Reposted from sister blog BuryingTheLead.com
There is something to be said about the Republican party starting with the 2008 election, and that is their connection to violent speech. Everyone remembers Palin’s comments during the 2008 election cycle where she claimed Barack Obama “palled around with terrorists“, and the fact that she didn’t denounce hate-speech shouted out from the audience. Even before that, the Republican Party was filled with nothing but intolerant people.
Well it hasn’t changed in the last few years. Palin, Beck, and company are still saying some crazy things, and they are still inciting violence. Anyone who doesn’t connect Palin’s SarahPAC and the image of Democratic Congressional districts with gunsights over them and Palin’s “Don’t retreat – reload” Twitter comment and the inciting of violence, frankly, has their head up their ass.
The inciting of violence from Republicans against those not like themselves is truly nothing new. Think back to the man who burst into a Tennessee church and shot and killed complete strangers “because the church was liberal”. He had hoped to start a trend, so that people would take out liberals, gays, and the “100 people screwing up America” list by right-wing author Bernard Goldberg.
Well it may not be that far fetched to think that Joseph Sean McVey, age 23 of Ohio, was a fan of Palin, Beck, and Goldberg. Why else can you explain why Goldberg had a car modified to look like a police/security vehicle, and showed up – armed – at the airport that Air Force One and President Obama had just departed. What’s the most chilling aspect of the story? When asked what he was doing, McVey said he heard Obama was in town and “wanted to see him”.
There are two Facebook groups out there that say it all. “I didn’t like George Bush, but I never wished him dead“. It has under 1,000 fans. The Facebook group that is praying for the death of President Obama? It has 1,000,000 fans.