Umm yes it was hateful rhetoric. A National Platform of hateful rhetoric. Sure tons of people wanted bush to get shot. Not one dem ever had a rally with people holding signs of him with targets on him. There is a difference here.
Granted there are people on both sides of the spectrum that are extremists and mention violent behavior. This is the first time since the civil war that a Political Movement, and a Party (libertarian/conservation/tea whatever you call it) made a national, well funded, targeted push in that direction.
People don't go around screaming, yelling, and carrying on at town halls because they are taking everything with a grain of salt do they? No. They are upset with the government. Instead of putting forth realistic solutions to those grievances, they powers to be decided to harness that anger, and up the political ante. Well one thing leads to another, and some "Political Genius" steps up talking about reload, and putting targets on congressional districts, which does make for great theater. However, when a bunch of people are dead, with all to much irony behind it all, yes, it is irresponsible not to ask such questions.
No one asked questions when Hitler was doing the same thing. (like how I turned the Hitler reference against the tea party?) No one asked questions when the first jew was killed. So things progressed.
There is that sentiment here in the US (as well as every population) of extremism, and it is very powerful. Powerful enough to over throw governments (taliban, germany, sudan, ect...). That is why it should be shameful to tap into that mindset for political purposes. That is EXACTLY what the Tea Party organizers did. They picked an extreme and made it okay to be that extreme.
There is a very good chance that this killing is more than just "a guy being disturbed". There is a much better chance, that an act like this, against who it was against, taking into account the circumstances, the political climate, and the setting, was exacerbated and executed because a disturbed man was pushed over the edge.
That is why your best friend Nancy Pelosi addressed this months ago, that is why us "pussy liberals" have been scorning the degree of political discourse in this country, cuz shit like this happens if you let it go unchecked. Whats even worse is that it is very hard to undo.
So respectfully I see this conversation as a thorough exploration of cause and effect, intended or not. This guy wasn't going off about the gold standard just because of some random consequence, (brings into mind an exchange which occurred on a similar thread) clearly there is political motives behind it.
Since that political motive exists, so should the questions and issues brought up on this thread. This tragedy was no accident, it was supposed to be a message. Ironically the same message of a certain political party that is pretty extreme itself.
And make no mistake, the tea party is widely viewed as extreme by most of the American public. There is a difference between conservatism and whatever the tea party is.
what's truly sad is that there are people who so firmly believe that we should live our lives by rules that pertain only to these worst case scenarios. any sane person would realize that terminology like "hit list" only means that those people should be removed from office, but the partisan hacks on the left are using this tragedy to emphasize their agenda of control. this isn't "hateful rhetoric", it's political posing and everyone knows it. it's the same sort of thing said a thousand times before by both sides. how many times did we hear calls for baby bush's execution during his eight years in office? did anyone but the most delusional ever even consider taking those comments seriously? no, but a chance to point the finger at the conservative faction just can't be passed up.
it's time the liberal loons realized that conservatism is not an extremist stance, but that the extremism of the left has been mainstreamed by the shepherds of that flock. the idea of individual liberty is not a fringe idea, it is at the very core of the ideals this country was founded upon. the radical, pathetic and absolutely indefensible position is that we should be forced to give up the idea of individual liberty for the sake of corrupt governmental control, an expanding welfare state and this prissy ideals of political correctness.