No more excuses for domestic terrorism

[nashville_brook]

It is no accident that the American Southwest has grown increasingly violent. From armed militias on the border, to senatorial candidates touting "Second Amendment remedies," the American Southwest has been a laboratory used by mainstream Republicans to exploit the narrative of extremist groups, using the banner of "immigration reform" to put lipstick on their mendacious piggies seeking office.

Now, with the assassination of a Federal Judge and the near assassination of beloved congresswoman, it is our responsibility to look this aggression straight in the eye, not make excuses for these terrorists, and get about the business of ridding our political discourse of the narrative of "don't retreat, reload."

I am deeply concerned that people seem anxious to put aside the political realities of this narrative of aggression that has produced this horrific tragedy. I believe that this is something that all people of good faith could agree on: we are a nation that resolves conflict without loading a gun in the first place -- much less "reloading."

The argument that the shooter was potentially insane holds no water for me. Is every suicide bomber mentally competent? Or, are the weakest used by the powerful to carry their bombs, their guns and their "messages"?



Sarah Palin likes to pose with guns, and the Republican National Committee uses gun possession as a litmus test for fitness of office. Do not think for a minute that these elites intend to open fire on congressional democrats -- they are cowards, encouraging the weakest of their flock to do their dirty work, because this gives meaning to their campaign slogans in the real world.

The unfolding discussion around this tragedy has opened my eyes to the horrific reality that there are those who would give cover to domestic terrorists. They're using the First Amendment as their golden shield. That we can't regulate speech is a burning straw man because no one intends to regulate speech, we intend to hold those using the threat of domestic terrorism accountable for the deaths they're responsible for.

The so-called "mainstream" American right wing has been using the threat of domestic terrorism for decades. They've been couching their discourse in the life-or-death struggle with "death panels," and that the president is a Muslim infiltrator, and that immigration is destroying the country. You can't scratch these rage nuts for years on end, without getting a violent rash.

For years, mainstream Republicans have been chipping away at the seal holding back an insurrection of violence in this country. Now the seal has been broken, and the American Right Wing, the Tea Party, and all their minions in the media with blood on their hands have nowhere to hide. They were so eager to "water the tree of liberty" with the blood of innocents and the soul of our nation. Well, congratulations -- you've got what you asked for.



There is no mental exam that can excuse political assassination and the shooting of 19 people at a political event. It was a planned massacre, aimed directly at a political leader of a specific stripe, carried out by people with a philosophy of hate.

Because the threat of domestic terrorism is real, as we saw yesterday, there is no longer any excuse...no longer any political cover...for political leaders exploiting the fears of the weakest in their flock for their short term political gain. No more targets on congressional districts. No more guns touted at political rallies. The protest signs weren't funny then, and they can no longer be excused as oblique.




The threat to our country, and specifically to our party is very real. If you don't think this is serious, you're not paying attention.

[stray cat]

1. Regardless of politics, there is no place for terrorism or mass murder

[nashville_brook]

2. it's truly disturbing there are those who're trying spin this otherwise.

[Laelth]

3. Well said. k&r n/t

-Laelth

[nashville_brook]

4. i've actually seen is it said that "we don't want to come down too hard"

on the shooter, b/c that will give the militias "reason" to start shooting. i have a real problem with that. and i have a real problem with either Dems or GOP'ers giving cover to terrorists.

[Laelth]

36. Lots of people see the world through a purely political lens.

Their first thought is always "How will this make me look?" instead of "What is the right thing to do?" In a nutshell, that's the difference between your "pragmatist" Democrats and principled liberals who happen to vote for Democrats. I can play politics, occasionally, but that's not my natural, default lens. My default lens is ethical, as is yours, it appears.

-Laelth

[nashville_brook]

39. my damn ethical lens has been fairly good to me; inconvenient, sometimes...

but, mostly good to me.

something a professor said to me, that's taken me a couple of decades to understand, is "you're moved by ideas." and since he was my political theory teacher, he meant a certain kind of idea...justice. i didn't understand this b/c i thought everyone was moved by justice -- the idea of right and wrong.

but, he was right. not everyone is moved by ideas. people are moved by emotion. and this is something that all too often liberals fail to understand. these crazy shooters are moved by the emotional content...the dog whistles...that are fed to them constantly on FOX, hate radio and on a jillion different incendiary RW websites. their rage nuts are in a constant state of arousal while liberals (many of us) live in the world of ideas; appealing to better angels, and writing letters to our congress folk.

