Morning Read: Vermont’s Senators take different approaches after shooting
The Burlington Free Press is noting this morning that Vermont’s two Senators have adopted starkly different tones following last weekend’s assassination attempt in Tucson.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who often describes himself as a socialist, raised the violence in a fundraising letter, according to the newspaper and added this:
“Have right-wing reactionaries, through threats and acts of violence, intimidated people with different points of view from expressing political positions?”
Democratic Senator Patricky Leahy sounded a more conciliatory tone, urging all sides to tone down the rhetoric.
“The demonizing of opponents, of government, of public service has gone too far. Our politics have become incendiary. And we all share the responsibility for lowering the temperature. That is a responsibility we all have, to keep our democracy strong and thriving.”
So there you have it. Two very different takes. Do you find your views reflected here, or do you take a different approach to the political climate and the bloodshed in Arizona? Comments welcome below.
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I don’t see that there is much difference in opinion exhibited here.
Sanders correctly points to a culture on the right that encourages people to go to political events while packing heat.
Leahy: “And we all share the responsibility for lowering the temperature.”
I’ve been to and heard of hundreds of events organized by people on the left, peace vigils, peace protests, people singing “all we are saying is give peace a chance.”
Compare and contrast with any right-wing event. Show me one event–ONE– from people on the right that focussed on peace.
There’s no difference of opinion. The right is wrong, even though there seems to be little evidence this shooting had anything to do with right wingers. This is just a tool being used to silence right side dissent.
I’d just like to see some uniform treatment of the situation. Instead, it’s just knee jerk reactionary leftist drivel. This guys thoughts pretty much sum it up.
As Usual, Liberals Spreading the Big Lie About Shooter
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Posted by Judson Phillips on January 9, 2011 at 7:14pm in Tea Party Nation Forum
Immediately after Congressman Gabrielle Giffords was shot, the left wing went into over drive to try and blame the Tea Party for the shooting.**There was one minor problem.
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There was no evidence.
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In fact, in the hours after the shooting, the evidence began to pile up that Jared Loughner was in fact a liberal.**Former classmates tweeted about his beliefs.**He was a pot head who was kicked out of community college because he was such a disturbed individual.****After twenty-four hours of ripping the Internet apart, the liberals are beside themselves with anger because the cannot tie Loughner to the Tea Party movement.
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But have no fear, when the liberals really need help, they can count on the Department of Homeland Security.
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DHS has magically come up with a report that says he has “ties” to an anti Semitic, anti-government group that has ads for tea party groups on its front page.
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WOW!
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There is a legal term for this kind of stuff.**It is MSU.**That stands for makin’ stuff up!
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The leftist Politico.com reported that the Department of Homeland Security had a memo that said Loughner is “possibly linked” to a group called American Renaissance.*
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This is the same Department of Homeland Security that issued the infamous report on April 14, 2009, a day before the great Tax Day tea parties, warning of an upswing in “right wing extremism.”**This is the same Department of Homeland Security, who’s Secretary Janet Napolitano, claimed the border is secure and the system worked, after the underwear bomber tried to blow up a flight on Christmas day, 2009.*
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The group, American Renaissance, says they have no record of Loughner ever being associated or involved with them.*
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The obvious question that should be asked is, how about at least some evidence?*
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All that is there is some, at best, speculation.**Of course, the liberal media and the blogosphere are quite happy to run with the story that fits their story line.*
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The liberal hate group, the Southern Poverty Law Center went through convolutions to try and claim that Jared Loughner was some kind of conservative.**The Huffington Post ate that up and immediately posted the story online.*
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This is liberal thought and liberal journalism at its best.**Facts and the truth are ignored in favor of speculation that supports the story they want to believe.
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When this nightmare first began, Tea Party Nation decided to get out early and fight because we knew this is what would happen.*Regardless of the facts, the left would try to tie this to the Tea Party movement.***We are pushing back now and we need everyone in this movement to help us fight the smear the liberals are trying to put out.*
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We need to remind everyone, the shooter was a liberal lunatic.
A friend of the shooter’s described the shooter as decidedly “left-wing” as recently as 2007.
On YouTube, he flagged as a favorite video one of a person dressed as a terrorist burning the American flag. Only a lunatic or a leftist would do that.
