supreme Court in part because pro-lifers worry that Sonia Sotomayor is some sort of radical pro-choice zealot, but her actual record on the issue is so thin that the White House had to meet with choice groups to reassure them. Still, the slaying probably means Republicans in the Senate have even less incentive to turn her confirmation hearings into a referendum on abortion. Sotomayor will begin a round of meetings with key Senate Judiciary Committee members on Tuesday, and aides say the Senate is on track to get hearings going later this summer ...

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/06/02/tiller/

[tularetom]

1. I hope the "Rev." Mahoney is able to muster the same amount of indignation

toward the molesters and pedophiles in his own ranks.

[Avalux]

2. In other words, Tiller deserved to die and they're glad he's dead.

These freaks are no different than zealots of any religion who believe killing is justified in the name of their hateful god.

[PM Martin]

3. So Patrick Mahoney is justifying murder.

I see.

Perhaps the FBI among others needs to investigate him.

[lk9550]

4. Fuck I hate anti-abortion types

Bunch of hypocritical fuckheads.