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The DNC thinks shooting at Republicans ‘appropriate.’ [And a fundraising opportunity!]

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  March 25th, 2010 at 03:25 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

[UPDATE: Ah, that's why they're not condemning: lessened tensions will interfere with fundraising. Hey, maybe they can turn the shot at Cantor's office into a web Flash game!  Right up the DNC's alley.]

Somebody shot at Eric Cantor’s office.

Let me repeat that. Somebody shot at Eric Cantor’s office.

Eric Cantor, after specifically condemning all acts of violence – which, considering that he’s a Congressman whose office got shot at, is damned charitable of him – called for the Democratic leadership to take responsibility of their own side’s hotheads and help cool this all down.

That is why I have deep concerns that some — DCCC chairman Chris Van Hollen, and DNC chairman Tim Kaine in particular — are dangerously fanning the flames by suggesting that these incidents be used as a political weapon. Security threats against members of Congress is not a partisan issue and they should never be treated that way. To use such threats as political weapons is reprehensible.

The DNC’s spokesman Brad Woodhouse’s response (via AoSHQ: bolding his, but I agree)?

We disagree with the charge made by Rep. Cantor today that Democrats are using acts of violence for political gain. Let’s be clear: calling on Republican leaders who have contributed in part to this anger by wildly mischaracterizing the substance and motives of health reform to condemn these acts is entirely appropriate.

Instead of distracting from the issue with more attacks, we would again ask Mr. Cantor and other Republicans, as we did yesterday, to join Chairman Kaine in working to ratchet down the rhetoric, condemn deplorable behavior and find ways to disagree on these issues without the charged rhetoric that we’ve been hearing from Republican leaders.

Greg Sargent neglected to mention whether Woodhouse had his pants around his ankles at the time. To be fair, Greg almost certainly wasn’t in close enough physical proximity to see.

Moe Lane

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COMMENTS

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  • ctmommy

    They are sending out solicitations for donations citing the violence of opponents of obamacare. Sounds like political gain to me.

  • http://hillbillypolitics.com Steph C

    I thought, although there was an ideological divide, that, like McConnell, McCain, et al, we could work through that divide towards compromise, that there were some honorable Democrats, that not all of them were liars of the highest order.

    Since 2006, I’ve come to see the errors in that kind of thinking and the longer the Dems talk the more disgusting they become to me and this is a classic example why.

    And then they wonder why a majority of the people in this country doesn’t trust them or support their policies. If it weren’t for union thugs they would have no support.

  • http://thesandsinstitute.org Vassar Bushmills

    Sounds mysteriously like the diplomatic double talk after the Archduke was shot.

  • http://thesandsinstitute.org Vassar Bushmills

    At first light, It seems they (DNC) are trying to drive wedge between House GOP leadership and the Grass roots in general, and Tea Parties in particular. Getting Boehner & Co to walk away is a kind a surrender, leaving us out here to dance in the wind.

    Good thing McConnell’s not running the show in the House, he’d be trimming Kaine’s hedges and washing his car by now.

    But as with everything they do, there is a second and third light. So, watch closely, Moe. Thanks

  • kyoufuu

    As though once bad laws are passed, we should be required to just suck it up and deal with it.

    I deplore violence, but I moreso deplore Woodhouse’s response to Cantor.

  • svenhoek

    They do it so damned blatantly! Like no one with any common sense could ever see through a layer of bulls*** this thick!

    It’s infuriating. It’s damn close to criminal.

    There is no longer just an “ideological” difference between us anymore. They are our enemy. They have made this clear since 2001. I’m glad people are finally waking up to this. These people have no compassion or sympathy for us. They wish us harm, in any way possible. How many liberals did you know that snapped their fingers and said, “Damn, that close. Almost got him” as soon as they heard about Bush and his pretzel incident? The books and movie detailing an assassination of Bush? Where were the Democrats worried about the “hate and violence circulating in the political atmosphere”? They didn’t care. They loved it

    The Democrats are a travesty. They are enemies of America and her people. They need to be taken out in November and never be allowed to enter the hallowed halls of our places of government again. They have made it clear they have no place in this country anymore.

  • Marcus_Traianus

    Seems to me we can go back and find incident after incident- some in the handwriting of DNC members and supportive blogs, that underwrote specious and false attacks against the former President and VP. That deliberate propaganda process “mischaracterized” the debate and provoked angry responses by their members and terrorists who were encouraged by their despicable dialogue. Combine that with releasing classified documents to the NY Times and I say they did a bang up job of getting a bunch of American’s killed.

