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The extreme rhetoric should stop here

By: Dan Spencer (Diary)  |  January 9th, 2011 at 07:19 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

In the wake of the tragic shooting in Arizona there has been a lot of talk about the “tense political climate” and “extreme rhetoric.” Sadly, all that talk and the left’s determination to blame the right for the evil act committed by an apparently deranged young man has required that we do more than offer prayers condolences to victims and their families. Instead, we have been placed in a position from which we must push back against the left wing talking points that the shooting is the result of the right’s rhetoric.

I am sick and tired of being sick and tired of the left wing media trying to blame the “tense political climate,” the “extreme rhetoric” and even this despicable shooting on the right. Nevertheless, there has been some “extreme rhetoric” that a reasonable person might conclude encourages violence. Consider the following examples of extreme rhetoric rounded up by theblogprof:

  • “Here’s the problem: It’s almost like they’ve got — they’ve got a bomb strapped to them and they’ve got their hand on the trigger. You don’t want them to blow up. But you’ve got to kind of talk them, ease that finger off the trigger.”  Barack Obama on banks, March 2009
  • “A Republican majority in Congress would mean ‘hand-to-hand combat’ on Capitol Hill for the next two years, threatening policies Democrats have enacted to stabilize the economy.” Barack Obama, October 6, 2010

Please, can someone persuade Barack Obama to tone down his extreme rhetoric before it results in more violence?

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COMMENTS

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  • swami7774

    So it’s okay. Isn’t that what we’re told?

    I’m hoping the presence of RS, Fox News, and other entities that weren’t around in 1995 will help prevent the fallout from Arizona from turning into a redux of Oklahoma City. The MSM are still slavishly devoted to defending all things Left, so we have our work cut out for us.
    I’m wondering what the best approach is: a)’bring up examples of angry Left rhetoric or b) just refuse to accept any premise that anyone other than the shooter is to blame.
    It’s sad we actually have to make that argument but it’s reality.

  • E Pluribus Unum

    (I couldn’t use the term “right on the bulls eye”, because, well….

  • kevnad1966

    And that rule is “Do as I say, not as I do” or stated another way: It’s ok for us to be angry but not you; our anger is justified by bushhitler, but it’s extreme to “target” a political foe to defeat them in an election for anyone else. In other words, when anger and vitriol suits them, it’s ok, but if any opposition expresses anger against THEM, oh, the horror…………..

  • earlgrey

    a blogger was singing the praises of Obama’s anti-bullying stance and I indicated that using these phrases shows that Obama does indeed favor bullying.

  • EMT907

    It seems he just wants a soap box to spout off this liberal boilerplate rather than discuss the case or any facts surrounding it, Didn’t Mike Nifong sorta get in trouble for the same thing?

    http://video.foxnews.com/v/4490428/did-vitriol-on-airwaves-trigger-arizona-attack/

    • throwback59

      every name in the book.
      Today Megyn Kelly on Fox, after outing him as a democrat, nailed him. She asked if he had any facts to back up his assertions that the right’s political rhetoric caused the shooting, he had none. When he claimed that the country had changed and become meaner, Kelly pointed out the assassinations of the Kennedy’s, King ect. He had no response other than to say it was just his opinion.
      This fool should resign.

  • EMT907

    Here’s a little list of violence against Republicans.

    http://www.thepatriotsflag.com/2010/03/violence-against-republicans/

    • williamjameson

      I had forgotten about a couple of those.

  • http://www.redstate.com/tnjim TNJim
  • Jack_Savage

    http://www.redstate.com/erick/2011/01/08/the-blame-game-and-prayers-begin/#comment-97240

  • williamjameson

    Did the right go crazy and blame the left? I was in high school and don’t remember people coming unglued like the left has now. Too many on the left are unstable and the media are dishonest yet will they mention things Obama, Biden and so on have said.