His favorite work was not a Glenn Beck book, but a staple of every left-wing bookshelf, the Communist Manifesto.
In the Communist Manifesto, there are numerous, frequent calls for violence against the bourgeoisies.
When the left brings up this lie, remind them of some truths… such as…
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Remember Chris Matthews fantasizing on air about seeing Rush Limbaugh shot in the head?
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/10/1…muses-on-killi…
The Craig Kilborn Show superimposing the words “Snipers Wanted” over the face of President George W. Bush.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documen…-target-bush-0
Nobel “Peace Prize” winner Betty Williams publicly stating her desire to murder President George W. Bush.
http://hotair.com/archives/2006/07/2…rder-a-chance/
British film makers Gabriel Range and Simon Finch making a 2006 movie fantasizing about assassinating President George W. Bush.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0853096/
Alec Baldwin urging the murder of Henry Hyde, his family, and ALL Congressional Republicans and their families on national television…..
http://www.associatedcontent.com/art…_baldwin_for_c…
David Guy McKay and Bradley Neil Crowder, two America-hating left-wing terrorists, were arrested by the FBI after conspiring to firebomb Republicans at the 2008 GOP Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The American Media refused to report the story.
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-194812.html
NPR commentator and ABC News reporter Nina Totenberg wishes death by AIDS on Senator Jesse Helms and/or his grandchildren.
http://www.mrc.org/notablequotables/…comeaward6.asp
Julianne Malveaux publicly wishes death on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
http://www.holeinthehull.com/2010/07…x-wishes-clare…
Markos Moulitsas of the Daily Kos, the largest left-wing community online, put Gabrielle Giffords on a target list with a bullseye. Just as Sarah Palin removed her post, Markos has removed his.
Another Daily Kos writer, just the other day, penned a post saying Congresswoman Giffords was dead to him.
Left-wing cartoonist Ted Rall’s most recent book calls for a violent response from the left against the right.
Barack Obama himself told left-wing activists, “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.”
The wounded were not even at the hospital before the left began its attack on the Tea Party movement.*
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The leftist sheriff of Pima County was one of the first to start in on the liberal attack.**He said,*”When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous.**And unfortunately, Arizona I think has become the capital. We have become the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry.”***This is the same guy who announced he would refuse to enforce SB 1070**(The Arizona Immigration law) because it offended him.
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McClatchy Newspapers repeated the standard liberal talking points.**They said Conservatives were upset because she supported health care reform and during the debate her office was vandalized.**Although no one was ever caught, the liberal media still feels it appropriate to blame this on a conservative.*
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For the Tea Party movement, we need to get ready because this week, the attack is going to intensify.***Despite the fact that his friends from high school have described him as being quite liberal, the media is still going to be pushing the line that this is the fault of the Tea Party movement.**
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The hotheads on the left have been using Twitter, Facebook and other social media to spout off for the last 24 hours.**Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas fired off a tweet saying, “Mission accomplished Sarah Palin.”**Hotheads like him will fade.**Next week we will see a more serious attack from those who are the masters at the dark arts of media and politics.
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This attack has already started and you can see the liberal meme forming.**They will say the tone and rhetoric from conservatives and the Tea Party is responsible for this crime.**In Politico today, first an unnamed “Republican” (read RINO) Senator said,**“tone matters.”**Politico then quoted an unnamed Democratic operative who followed the same “tone matters” line, blaming the “overheated rhetoric” for the shooting, then saying Obama should “deftly pin this on the Tea Partiers,” just like Clinton placed the blame for the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.***
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In 1995, Clinton then tried to blame conservative talk radio, especially Rush Limbaugh, for the terrorist bombing.***The tactic worked then, backing conservatives off and possibly helping to ensure a second Clinton term.*
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The line we will see for the next few weeks is going to be that rhetoric and tone of the message from the Tea Party is responsible for this attack.**Let’s ignore the fact that this guy was not only nuts, but also a card carrying liberal.**The hard left is going to try and silence the Tea Party movement by blaming us for this.
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In a decent world, we could all take a moment to mourn for those killed by a liberal lunatic.**Political civility is long since dead and the left will not let us do this.**
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So be it.*
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The left is coming and will hit us hard on this.**We need to push back harder with the simple truth.**The shooter was a liberal lunatic.*Emphasis on both words.
