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Lucylastic -> RE: Will Barack Obama condemn Joe Biden and Jimmy Hoffa for calling Republicans 'barbarians' and 'son of (9/7/2011 4:13:31 AM)
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What’s undeniable is that the attempted assassination of Giffords took place against a right-wing media backdrop that has been targeting the government, and specifically Democrats, in an unconscionable manner:
* “The suicide-bomber-in-chief, Barack Obama”
* Beck suggests Obama admin might kill "10 percent" of population
* Quinn: "Yes," Obama is "trying to destroy the country"
As facts of the Giffords shooting continue to come in, let’s understand what has transpired in recent months as right-wing partisans have rushed past any sense of common decency and responsibility to endless attack and condemn Democrats. For instance, let’s recall that last March when Congress was preparing to vote on passing health care reform, partisans in the far-right press denounced the vote in apocalyptic language as they depicted Democrats as monsters who deserved to be physically tortured.
Recall that at the same time, a surge of political violence erupted across the county as Democrats became the target of what were essentially terrorist attacks.
Rep. Tom Perriello's (D-VA) brother's address was erroneously posted online by a Tea Party blogger who invited activists to descend on the house. A gas line outside the brother's house was cut.
Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) was the target of threatening faxes and phone calls, including death threats.
A brick was thrown through the window of the Democratic Party office in Rochester, New York.
Rep. Anthony Weiner's office in Kew Gardens, New York, had to be evacuated after suspicious white powder was found in an envelope mailed to the office.
A thrown brick smashed a window at Rep. Louise Slaughter's district office in Niagara Falls, New York.
Slaughter also received a message claiming that "snipers were being deployed to kill those members who voted yes for health care," according to Politico.
The FBI arrested a California man for making threatening phone calls to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
A tossed brick demolished a window at the Sedgwick County Democratic Party headquarters in Wichita, Kansas.
A devoted Glenn Beck fan left a serious of death threats (“Kill the fucking Senator! “) on the voice mail at the office of Sen. Patty Murray
And of course, there was the attack on Gifford’s Tucson office last March. Hours after voting in favor of health care reform, vandals smashed the front door, along with a headquarters window. Days later, Gifford spoke about being targeted.
,snip>
Even after Byron Williams, in a jailhouse interview, told reporter John Hamilton that he was heavily influenced by Glenn Beck’s conspiratorial rants at the time when Williams plotted to assassinate leaders at the Tides Foundation and the ACLU, what did Sarah Palin do?
What did Fox News’ Palin do in response to a direct request that she act as a true leader and call for a cooling off of the increasingly deadly rhetoric that had become a cornerstone of the conservative movement? Palin reaffirmed her support of the talker’s incendiary fear mongering: “I stand with you, Glenn.”
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