Previous post
Next post
UPDATE: Bill Gwatney has died from his injuries.. My heart goes out to his family, who must be sick with grief over this senseless tragedy.
Bill Gwatney, chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party, was shot today and is in critical condition. This was a horrible, terrible, cowardly attack and I hope whoever did it finds justice swiftly.
Who’s guilty? Well, if you listen to the lefties, it’s apparently conservatives. Michelle Malkin got this lovely e-mail:
Greg Cancilla artvandelay3@verizon.net
to writemalkin@gmail.com
date Wed, Aug 13, 2008 at 2:42 PM
subject Once again
mailed-by verizon.netOnce again the hate you and folks like Hannity spew has caused another right wing nut to resort to violence. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26181389/ What you do is nothing less than starting a riot and you should be held accountable. You should be in jail. Your hate turns people to murder.
And of course, the DUmmies are up in arms:
Tandalayo_Scheisskopf: There will be more. That said, it is a sad commentary that such brutal events may serve to break up the complacency and magical thinking in our own ranks.
I repeat: There will be more of these horrible events between now and November and if we win, after as well.
bluestateguy: These talk radio hosts need to be stopped. They are pushing fragile people over the edge with their hateful bile.
tridim: RW hate radio has been telling their listeners to take out Dems for years. You really don’t think that has an effect?
Blue_Tires: Liddy and plenty others during the Clinton/Reno years[.] of course, they never say “go out and kill dems” directly, but there is a phone book’s worth of loaded codewords, subtext, and calls for action that can only be interpreted one way
maxrandb: Right-wing hate gives the guy a match, a can of gasoline, and for 24/7/365 a year tells him “that building over there is the root of all evil”
Then, when the guy burns the building to the ground, they say; “I have no idea why a person would do such a thing”.
Remember, some of the first folks dealt with at Nuremberg were the propagandist.
dbonds: Right Wing Terrorist in the US have been showing their ugly heads lately. Just need eyes to see it.
kgfnally: Isn’t that exactly how it started in Rwanda, though? Hate radio?
And didn’t that guy that shot up the church recently have books by these people in his car?
Yeah, I’d say it is time, and past time, to hold the hatemongers on talk radio accountable.
AllieB: Julius Streicher (sp?) was a Nazi propagandist tried and executed after WWII. We have in the past held hatemongers accountable, and it’s time that we did it in this country.
indenturedebtor: Theres a big difference between advocating an opposite view – like “We need to cut back on green house gasses or we’re all buggered.” and advocating a course of action that results in an SUV dealership being burned. The hatemonger facists are directly advocating murder, and selling it as a patriotic duty.
Um, how is that different again from the nazi and rwanda propaganda? Please do tell. Looks about the same to me.
zonmoy: Differences with the democrats is that the democrats call for giving the republicans fair trials before executing them. republicans call for assasinating democrats and everybody else the dont like. If they give a trial they create a kangaroo court to try them and make sure they get convicted.
LiberalEsto: White man in 40s, truck[.] Reminds me of the guy that shot up the Unitarian Church in Knoxville a few weeks ago.
Is this a conspiracy?
librechick: …haven’t we all been expecting this since the church shooting? or, since Limbaugh decided to tell his people to kill us?
DAMN!
TrogL: then you need to start listening to AM radio[.] God knows why, one of the local stations up here carries Rush Limbaugh in all his glory. Somebody in my workplace had it on all day until I filed a sexual harassment complaint (cause of all the homophobic crap) and had it shut down. In the meantime I had to listen to Rush babble away. In his “joking” way, he often recommends violence against all sorts of people, especially liberals and members of the Democratic party.
peace13: I think about it every Tuesday when I stand at the peace vigil. When people bring little children to stand with us I am always on the lookout. If one of Rush’s nut cases comes a calling I want to be able to shield the little guys. Only in america can entertainers encourage carnage and get paid for it.
I could keep going, but you can only wade through sewage for so long before you get sick of the stench. DailyKos had similar reactions.
There aren’t many details yet, but the rumor is apparently that the shooter worked at Gwatney Chevrolet and was laid off.
Moments before the Democratic headquarters shooting, a man with a gun had threatened an employee at that Arkansas State Baptist Convention headquarters seven blocks east.
Dan Jordan, the denomination’s business manager, said a man pointed a gun at the convention’s business manager but he didn’t know if it was the same suspect. Jordan said that, when the man pointed the gun at the manager, the manager asked him what was wrong. The man said “I lost my job,” according to Jordan.
