Is there any chance that todays events (Gifford) will bring about a return to civility?

[peacebird]

Do you think it is possible that this tragedy could possibly bring about a return to reasoned discussion, the ability to agree to disagree? Or is the teaparty and its RW cheerleaders-in-media going to continue to threaten 2nd amendment remedies, and continue saying that the tree of liberty needs to be refreshed with blood?

Is not the blood of a hope-baby born on 9/11/01 more than sufficient??? The only "good" i can hope for (being a natural "Pollyanna") is that perhaps this event - tied to the Palin poster, Angle's "second amendment remedies", Beck, Limpballs, etc - might be, perhaps, might be *just* enough to shame average Americans into abandoning the teaparty..

what do you think?

[Iggo]

1. Murdering children brings about civility?

Since when?

[peacebird]

8. absolutely NOT what I meant, but since the TP crowd quotes "tree of liberty must be watered..."

so frequently i was making a leap that even THEY must accept that the blood of a child should totally satisfy THEIR requirement....

I am just hoping that this incident will cause people to wake up - realize that the talking heads get rich off fomenting divisions between us, that we are all Americans regardless of political idealogy.

I am hoping this will bring the temperature of rhetoric back down to civilized levels.

I did not mean the murder of a nine year old girl was in any way good....

[Iggo]

11. Ah, the long run. Of course.

I've got a short fuse today. Please accept my apology. I'm sorry.

[peacebird]

30. no worries Iggo! I think we are all on tenterhooks today...

[somone]

2. They'll tone it down for a couple of months

maybe

[GoCubsGo]

31. They're not even toning it down now.

Go to Yahoo, and read the comments on any of the stories related to this incident. Or to Huffington Post. Or, to some of the posts here where folks are relaying what they've seen elsewhere. They are not only not toning it down, they're blaming liberals and Democrats for it. They won't even take responsibility for it. What makes you think they're going to tone it down?

[somone]

37. I think you're right.

Goddamn fuckers.

[HubertHeaver]

3. No

[varkam]

4. No -- because folks on the right will refuse to accept...

that incivility and incendiary rhetoric had anything to do with today's events. Some other cause will be identified and blamed as a scapegoat, and so there will be no retreat from the sort of increasingly violent speech we've come to expect from the right.

[Penguin31]

5. They'll tone it down...

...for about six weeks, wait until the heat dies off, then turn up the nonsense to 11 again.

[tonydbaby]

6. Palin is responsible or is She?

The days of the coldwar/ Cuba crisis is back when US politicians are being assasinated

[peacebird]

10. I have absolutely no idea what you are trying to say....?

[Raine]

17. Of course Palin is not responsible in the least

it's all Castro's fault. :sarcasm:

[WinkyDink]

27. Chavez.

[aquart]

7. Well, our congresspeople are a tad rattled.

Remember this has only happened once before to Cornelius Ryan? So they thought they could rant and lie and no consequences. Now a Republican-appointed judge got hit with the Democrat. The world is a much more frightening place.

[GSLevel9]

9. for about a week...

[grahamhgreen]

12. Possibly. All of congress may now band together out of fear

and actually start delivering for the people, but I doubt it...

[Bluebear]

13. That, or this is the first part of a burning fuse :(

[AsahinaKimi]

14. Right wing radio makes its money

on negative rhetoric and vitriolic statements. That won't stop until the Sponsors stop buying advertisements.

[OmahaBlueDog]

15. To take your thought a step further -- the rhetoric has to become increasingly outrageous.

Otherwise, the show becomes boring and no one listens.

[Mariana]

25. The Sponsors won't stop buying advertisements

unless people stop listening. The audiences tune in to these shows in the first place because they WANT to hear negative rhetoric and vitriolic statements. If they don't hear that, every single day, they'll turn their radios right off. The shows are more likely to lose advertisers if they DO tone it down.

[OmahaBlueDog]

16. This will probably serve to drive some, if not many independents away from the Tea Party bandwagon

To some degree, it will have the impact on the conservative movement that the OKC bombing had in the 90s.