[DirkGently]

40. Hatred / fear is simple, but powerful. Thus its endless manipulation by those w/no argument.

[Laelth]

58. I have found my devotion to justice particularly irritating.

Most people do not share it. But it defines me, for better or for worse.

-Laelth

[nashville_brook]

79. heh heh -- i totally get that!!

i irritate myself constantly :evilgrin:

[Raksha]

91. In other words, we should give the bullies exactly what they want

by allowing them to intimidate us.

Re "...it is said that 'we don't want to come down too hard' on the shooter, b/c that will give the militias 'reason' to start shooting."

Mission accomplished, huh? If the mainstreaming of right-wing domestic terrorism is allowed to succeed, and I mean more than it has already, this country is going to turn into one big collective nightmare of anarchy and violence...I mean more than it has already.

All Democrats, centrists and progressives--in other words, all sane Americans-- need to be united and consistent on the message that we will no longer tolerate armed and dangerous thugs setting the political agenda via intimidation.

It's been going on for way too long already.

[DirkGently]

5. We'll be told it's a coincidence another "lone nut(s)" targeted liberals.

And yet, when someone simply takes them at their word, and treats "Libruls" as the threat to life, liberty and America that rightwing leaders, high and low, always say they are, they express shock. How could this happen? We never meant them to be "gunsights." You can't take us seriously when say the government is your deadly enemy and doctors are murderers. You can't expect us to change what we're saying because a CRAZY PERSON took us seriously and responded as though we spoke the truth.

So they continue. As long as as hysterical threats and calls to arms and the demonization of people with whom they disagree works, rightwingers and the Republican Party in general will keep doing it. No one's pushed back yet, so why stop?

And get ready for the desperate flailing to defend the entitlement of rightwingers to defend their tactics. This was a "lone nut." The "left" does "the same thing." A few liberals getting shot here and there is the price we have to pay for "free speech." It's not terrorism when rightwingers do it. Etc. It will get as loud and as long as it needs to be to make sure Michele Bachmann can still hint that the Census might be a plot to round people up into internment camps, and Steve King can still shrug when someone murders an IRS employee.

But at what point do we stop accepting that narrative? Not after abortion clinics were bombed. Not after Dr. Tiller and other abortion providers were assassinated. Not after the attack on the Holocaust Museum. Not after the killings at the Unitarian Church. Not after the woman looking for Beck's "FEMA deathcamps" was stopped with a wagon full of rifles. Not after the convict loaded up to attack the ACLU and the Tides Foundation shot it out with police. Not when Rand Paul's goons kicked a prostrate woman in the skull, making her brain bleed.

Not now?

So, when? When will stop accepting the narrative that the rightwing can consistently ratchet up its rhetoric with dark hints of gunfire and blood in the streets, exhorting their faithful to "buy all the ammo you can" and "be ready," and then shrug when someone actually takes them at their word and tries to "start the revolution?"

Nashville's right. It's never the demagogues who pick up a weapon. They have their listeners, viewers, and adherents to do that. The mentally unstable kid or disaffected worker or angry ex-husband, ex-con, ex-employee, looking for a target for their frustration, and the rightwing is there. Fox News is there. The "Tea Party" is there. Telling them to arm themselves against the coming apocalypse of progressive taxation or socialized medicine or gays in the military. Telling them, as the bumper sticker goes, that the liberals are coming for their "money, guns and freedom."

They talk in these terms freely, and at the highest level, knowing it's bullshit and, when pressed hard, admitting it and pleading hyperbole or ignorance. Then they squint and shed crocodile tears when people do things that, if the things the rightwing routinely insists were true, would be the expected response from anyone. If healthcare reform was a plot to kill the elderly, as the Respected Senator Grassley blithely suggested, or if the President was a radical Muslim infiltrator without an American birth certificate as the Honorable Congressman Steve King smirkingly alluded from the floor of Congress. If abortion providers were bloodthirsty "baby killers."

