Yesterday, I mentioned Anthony Miller, GOP district chairman for the 20th Legislative district in Arizona. He quit his post after receiving threats from teabaggers within his own party. And, as it turns out, he was not the only one to leave:
Miller, the first and only African-American to hold the party's precinct chairmanship, said he had been called "McCain's boy," and that, during a speech, a member of the audience made the symbol of a gun with his hand and pointed it at him. "I wasn't going to resign but decided to quit after what happened Saturday," Miller said. "I love the Republican Party but I don't want to take a bullet for anyone."
Miller is not alone. The newly-elected Dist. 20 Republican secretary, Sophia Johnson, first vice chairman Roger Dickinson, and former district spokesman Jeff Kolb, also quit.
"This singular focus on 'getting' Anthony [Miller] was one of the main reasons I chose to resign," Kolb said in an e-mail to another party activist.
Clearly, it isn't just "the Left" that's worried about eliminationist rhetoric.
The local sheriff's people pulled over this known loon the very morning of the shooting, then let him go. He also chooses to ignore the state laws because he's too busy playing politics. Even now, he's still shilling for the Dems instead of doing his job.
ReplyDeleteI'd question is anyone is safe under his protection.
Leave it to ridofbrain to support the teabagging kooks versus the moderate conservative sheriff of Tuscon.
ReplyDeleteIt's the sheriff's fault!
ReplyDeleteIt has nothing to do with allowing crazy people to get guns, or inflamatory talk. It is all about how someone who works for the sheriff pulled the guy over and did not stop him.
Tell me, what legal basis exists in the US that would permit a sheriff's employee to detain a guy for driving a car?
Well in Arizona there's "Driving While Latino" but under that law only the guy who saved the Congresswoman's life could have been detained.
ReplyDeleteWow, ridenrain has sure been a busy little beaver today. Every blogger who has posted on this topic is sure to have at least one little ridenrain gem in the comments. Needs to get a real job methinks.
ReplyDeleteCanajun, there is always the legitimate question whether any of these trolls are actually working for the PMO. However, ridofbrain is clearly too obtuse to be one of them.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if it was here or on another blog, but by listing Harper and the Conservative Party's official positions in Ottawa; then translating these into the US political lexicon; one would come to the conclusion that in the US, Harper would be a Democrat - and a pretty liberal one at that.
I find that hilarious to ponder when twits like ridofbrain come here defending Palin, FoxNews and the teabagging freaks ...meanwhile Harper's own political phylosophies would not be inconsolable to those of congresswoman Giffords, who is in fact on the right within the Democratic Party. If she would be an MP in Canada, no doubt she would be a Conservative.
Nah Ridofbrain lives in New West and doubtfully has the clout or smarts to work for the CPC. I see him on the Skytrain when he's going to BC Lions games. Ive never had the nerve to ask his handler why he needs to wear a helmet on the train though.
ReplyDeleteActually Loughner had been accused of uttering death threats before, and the sheriff decided to do nothing about it. Had the sheriff at least made a little note on the guys' record, he may not have cleared the "automatic background check" which allowed him to get a gun - not that an automatic background check, whatever that is, is sufficient. AZ should consider having a thorough background check and a mandatory waiting period or something.
ReplyDeleteSo, the sheriff - a democrat - not a "moderate conservative" TofKW, had good reason to try and blame Palin - he actually could have done something to stop this loon.
Oh, and BCL, its a brave new world. Classic rock songs now banned for being deemed offensive by a bureaucrat. Can you feel the utopia?
sure keep closing those barn doors after all the animals have left. If only I had used the "you had the chance to stop that!" defense when I was a child.
ReplyDeleteJerome stole my thunder but it can still hardly be heard over the thunderous din of the fools who prefer personal attacks over facts.
ReplyDeleteThe sheriff is not directly responsible but he’s far more culpable than someone who the assassin never heard of. The fact the Dems immediately smear their enemies shows how scared and vulnerable they are.
Presumably not as scared as Mr. Miller.
ReplyDeleteJerome, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik isn't a conservative? You sure?