WE must use this ocassion to prove to everyone that the liberal media has no interest in fairness or honesty.
WE must show that the liberal media is the cause of this because of their dishonest reporting. It is high time we go on offense folks. We are in a fight for our very existance.
In response to Senator Sanders who said, “intimidated people with different points of view from expressing political positions?”
Dear Mr. Sanders,
You will not intimidate us, either. We will do all we can to limit government encroachment in our lives where they don’t belong (through our constitutional rights). We will do all we can to keep this administration bound to its constitutional limits (through our constitutional rights).
Don’t presume that you will intimidate the right into silence, Mr. Sanders. You will not.
http://michellemalkin.com/2011/01/10/the-progressive-climate-of-hate-an-illustrated-primer-2000-2010/
Jon Stewart said it better than I can .
That being said, showing up at a political gathering with a firearm is intimidation. Suggesting that people tone down violent rhetoric is not.
Yes, both extremes have been guilty at various points in our history but it seems to be mostly the right at the moment and in any case we all need to consider our words because the tendency is escalate.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-january-10-2011/arizona-shootings-reaction
snookered again.
“He did not watch TV. He disliked the news. He didn’t listen to political radio. He didn’t take sides. He wasn’t on the left. He wasn’t on the right.”
Oh, the left wants soooo bad to shut down political free speech. (that is contrary to their own, of course).
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/jared-loughners-friend-says-suspect-did-not-watch-tv-disliked-the-news_b48040
Goodness meohmi, Bret and JDM. Of all stuff you’ve put on the blog this morning, I believe I’ll dispute only one point. There is absolutely no evidence that he liked Karl Marx more than he liked Ayn Rand — and both were on his list, along with Mark Twain and a pile of children’s classics. (And if that one wee “fact” is a distortion, there just might be a few more.)
I think the “moment of silence” was the best possible response to all of this. Let’s extend that moment a bit longer. Let’s, at least, pause in the torrent of words. Let’s focus not on ‘the other guy’ but ourselves. Are we being careful with facts? Are we being careless with labels? Are we too angry to listen to each other and look for common ground? Are we caught up in the metaphors of war and winning?
In my case, the answers are sobering. How about you?
Whether this person was capable of having coherent political views or not… whether he leaned liberal, conservative, jedi, or dr seuss…
One thing that is pretty clear is that he felt there were powers, including the government, out to control and get him. Did he do what he did in response to those feelings? Don’t know.
But what I do know is that painting government as a big, bad, evil, entity out to get you is the hallmark of right-wing rhetoric… and it is no small irony that this sentiment can be seen reflected in a few the comments above.
JDM,
No one is saying that either side should not be allowed free speech in the nation’s political discourse. What we’re saying is that we should be debating the issues rationally and reasonably not taking cheap shots and mouthing slogans with violent overtones. Unless you believe that violence is a legitimate route for achieving your aims I cannot understand why you (or anyone) feels threatened by requests that the tone of discourse become more civil and focused on the problems that confront us.
The point of this is not to assign blame but to lower the tensions that passions feed on. To those who insist that in the present instance the shooter was not known to listen to talk radio, etc. I repeat, that is not the point. The very person who cautioned that the rhetoric was getting out of hand is the one who was shot through the head. Whether or not there was a direct cause/effect link it is sad, no pathetic, that we need something like this to happen before we pay attention and sadder still that so many are still resisting the call to be more civil.
The degree of anger in division in our discourse is the more evident from the simple fact that calls for greater civility have so quickly devolved into another shouting match.
We’re in this together. Just try to be nice about disagreeing. That’s all we’re asking and the admonition applies to all sides.
Mayflower and James Bullard:
We are discussing Brian’s point. I.e. what Bernie Sanders said,
“Have right-wing reactionaries, through threats and acts of violence, intimidated people with different points of view from expressing political positions?”
Mayflower, I’ll assume you are addressing Mr. Sanders when you say, “Are we caught up in the metaphors of war and winning? ”
James Bullard, I’ll assume you are address Mr. Sanders when you say, “What we’re saying is that we should be debating the issues rationally and reasonably not taking cheap shots and mouthing slogans with violent overtones.”
Why are you addressing me? I didn’t say want Mr. Sanders said.
Sorry about the previous posts typos, I think my keypad is sticking. “address Mr. Sanders” should be “addressing Mr. Sanders”.
