Violent Rhetoric

The shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. is so sad, but unfortunately not unexpected. Democrats have been worried something like this would happen because of the vitriolic words from Republican politicians and their media supporters. There are always mentally ill people who can be influence by such hate speech. Of course, the people who spew out this filth are denying they any responsibility, and explaining away their own words and images they used.

If you shout "fire" in a crowded theater, when there is none, and people get trampled and killed during the panic to escape, you do share the blame.

If you falsely tell a man his wife is cheating on him, and he shoots her, you do share the blame.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40988386/ns/politics/

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Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo. and Rep. Debbie Wassermann Schultz, D-Fla., disagreed with Franks, arguing that intemperate rhetoric from politicians and from news media personalities might encourage some individuals to act violently.

Durbin, the Democratic whip in the Senate, cited imagery of crosshairs on political opponents and Sarah Palin's combative rallying cry, "Don't retreat; reload."

"These sorts of things, I think, invite the kind of toxic rhetoric that can lead unstable people to believe this is an acceptable response," Durbin said Sunday on CNN's State of the Union.
2010 campaign marked by angry rhetoric

On Meet the Press, Wasserman Schultz cited a radio talk show host in Florida who said during last fall’s campaign, “We will use bullets if ballots don’t work.”

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[George] Will said Americans will want to know whether the gunman in Tucson had a political motive or whether he was a mentally ill person. “We don’t know where on the continuum this falls.”

A feeble excuse. The people who have been making these violent comments and images know there are deranged people out there who can be influenced by their hate speech.

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