ReplyDelete"I've known Clarence well for many years. He ain't even a liberal," says Alfredo Gutierrez, a former majority leader in the state senate ... But according to Gutierrez, "Dupnik is a much tougher sheriff. He's tougher on crime. He's just not insane."
Time - Arizona's Tale of Two Sheriffs: Outspoken Dupnik and Outrageous Arpaio
Jerome, ridofbrain is a tool - we all figured that out long ago. I'm very surprised you're here defending the wingnut extreme of US politics.
I'm not saying the police department in Tuscon didn't let Loughner slip through the cracks. But I think you're really going on a limb here suggesting Dupnik is some incompetent soft-on-crime leftie sheriff.
oh ridenrain, we challenge your ethics so much. What will you do?
ReplyDeleteCrybaby
You know, the only possible way to evaluate whether someone is too crazy to have a gun is whether or not the police have investigated him for uttering threats....once.
ReplyDeleteBecause we all know only crazy people utter threats....once.
Why on earth should fanatics take care about inciting hatred or violence, and why on earth should we have tougher standards before a gun may be purchased, because the real responsibility for preventing crazy people from obtaining guns and killing innocent people lies with sheriffs who are democrats.
A limb farther out than ... because someone that the assasin never listened to had a larger, and more direct ability to influence this event that the sheriff who knew he was a problem and knew he had a gun.
ReplyDeleteIt's looking more and more that the only guy this loon listened to was that moron Alex Jones.
Ridofbrain has hit CanadianSense levels of posting. Either someone has gotten a job with the CPC or mom's gone away for a holiday and someone's been left unattended with the computer.
ReplyDeleteToKW:
ReplyDeleteThe Sheriff is a Democrat. He may be a conservative Democrat, but as far as I can tell the only thing we know about his political leanings is that he's a Democrat.
. I'm very surprised you're here defending the wingnut extreme of US politics.
Im not defending them. Im just setting the record straight on a couple of points. I dont like Palin, but I really dont think she had anything to do with this tragedy. In fact I find it despicable how people used this tragedy to pile on her.
What Im suggesting, and that's the only thing Im suggesting, is that the sheriff had an opportunity to arrest this guy and he didnt. He may have had some reason that seemed good at the time. I dont know.
Gayle:
Why on earth should fanatics take care about inciting hatred or violence, and why on earth should we have tougher standards before a gun may be purchased, because the real responsibility for preventing crazy people from obtaining guns and killing innocent people lies with sheriffs who are democrats.
What kind of nonsense is that about? You seem to be spinning your wheels like crazy over an obvious point.
Loughner ought to have been prevented to have a gun - even by AZ's very low standards - because he had shown signs of mental illness and those signs were known by the authorities. Its a major failure on the part of the authorities and a terrible lesson on the possible consequences of letting incidents like death threats just go by. I cant imagine how this point could be controversial.
Jerome - perhaps you should read the comment I am responding to before you spout off.
ReplyDeleteJerome - perhaps you should read the comment I am responding to before you spout off.
ReplyDeleteWhich comment were you responding to Gayle? It wasnt clear to me. I figured it was my earlier comment because of the reference to death threats, which I was the one to bring up.
Jerome, I never denied that the Tuscon police might have erred and failed to stop this guy even though there were warning signs out there. I'll leave it to an official inquiry to find out.
ReplyDeleteReading your latest comments, I think we actually agree on this matter.
What I do think is hogwash is the idea that Dupnik's actions are politically motivated ...as ridenrain was suggesting.
Again, let me remind everyone that a conservative Democrat in Arizona would be equal to someone like Tom Flanagan up here in the Great White North.
I think it is much more likely that Loughner is a few french-fries short of a happy meal, and was influenced to some degree by all the vitriol being broadcast by the various teabagger wingnuts. It doesn't take much for an unbalanced person to commit violence (to themselves or others).