    Fact of the matter is thus; there is significant substance to back up the arguments against the health care bill. Americans knew it, Democrats ignored it. Now they want to try and deflect that anger by largely making up or overstating the incidents. Is that about right?

    Frankly, I think they should keep this up for another 8 months. It is really a great motivator to move these lying, undemocratic, oligarchic losers out of DC.

  • RedBeard

    Nah, can’t say that, even though it’s true. That would be “charged rhetoric.” Bad RedBeard. Bad.

    All hail Barack Obama, the Great Unifier.

  • svenhoek

    Comrade Obama of the USSA

  • fpete13527

    The Dems don’t like it that their non-health care bill is a piece of junk. They get very offended when people quote the devestatingly bad things – right from the text of the bill. To them, people should not be allowed to quote from the bill. All they should be allowed to do is talk about imaginary unicorn dust and fake it that the bill is good.

    The people of the U.S. CAN”T STAND the content of this non-health care bill and they can’t stand what it will lead to. So when people rightfully speak out against this Obamination of a bill, the Dems want to censor their free speech, fabricate lies, and condone violence – as long as it is directed agasint a Republican or any conservative.

    It’s no accident that the Dems are behaving this way regarding the non-health care bill. Their behavior here reflects the entire reason they wrote the bill to begin with – destroy the U.S. constitution and remove all American freedoms. To them, THEIR method is much better – progressive communism starting with socialized mandated DemonCare. For the Dems, It’s fine to trash the Constitution… but how DARE ANYONE question their progressive communism!!!

    Thank God it “appears” that the GOP House is starting to get this and get clear that the ONLY thing they should be doing is fighting…and fighting hard.
    And the Senate???

  • tbetz

    … whoever shot the bullet they found wasn’t aiming at the building.

    From the police press release http://bit.ly/bQZ7on :

    “A preliminary investigation shows that a bullet was fired into the air and struck the window in a downward direction, landing on the floor about a foot from the window. The round struck with enough force to break the windowpane but did not penetrate the window blinds. There was no other damage to the room, which is used occasionally for meetings by the congressman.”

  • svenhoek

    We need to get rid of the weak. The House has some outstanding leadership that has stepped up. Eric Cantor. Paul Ryan. Boehner on occasion.

    I don’t really see anyone like that in the Senate. Where is the one who will stand up and shout in Reid’s face “HELL NO YOU CAN’T.”

    And for the love of God, please don’t say Scott Brown. Give the man some time to actually become someone.

  • JadedByPolitics

    is an ATTEMPT to diminish what has occurred to Rep Cantor? I do not see where in your “quoted” statement is says the building wasn’t aimed for. I would ask you do you think this is any less serious then any of the STUPID little pathetic things the whiny, cry baby Democrats are “claiming” are occurring to them?

  • spainishirish

    If Rep. Cantor himself, and not his office, had been shot, they wouldn’t apologize, either. Hell, they would quietly celebrate it and then claim some Obamacare opponent had moved flowers of their relatives’ graves. They are hanging themselves with this one because it means the public is again focused on the gang-rape the Dems just did on the electorate.

  • nessa

    Well read about it anyway. Thanks vassar.

  • ordinaryguy

    AP – Richmond Police

    AP – 3:40 p.m. The Richmond Police Department is investigating an act of vandalism [against] the Reagan Building, 25 E. Main St., where Rep. Eric I. Cantor, R-7th, has a [campaign] office.

    Police said a first floor window was struck by a bullet at around 1 a.m. on Tuesday. The building was not occupied, police said. A preliminary investigation determined that a bullet was fired into the air and struck the window at a downward direction, landing about a foot from the window. The bullet had enough force to break the windowpane but not penetrate the window blinds, according to a news release.

    There are no suspects, Gene Lepley, a spokesman for the department, said.

  • tbetz

    … that window must have Kevlar window blinds.

  • http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

    Thanks for being the first person pushing these counter-argument to actually post a link that admits it. You get to keep your account for that.

  • http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

    Enough to burn accounts, I mean.

    God help you if your more unhinged colleagues start actually going after our legislators directly/

  • tex41lb

    If you want to understand the interplay of charge and countercharge between republicans and democrats go to “glen Beck clips” and watch vidio fo3/24/2010. The dems are now the respectful leadership, republicans the disabediant bad boy who must be chastized. Think role reversal from the 60′s and who was the bad guy then, to today with the once bad guy now in leadership.

  • Adjoran

    http://www2.timesdispatch.com/ It’s in the list under “Breaking News Center” . . .

