Gunfire in the Land of Political Hatemongers

[unhappycamper]

U.S. politics have become increasingly radicalized — and the tragic climax is the attempted assassination of Congresswoman Giffords. And all this is happening while agitators such as Sarah Palin are now switching to conciliatory tones. But how long will the sudden truce in rhetoric last?


Gunfire in the Land of Political Hatemongers
Der Spiegel, Germany
By Gregor Peter Schmitz
Translated By Chris Sagona
9 January 2011
Edited by Julia Uyttewaal

U.S. politics have become increasingly radicalized — and the tragic climax is the attempted assassination of Congresswoman Giffords. And all this is happening while agitators such as Sarah Palin are now switching to conciliatory tones. But how long will the sudden truce in rhetoric last?

~snip~

Tea party members long ago put Giffords in their crosshairs, not only because of her support of Barack Obama's health care reform, but also because she, as a Democrat, was not in favor of figuratively bashing illegal immigrants in Arizona, a border state.

After the shooting, when a reporter asked the congresswoman's father if Giffords had enemies, her father said simply: "Yeah, the whole tea party."

Tucson Sheriff Clarence Dupnick said of the political climate in Arizona: "We have become the mecca of prejudice and bigotry." But that could actually be said of the state of politics across the entire U.S.

Sure, an undertone of violence in rhetoric is nothing new. Conflicts from slavery to segregation to Vietnam to abortion rights have been outright bloody. In 1995 the right-wing extremist Timothy McVeigh blew up a government building in Oklahoma, killing 168 people.

[upi402]

1. RWers ned to get more and more radical as the trth of RW lies gets clearer

Like religions need to get more extreme or radical to whip up devotees as those dang facts and that pesky 'reality stuff' breaches the Wall of Hokum.

[tularetom]

2. Palin is "switching to conciliatory tones"?

Guess I must have missed that.