Palin is just one voice, but she certainly generates more heat than light in regards to this matter. The reason everyone is piling on her now is because of her reaction to date. She could have taken the high-road and made a speech similar in tone to others within the Republican Party's hierarchy. Instead she makes herself the victim and uses terms like 'blood libel'. Frankly, when you're that stupid you deserve all the fallout.
I think it is much more likely that Loughner is a few french-fries short of a happy meal, and was influenced to some degree by all the vitriol being broadcast by the various teabagger wingnuts. It doesn't take much for an unbalanced person to commit violence (to themselves or others).
ReplyDeleteI dont think there's any doubt that Loughner was a cheeseburger, french-fries and cookies short of a happy meal.
As for whether he was influenced by crazy rhetoric like "less taxes and no Obamacare", you may consider that likely if you want, but there's absolutely no evidence of it. All the evidence in fact points away from this guy having been influenced by the tea party. But if you know something I dont about this, please let me know.
His friends and acquaintances suggest he was apolitical, did not watch the news, and became obsessed with this congresswoman in 2007 when she "improperly" answered his question at some rally. His question was "What is government if words have no meaning?".
I know it fits your desired narrative that the tea party caused this, but its simply not borne out by the facts.
Unlike say, James Lee, of Discovery Channel Rampage fame, which was absolutely and without the slightest shred of doubt driven to his violent and murderous acts by over-the-top, unsubstantiated, environmentalist rhetoric.
Palin is just one voice, but she certainly generates more heat than light in regards to this matter. The reason everyone is piling on her now is because of her reaction to date. She could have taken the high-road and made a speech similar in tone to others within the Republican Party's hierarchy. Instead she makes herself the victim and uses terms like 'blood libel'. Frankly, when you're that stupid you deserve all the fallout.
ReplyDeleteYou're suggesting the pile-on is a result of her reaction to the pile-on?
That's funny.
Since this is clearly not obvious to you, let me assure you that Einstein proved conclusively that events in the present cannot influence events in the past.
She didnt make herself the victim.
The thousands of lefty commentators made her the victim.
And 'blood libel' has been used many times by many commentators without the slightest outrage by anybody. In this age of Google, you really need to be short-sighted to start pretending that use of a term like that is the most outrageous thing ever - people will check.
Jerome, if it was just "less taxes and no Obamacare" that would only lead to pleasant exchanges between rival politicians on 'Meet the Press'.
ReplyDeleteI think it's more like Beck showing up every night on FOXNews with giant pictures of Hitler &/or Stalin behind him screaming "...and now they're indoctrinating our children!!!"
Once you start to dehumanize your opponents and make them sub-human, then don't be suprized when some whackjob comes out of the woodwork and acts on it. Same reason some anti-abortion types shoot doctors, because in there mind it's no sin to kill something that is inhuman.
As for Loughner, I don't know what his influences were. We may never find out.
However, in the mean time there are now Republicans who are resigning their posts in fear due to the vitriol from the teabaggers. Clearly it's not just the 'lefties' (as you put it) who
are figuring it out.
I was in Phoenix a fortnight ago and I remember walking into a restaurant with this big rant about Obama's cut in reference to the state sales tax. Thankfully, I opted to not comment on that point.
ReplyDeleteI did find the holiday gun shops that popped up in vacant units in malls kind of like the knock off book stores that pop up here round Christmas. The one guy guaranteed he could get a taser, samurai sword and a semi automatic rifle to us in BC "no questions asked". Didn't ask us why we needed them or anything.
Weird place, pretty good bbq though and you can get pickled okra there. Which is amazing
Once you start to dehumanize your opponents and make them sub-human, then don't be suprized when some whackjob comes out of the woodwork and acts on it.
ReplyDeleteThats true. Although its not what happened in this case. And as for dehumanizing political opponents, its an unfortunate feature of the extremes on both side of the spectrum.
As for Glen Beck Ill take your word for it. Never watched him and I dont plan on doing it. He seems like a slightly nuttier version of a right-wing Keith Olbermann.
Calling for respectful discourse is a good thing - not so much because it'll prevent psychos from shooting up people, but because there is no real communication when rhetoric dehumanizes the opponent.