    If you are familiar with downtown Richmond, a gunshot in that area isn’t an everyday thing, but neither would it be a shock to hear about. Not much open in that section of Main at night. (It’s about a mile east of the VCU campus and the old Mosque theatre at Monroe Park, and a few blocks west of the newspaper’s offices).

  • http://thesandsinstitute.org Vassar Bushmills

    VB

  • jdw4america

    The entire left has spent the better part of a decade demonizing George W. and inciting violence, encouraging his assassination, feeding their little fantasies about his untimely, (and they hoped) bloody death in every medium possible – electronic and print – and now they are whining about a few stray nutbags?

    Let me be perfectly clear – no one has the right to threaten any member of Congress OR the President.

    That being said, how can we take their whining seriously? Ooh, I’m so scared now cause there are unstable people out there who might hurt me. They’ve left messages on my answering machine and emailed ugly things to me. Those who incite others to violence to the degree that the left and their lapdogs, the MSM, have done cannot now protest that vitriolic opposition has come back to bite them on their collective tushies.

    And as for “ordinary guy,” who thinks, as do ALL leftists that we need to be instructed by him, an actual bullet entered an actual window in one of an actual congressman’s offices. That trumps any scary message from a looney everytime. As for the report that the bullet wasn’t meant for his office, anything that comes from the MSM isn’t worth the executive order Bart Stupak claims will protect the unborn.

    We’ll see how this pans out.

  • mschmitt

    Terrible aim, too weak to penetrate, and full of excuses? You — and the shooter — would have both been thrown off a cliff had you been born in Sparta.

  • http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

    There is an incident of a gun being fired at a Congressman’s office – a Congressman who has been publicly involved in the health care fight. This incident is a legitimate concern, and it is not legitimate for Democrats to discount it because they’re trying to make up for a miserable fundraising month.

  • http://www.thesubstratum.com GJ Merits

    A little off topic but things have been a little serious today:

    http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Cuban-leader-applauds-US-apf-124808403.html?x=0&.v=1

    Drudge is leading with: REVOLUTION: CASTRO CHEERS OBAMACARE!

    Interesting times. Interesting times.

  • spainishirish

    –the existence of physical evidence the former happened. We don’t have to manufacture incidents as Democrats and leftists routinely engage in political violence.

  • izoneguy
  • d-spin

    I also like ?We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.?

    As your comment so aptly pointed out, both parties have a history of political violence. It is what it is. So why get caught up in it and continue the trend?

    Why not turn the other cheek, or simply turn the TV/Radio/Internet off?

  • d-spin

    three others are pointing right back at you. I remember a few years back when no dissenting POV was allowed within several hundred yards of Pres. Bush else punishment of arrest. I find the current level of dissent refreshing after so many years of oppression.

  • d-spin

    “if you don’t kill me, then I’ll kill you” helps Republicanism in any way.

  • mschmitt
  • janis

    Please do tell us what media personalities were singled out by President Bush for criticism, as Obama did with Rush Limbaugh. Please list all the times that President Bush referred to any segment of the American public as racist, ignorant, cowards, fear mongers– well, I could go on, but those are names that Obama and Holder and Gibbsy have called all of us. Did George Bush do that? Why, no, he didn’t as far as I can remember.

    Go away. You have nothing of value to add.

  • http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

    Somewhere else.

  • gremlin1974

    Does anyone else read this as “stop telling the truth about our horrible bill?”

  • http://hillbillypolitics.com Steph C

    I was going to point out that he’s the one doing the finger pointing but Moe already did something about that. The person he was “dressing down” merely asked a question.

  • earlgrey

    good point.

  • nebraskapld

    [First off, copyright infringement redacted.

    Second, G'bye.

    - Neil, who probably will have to apologize for Moe for stealing this ban, but will sleep well enough. :-) ]

    ___________________________________________________________

    You owe many, many people a front page apology, Moe.

    Eric Cantor callously used a freak accident to his own political ends, and like the backwards ‘B’ incident, you all just jumped right on board the hysteria bandwagon. And to make matters worse, you seem to almost completely discount the very real threats being currently experienced by those who voted HCR into law.

    This is truly a new low, both for Republican politicians and for this site. You should be ashamed, but I doubt that’s the case. You will, however, have blood on your hands should any of the very real right-wing extremists succeed in their attempts to do harm to Democratic congressmen/women.

    It will be interesting to observe whether or not you and everybody else who supported this disgusting farce own up to the fact that you were played for fools – again. And yes, I understand that this account will be closed. I’m just fine with that – I’ve never commented before and can’t see a need to comment ever again. This site used to have a lot to offer, but ever since you sold yourself to Eagle Publishing, it’s more like a right-wing Jerry Springer show. It’s sad but not totally unexpected given the low state of the Republican party. When all you have is – literally – nothing (Party of No) there’s not much you aren’t willing to do, no matter how cowardly or vile.