If this is not what the rightwing wants, why do they speak in these terms? You can't shriek hysterically about your political opponents trying to kill people and destroy America, and then disclaim responsibility when some poor misguided soul makes the mistake of actually believing you. Why do they ask candidates for leadership of the Republican Party "how many guns you own?" What is it, exactly, they are promoting by painting any initiative they and their corporate sponsors oppose in terms of treason and the destruction of America and "the blood of tyrants?"

If they don't want violence, they shouldn't say things which, if taken at all seriously, would REQUIRE IT.

Most of them think they're being cute. They're entitled to act out this way, because conservatives are entitled to the benefit of the doubt. Witness the smirk on the "We came unarmed (this time)" gent in the last picture of NB's post. They're entitled strap on weapons and hint darkly at apocalypse. Or to hold unemployment benefits or the national debt ceiling "hostage" to get ... what? Tax breaks for billionaires? Another trillion in war funding? A cut to Social Security benefits? Look at how much they threaten, how blithely, for how little.

There IS NO parity to this violence and the hysterical rhetoric that feeds it on the "leftwing" as we will soon hear suggested, either. Imagine the outcry if a liberal or, say, immigrant group, had brought guns to a political speech, or kicked a woman unconscious in the street? ACORN was dismantled overnight based on a college kid's dishonest prank video, but the Tea Party's beating a woman senseless didn't even slow its candidate Rand Paul down. If these were rightwingers dead in the street, we'd be having an entirely different conversation. THAT would be labeled "terrorism," without a moment's debate.

The rightwinger's version of the "Tree of Liberty" is drowning, in the blood they've been screaming for since they lost the 2008 election and before. Blood they will tell us is only coincidentally only that of people they disagree with politically.

The question is, are we, as a country, going let it go, again?

[nashville_brook]

9. dead politicians is not the price for free speech, and anyone who says so

needs to be vigorously taken to task. it's the most cowardly of hidey holes. it's holding free speech hostage for the "right' to terrorize the Democratic party, people of jewish descent, immigration rights supporters, and anyone the GOP and their extremist minions decide are "outside the box."

"If they don't want violence, they shouldn't say things which, if taken at all seriously, would REQUIRE IT."

The entire Republican party is uses nothing but threats in their political discourse. They're going to hold the debt ceiling hostage, threatening to bankrupt the country which will cause a global financial collapse. They can't compete on the field of idea without their version of terror.

It's time to call an end.

[DirkGently]

18. Republican leaders will pull back at the last second, they think.

Brinkmanship's their game. Watch out, or we'll drop the baby. Don't make us mad -- we're kind of unstable. But not everyone plays extortionist games by the same rules. Sharron Angle was dumbfounded when called out on her "Second Amendment remedies." Well, yes, of course she was hinting that people might start shooting if she wasn't elected over Reid, but no one was supposed to call her on that. She'd just stop speaking to the press altogether, then.

We need to call them on it. Every time. Hold them accountable for the things that could, will and have happened when their threats and winking exhortations to violence come true.

[nashville_brook]

35. they look for all their political points in the darkest corners of the american psyche...

and the media and democrats have let them get away with it. as if thru the grace of god they'll see the light and pull back their words from the ether.

the damage has long been done. this is what we're left with. a dead 9 year-old. i keep coming back to that. a child had to die for this.

[russspeakeasy]

89. Thanks for a "direct to the heart" post...

[nashville_brook]

85. reminder -- this needs to be it's own OP

i'm jes saying.

[DainBramaged]

6. Hear hear

They can't take back the hate or explain it away.

[nashville_brook]

12. oh, but they are trying mightily -- dead politicos is the price for free speech,

haven't you heard.

:sarcasm:

one thing is for sure, this is mightily black and white. there's no shades of grey in-between. these people are monsters, and people who give them cover are no better.

[WillyT]

7. Outstanding !!! - K & R !!!

:applause::applause::applause:

:yourock:

:bounce:

:hi:

[nashville_brook]

13. howdy WillyT!!

it's been too long!

:bounce:

[Skidmore]

8. Everytime I see that first picture, the only think I think of is

that SP has us in her sights and is willing to pull the trigger. That she doesn't see people at the other end of that barrel, only targets.

