Some conservatives are spending more time attacking Sheriff Dupnik than in listening to what he is saying.
He named no names, though admittedly you can read between the lines, and is asking us to tone down our rhetoric.That’s it. The guy is asking for responsibility and a bit of civility…and he’s getting attacked for it.
Here is a writeup on what sheriffs in Aryzona SHOULD be like, instead of the racist Arpaio up the road.
Nate Silver doesn’t know what motivated random three-named-white-guy to go on a gun rampage in Tucson. Hell, no one really does though we all have our theories to what did not help.
What is more telling is that the rates of death threats and violent incidents against our elected officials is way, way up. Like hundreds of percentage points up.
Is it because of irresponsible hate speech? The fact that the president is a black man? Crowding psychosis? Who knows. But we should do what we can to try to remove and reduce any violent speak that may contribute to that culture.
This is the conservative game of kill the messenger.
Without naming a single name, Sheriff Dupnik put himself on the conservative hitlist, literally or figuratively remains to be seen.
All the man said is that violent speech may lead to violent behavior and if we don’t quit the former we’re going to get more of the latter.
Now the offended – remember, no one was singled out – are screaming for his head and trying to get him run out of office.
Kind of makes you think he had a point, no?
It should not matter that Jared Lee Loughner is a Republican. A whack job with a gun killed people and his party affiliation didn’t restrain him.
That said, so many Republicans are playing the “not me” game and talking about how only Liberals kill that it is instructive to point out that they’ve got their own loons. This guy *might* be one of them.
And if he isn’t, then how about Timothy McVeigh? Or even the asshole who flew a plane in the IRS building in Austin?
Or how about all these domestic terrorists?
Hate is hate and you need to condemn those who push it as a tool for political gain. THAT is the message and anyone being too defensive about it is probably somehow responsible as well.
We’ve heard about the unknown nitwit who shot up Congresswoman Giffords’ office last year, but that was one of many real or threatened gun incidents last year.
What I did not know was that her office was shot up after a local Tea Bagger there said those who supported the heath care bill should have their windows smashed. Not sure where I read that but I don’t have it handy.
So yeah, there’s no direct link between telling people the president is a socialist, illegal alien Kenyan who wants to take your guns and that the country is run by Democrats who need to be “targeted” with “Second Amendment remedies” but it sure the hell doesn’t look good either.
When even Giffords’ dad blames violent conservatives, maybe you might want to give this theory a chance to be discussed.
I know it is considered polite not to accuse people of poor behavior even when they are in the midst of doing so. But most of my adult life I’ve heard conservatives make harsh jokes about the Clintons, insulting their daughter, mocking each other, hating that Barack Obama is black and President.
Hell, even McCain was attacked by Bush, saying his adopted daughter was his love child from when he was a prisoner in Vietnam. I’m no McCain fan, but that is low. And the fact that he thought he could only continue his career by laughing it off and literally embracing Bush afterwards says a lot about his lack of self-respect and about how shitty things are in the Republican party in this regard.
So yeah, if Mr. Giffords wants to blame Sarah Palin, et al for his daughter having been shot in the head, I am inclined to let the man have his opinion. He’s got a lot of damn good reasons for coming to that conclusion.
It isn’t enough to calm your words and rhetoric. More should be done. We have allowed Second Amendment-twisting morons the right to have their own personal armories in their own homes. Legally.
I have no problem with gun ownership. Have a rifle to hunt with. Have a shotgun to take out a home invader should that ever happen. A handgun? Be serious. Most folks aren’t properly trained with it and ever fewer of those practice often enough to be able to shoot straight with one.
And even if you have one, do you really need a 31 round clip instead of just 10 for your Glock?
Do you? Really? Because that, if nothing else, is what separated the unfortunate shooting of a couple people versus taking out 20 people.
You’ve got the right to own a gun. You shouldn’t have the right to be fricking Rambo.
By more people. In more places.
These supposed show two sides to the Tucson shootings:
But I LOVE the comment that captions the following:
Kyle elyK (repelican) wrote:
So the second cartoon implies that if Palin and Beck mate, the output is mental illness?Yeah, I’ll buy that.
In another sign that conservatives will never take responsibility for their words and actions, the local Tea Party office in Tucson vows to not change a thing. Presumably this includes continuing to call for violent overthrow of the government, lynching a black president, and bringing assault rifles to basically any public venue.
Good going guys! You’re really learning a lot here.