Gunman Assassinates U.S. Congresswoman

[Caligastia]

Come on, Cali. You want me to find some examples for you, then I want something in return. I'm not asking for much, just your pride. Take a stand on the issue, and I'll address it.

I'm asking for examples because I know you don't have any - you're just shooting your mouth off. If it makes you happy, I'll go on record as saying that Palin, Beck, and Limbaugh have never incited violence.

[DaShi]

So are you denying that such examples exist?

[Caligastia]

So are you denying that such examples exist?

That's right - regarding Palin, Beck, and Limbaugh.

[Lorizael]

While Limbaugh isn't directly telling anyone to be violent, he is telling his listeners to engage in acts that he believes will lead to violence, in order to create that violence.

We don't now want to reverse the course of Operation Chaos, and secure the nomination for Obama and have this end. We want this to go on! We want the superdelegates to have make this decision, not the voters in the Democrat Party. This is about chaos. This is why it's called Operation Chaos! It's not called Operation Save Hillary. It's not called Operation Nominate Obama. It's called Operation Chaos! The dream end... I mean, if people say what's your exit strategery, the dream end of this is that this keeps up to the convention and that we have a replay of Chicago 1968, with burning cars, protests, fires, literal riots, and all of that. That's the objective here. And there has been nothing that's happened on the battlefield for my vision of this to change just because Hillary won. We got what we wanted last night, and people want me to change course now? "We got what we wanted, okay, now time to support Obama." No. If Obama runs the table with the rest of these primaries, it's over, and the superdelegates are going to have a much easier choice choosing him, because he'll end up with a big lead.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_042308/content/01125109.guest.html

[DaShi]

Palin:

MCCAIN CAMP TALKS 'CHARACTER ASSASSINATION,' SUPPORTERS SHOUT FOR REAL ASSASSINATION
At her last rally in Florida, Sarah Palin told the audience that Barack Obama "palled around with terrorists" adding,"I am just so fearful that this is not a man who sees America the way you and I see America." Upon hearing the Republican VP candidate's concern that Sen. Obama might be a terrorist, a voice in the crowd cried out 'Kill him!'

Rush:

“[T]hey won yesterday. They won because they held congress and the presidency and therein lies the lesson. We need to defeat these bastards. We need to wipe them out. We need to chase them out of town. [...] “They must my friends, be hounded out of office. Every single Democrat who voted for this needs to know, safe district or not, they are going to be exposed and hassled and chased from office. We now have leftist radicals in charge of your healthcare decisions rather than doctors”

Beck:

45-year old Byron Williams, incensed by a false conspiracy theory elevated by FNC’s Glenn Beck, aimed to murder 11 employees of ACLU of Northern California and the Tides Foundation. Police stopped Williams before he could reach his intended victims, and eventually subdued him after a 12 minute gun battle in which only two officers suffered minor injuries.

Even the DHS is concerned:

http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/rightwing.pdf

[DaShi]

That's right - regarding Palin, Beck, and Limbaugh.

Moron

[Arrian]

First off, ugh. Awful. I hope the congresswoman makes it, and I feel for the families of those who didn't. As with any tragedy, really.

The dude was some sort of nihilist. His political views appear basically incoherent, except perhaps united by "government bad." He doesn't fit well into either Blue Team or Red Team. Which makes a certain sort of sense, dontcha think? If he DID fit into one of those categories, he'd be more likely to feel represented. He's a misfit. That's just me spitballing, of course. Who knows?

As for the rhetoric... well, I think really heated rhetoric is potentially dangerous in that it can create a feedback loop. I've been reading up on the antebellum period in US history lately. The rhetoric in the 1850s just went full-on nutty. It was heated before, but it went freaking white-hot in the '50s. We know how that turned out.

I don't think this lone nut proves much of anything about rhetoric. I do think that a general atmosphere of crazy is a bad thing, though. On the one hand, we have the freedom to get fired up and say pretty much whatever. On the other, it's usually best if those with the biggest platforms don't go full-on bat****. It's not just the tone, either... Connor Fiesdorf (I've just mangled his last name) had a point there - the substance matters. You can say that Obama is a Muslim Kenyan NaziCommie in a very calm, measured tone, but you're dabbling in teh crazy (obligatory both-sides-do-it: Bu****ler somethingsomething). When your political opponents are not just wrong but *fundamentally un-American* (whatever that means, exactly), the atmosphere is poisonous.

-Arrian

[Lorizael]

But Obama is a Muslim Kenyan NaziCommie.

[Arrian]

That's it exactly. If he REALLY IS that guy - the radical leftist commienazi imposter - then the proper response is uprising, isn't it? Doesn't that logically follow?

-Arrian

[Lorizael]

[Elok]

his question was, "what is government if words have no meaning?"

how do you answer that whit a straight face.

If words have no meaning, any answer will do. Personally, I'd go for "froobie dunkle jabbermabber, *****. Next question?"

Also, I'm on the "trying to second-guess what will turn crazy people violent is stupid" team, if anybody's keeping track.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

But Obama is a Muslim Kenyan NaziCommie Bu****ler

CORRECTED

[Felch]

Obama was born in downtown Baghdad, to the unlikely pairing of a Bolshevik Jewess and a Nazi-sympathizing mufti. I thought everybody knew that.

[MrFun]

The sheriff in Tucson said that the bitterness of the political rhetoric and behavior is outrageous.

[Caligastia]

While Limbaugh isn't directly telling anyone to be violent, he is telling his listeners to engage in acts that he believes will lead to violence, in order to create that violence.



http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_042308/content/01125109.guest.html

If that's as close as they've come to inciting violence I can live with that.