[nashville_brook]

10. it's political "counting coup" for her -- those "targets" aren't real people

they're dollars in her bank account. they're speaking engagements. they're FB "friends."

and we've allowed it. our leaders have allowed it. we've appealed to their "better angels" while staring down the barrels of their guns. no more.

[Tsiyu]

11. Far too many view this as a game

They probably aren't going to stop playing.

All of HateAmerica Radio and TV will ramp up the violent rhetoric now. They have to; their listeners demand it. $$$$$$$

They take no responsibility.

The media create these monsters.

They will keep feeding them.

We can call them on it, but they won't stop until they feel threatened themselves (they will act as if they do feel threatened to further inflame their deranged minions, but if they really did feel at all threatened, they wouldn't push violent talk. They would have respect.)

I agree with your post. Just feeling realistic about what $$$$ does in the real world.

[Mulhane]

20. Leisure, brutality & stupidity

"The first step in a fascist movement is the combination under an energetic leader of a number of men who possess more than the average share of leisure, brutality, and stupidity. The next step is to fascinate fools and muzzle the intelligent, by emotional excitement on the one hand and terrorism on the other." (Bertrand Russell: Freedom, Harcourt Brace, 1940)

[DirkGently]

22. Dead-on.

[nashville_brook]

24. that, my friend, is spot on.

welcome to DU!

:toast:

[sulphurdunn]

44. I wonder what he meant by "emotional excitement"?

[nashville_brook]

50. ask Michele Bachmann.

or, Sharron Angle.

[sulphurdunn]

60. Ya think that's it?

Waving your arms, spouting gibberish, getting all worked up, frothy mouthed and glassy eyed with an ecstatic, toothy grin frozen on your face? I'm OK with that.

[nashville_brook]

76. I'm sorry, what are you referring to?

[sulphurdunn]

88. My mental image of a

Michele Bachmann rally.

[Tsiyu]

47. Apt quote Mulhane

Welcome to DU ...or thanks for posting if you've been around a while.

[nashville_brook]

37. we undermine their ability to profit on it by reigning in civil discourse

the outrage of these killings, and all the others, will not go away. we intend to pressure our representatives to call the other side on their use of violent rhetoric. we pressure advertisers to pull support from hate broadcasters. and most of all we call attention to this ourselves...call it out every time it occurs.

the right of freedom demands the responsibility of civility.

[Tsiyu]

48. It's a long hard struggle you face

Someone just posted here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x155885

About Boortz already on CNN claiming the guy was a "communist" or some such.

I know Boortz. I used to Board op/produce for his show.

He is paid very, very handsomely to spew the Corporate lies. He is very good at it, has no skin in the game except his paycheck and his investments, and he'll say whatever his Masters tell him to say.


They are all alike!!!!!


Money trumps peace, human life or decency.


When Boortz seriously feels threatened - and if he continues his own rhetoric he will be seriously threatened before long - then and only then will he back off.


The flames of civil war are like out-of-control fire when they get ignited - the murder/assassination this weekend is how wars are started. Don't count on any of those who fan the flames of violence to care what you say.


i wish I could say otherwise.

[nashville_brook]

52. so, you wish i'd just go away. and anyone else who refuses to let them get away with it.

is it better to say nothing...keep my powder dry? really, it's such a giant battle and they have all the money and guns and broadcast satellites...what's the point?

i'm choosing not to be so cynical about this that i remain silent. it's a lot harder road to travel than sitting back b/c really, "the deck is stacked against us."

[Tsiyu]

59. Nope

i keep kicking your thread because I agree with you

I've said that.

I'm not going away, not keeping my powder dry, and I've got so many "fuck you's" welling up in my chest right now it's a good thing I don't have the best long distance calling plan

Not asking that of you either.

but be prepared for the complete lack of integrity in those who fan the flames.

I guess I was just letting off my own steam, not trying to dissuade you

sorry for the misunderstanding

[nashville_brook]

63. :) sorries

see above, my thoughts on the ethical lens. i don't have many pressure points. my anger problem is that i basically don't have anger. but, i have this sense of justice, and it feels soooo wrong to imagine that there's no meaningful action to be taken in the midst of injustice.

you know, two summers ago, during the health care debate...when the tea party was catapulted into the national spotlight thru their town hall hissy fits...i saw this coming. it was especially bad here in florida. tampa in particular. and i thought we're staying away b/c we're afraid. we don't know what to do, and we don't have any who has our back the way the bullies do.

and that has to stop. we have to see ourselves as part of this, and our inaction as just much a "conscious effort" as their violent acts.

thanks for setting me straight! sorries. big time!

