Seems like we've got a new fad: faxing pictures of nooses and
gallows to congressmen's offices
Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), the House Majority Whip, got one. And Rep. Stupak
(D-MI) got one too. "At least 10 House Democrats" have reported being subjected
to death threats, harassment, or vandalism at their district offices over the
past week.
Asked whether members are endangered, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer
(D-MD) said, "Yes. [There are] very serious incidents that have occurred."
With House Republican leader John Boner referring to one Democrat as a "dead man" if he votes for health care reform, and right-wing bloggers calling for people to "break all their windows" -- leading to incidents nationwide of broken windows in Democratic offices, this is beginning to bear an eerie resemblance to the hate speech of the 1960s that led to the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King.
With House Republican leader John Boner referring to one Democrat as a "dead man" if he votes for health care reform, and right-wing bloggers calling for people to "break all their windows" -- leading to incidents nationwide of broken windows in Democratic offices, this is beginning to bear an eerie resemblance to the hate speech of the 1960s that led to the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King.
And the "break their windows" rhetoric is eerily reminiscent of
Kristalnacht, when a political party in Germany led a campaign to shatter the
windows of the people they'd singled out as their enemies.
And that crowd that was spitting on African American members of the House
of Representatives on the steps of the Capitol? Later in the day they were
congratulated and cheered on by a group of Republican lawmakers, led by Michelle
Bachmann.
And those right wingers who disrupted the proceedings of the House during
the health care debate? A dozen Republican members of the House stood up and
applauded them, a breach of protocol that Congressman Barney Frank says he's
never seen before in his 29 years in Congress.
It's time for us all to call out these Republicans and demand that they
repudiate violence and threats, and that they stop encouraging the right-wing
crazies in their base, before something really bad happens.
