Yesterday a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the office door of a Texas state legislator. They haven’t caught the person who did it and it’s not known what the motive was. We do know that the legislator in question, Wendy Davis of Fort Worth, was a woman. She was pro choice and she was a Democrat.
Now we don’t know if this was an unhinged person or if it was political calculation (or both) and obviously people are responsible for their own actions. But these things happen within a larger context. And I hope the people fomenting hatred of women who gloated when Dr. Tiller was murdered will at least consider this as a reason to tamp down the rhetoric.
… An arrest was made late last night. So far everything above stands.
War On Women?
What War On Women?
Probably the bomber is only an aspiring entertainer.
Surely if there was any real problem in Texas the governor and former leading Republican candidate for president would do something to calm events.
Or maybe not.
Another terrorist attack on US soil. But then the righties won’t count it unless the attacker was Muslim.
So here’s what we know (from the link in the update) at bottom: the guy arrested was homeless and had a long history of previous scrapes with the law. None were political in nature and, while he had asked to meet with Davis twice previously (and rejected by staff because he seemed “unstable”), his political beliefs, if any, are not known and both authorities and Davis herself say the motive is unknown. And it wasn’t a Molotov cocktail; it was some stuff set aflame in a hallway with lighter fluid.
I agree with all the comments about civility, but it’s way premature to link this to the current climate of hostility toward women and Democrats. For all we know the perp just doesn’t like Scorpios. To turn this minor incident into a national example of what’s wrong with Republicans is pretty weak, especially without knowing what motivated the guy.
@3 He appears to be a mentally ill person living on the streets.
http://www.star-telegram.com/2.....ffice.html
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Personally, I think all Republicans are mentally ill, but I’m not saying all mentally ill people are Republicans. Some of them are Fundies.
I appreciate the outrage, and I feel it too, but why would any of the moralizing crusaders tamp down their rhetoric? It’s working! If you think for an instant they don’t believe the attack is a justifiable action against a fetus killing enabler, then you haven’t been paying attention. This kind of violent behavior is what they want and while they may make public comments to the contrary, in private they are doing the happy dance. Even the ‘moderate’ anti-choicers are likely cheering this terrorist attack, albeit privately. No, this kind of attack will only inspire more hate rhetoric because this is exactly what they want. They are on a crusade inspired by their love a vengeful and judgmental god. We on the left are naive to think right-wingers are in any way shape or form reasonable or rationale. They want blood, and they are going to get it.
Crooks and Liars Dep’t
A New Jersey Republican mayor has finally admitted he lied about serving in Vietnam.
The mayor’s campaign website said:
“Mr. Spodofora is a Vietnam Veteran, U.S. Navy with 7 years active duty … and a Vietnam War Medal of Valor recipient.”
But … “[t]he ‘Medal of Valor,’ which is not a U.S. military decoration, was awarded to Spodofora by a hunting club in Tucson, Ariz.”
http://www.app.com/article/201.....rvice-lies
“A South Jersey mayor whose military record was called into question has admitted he never served in Vietnam. … Spodofora read a statement in which he said he has ‘said and implied things’ that he should not have … [m]ilitary records obtained by The Press of Atlantic City showed the mayor served in the Navy from 1966 until 1973 [an] was a cryptographer assigned to an office or submarine in the Caribbean and Mediterranean.”
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_n.....in-vietnam
Roger Rabbit Commentary: If SCOTUS strikes down the Stolen Valor Act on 1st Amendment grounds, every Republican in the country will claim to be a Medal of Honor recipient.
re 6: …and Bill O’Reilly will claim to have earned several.
@6
Tammy Duckworth is a real, live, real vet and she’s running for congress against Joe Walsh in Chicago.
# 6: The military has a definition of those entiled to wear the Vietnam campaign ribbon, which I haven’t bothered to look up lately. It includes quite a few sailors and airmen who technically weren’t “in” Vietnam but were in support roles.
Lots of former servicemen informally call themselves “Vietnam era veterans”, if they served between 1962 and 1975, but it often leaves the incorrect impression that they actually served in Vietnam. But technically, you can’t call it a lie.
Where it crosses the line is when they claim to be a “Vietnam Veteran” without the qualifier “era”. Some members of both parties were guilty of that, and their resumes sometimes start off by showing them as a “Vietnam era veteran”, but somewhere along the line the “era” got dropped. In the era before the internet, they could get away with this, because it took some effort to research someone’s military records and decorations. Now, not so much.
In this particular case it goes a bit further, because the politician is intentionally trying to use confusing language to imply that he has a military decoration, when he does not.
Speaking of liars, eraser head and a Breitbart journamalist get pwnd:
Sean Hannity, Big Journalism run ‘ambush interview’ on Bono—but it wasn’t him. Doh!
@10
That story looks like it’s getting picked up quite a bit of the media.
@10 – That’s really funny.
“You don’t have a say in what U2 does?” Hilarious.
Yeah, just a random nutball, not a serious coordinated long term plan, like the right wing plots to murder abortion doctors, or Oklahoma City. This was just random nuttiness.
@9 I know a guy who was in the Navy during Vietnam. While he never set foot in Vietnam he did do a couple of stints on carriers that were launching air strikes on Vietnam and taking medivac cases from combat zones.
I consider him as much a Vietnam vet as John Kerry.
Like guns, flammable liquids should be banned.
How come when it’s done to democrats or abortion doctors, or unarmed black kids, it’s random nuttiness?