    Remember Rahmbo saying he wanted republicans dead and jamming a knife in a whitehouse table when Clinton was potus? We need a more mature tone coming from Obama, Biden and especially the media. If Obama were attacked, imagine the crazy left rearing its ugly head and the riots. It would be worse than the Rodney King riots. The media need to calm down and focus on the real story and drop the side show phoniness that is angering more on the left and endangering Sarah Palin. Palin has lived 2 plus years of threats and hateful rhetoric,,,,,,,do the media give a damn?????????????????????????????????????????????

    Its their fault for pushing the hateful rants against Palin. Now they endanger her more.

    Here’s 3 I dug up.

    ?I am going to strangle all Republicans who don?t agree with me politically?
    ? Joe Biden

    ?God Damn America? ? Barrack Hussein Obama?s Spiritual Advisor

    ?We should rip the heart right out of the chest of a former Vice President of The United States!?
    ? Left Wing Socialist Hero ? MSNBC’s EdShultz

  • runner12

    distracted from our mourning and prayers to defend ourselves against the outright lies from some of those on the Left.

    It amazes me that even in the face of the growing evidence that this deranged shooter had no political affiliations even remotely related to the Tea Party, there are those who continue to purport this lie.

    Repeating this lie will not make it true. The truth will come out for all to see (it already is) and when it does there are many who will need to do some serious apologizing to conservatives and the Tea Party movement.

  • kenjames

    is akin to calling a Jihad against her. They didn’t show this much disdain toward the muslim shooter at Fort Hood.

    • Bobcat51

      hounded Bush thoughout his term in office and now they hope by doing the same to drive Sarah Palin from the field for 2012.

      When now within such a short time we already have Carolyn McCarthy promoting a tighter gun laws bill !. Under the present political atmosphere this will drive both sides further into their respective trenches and inflame an already delicate situation.

      Why not wait for the FBI reports to eventuate and for a cooling of heads, deal with the facts, not the emotions. There does seem to be an orchestrated drive from the left to use this crisis to push their own political agenda. I hope and pray John Boehner and others from our side do not take the bait. Please leave the guns alone,and sort out these young dysfunctional folk. .

  • LisaDe

    “You want freedom? You’re gonna have to kill some crackers! You’re gonna have to kill some of their babies!”

    Those were the words of Minister King Samir Shabazz, the New Black Panther Party’s Philadelphia leader.

    The congresswoman is white, so was the child shot and killed. Hows that for extreme rhetoric and circumstance. Waiting for MSNBC to dissect that one and place blame.

    • speciallist

      LMAO

      • gekster

        Do they have them with sea salt.

  • carolina

    “In Defense of Inflamed Rhetoric”. The comments were good too.
    Someone made an excellent point about Van Jones and Frances Piven, etc being the ones that actually DO call for violence.

    • lineholder

      but it was linked through Slate’s website. I hate going to liberal websites.

      The bloggers are running it to the hilt that inflamed rhetoric is part of their right to freedom of speech.

  • annas

    by kicking up dust and trying to turn the “folks” against those who have anything (ANYTHING) to say derogatory about the left or this administration! If they can distract, maybe the Republicans won’t have a chance to vote on Obamacare. The judge killed was a Republican appointee–where is the conspiracy theory there? Even FOX was allowing that “extreme rhetoric” and “tense politic climate” BS today.

  • http://www.buckforcolorado.com bjwilson83

    http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2011/1/9/934674/-My-Apologies-to-This-Site,-The-Victims,-and-Rep.-Gabrielle-Giffords

    Maybe this will be the end of the rhetoric. /sarc

    • gekster

      from WND:
      via Drudge:
      _________________________________________________________________
      He continues, “I fully apologize to all the victims in this shooting, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, for my poor choice of words in that diary. I fully and respectfully apologize to this blog and to Markos himself for the bad publicity amongst the right wing this has caused. ? I apologize to the DailyKos membership and readership for being maligned by the far right blogs.

      “However, I have to offer a heartfelt ‘f— you’ to the right-wing blogs,” he writes, “for even mentioning my username here in any connection to that unspeakable and unthinkable horror.”

      In his “apology” post, BoyBlue twice states that he suspects the shooting is instead best blamed on supporters of Giffords’ opponent in the 2010 mid-terms, Republican Jesse Kelly.