    You truly should be ashamed.

  • Jack_Savage

    And by the way, after you get banned, take a look at my diary about Obama’s mentor and the road to the Kent State shootings. THAT’S what real violence is, and THAT’S what it means to have blood on your hands, pal.

    Pathetic little weasel lefty.

  • Jack_Savage

    And your characterization of this very deep blue section of Virginia is correct. I wonder *why* a gunshot isn’t a big deal there? Maybe all the Democrat policies that are in full force? Maybe?

  • ocleverone

    But Jack’s right – this one might win the award for whiny or condescending – I’m torn between the two.

  • izoneguy

    Seem to pop out after BFD’s

  • tngal

    I’m gonna get one of those BIG mallets, as big as the gavel Pelosi had. All the better to whack trolls with.

  • http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

    …it still comes out the same way: gun, bullet, Cantor’s office.

    Bye!

  • aesthete

    having a broad swath of the American people be murderers and horrible, horrible people. I say “invested” because dispassionate analysis would both require proof for the claim that right-wing discourse is directly related to peripherally political violence, and would suggest constructive steps to counteract these effects (and not just complain about it). It’s sick that such an attachment to this view has become a staple of certain individuals in the media, and certain sites on the web.

    The one common thread connecting virtually all political violence in the US is mental instability. Though I’m the last person to suggest that correlation = causation, doesn’t it make more sense to at least match your unverifiable views with the stronger correlation?

    Cantor specifically repudiated the idea that anyone, either left or right, wanted, encouraged, or condoned violence, and criticized two Democrats specifically (as opposed to widely generalizing), who fetishistically furthered the narrative that prominent conservatives are trying to spark violence among their easily-riled constituency.

    If it turns out that no one shot Cantor’s office intentionally, that’s great. I don’t expect members of the American public, left or right, to burst out in political violence anytime soon, and this incident would be an unfortunate exception to this, if found to be politically motivated. Can you say the same? Given your post here and your misrepresentation of Cantor’s address, I think not.

  • http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

    “Cantor specifically repudiated the idea that anyone, either left or right, wanted, encouraged, or condoned violence, and criticized two Democrats specifically (as opposed to widely generalizing), who fetishistically furthered the narrative that prominent conservatives are trying to spark violence among their easily-riled constituency.”

    They know that the Democrats need that money that they’re trying to suck out of their base. Cook just upgraded to fifty-eight the number of at-risk D seats in the House (we have six). What will it be in three months? – And the President isn’t going to be able to raise for the midterms the way that he raised for the general. For one thing, he isn’t universally loved anymore.

    It’s just business.

  • treeofliberty

    since he personally gave Barry a primer on a how to be a good Marxist leader.

  • smagar

    Personally, I don’t blame the Dems for trying this line of “argument.” The MSM allows them to make these claims with virtually no verification, and too often our side just sits there and takes it.

    Remember macaca? (We all do). Well, this time, when the WaPo tried it on Bob McDonnell, Michael Barone said enough. He started “Macaca Watch,” and let the WaPo know that someone was watching and would not be silent. The Post’s attempt at Macaca The Sequel collapsed.

    You have to stand up to these people. Hold your ground, throw their arguments back in their face and make them prove their points. Many (if not most) times, they’ll back down.

    Kudos to Cantor for calling out Van Hollen and Kaine by name. That’s what it takes to stop this stuff.

  • aesthete

    I’m pretty sure that they’re at least somewhat attached to reality (though the HCR debate makes me wonder…) But the nutroots and some of the rank-and-file have an irrational obsession with confirmation of their collective bias that conservatives want or inspire political violence.

    One blog on DKos had commenters pouring down scorn on a poster who said that there were probably some nice Tea Partiers out there. Mind you, he didn’t say that the Tea Partiers were nice as a whole or that their goals as a group were noble — just that some of them might be nice people. I saw not a single commenter post in agreement or defense of his view in a ~800 comment blog, and several who called him a tool, a sympathizer, etc. for his thoughtcrime.

    BTW, the “Fire Pelosi” button is full of win.

  • ihateliberals

    this is the “do as i say not as i do”. it’s ok to spread lies about protesters but when it is one of their own perpetrating the act of violence then it’s ok and the state run media will say little or nothing about it.

  • BA Cyclone

    With them so overwhelmingly in ‘control’ of Washington, they have seen no need to hide their true desires, opinions, methods.

    If we care to pay attention, we are seeing the unvarnished truth of what mainstream Democrats really want for our nation, our government, our society.