[Tsiyu]

66. de nada, baby

:hug:


It's a tough time. And i feel so frustrated becasue i know how those responsible for this latest violence - and for all the previous violence - are going to spin this.

But I join you in agreeing to call it out however I must.

Peace, nashville_brook. I almost always agree with your posts :P and there are few I can say that about

[nashville_brook]

84. ...

:hug: backatcha....

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. This is not a game

and it is time people wake up

[AspenRose]

17. Indeed...they need to wake the hell up

[nashville_brook]

33. there are too many cowards hiding behind the "all fair" in political gamesmanship

shield. I really like what you wrote about the mental illness angle.

the cowards are also holding the first amendment hostage -- as in, a few dead people is the price we pay for freedom of speech.

there's a gasping chasm between criticizing threats of violence for political gain, and regulating speech. this is connecting the dots -- they OWN this baby they've created.

[EFerrari]

15. We saw this coming for the last 2 1/2 years at very least

when Palin decided to take her rhetoric over the top and keep it there.

[DirkGently]

19. Because she doesn't really mean it. Except she does, or rather, couldn't care less what it means.

. . . As long as she can get rich saying it. After all, it won't be her the "lone nuts" come after. She's wholesome and whatnot.

[EFerrari]

21. That's what racists say about their code. Racists like Palin.

The only difference is she and the rest of the right have expanded the use of code to call for hatred and violence against liberals.

[DirkGently]

27. ... then feign dismay when someone takes them at their word.

[nashville_brook]

32. i remember...way back in college...wondering when it would come to that...

when they'd just openly call for shooting liberals. and when they finally did start with that rhetoric, things had grown so disjointed that it barely registered. it hardly seemed unexpected that Cheney would call liberals 'anti-american" -- that's why we needed a KO to come along and help us get our righteous anger back.

well, it's back. hello, anger, my old friend.

[nashville_brook]

23. and she was really just the highest profile...bachmann, malkin, coulter, limbaugh, beck, hannity

the list goes on and on.

these cowardly thugs scavenge the narrative of extremist groups -- making it "pretty" enough for mass consumption -- and dishonestly attempt to distance themselves from it. they know exactly what they do.

they've had blood on their hands for years...we either stop it now, or never.

[EFerrari]

25. That's right. I couldn't agree more. n/t

[DirkGently]

28. Someone ought to ask Sharron Angle if this is what her "2d Amendment remedies" look like.

She was very clear (until she stopped talking to the non-Murdoch press) that the right to keep and bear arms would come into play if sufficient numbers of Republicans were not elected. If this isn't exactly what she had in mind, what was?

[nashville_brook]

31. god, i would love to see that clip!!

b/c we know that's exactly what she meant.

[Xenotime]

80. Her unbridled hate speech is out of control.

[nashville_brook]

87. some are wondering if her political career might be over

http://firedoglake.com/2011/01/10/sarah-palins-political-career-may-already-be-over-but-if-its-not-it-should-be/

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. Like minds!

It is especially frightening how these politicians have been allowed to stir up their constituents using such heated rhetoric. They know what they're doing, tapping into hair-trigger personalities. I live in a right-wing community and have been shocked how people weave in the use of guns to express their level of anger. When someone lost water while they were showering they said of the construction workers outside, "I was ready to get my shot-gun." Another guy laughingly talked about sending a Commissioner a mail bomb. I listened to a young male who said, "I swear, I'll shoot whoever talks badly about so-and-so." He was red faced, so there was no question he was serious.

And these are the good people in this community! I also hear, "there's no jury in the land who will convict him," to suggest that there are some crimes you can commit and still get off the hook.

These people are living in a different reality than the rest of us. So it is especially frightening to have politicians tapping into this insanity, because the next step was just a matter of time.

We cannot allow the right-wing media to get off the hook and make it sound like this is a problem that affects both parties, because it isn't. This is mostly a right-wing affectation which has serious consequences.