      “I would bet my house that it will come out that some disgruntled former Jesse Kelly right-wing supporters did this,” BoyBlue writes.
      _________________________________________________________________
      Some apology.

      • carolina

        A Giffords staff person recalled that meeting – but said she couldn’t recall his exact question because it didn’t make any sense. The shooter has been bothered by Giffords since 2007 – said she “didn’t have a clue”.
        I don’t know anything about AZ politics……. but I doubt Kelly was running against her back then.
        The dems like blueboy are goning to end up with a lot of egg on their faces. (again)

      • Jack_Savage

        A filthy, hate-filled, ramshackle house.

        And he also apologizes to Markos – who is Markos going to apologize to, I wonder?

  • izoneguy

    http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/live-blog-latest-developments-on-arizona-shooting/?src=twt&twt=thecaucus#bill-to-ban-crosshairs

    Erick Erickson, a leading conservative blogger, argues on Redstate.com that the media and left wing commentators are putting conservatives in danger by accusing them of being complicit in the Arizona shootings.

    (snip)

    Mr. Erickson’s post is similar to others on conservative websites which have taken issue with the argument that the heated political rhetoric may have influenced the gunman in the incident.

    (snip)

    Jack Shafer, writing in Slate, agrees with Mr. Erickson that the political rhetoric is not to blame.

    He writes: “For as long as I’ve been alive, crosshairs and bull’s-eyes have been an accepted part of the graphical lexicon when it comes to political debates. Such “inflammatory” words as targeting, attacking, destroying, blasting, crushing, burying, knee-capping, and others have similarly guided political thought and action. Not once have the use of these images or words tempted me or anybody else I know to kill. I’ve listened to, read-and even written!-vicious attacks on government without reaching for my gun. I’ve even gotten angry, for goodness’ sake, without coming close to assassinating a politician or a judge.”

    (snip)

    Those arguments anger those on the left. In a Twitter message, Brad Woodhouse, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, called Shafer’s article “nonsensical crap.”

  • redneck_hippie

    to contain free speech. This crisis is just the justification the left has been looking for to help speed up the silencing of the majority.

  • http://charlemagne-the-hammer.blogspot.com/ DerKrieger

    We Conservatives have always preferred to simply be left alone to go about our lives, take care of our families, earn a living, and engage in voluntary participation in our communities. Few are the conservatives that feel the need to impose their way of life on others. Conservatism is by its very nature reactive rather than proactive in the political defense. And it takes a long time for us to react. Unfortunately. The Tea Party movement is an example of just this tendency, people finally reached a point where they could no longer take government encroachment on their lives. The Left however have always been proactive, seeking to “transform” our country and society into their vision of Utopia.

    I make this point perhaps as a warning to the Left. If they keep pushing and pulling and forcing independent, self-supporting, peaceful conservatives down a path to socialism that conservatives don’t want then perhaps someday there will be real violence. If things can’t be reversed and the Left continues to push, eventually they will have pushed conservatives up against a wall and will find that conservatives will stop being pushed and begin to push back.

    I make no predictions nor do I advocate such a future, I’m just saying action causes reaction.

  • Jack_Savage

    “To be clear, if you’re using this event to criticize the “rhetoric” of Mrs. Palin or others with whom you disagree, then you’re either: (a) asserting a connection between the “rhetoric” and the shooting, which based on evidence to date would be what we call a vicious lie; or (b) you’re not, in which case you’re just seizing on a tragedy to try to score unrelated political points, which is contemptible. Which is it?”

    Which is it indeed, Mr. Obama?

    • redneck_hippie

      to go all genghis khan on the internet and talk radio. I just heard Mr. . Jan Schakowski aka Robert Creamer (Felon), blathering about the heated rhetoric.

      And if anybody is entrusted in pushing the Democrat Socialist agenda from the top by propaganda, it’s that jerk.

      Congress better be ready to fight this tooth and nail.

      • Jack_Savage

        And used their first tweets to shout “American Taliban”, etc. They need to call them out by name, keep calling them out, and call on Obama to tone down his rhetoric and name calling.