[Raine]

18. No, especially since the ones who are responsible

the RW hate mongers keep denying it and those elected from our side keep their lips buttoned, even though they know. :argh:

[Monk06]

19. No the Palinites will be more circumspect about gun imagery if they are smart but that's

it. Standard press release of remorse will be issued
with the standard denial that people kill people guns
don't kill people. Some mush about Loughner suffering
from the mental illness of leftism and then back to
business as usual.

[area51]

20. 0% chance.

The rightwing has a huge amount of psychopaths in it. For there to be a chance, they would have to have empathy, human emotions, etc,, instead of being psychopaths and sociopaths. Not a chance.

[JI7]

21. Oklahoma bombing didn't , so why would this ?

it might quiet down for a while. but already the whore media is doing anything they can to say this has nothing to do with the right wing teabagging haters.

killing of Tiller didn't do anything either.

[peacebird]

33. the militia groups scurried back into dark corners to hide after Oklahoma...

Killing of Tiller did nothing, that's true - but they didn't see his death as anything other than a positive (it "saved" the babies...)
This is different in that a nine year old girl was slaughtered, and five others, but I think the childs death may give them pause - or at least cause some of their membership to rethink affiliation.

[JI7]

38. kids died during Oklahoma , those militia types ARE the tea baggers

and other wingnuts.

[mmonk]

22. No. These people do not live in the real world.

They are baited and driven into hatred by the Republican Party, Tea Party movement, and the lies and hate speech of rightwing media. In order for there to be a return to civility, these movements would have to change their character and behavior. I don't see that happening with the mind framing of weak American minds that has taken place. They have proven they are violent win or lose. That indicates a lack of an ability to pacify their hatred.

[Skidmore]

23. That depends upon us.

Do we want to demand that our elected officials rein in these people and that the media quit encouraging polarity and divisiveness for ratings? It is up to us entirely to step forward and demand a return to civility and lawful actions. It means a collective resounding ENOUGH! and the willingness to engage constructively.

[tom_paine]

24. No.

:mad: :mad: :grr: :mad: :nuke: :grr:

[WinkyDink]

26. I'm sure many of us were around in 1968. Did THAT year lead to "civility"?

[jonnyblitz]

28. Since their whole movement is being collectively blamed they will

only get more shrill and defensive.

[muriel_volestrangler]

29. No, no more than the death of Princess Diana discouraged paparazzi and the papers who use them

Posturing with guns and shooting metaphors is part of the very being of Palin, Tea Party types, Beck Limbaugh etc. And these people don't know 'shame' in the sense that normal people do. They will insist that these murders had nothing to do with them, that any discussion like that is 'politicisation' of it, or just 'an attack on the blameless right wing', and they'll go back to fashioning a culture of violence among their more borderline followers.

[Joanne98]

32. NO!

[Tesha]

34. No. (NT)

[quaker bill]

35. For a bit

but not all that long. One would hope this sort of event would be enough, but I do not expect so.

[CanonRay]

36. Zero to -1%

The right will correctly be blamed (again) and will become the victim, and get even worse, if that's possible. They glory in their victimhood. Persecution complex.

[backscatter712]

39. No. They'll make a big show of "being civil" then go back to the same old shit. n/t

[walldude]

40. It's going to get worse now.

We can't even agree on DU that what the right did over the past year was a MAJOR factor in this tragedy. There will be no consequences for the actions of the people who openly called for the death of liberals, whether in metaphor or not. Therefore they will take it a step further than they went last time. Pushing the envelope. Palin's camp is denying that those are even crosshairs on that map.

When Dr Tiller was killed, and O'Reilly walked away, proud of his comments about "Tiller The Killer" I knew things were going to get worse. And they sure did. Now we have 6 dead, but the hand of a lunatic. And they will use the fact that he's a nut to distance themselves from the link between their "kill the liberals" crap.


Oh and one more thing, Palin was clever, she can use the excuse that "it was just a metaphor". Beck, Hannity, Coulter, Limbaugh, however have all called specifically for the death's of liberals.