“want Mr. Sanders said” should be “what Mr. Sanders said.”
Does anyone really believe that any of the statements being made by politicians and commentators makes an iota of difference?
We live an open society of over 300 million individuals that is accepting of an extremely permissive position on firearms, is clueless about how to deal with the mentally ill, and fosters an extreme attitude toward individual rights. An occasional atrocity appears to be a price of admission. Sad but true.
The same rancorous and partisan discourse that preceded the mayhem has re-emerged in its aftermath, in both the broader media and this blog. Anyone who believes Bernie Sanders’ or Pat Leahy’s (or anybody else’s) statements have any effect is kidding himself.
Juxtaposition Mr. Sanders and James Bullard:
“Have right-wing reactionaries, through threats and acts of violence, intimidated people with different points of view from expressing political positions?”
“Unless you believe that violence is a legitimate route for achieving your aims I cannot understand why you (or anyone) feels threatened by requests that the tone of discourse become more civil and focused on the problems that confront us.”
“Does anyone really believe that any of the statements being made by politicians and commentators makes an iota of difference?”
You might be able to argue that these particular statements will make no noticeable difference.
But political tone, message, and words absolutely have consequences.
History is stuffed full of examples of people – often entire communities, even countries – who are influenced and inspired to action (both good and terrible) by political persuasion. Be it statements, speeches, books, debate, media… heck, one could argue this is a cornerstone of Democracy, if not the sole purpose of political systems as a whole.
JDM,
I was addressing your statement “the left wants soooo bad to shut down political free speech. ”
I repeat. Calls for more civil political discourse are not an attempt to stifle any group. They are an attempt to create a meaningful dialog rather than a shouting match.
Dave, my point is that the tone has not changed and calls for moderation are drowned out by those who have the biggest megaphone (and who have also reverted to form). And, this is not an unusual pattern. In fact, it is exacerbated by the need for media to serve up the next story of the day. In short order, this event will be superceded and there will be a return to the partisan battle lines.
Bret,
Can you cite another source other than Michelle Malkin – the high priestess of hyperbole?
James Bullard, “Calls for more civil political discourse are not an attempt to stifle any group.”
Depends on who the civil discourse police are.
Apparently people don’t understand the use of the question mark. Sanders didn’t state anything he asked a question. Did he answer his own question? I don’t know. Maybe you have an opinion about what he meant by asking the question. Maybe you’re right and maybe not.
My mother liked to say “stop talking and listen. When your mouth is open your ears are closed.”
Good advice.
This is a good read on media culpability, from lefty writer Matt Taibbi, who’s been known to throw bombs in his journalism:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/the-giffords-tragedy-is-the-media-partly-at-fault-20110110
A good excerpt:
“It’s certainly possible that we’ve all become too used to unrestrained rhetoric as a form of entertainment, and people like me live right in the middle of the guilt parabola there. Most all of us are grownups and can handle extreme argument, but clearly some people are not, and obviously I’m not just talking about Jared Loughner.
To see that, all you have to do is attend almost any family gathering, where once-loving relationships have been completely lost because of the overheated right-left culture war. If real family relationships are being lost to this kind of political debate, if someone on TV can reach into your living room and break up your family without knowing anything about you or even knowing that you exist, that tells us that this mechanized mass-media rhetoric has been almost unimaginably successful at dehumanizing whole classes of people.”
Marcus, sorry, use your own google-fu if you want something else. I think Michelle is right on the ball most of the time.
It is interesting that the right, the tea party started to blame the left right after the shooting as if to deny their culpability. The shooter was definitely mentally off balance and had problems that he thought a gun would work out for him. Yet, there is evidence that he had visited right wing sites and indulged in some of the fantasies about the government totally controlling their lives and seeking revenge that Sarah Palin and the tea party indulge in. While his fantasies were often half comprehensible, they were, still, there all the same, ideologies that are simple for minds that are challenged to indulge in. Bernie and Pat are right about the discourse. Glenn Beck and company should be held responsible.
JDM says “Depends on who the civil discourse police are.”
While I can’t speak for any one else, what I had in mind was self restraint. The same kind of self control that keeps one from lighting a match while pumping gas. Apparently however, some people are so consumed with anger that they can’t exercise self control and until those parties get themselves under control there will be no meaningful dialog.