Gasoline Drenched Flag Sent to Betty McCollum is Result of Bachmann/Palin-type Rhetoric on Health Care
This morning's Minnesota Independent reports that Rep. Betty McCollum, who voted for the strongest patient protections in American history, is among the Democratic legislators who voted for health care reform that have been subjected to threats, vandalism, and in some cases, violence.
“Betty McCollum you’ve been dry f***** by the liberal party.” So read a letter, which also contained a condom removed from its packaging, received by Rep. Betty McCollum’s office on Monday. Another letter contained a shredded American flag drenched in gasoline along with a note that reads, “It represents Obama and your liberal filth. Open the bag, it’s covered in the stench you’ve brought to our government … Because of you, we are now a country of dirt, shame, corruption and slime.”
McCollum’s is one of many congressional offices that are reporting threatening tactics by anti-health care reform activists, particularly members of the Tea Party movement. McCollum released a statement on Thursday saying she will not be intimidated: “I will not back down in the face of attacks, threats, and violence. I do not regret my vote, and I will proudly stand in the face of opposition and defend my support of health care reform.”
The kind of threatening tactics right-wingers are employing against pro-reform Democrats are the direct result of the "death panel" and "freedom fighter" rhetoric that Republicans have been using to incite fear, anger, and hate in the minds of their conservative base.
Take Minnesota's own Michele Bachmann, who just yesterday said she was "like Nostradamus" when she predicted last year that President Obama had "anti-American views."
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