It will be interesting to see if there'll be any reevaluation of the political temperature in US politics following the assassination attempt of Arizona Congresswoman (D) Gabrielle Giffords, who was one of the people targeted by nut case Tea Party activists (and Republicans in general) for her "soft" views on immigration and health care see here .
While the anti immigration bandwagon has risen to mouth frothing (and essentially crazy) levels in Arizona over the last year or so, Giffords (admittedly a blue dog Democrat) was apparently quite moderate on the issue, and trying to come up with some workable alternatives. This of course is anathema to the (mentally ill) Republican Right, and the Congresswoman had been targeted for her "centrist" views. So in this political climate it's hardly surprising that a disgruntled loser with a gun (as an aside, you can forget about this ever turning into a debate about restricting gun ownership, America is not mature enough for that discussion) would do what Sarah Palin and FOX NEWS have been demanding the public do and "take back our country".
In this distressing story however I see opportunity, a chance for Democrats and political activists alike to put the political blow torch straight back onto the extremist hate mongering Republicans who are spouting all the usual mouth frothing venom. A chance to say ENOUGH, and its time to accept responsibility for your rhetoric, because when you fill the airwaves with bile, your supporters may just listen to what you're saying and DO something about it?
I'm sorry but these Republicans can't just walk away from this after metaphorically loading the gun and placing it in the hand of a supporter and then say "it's nothing to do with us", there is a collective responsibility here, and each protagonist has to accept their share of the blame.
It maybe that the shooter is not so politically aligned to the Republican's as some are assuming.
ReplyDeleteHowever, surely the point is that the Republican Right's ranting and frothing at the mouth (for no apparent reason, I might add) has been inciting all kinds of loonies into thinking that taking the law into your own hands is the right thing to do.
Whether or not the shooter was an Obama hater etc., is really not the point.
One other thing (which contradicts my first point).... some biased right winger opinionistas have been accusing the Left of hypocrisy. They claim that the Left has been making similiar dangerous rhetorical statements about Right Wing politicans.
However, at the end of the day, the score is on the board.
Anwar Sadat
Yitzhak Rabin
John F Kennedy
Robert Kennedy
'Progressives' are always the ones who get killed/shot.
Has a right winger ever copped it? (George Wallace in 1972 is about the only candidate that comes immediately to mind).
Savvas Tzionis
Perhaps the reason the "body count" is so lobsided is because progressives view owning guns as anathema, while EVERY right wing mouth frotther has one?
ReplyDeleteBut actually I suspect that the real reason is that progressives actually THINK about issues, while your average right wing simpleton just REACTS!
While tea cuppers rave and rant regarding progressives and justify racism , sexism and every other ... ism as poisoning the American pschy , they need to examin the wars they are actively persuing in thr name of truth justice and the American way as means for making their own kind wealtier and more powerful by marginalizing the ignorant. They talk of terrorism but terrorism is in their own backyard performed by their own kind, as in the Oaklahoma bomber and all the others that have shot and blown up their own kind in their own country . Are they not seeing and understanding what's going on or are they so dumbed down by Fox news that their reality is distorted . Acting like big brother just indicates the hypicracy of their politics and they want to impose it on the rest of us . Let's stop admiring Mickey mouse , buying coca cola and wearing base ball caps which validates their arrogance. Mickey mouse and coca cola have been used as covers to subvert many governments and I don't need wikileaks to validate what I know
ReplyDeleteNikita,
ReplyDeleteI thought you had your first truly outsider commenting on your blog....
Until I read the Mickey Mouse reference and realised Zapantis was the poster. :)
Savvas Tzionis
in my post I accused the Right of "metaphorically" loading the gun that shot Giffords, well in fact her Republican opponent in the lead up to the mid term election held an event where you could fire a machine gun with him, ie blast out the Democrats etc.
ReplyDeleteOnly in America is that type of behaviour not political suicide!