I want this to be a fairly straightforward diary where I list anyone on the Palin list who has been affected by threats and violence. I am just listing those instances that I have been able to find. If there are others please let me know and I will add them as updates.
The timeline: on March 24th, 2010, Sarah Palin posted the now-infamous list on her Facebook acount.
Huffington Post
On that same day, a gas line was severed at the home of Tom Perriello's brother in Virginia. Congressman Perriello was on the list. A tea party group posted the address of his brother's house by mistake. Is it a coincidence that someone who frequents tea party sites, the only place this address was available, attacked Perriello's brothers house on the exact same day that the Palin list was posted?
Secered Gas Line Found . . .
On March 26th, 2010, Arkansas Rep. vic Snyder received a letter reading . . .
It is apparent that it will take a few assassinations to stop Obamacare. Militia central has selected you for assassination. If we cannot stalk and find you in Washington, D.C., we will get you in Little Rock.
On March 26th Crook and Liars reports that Arizona Rep Harry Mitchell recieved a call, saying . . .
You are going to have to look over your f*&king shoulder because people in your district hate your f*&king face. I love my insurance company and to have you come between me and my f*&king doctor. I cannot tell you how much I wish a panty bomber would come in and just f*&king blow your place up.
On March 24th, 2010, local news reports that Colorado Rep. Betsy Markey was receiving death threats . . .
http://www.kdvr.com/...
On March 25th it was reported that reported the Rep. Suzanne Komas of Florida was receiving death threats.
Also on March 25th, it was reported that Reps. Kathy Dahlkemper and John Boccieri of Pennslyvania were recieving threats.
"Having flown missions in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan, I know what it’s like to be in harm’s way," said Boccieri, an Air Force Reserve pilot based at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna. "But I never imagined serving in Congress could feel the same."
Dalhkemper is an anti-choice Democrat who voted with Bart Stupak for reform. She received a threatening note saying, in part, "You will never sleep through the night again."
On March 26th, Rep. Baron Hill of Indiana was also receiving death threats.
As we now know, Rep. Gabriel Giffords' office was vandalized around this time.
In this same article, we find out that Rep. Earl Pomeroy had his personal cell phone number given out by an unusual source.
Rep. Earl Pomeroy had to change his personal cell phone number after the Republican party chairman in his home state of N.D. decided read it out to the public at a convention.
Now, can any of these events, or the tragedy that occurred yesterday be definitively connected to Sarah Palin's target map? No, of course not. But that sort of misses this point. The events above all involved persons included on the target map, but there were many other attacks and threats by people angry about health care legislation being passed. This is the toxic environment that one of the leader's of the Republican party thought it fine to inject such horrific rhetoric into by putting targets and people's names on a list. She went further to frame the situation facing the right a choice over whether to "retreat" or "reload".
I don't understand how the "serious" journalists out there can call this target list irrelevant in the context in which it was published.
Famous people are paid millions of dollars in this country star in commercials to sell product. They receive that kind of money because there is a direct correlation between what they advocate and the actions of others. For a person in Palin's position to publish this map and tell her followers to reload . . . I'm sorry Howard Kurtzes of the world it is not irrelevant to the violence threatened or perpetrated against the actual people on the list.
I expect people like Palin and Glenn Beck to engage in this rhetoric and for the GOP/Fox News to provide them a medium, but if we have no other media that will not stop the false left-right equivalencies . . . well, this latest tragedy, sadly, is not likely to be the last.
If you have other examples of threats or violence against people on the Palin list, I will update.
Gabriel Giffords on the Palin List.