        • redneck_hippie

          than tweets. But you are right, Obama needs to be held to account for his cheap demagoguery. Even if we have to wait for Nov. of ’12 for it.

  • aesthete

    Rhetoric that is extreme is both necessary at times and justified. T Paine did not write in a measured fashion. Patrick Henry did not preface his statements with homilies about what a great family man King George was. While there is some garbage that has been said that was doubtless extremist, the truth is that “extremist” rhetoric is not in and of itself “dangerous” or bad. It certainly does not lead to senseless violence in and of itself: people are responsible for their own actions (just or not), and speakers cannot be held liable for the misuse of broad rhetorical themes by nuts who could be triggered by anything.

    This is leftists doing what they do best: cowing people into giving up their freedoms by shamelessly invoking images of tragedy.

  • walter_hanson

    Lets not forget that Obama said we take the country hostage and the mayor of NYC said a potential terrorist attack was done by somebody who was upset about health care.

    If the Mayor of NYC is right how come there haven’t been attacks because of health care or the proposed World Trade Center Mosque.

    Walter Hanson
    MInneapolis, MN

  • speciallist

    and today the left realized they’re out of ideas’

    profound

  • traversecityconservative

    I said the same thing earlier today but you found more Obama quotes than I did!
    http://www.redstate.com/traversecityconservative/2011/01/09/is-obama-responsible-for-the-death-of-federal-judge-john-m-roll/

  • http://charlemagne-the-hammer.blogspot.com/ DerKrieger

    …our opposition to their socialist agenda. That’s how totalitarians operate.

  • tankertodd

    I’m getting this message on my Facebook today about this. The simple truth about this guy is that he’s nuts. If you somehow were to magically eliminate all political rhetoric, extreme or in totality, this guy would find something else to feed his sickness. He could open any given history book. He could read the ingredients on a package of Twinkies. He could read an airline’s in-flight magazine and find something there to set him on a course of murder.

    People who haven’t had the good fortune to interact with mentally ill people will not truly understand this. Well I have, and trust me on this one, kids. Banning rhetoric, toning it down, etc. would be as effective as banning guns.

  • drfredc

    Don’t fall for this trap. The root cause of these sorts of wacko displays is the loss of freedom not the promotion of it — even in wackos.

    The political bigotry of the left isn’t about debate, it’s about promoting an individual smoothing political bigotry against individual liberty and personal responsibility. Witness how the politically bigoted left took the debate to the smoke filled rooms, out of the public eye and debate to develop and pass much of their recent legislation. This creates and promotes the feeling of hopelessness in those whose grip on reality is already on the edge.

    Then there’s talk radio, the tea party, et al. These venues offer largely open debate and discussion formats that actively and passively involve millions who are part of these venues. For the most part, these venues offer open, free spirited discussion and debate, rather than the stifling political bigotry and ‘our way or the highway’ of the left.

    • littlehouse18

      that talk radio gives people a safe way to vent their feelings and not feel so isolated and hopeless.

      I’ve not seen any evidence that this wacko even followed current politics closely. He could have fed his insanity just from his reading list.

  • Common_Cents

    Every pathetic DEM was saying this. I gotta hand it to the left, they sure do coordinate their propaganda.

    Every lefty saying the climate is tense and we need to have civil debate means that Republicans should just rubber stamp every extreme left move and not say a word. BS.

    We shouldn’t tone anything down. America is built on strong debate and it has NOTHING to do with crazy people.

    I am appalled that many Republicans on TV felt the guilt and had to be defensive. For what?

    this guy was a raging lunatic. If Republicans accept and portray guilt we will acknowledge that strong political debate was a partial cause instead of the real reason. The kid was mentally disturbed and was influenced by radical thinking of communist manifesto, aetheism, anarchism etc…

    Listen to former schoolmates of his. I bet they don’t get much media play because they have described him correctly.

  • AceInTX
  • mine

    We have to getcome to websites like this to get the full story. This sad event is another reason why the MSM is no longer relevant to the masses. As much as we hate the unfair finger pointing, it is a boon for Restate and other websites who are fearless in telling the truth, and nothing but the whole truth.

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