    Their worldview is on full display, and I guess that is some small benefit. If they want to hide from that fact – use “conservative language” to hide their aims in the future – we should not need to look very far to find real evidence that their ideas and methods are anything but growing government at the expense of personal liberty. Command and control, that is all they know and all they care about. “Working together” for them is merely accepting their central-planning solutions.

  • http://www.800cart.com Ron Robinson

    Louise Slaughter condemning “fanning the flames with coded rhetoric”

    The minds of followers on the left are pretty simple as documented in these spaces so well. So you have to mention the coded rhetoric to them so that they know that is the coded rhetoric itself.

    Might as well just come right out and say ‘go ahead and break out the akkrit ammo’

    Best of all, it’s manifestly not indictable.

  • izoneguy

    to photoshop……

  • rubicon01

    The sudden “attacks” and the “heated rhetoric” assertions, seem to be right from the Alinsky/Democrat playbook of victim-hood. The Tea Party movement has been active for over a year. There have been no confirmed racial attacks, no confirmed physical assaults, no confirmed violence. There is no way I will believe that this is Tea Party or conservative oriented.
    If Tea Party members have used words that are offensive, it was always in the context of using our political system to resolve our differences with Democrats &/or their legislation.
    There has been bi-partisan opposition to this legislation in the congress. There has been only partisan participation in concocting the means to force the legislation through. Many Democrats voted for this legislation only because they were “encouraged” to do so. In the real world, we call that encouragement threats & bribes.
    So far, law enforcement has none revealed any of their investigation reports on any of the incidences. So, there can be NO accusations that are supported in fact since there is no evidence to assign blame to anyone. Even then, just as the left always told America the radical elements were not their responsibility, so too is it proper now to say the right has no responsibility for actions by radicals who are assigned to the right.
    The massive media coverage of Nancy Pelosi smugly marching into congress w/ her symbolic gavel (a march I feel was designed to inflame, mock, & infuriate), plus the member of congress following along w/ a video camera, and the plethora of cell phone camera’s, provided no evidence of disparaging remarks, no racial outbursts, and no homophobic outbursts. In addition, the Representative who was supposedly spit on, had no spittle to show and even when this supposedly happened responded by saying to the closest person, “‘did’ you just spit on me? He did not say why did you spit on me? He did not know “IF” it had happened. That person had their mouth covered as they cupped their hands & shouted something at him. No spit. The Representative “thought” something happened.
    DCCC chairman Chris Van Hollen was on TV again today trying to fan the flames of anger & unsubstantiated accusation. He was trying to use association of the Tea Partiers, conservatives, and anyone at all who disagrees with the legislation, with violence. What they are trying to do is say, if you object, you are violent. You are the problem. You are evil. You do not want people to have insurance. You are creating a dangerous atmosphere.
    There may be people on the right doing the same. However, they are not members of congress or of the party machine like Van Hollen is.
    Rush Limbaugh did a show on this & he very articulately outlined the issues at hand. He discredited the accusations. He showed that while America tolerated attacks by the left for decades on their pet issues, now they are trying to say any opposition from the right is dangerous & must be curtailed. They want the right to sit down & work it out while for decades the left refused to talk w/ anyone.
    In addition, Rush makes the great point that in history, it is NOT the right who riots. The right is not the group that gets together & creates havoc on the streets. The Tea Party people at a Texas rally (rally, not riot or demonstration), actually ‘cleaned up’ after the rally. Can you name a time the left ever cleaned up after their demonstrations? Name, ONE! So, organized people protesting w/in the law, always obeying law enforcement orders, and cleaning up afterward, have suddenly turned in a dangerous & violent group that needs to be controlled? ! Yeah, sure they did!?
    One Democrat has even called for a return of the “Fairness Doctrine” because he wants people like Glenn Beck silenced.
    Beck does not & has not advocated violence. He has called for action.. political action. Beck may be a nut, but he is not a violent nut. He also should have four to five decades to catch up to the vicious vitriol that has been spewed by the left. Keith Olbermann alone has shown America the truly hateful side of the left. Add his cohorts & you have a cabal of broadcasting types, working for a network who is losing market share as viewers seek sanity elsewhere, and a network outlet that has rarely, if ever shown an unbiased broadcast of an event or person.
    Shame on anyone who commits an act of violence. It is unacceptable conduct from either side of the issues. Stop it!
    However, lets not be silenced or lose our enthusiasm just because the left is looking to shut us up by portraying themselves as victims. These people practice professional victim-hood. Its time facts were discussed & politicians passed legislation based solely on facts & not on political ideology.