The shooting that occurred in Tucson Arizona that critically injured Democratic party Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and left an aide, a 9-year-old child, a federal judge, and at least two others dead, appears to have been carried out by an a right-wing anti-government extremist. According to a leaked memo from the Department of Homeland Security, Jared Lee Loughner, the alleged shooter of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others on Saturday, appears to have had ties to the anti-Semitic, anti-immigration hate group American Renaissance.
Violence and threat of violence against members of congress spiked during last years debate over health care reform. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was one of the Democratic party members who voted for reform. She is not the first person to be targeted by right-wing extremists.
Former Congressman Bart Stupak of Michigan was threatened for voting for president Obama’s health care program last year. The atmosphere of violence and threats forced congressman Stupak not to seek reelection last November (although Stupak has publicly denied that these threats are the reason for his retirement). Also, U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello's brother received a threatening letter in the mail on the same day that someone apparently severed a gas line at his home.
There has been a rise in right-wing hate around the country. President Obama receives an average of 30 death threats per day, a 400% increase over Bush. Conservative websites have called for a military coup and have offered a list of Democratic Senators to assassinate. They have sold merchandise about Obama featuring the following Biblical passage:
“Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow."
- Psalm 109:8
Conservative right-wing Pastor Steven Anderson virtually issued a fatwa on Obama, and members of his flock arrived at a Phoenix rally with loaded assault rifles. Many have compared the current atmosphere to that which existed prior to the assassination of JFK. Others say it feels eerily similar to the way things were before Timothy McVeigh blew up the Oklahoma Federal Building, killing 168 people.
Indeed, Firearms and ammunition sales have seen explosive growth as a result of this increasing paranoia.
This right-wing hate has resulted in at least 8 acts of domestic terrorism in the US since Obama was sworn in, including the assassination of Dr. Tiller in his church by a man affiliated with Operation Rescue; as well as the slayings at the Holocaust Memorial by the right wing racist James von Brunn. Then there is also the case of the census worker who was hanged in Kentucky, and had the word "FED" carved into his chest.
There is also the case of the violent attack on a Liberal Unitarian Universalists church who supported Gay Rights by yet another gun toting Conservative. The perpetrator, Jim D. Adkisson, complained that "liberals and gays" taking jobs had prevented him from finding work. He wrote that he expected to keep shooting parishioners until the police showed up to kill him.
At a tea party gathering in Asotin County Washington, a featured speaker actually called for the hanging of Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash), the fourth ranking Democrat in the Senate.
What the Republicans do not want to admit is that the hatred and the violence are not just emanating from back-woods un-educated types, but from the leadership pulpit itself.
For instance, Giffords was one of 20 Democrats on the target list that Sarah Palin posted before the election, which featured the crosshairs of a gun site over each member’s district. It was also Sarah Palin's who screamed "Don't retreat; reload!" These are words that resonate on at least a subconscious level with the conservative base.
Sharron Angle, a Republican member of the Nevada Assembly and the 2010 Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat in Nevada, said on a conservative radio show that people would look to "Second Amendment remedies" if Congress did not change.
But it is not just the politicians who are ginning the people up. It is conservative media as well:
The abortion doctor, George Tiller, who was gunned down in his church by a pro-lifer was first targeted and demonized by Fox News host Bill O’Reilly as "Tiller the Baby Killer. "
Then there is the case of the Fox News viewer who opened fire on police in Oakland, California, while on his way to "start a revolution" by attacking members of the ACLU and the Tides Foundation. The same organizations that was targeted on the Glenn Beck show. In audio interviews obtained by MediaMatters, accused shooter, Byron Williams, said Fox News host Glenn Beck "blew my mind" with "the things he exposed."
Although the violence is officially condemned by the Republican leaders, we also get statements like this from Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. who is blaming the violence on not just Nazis, but on "Marxists."
A few months ago, conservatives were outraged at a Department of Justice memo advising local law enforcement agencies to keep an eye on right-wing terrorists. The outcry worked. The DOJ backed down. Apparently, the Republicans do not want the Feds to watch the right-wing extremists the same way that they watch the Muslims.
Conservatisms loudest mouthpiece, Rush Limbaugh, lashed out at critics on his Monday show for blaming conservative rhetoric for the violence. He called the political coverage of the Loughner story "childish and immature." He also said that it is not the right, but the left that glorifies criminal behavior and violent imagery. "'No, no,' they say, 'that's art!' Rap music? 'That's art!'" What Limbaugh is not taking into account is that the rap music may sometimes reflect the day to day violence of street life but does not advocate for the assassination of elected officials, nor is there any indication that the shooter was a hiphop music fan. Investigators do know, however, that the shooter was interested in at least one right-wing extremists group.
THE FACT IS THAT THE ESCALATING VIOLENCE CORRESPONDS EXACTLY WITH THE RISE IN CONSERVATIVE RADIO AND FOX NEWS. The conservative media is acting the stir up the flames of discontent against the hated "liberals," and it is working.
To make matters even worse, the funeral of the Arizona shooting victims are going to be picketed by the "God Hates Fags" movement of the Kansas Westboro Baptist Church, who believe the shooter was sent by God. In a flier posted on its web site, the church writes, "THANK GOD FOR THE SHOOTER - 6 DEAD!"
Not only must the violence and hatred stop, but the conservative Republican denial as well.
