(This story was originally posted at DinkZone in a slightly different format. A lot of the information in this post has already appeared elsewhere on Daily Kos; this diary is an attempt to compile the information into a single pattern-establishing source.)
Back in March, Sarah Palin unveiled the ad shown below listing twenty Democratic members of Congress with crosshairs aimed at their districts. One of these candidates was Arizona representative Gabrielle Giffords. At the same time, she posted on Twitted, asking "lovers of America" to "RELOAD". As many of you know, Rep. Giffords was shot in the head today. As of this writing, she's in emergency surgery to save her life.
(more after the fold)
Back in March, Sarah Palin unveiled the ad shown below listing twenty Democratic members of Congress with crosshairs aimed at their districts. One of these candidates was Arizona representative Gabrielle Giffords. At the same time, she posted on Twitted, asking "lovers of America" to "RELOAD". As many of you know, Rep. Giffords was shot in the head today. As of this writing, she's in emergency surgery to save her life.
At the time, writers on the left side of the spectrum widely denounced Palin's choice of metaphor without ascribing any specific intent to her actions. Joan Walsh, for example, wrote:
Reload, Mrs. Palin? Most (but probably not all) Palin supporters may insist the tuckered-out former Alaska governor meant "reload" metaphorically. But in a country where angry right-wingers carry guns to see the president speak, and spit on African-American congressmen, I thought it was a chilling statement. Will any Republican denounce Palin's language?
I'd like to add to Walsh's remarks here: We've only seen a tiny handful of right-wingers who've actually brought guns to an Obama appearance, and (so far) only one demonstrator who actually spat on Rep. Cleaver. What Joan Walsh omitted is that there's a much larger number of Americans who've been worked up into a froth by right-wing rhetoric, and we can reasonably anticipate that many of them will be volatile.
Consider that the same week that Palin posted her gun-sights ad, Harris released a poll showing that one out of four Republicans believe that Barack Obama is the Antichrist. Regardless of your position on gun or free speech, I think we can all agree that one should tread very carefully when addressing an audience in which a fourth of the members believe their country is being overrun by supernatural demons.
But instead of treading carefully, we've seen over the past year right-wing candidates and pundits amping up the gun violence rhetoric:
- Giffords's 2010 opponent, Jesse Kelly, announced an event on his website in June inviting supporters to "Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office Shoot a fully automatic M-16":
- The Republican Senatorial candidate in neighboring Nevada, Sharron Angle, suggested "Second Amendment remedies" for a Democratic-led Congress.
- Other examples from around the country abound: Rick Barber solicited tea-partiers to "gather your armies"; Michelle Bachmann wanted voters in her district "armed and dangerous", an Indiana Senate candidate claimed, "if we don't see new faces, I'm cleaning my guns and getting ready for the big show".
While they're amping up this rhetoric, we've seen the political violence escalating—today's shooting was not an isolated incident. In just the past year:
- In July, someone shot a bullet into an office of Gifford's fellow Arizona congressman, Raúl Grijalva; in October, a package decorated with swastikas and filled with hydroxyacetanylide powder was delivered to the same office.
- A white-powder package was also sent to NY representative Anthony Weiner, (and, to be fair, also to Republican AL representative Jo Bonner.)
- A brick was thrown through the window of NY representative Louise Slaughter, and through the Democratic Party Headquarters in Rochester, NY. Windows were smashed at Gabrielle Giffords's own offices as well.
- A Yakima, WA resident was arrested for threatening to kill Patty Murray.
- A volunteer for Rand Paul's Senate campaign stomped on the head of a MoveOn demonstrator.
- The day after a tea party activist posted (what he believed to be) VA representative Tom Perriello's home address and encouraged readers to "drop by", the gas line at that house was cut.
I want to be clear: the responsibility for Giffords's shooting rests entirely with the shooter. I'm not accusing FOX News, the Republican Party, or Sarah Palin of murder. I
am accusing them of pouring gasoline on a fire which claimed five lives today.