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THAT is the issue. Not who wasn't "civil" enough in some comment posting, or isolated public comment. This is about making it so that ordinariy people now have to worry about themselves or their childrean being KILLED or INJURED at a local political event. It's about making people afraid to run for office as a Dem candidate, including current incumbents.
This is something that all Dem voters and polticians now have to worry about. Repubs do not. They are not threatened. THAT is what shows how one-sided this is. I would like to see a list of all serious threats of violence that have been received by politicians since 2008, and I'll bet that 90+% would be against Dems. I'd bet "the ranch" on it. And I'd win that bet. In fact, I think such a list should exist, and it should be known to local law enforcement, who could then provide better security at political events such as Giffords'.
How many here will now have to think twice about going to a meet-and-greet or a townhall for a Dem candidate in one of the "targeted districts"? Or taking one of your children or grandchildren along? The truth is, that such a basic political activity has now become a life-threatening experience. You could die there, that's how bad it has become. While that may be unlikely on a probability basis, it IS likely that a voter could be injured in a fight by a Repub disrupter at a townhall or other indoor event. Because that's the kind of thing they do nowadays. And Repub disrupters bring guns to events, that also is new and part of the tactics lately.
I don't know about you but yes, I'd think about those things when going to a political event now. It wouldn't stop me, but I'd think about it. Lots of people WILL BE stopped by it though, and will not attend political events anymore - especially in "hot" areas. What will that do to the chances of Dem candidates? More will lose and there will be fewer and this will grow. This is brown-shirt intimidation we're seeing now, and it will destroy our democracy if it's allowed to run its course without limiting it. It will have to be restrained sometime, and that will be easier to do now, than later as its strength grows.
Are BOTH SIDES facing the same danger? NO.
Repub candidates are not worried about being attacked violently and neither are their supporters. Why? Because THEY are the ones doing it. THEY are the ones intentionally whipping up THEIR contingent to do it, by means of demonizing hate and outright lies and disinformaation 24/7.
And that (lack of equal threat faced by Repubs) is the PROOF that only one side has the responsibility for this. It is a threat that is real, and it is serious, and it is being caused and created solely by Repubs. And this widespread climate of danger and fear could not have been created by grassroots individuals, but was done by organized top-level tactics. Intentionally. Repubs and only Repubs are RESPONSIBLE for this. I'm not talking about the specific shooting that occurred, I'm talking about the CLIMATE OF DANGER. Yes, they are responsible for it. And it must STOP. NOW. There can be no debate about that.
Repubs are accountable for the danger. Dems are the other side of it. If we don't bring this up, who will? And if we don't break out of the "both sides" argument, the point will be lost, much less DOING anything about it. We have to make this clear. And we have to INSIST that it stops.
This is a matter of life and death now. And it's a matter of our democracy.
To paraphrase Big Dog... it's the climate of danger and fear stupid. Don't lose the message in the confusion of this case. It's the danger and fear. This case is the proof of it. The Repubs are responsible for it. Only them.
The Repub leadership need to be co-defendants in this case, frankly. I wish they were. But we can at least make that case "in the court of public opinion". That, we can do. But we need to STAY ON MESSAGE.
Keep it simple, and keep coming back to the point. That's what I'd like to see, and what I hope for, anyway - from our writers and spokesmen including us. This case will be in the news for quite a while. We need to use that time and seize the moment, because this is important.
Any one of us could've been dead on that parking lot, or lying injured. Remember that.
Us, not the Repubs. They're not worried are they, and that's the point. They know they don't need to be worried, we do.
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