[nashville_brook]

29. these RW wackos have a dual ego: they are victims who can't be stopped.

they want everyone to believe that their "rights" are being so trampled...by having to pay taxes!...that they "have no other option" but to threaten shotgun justice. the very existence of the union hangs in the balance you see, b/c....SOCIALISM! but what they really mean is "non-white people who scare me" b/c my radio/teevee tells me i must be scared of the people coming to take away my guns and women.

well, that's one level of the hell. then there's the cold-eyed Chamber of Commerce types who exploit the ignorance of the people lower on the scale, and on up the food chain to congressional leaders and senatorial candidates calling for "second amendment remedies."

these murders will stick to these so-called leaders who have used this violent rhetoric. they own it now.

[The Backlash Cometh]

30. That's a good distinction.

There are the people who are paranoid about everything, and then there's the people who are exploiting that paranoia.

[nashville_brook]

42. a poster upthread said that it won't end b/c they're making $$

well, that's the key, isn't it? no one wants to quell freedom of speech. but lets take the profit out of rhetoric that incites violence.

[DirkGently]

86. That would be an enormous step on the right direction. RW violence is a marketing device.

[DirkGently]

53. ... who take no responsibility for the results. Exactly.

[DirkGently]

34. Exactly. Victimhood and rebellion fed by the privileged, to the ignorant, angry, & disturbed.

[KoKo]

26. K&R! Off to the Greatist with You!

[scarletwoman]

38. Excellent OP! Rec'd!

[nashville_brook]

41. thank you, scarletwoman!!

:patriot:

[me b zola]

43. K&R

[cbc5g]

45. 38,000 people were killed in car crashes in 2008

Obviously car crashes are a threat to our national security and we must give up our freedom because of it.

:eyes:

[nashville_brook]

46. please explain the parallel btwn car crashes and RW calls to violence.

[DirkGently]

51. Who has to give up what "freedom?" Political assassinations are like car crashes? Whaaa . . .?

[nashville_brook]

54. exactly the kind of incoherence you get when you try to make excuses for terrorists

[DirkGently]

56. Buckle up for "dead liberals are the price we must pay for free speech." It's coming.

[nashville_brook]

81. shit -- i've heard that repeatedly already!

[Ikonoklast]

65. Thank you, Senor Non-Sequitor.

Must be a mental challenge for you to distinguish between calling for the death of your political adversaries and the voluntary activity of driving a vehicle.


Must be one of the right-wing analogies handed down from on high, I've seen that same one posted on other sites in the last day.


"Can't regulate political murder until we do something about car crashes!"

These people are insane.

[truth2power]

69. I think it was sarcasm. n/t

[nashville_brook]

78. it's interesting how the discussion of this is shaking out...

it seems non-controversial to me that this was a political assassination. also non-controversial that we should be asking that leaders and followers reign in of the rhetoric that inflames hatred of government. and likewise to call out those who continue to inflame these passions.

it's not unreasonable, nor is it impossible. we let the world know that advocating violence in political speech is a bridge too far, and those who continue to use it, do so at their own political peril. it needs to be seen as distasteful and wrong as...shesh, well, as advocating violence.

[DirkGently]

82. There will be a lot of push-back, because rage and threats are most of the right's "argument."

- Expect attempts to characterize the assassin as a liberal (happening already)

- Failing the above, expect attempts to characterize the left as using the same kind of murderous rhetoric as the right.

- Failing the above, expect harkening back to the violence of 60s radicals.

- Expect arguments that we can't tailor speech to accommodate how crazy people may respond (how many "Crazy People" who took the right at its word and started blasting is too many?)

- Expect all other forms of lunacy and disinformation.

It's VERY important to quite a few people that the Tea Party and conservative pundits not be shamed in their endless game of hinting more and more explicitly at violence and anarchy if they don't get their way. Take that away, and they've got to make an actual argument, and that's more work than they're used to. And tough to do, when your goals are shifting wealth and privilege ever-upward.

But they've run out of cliff to teeter over. They've already brought guns to speeches and talked about blood in the streets. They've already conflated something as innocuous as healthcare reform with "death panels" and the Holocaust.

