Since the horrible situation in Arizona, the shooting of all those people, the GOP has been on a relentless trip to vindicate all the hate speech that has been leveled at Obama and the Dems in the past couple of years….terms like armed and dangerous, use your 2nd amendment right, need to reload, and all the gun violence symbolism……they are trying desperately to shirk their responsibility for these illustrations that they used to win elections and inflame the base……
Now the GOP has as point man for all the criticism, Gov. Pawlenty of Minnesota, he has taken to the airways and given the same interview no less than 8 times…the same talking points with very little variations….here are some of his talking points….
“There’s a term for that in politics. They say, “Go out and give them the red meat.” And so, it’s…think of that imagery of dangling raw meat in front of, you know, the predator. But all of us, in the case of the politicians, I don’t think we want to get to a point where we’re deterring or chilling free speech or passion or enthusiasm or the kinds of things that fuel grassroots politics…
Basically, what he is saying, at least in my mind, all the rhetoric of anger and hate is just isolated occurrences…..but words of hate and anger DO have consequences…..as I keep saying….it is NOT the intent of the speaker but rather the perception of the listener…….
Maybe instead to spending all one’s time trying slough off the responsibility they should turn now to sanity and rationality…just like yelling “fire” in a crowded room is NOT free speech, maybe it is time to look at the lunatic talk that goes on and ask that a toning down of hate would be prudent…..
Yes, we cannot blame anyone but the person that commits the violence…..but on the other hand, he got the idea from somewhere!
I don’t exactly agree that only the person who commits the violence is to blame. Directly, of course that’s true, but those who seek to spread hate and and anger are FULLY aware of what they are doing and use it to provide a powerbase. The favourite the GOP loves to point at, Hitler, did exactly that in Nazi Germany. He was a master of spouting disgusting bile and spreading hate, anger and rabble-rousing and THAT was what gave him his power.
So, who are the Nazi look-alikes in the US????
Thanx…my point exactly….and here is what Palin is up to on this….
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20110112/pl_politico/47477
Once again these ass wads will NOT see that their words could have consequences…..
That’s MY point though – they DO know this full well, they just don’t CARE!!!
Yes and they will NOT accept that fact…..instead it is always someone else turning it into a story or political tag line or….well you get the point……
They wont admit any blame and create new soundbites with fake information to distract their followers. I heard glenn beck say last nite that pres. Obama should follow his(becks) lead. How you ask? Obama needs to tone down his violent rhetoric…..Really??? The right wing media is trying so hard to muddy up what ideas people have on the subject. Point man says its passion, beck stopped because he is so righteous, and tossed out an accusation, o’riley had no memory of anything he has ever said, and palin and so on and so on……I dont even know my point other than the damage control is out of control…Sorry this was a long rambling post, but im sick of the B.S.
Any rational person would see this for what it is……..blaming the media for ginning up the accusations…….the GOp needs to be called out when they talk about “taking responsibility”…..
Another thing. Choosing not to say something is NOT deterring free speech! Using common sense when speaking in public is not going to deter or chill free speech! More fearmongering.
The key word is common sense…..that has left the room decades ago……
Holy crap! I am dyslexic! Tucson is spelled this way……good thing my name is BoB (btw that is humor)