But I guess a sensible motive is just not as much fun for the crazy lefties as feeding into their paranoid delusions. The gunman is dead, so I guess we can never know for sure what his motives were. But that doesn’t keep the moonbats from getting all excited about this. This is probably the best news story the DUmmies have come across all month. They love this stuff! They hope and pray for tragedies like this to happen, because in the rare occasions that they do, they get to wallow in their paranoia, play victim, and feel persecuted (just look at the DUmmie talking about his peace vigil). All they need is the information that it was a white guy who drove a pick-up truck, and BOOM!, it’s a right-wing nutjob who loves Limbaugh, Hannity, and Michelle and is just carrying out orders from his idols.
These wackjobs don’t care one tiny iota that a family has just lost a father and a husband. They aren’t expressing sympathy, sadness, grief, or anything besides pure hatred for those who have the guts to express points of view that they don’t like. They aren’t wishing the family well during this difficult time or hoping for a speedy recovery for Gwatney. Oh, no. They’re too busy getting their panties in a wad entertaining their delusions to bother feeling sympathy or horror over this tragedy.
And yet they say we’re the ones who intimidate people, who are trying to stifle free speech. Well, it isn’t right wingers sending out intimidation letters to those who choose to donate money to Democrats. It isn’t right wingers blaming the opposition every time some kind of tragedy befalls someone on our side. It isn’t right wingers trying to silence liberals and Democrats. It isn’t right wingers accusing liberals and Democrats of murder just for expressing opinions that we don’t like. And it isn’t right wingers gloating and celebrating every time a prominent Democrat or liberal dies or becomes sick. No, these are all trademarks of today’s liberals, and it’s disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. When concern for your own takes a backseat to hate for the other, it’s time to admit you have a serious problem. ASAP.
For what it’s worth, I think this is an absolutely terrible tragedy, and my thoughts and prayers go out to Mr. Gwatney’s family and friends during this difficult time. And as for Mr. Gwatney himself, I hope he heals quickly and thoroughly and is able to bounce back right away.
Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin
angryflower says: “These wackjobs don’t care one tiny iota that a family has just lost a father and a husband. They aren’t expressing sympathy, sadness, grief, or anything besides pure hatred”
Yea. Show me where Malkin shows those emotions.
Gredd says: Anyone care to point out that liberals try to burn down houses of researchers who use animals? And weren’t people still home at the time too? Hello pot.
As for Angryflower:
http://michellemalkin.com/2008/05/20/kennedy-diagnosed-with-brain-tumor/
Yup, pure anger there.
Love how they throw the blame around there.
This is a tragedy. My heart goes out to all involved.
Rusty Chompers says: Given the recent church shooting where people were shot by a Hannity/O’Reilly fan to being too “liberal,” an environment now exists where understandably some people are going to stupidly jump to wrong conclusions instead of waiting to hear all the details of the tragedy.
However, if this were a Republican that was shot, and people started blaming Michael Moore, when it became clear that politics were not at play, you can rest assured that Republicans and their media organ FOX would continue to blame liberals for it. In Republican world, the lack of proof of any political motivation would actually prove political motivation.
Either way, a very sad day.
I’m glad this blog isn’t in any way trying to politicize what has transpired.*
*Please note my sarcasm.
“tridim: RW hate radio has been telling their listeners to take out Dems for years. You really don’t think that has an effect?
Blue_Tires: Liddy and plenty others during the Clinton/Reno years[.] of course, they never say “go out and kill dems” directly, but there is a phone book’s worth of loaded codewords, subtext, and calls for action that can only be interpreted one way”
Wow. Wow. Really? Talk about paranoia. In all of the “right wing” radio I’ve ever heard, I’ve never once heard anybody hinting at such a thing.
As Morgan said (and this was very well put, though I’m paraphrasing here):
“Yeah, we look pretty silly when one pretends we say things we haven’t said and think things we never thought”
“I’m glad this blog isn’t in any way trying to politicize what has transpired.*”
Uh, Cassy’s not politicizing what “transpired” as far as the terrible, unjustified murder goes… she’s pointing out how the left has politicized it (knee-jerk style, como de costumbre) and how it’s just a little creepy.
So maybe she’s politicizing the politicization the Left has done with “what has transpired” … but hey, it was pre-politicized for her. Can’t really blame the woman. Y’all’r nuts.
baz says: Yes, a man is dead, and really it’s all about *you* and how mercilessly you’ve been slandered. Dear lord.
For a bunch that likes to talk about manliness, strength, being upright, you sure do whine an awful lot. And yeah, RW does say a lot of sh*tty stuff about the LW, some encouraging violence either tacitly or overtly. Man up and own it, because I can fill your mailbox with it for a month.
I don’t hear strategy, insight, or analysis on topics of the day, I just hear whining and self-pity, which in the shadow of this tragedy is particularly revolting.
“And yeah, RW does say a lot of sh*tty stuff about the LW, some encouraging violence either tacitly or overtly. Man up and own it, because I can fill your mailbox with it for a month.”
I could fill your mailbox with the the reverse — or you could just go read the comments section on HuffPo or KOS or DU. I’d be willing to bet it’s a deluge by comparison.