They have nowhere left to go.

The main point the right cannot dodge is that if what they consistently say were TRUE, perfectly sane people would be expected to do what the assassin did. And it's not the message of the fringe; it's mainstream conservative dogma. "Death Panels." The "job-killing healthcare bill." The birth-certificate-less, illegitimate "Kenyan" in the White House. "Second Amendment remedies."

And let's keep reminding people how many "lone nuts" the right has spawned. This event isn't really as shocking as people are trying to pretend, if you consider recent events, from the Tiller assassination to the Tea Party curb stomping. Rightwing nuts are hardly loners at this point. They hold rallies. They have campaign managers. They get elected.


edited for tax of the syn. and wordelage.

[nashville_brook]

83. VERY important the Tea Party not be shamed...that's what I got listening to NPR

this morning.

mainstream media is having to REALLY tip-toe around the obvious problem here: rhetoric that espouses the destruction of government, might just get you there.

[jotsy]

49. Recommended

[blackspade]

55. Fucking A right!

Sarah Palin and her right wing henchmen like Beckkk and limpballs are totally responsible for this tragedy.
The right wing in this contry is awash in blood. Blood of innocent Americans that their terrorist followers have poured over the American discourse.
May they burn in the hell that they say they believe in.

[nashville_brook]

57. thanks blackspade...you're quite right, they're soaked in the blood of innocents.

[blackspade]

67. It absolutely makes my blood boil!

The right wing is bent on destroying this nation...and themselves with it.
I call them what they are, nihilists.

[Vattel]

61. I hate excessive rhetoric

[nashville_brook]

62. then you might want to try a celebrity gossip site.

[KeyserSoze87]

64. All of the Tea Party-backed Republicans must be fired.

They are the ones creating all of this violence. Fuck the Tea Party, and fuck Sarah Palin. They hate America, and don't want the economy to recover unless they get into power.

[Blue_In_AK]

68. Scenes from Sarah Palin's final governor's picnic 2008

An unafraid woman



Excellent post, NB. These people are very dangerous. We don't know for sure that Sarah Palin inspired this particular shooter, but her rhetoric is meant to enflame and we certainly see gun nuts everywhere she shows up. Remember this video from her boy Joe Miller's campaign? http://www.wikio.com/video/want-this-in-the-us-senate-3694575 Or the black ops guys he had "arresting" the journalist at his town hall? The media should stop giving these people a pass. They are un-American.

[nashville_brook]

75. great pics! i'm struggling with this...having lived in some very conservative areas

and being very active politically. i know that back in the 80s and early 90s there wasn't this level of aggression, so I have to think that what we see in these pics, and on tv, and when you google "tea party protest" is somewhat a creation of contemporary discourse.

i'm thinking, too, that the message that "government is the enemy" is particularly dangerous. this is one of those genies that isn't easily put back in the bottle.

[DirkGently]

77. "Govt. 'IS' the problem" works great for monied interests ready to take up the slack.

They've successfully divided the masses, convincing conservative-minded people to hate and distrust liberals / progressivism on a personal level, so the conversation can never get around to exactly who is actually screwing us all. Look, over there. It's a hippie, trying to away your gun. Please ignore the well-dressed gentlemen shipping your job overseas.

[bertman]

70. Excellent thread, nashville_brook. REC. What many of us liberals don't get

is that the right-wing hate machine has been grooming the nutcases with guns for this exact scenario, and grooming them for years. This is just the beginning of political assassinations of politicians on the left of the spectrum.

How many of you think that the FBI, police, or Homeland Security are going to protect us from these terrorists?

Be prepared to protect yourself and your loved ones.

There is nothing evil, immoral or wrong with defending oneself.

[nashville_brook]

74. agreed. these groups have been empowered and legitimized.

[truth2power]

71. Slightly OT, but if Sarah Palin fired that thing, would the recoil

knock her on her ass? I don't know much about firearms, but I'm just asking because this seems another indication that, with her, it's all pretense. Pfft!

[nashville_brook]

73. she really doesn't seem very confident with that gun.

[Overseas]

72. Thank you. K&R. //nt

[russspeakeasy]

90. There is no doubt that this was a political assination.

The msm will not mention political killings for fear it will
scare off  revenue.