But — the accusation has been against right-wing talk radio hosts. I believe Sean Hannity (not my favorite – but I’d lay odds he’s a decent guy) was mentioned by name.
I know it’s tough to stay on topic, but if you really have tons of talk radio hosts encouraging violence against the left, let ‘er rip, I’d love to see this. Names and dates, please. And if it’s tacit rather than overtly, please explain the context and the connection – that should be entertaining.
Finally, on “whining” — a man is dead, which we all agree is terrible — and a bunch of your pals blames my tribe for it because you don’t agree with us and you think we’re evil. So yeah, we’re gonna bitch about that. If you’re going to politicize the event to slander people as evil, don’t hide behind the tragedy to deflect any blowback from your actions.
But I suppose that’s pretty much SOP on that side of the fence.
Baz says: In a general way, every time someone characterizes Dems or the LW as “the enemy” or “emboldening the enemy” or “anti-America” or “liberalism is the greatest threat this country faces today” and then suggests that enemies should be “defeated” or “eliminated,” that is, in fact, threatening.
Every time someone refers to the “culture war” what are we supposed to think? Victory (the presumed aim) in war results in one party being eliminated or subjugated by the other party.
Maybe if the rhetoric wasn’t so violent and hateful, you wouldn’t get this kind of pushback and people wouldn’t be looking at “your tribe” when stuff like this happens, since liberals don’t usually pack heat.
As for the DailyKos, check your definitions of “hateful” versus “critical.” World of difference.
Did you even read the comments section that Cassy posted? Wow…a left-winger who jumps to conclusions without getting the facts. Imagine that!
In a general way, every time someone characterizes Dems or the LW as “the enemy” or “emboldening the enemy” or “anti-America” or “liberalism is the greatest threat this country faces today” and then suggests that enemies should be “defeated” or “eliminated,” that is, in fact, threatening.
Definitely. The Left has never suggested that greedy corporate execs are poisoning the environment. We’ve never heard one peep about how GOP politicians are ripping off old people & throwing them out of their homes…or “trying to take food from the mouths of school children.” (Remember Dick Gephardt criticizing the Gingrich “Contract with America?”)
Geesh, do you remember the comment that Clarence Thomas’ wife ought to feed him lots of eggs and butter?
Nor has it ever been suggested that conservative Christian groups are trying to ram their values down everyone else’s throats.
The so-called hate speech you’re referring to is about defeating the Left’s agenda in Congress and at the ballot box, because much of what it says about the War on Terror (for example) does encourage foreign dictators & terrorists, resulting in the deaths of American GI’s. But nobody has said a word about hurting or killing such people, and neither is there any movement afoot to jail them or otherwise forcibly silence such irresponsible hate speech from antiwar protestors.
I’ll bet you didn’t pay a dime’s worth of attention to the “Code Pink” protests at the USMC recruiting station in Berzerkely a few months ago…or to anything that was said at Cindy Sheehan’s “Camp Casey” just outside of Bush’s ranch in Crawford, TX in the last three years.
We hear enough from people like you every time we turn on the TV…don’t need more of it when we read a conservative blog.
Get lost, moonbat.
Baz says: Definitely. The Left has never suggested that greedy corporate execs are poisoning the environment. We’ve never heard one peep about how GOP politicians are ripping off old people & throwing them out of their homes…or “trying to take food from the mouths of school children.” (Remember Dick Gephardt criticizing the Gingrich “Contract with America?”)
Again, “critical” in the specific versus “hateful” in the general. Look it up. You are a native speaker of English, aren’t you?
Baz says: Y’all can dish it out, but you can’t take it.
Since it was requested, here are some quotes:
1. Rush Limbaugh: “I tell people don’t kill all the liberals. Leave enough so we can have two on every campus – living fossils – so we will never forget what these people stood for.”
2. Senator Phil Gramm: “We’re going to keep building the party until we’re hunting Democrats with dogs.”
3. Rep. James Hansen on Bill Clinton: Get rid of the guy. Impreach him, censure him, assassinate him.”
4. John Derbyshire intimated in the National Review that because Chelsea Clinton had “the taint,” she should “be killed.”
5. Ann Coulter: “We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too.”
6. Ann Coulter: “My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times building.”
7. Bill O’Reilly: “…those clowns over at the liberal radio network, we could incarcerate them immediately. Will you have that done, please? Send over the FBI and just put them in chains.”
8. Clear Channel radio host Glenn Beck said he was “thinking about killing Michael Moore” and pondered whether “I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it,” before concluding: “No, I think I could. I think he could be looking me in the eye, you know, and I could just be choking the life out — is this wrong?”
This sort of thing tests the limits of what is protected speech. You won’t find anything like this coming from any significant figure on the LW.
CaptDMO says: In addressing comments as listed in the main body I find the following (sorta’ plagiarized) useful…
“Really? So what?
They told me that if (fill in the blank) was put into power…..
AND THEY WERE RIGHT!”
It solves nothing, nor does it encourage revelation, but all I can expect from contra-mensa.org is an auto-splodie head anyway.
If that’s how they thrive…well…”the pursuit of happiness”.. and all that.
Nice copy and paste job, I see that list posted all over the place in comments sections on blogs.
Amazing what you can make someone say when you sterilize it from the context in which it was said.
Rush: clearly sarcasm
Phil Graham: metaphor (were the French swimmers really going to “crush” the American swimmers? Was that sort of “code word”? Come on)
James Hansen: “overheard by a reporter” – not addressing an audience, we have no idea what the context was nor even if the reporter “overheard” correctly.
John Derbyshire: definitely a blatant misquote, and he was not arguing for that at all (read the original article here: http://www.nationalreview.com/derbyshire/derbyshire021501.shtml
Ann Coulter (1): clearly meant John Walker should be executed as a traitor at best, not that liberals should be executed for being liberal. Her point was that liberals don’t seem to see how serious these jihadis are about killing as many of us as possible. Regardless of political affiliation.
Ann Coulter (2): Ok, admittedly tasteless attempt at humor. She does that. That being said I seriously doubt she would condone that act. If she thought for a minute she was actually inciting violence, she’d knock it off. But she treats us as adults who can dectect and appreciate sarcasm and not only admit there is right and wrong but that we can acutally can tell the difference.
O’Reilley: He was talking about press agents who undermine the mission. You know, by, say, leaking classified information that helps the enemy. Here’s the first part of that quote that puts it in context:
“You must know the difference between dissent from the Iraq War and the war on terror and undermining it. And any American that undermines that war, with our soldiers in the field, or undermines the war on terror, with 3,000 dead on 9/11, is a traitor. Everybody got it? Dissent, fine; undermining, you’re a traitor. Got it?”
Glenn Beck: I actually listen to Glenn Beck. The man is hilarious. He might think about killing someone if his or someone else’s life or limb were in danger, and anybody who listens to him knows that. I didn’t hear him make that comment, but I can hear his voice doing it… there wouldn’t have been an ounce of seriousness in his voice.
Nobody wants to kill the liberals. We get frustrated with you because we think you’re misguided and leading the country to the wreck and ruin of every other socialist system — but we don’t wanna kill ya.
We think you’re misguided. You think we’re evil. We are not.
And I’ve yet to see any evidence whatsoever suggesting what this guy’s actual motive was in killing Gwatney. Still, this pat list of quotes you posted shows up on threads everywhere about it.
Not saying any of these people were any more serious than the RW examples we just discussed (well, maybe a couple of them) for sure, but turnabout and all, you know. what’s bad for the goose…
http://patterico.com/2007/03/05/leftist-hate-speech/
Nothing in there from Ward Churchill? Huh! Mustn’t be trying very hard.
You be the judge.
Baz says: For the record, I don’t think anyone is evil, and I don’t think it’s useful or meaningful to describe anyone that way. I think Dick Cheney is a ruthless, selfish *ssh*le, but on the plus side, he’s *our* ruthless, selfish *ssh*le.
I was a little surprised at the Nina Totenberg quote. I always thought she was better than that. At least publicly, anyway. Is Craig Kilborn still working? I didn’t know. The others seem either small fish or old news. Still, it’s disappointing.
Regardless, I do think the political discourse in this country is getting way out of hand, and if anything is going to bring this country down, it’s this kind of sectarian brow-beating.
Your comment about being misguided is well-taken, and without getting long-winded, there’s a lot of issues that need honest discussion between RW and LW. We all have America’s best interests at heart. Really, we do. And that’s why I comment here. But even the best of us get dragged down from time to time.
Then there’s this kind of stuff that gets vehement ACLU defense as “free speech”. Hey — it’s art, right?
http://www.black-and-right.com/2008/08/15/new-rap-song-about-killing-oreilly-malkin/#more-8723
Even I can argue for protection of something as vile as this — I’m a constitionalist, after all. All I’m saying is we are responsible for our own actions. Someone goes out and kills Bill or Michelle, that’s on his head, not the rappers’ heads. And just because they’re spouting some of the same complaints and voting the same way as the LW doesn’t mean the LW would be collectively responsible and should shushed up, either. Words don’t kill people. People kill people.
You know, I didn’t take Nina Totenberg’s words any more seriously than I did Ann Coulter’s. I don’t think either would kill or would try to get someone else to kill anyone. People use hyperbole all the time to express how strongly they feel. I’ve done it at least a million times myself. 😉
We get back to a culture where we are responsible for our own actions, we’ll turn this country around. As long as we can blame others for what an individual does … we’ll continue the downward finger-pointing spiral.
17 Comments