What Tucson says about tea-bagger courage...

Being a liberal, I am aware that words have consequences.

So, people who call themselves conservatives and who are dear to me (there are many) may be hurt or offended or outraged by what I have to say.  And if those people feel that we must be forever estranged hereafter, I say now that I understand and that I will always hold you in my heart,  no matter what happens.

Yesterday, in Tucson, Arizona, a deranged killer opened fire at a meet-and-greet with Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, killing Federal judge John Roll and a 9-year-old girl, as well as 4 other people, and wounding 14 others, including the Congresswoman.

This, by any definition, is a terrorist attack.  Nor is it the first such incident that has occurred since President Obama was elected.

While conservatives up here in Portland were all aglow at the idea of publicly roasting this stupid Somali kid that dialed a cell phone, they have next to nothing to say about these incidents:

• The incident in Austin, Texas, involving a man who, in an apparent fit of despair, flew his small aircraft into an IRS building, killing himself and an IRS employee (who was also a war veteran).
  
  
• The incident, again in Pima County, Arizona, involving a home invasion by members of a "border enforcement" group, where they killed a father and his young daughter.
  
  
• The incident in Washington, DC, wherein a racist extremist penned an anti-government screed, then killed a black security guard at the Holocaust Museum.
  
  
• The incident in Powell, Tennessee, wherein a deranged killer, who wrote a screed of hate toward liberals and homosexuals and Democrats, then drove to the Unitarian Church, and went nuts with a shotgun, killing two people.
  
  
• The incident in Witchita, Kansas, wherein a deranged killer, convinced that he was acting according to God's will, walked into a church and shot dead a medical doctor.
  
  
• The incident, right here in Woodburn, Oregon, where a father and son, who fantasized about killing President Clinton, bombed a bank and killed two police officers.

Now, while our vaunted FBI is busy entrapping a foolish Muslim kid in Corvallis, guys like this Jared Loughner are publishing videos on Youtube and posting stuff on Facebook, ranting bizarre conspiracy theories.

Feel secure? Do you feel secure, tea-bagger?

Your tea-bag champions (and would-be champions) were all about cracking down on Muslims and "illegals."  Will we now hear you crying out to investigate what's out here on the Internet and in the media?  I've seen people advocate violence all over the place.  Want examples?  No problem.

• Here's what American Thinker, a right-wing favorite, had to say when the health care bill passed:  "We cannot wait until November, we cannot wait for the courts to take action, and we cannot wait for others to do the right thing.  We must do the right thing now.  We must know we are at war, and be willing to sacrifice ourselves for the good of our country."
  
  But that's just an obscure website, isn't it?  Let's get a little closer to "mainstream" media.
  
  
• Bill O'Reilly (he's on Fox News, in case you were wondering) led a campaign against the doctor who was killed in Wichita.  He broadcast the doctor's image across the cable networks, referring to the doctor as "Tiller the Baby Killer."
  
  But Bill O'Reilly is a private citizen.  He can say whatever he wants.  He's not a public official.  Okay, then, let's talk about public officials.
  
  
• GOP Congressman Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) shouted "baby-killer" during a speech by Congressman Bart Stupak on the floor of the House during the heated and ugly health care debate last year.
  
  
• Tea Party candidate for US Senate Sharron Angle has never publicly explained what she meant when she suggested that people might have to resort to "Second Amendment remedies" as a cure to the "Harry Reid problems."
  
  
• Governor Rick Perry of Texas has never fully explained what he meant when he suggested that Texas might choose, at some point if things don't change, to secede from the United States.
  
  
• Recently-elected tea-bag Florida Congressman Alan West's first choice as his chief-of-staff was a woman named Joyce Kaufman.  Ms. Kaufman publicly said, on Youtube, "If ballots don't work bullets will."
  
  
• And then, there's Sarah and her idiot cross-hairs.  (See the graphic at the top of this post.)  And her "Don't retreat!  RELOAD!" tweets.  And her husband who is a member of  an organization that supports Alaskan secession from the U.S.

There is much, much more, but let's leave it there.

You can tap-dance around it all you want. But you’re still going to have to face the music.  Watching the news today, one thing is apparent.  The Republican party is scared out of its wits, now that this thing in Tucson has happened.

This is the end for the tea-baggers. The GOP is going to abandon you now. Watch and see.

It's from the heart, people.

But, here's what I really want to say. 

It may well be that this kid down in Arizona, Jared Loughner, is a deranged nut and nothing more.  Or, it may be that there is a conspiracy.

Regardless, if you do not believe that the rhetoric that comes out of tea-bag mouths is vile and inciting, and has contributed to what happened, I can say it no more plainly than this:

You're a god-damned fool.

But there's another possibility.  Perhaps, tea-bagger, you do agree that the over-heated rhetoric has contributed to what happened in Tucson.  In that case, if you do not repudiate the violent rhetoric that comes from Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Sharron Angle and others, one must infer that, in the deepest, darkest recesses of your heart, you approve of what happened in Tucson, where the 9-year-old girl was shot dead.  And, inferring further, that means that Jared Loughner has done what you secretly hoped for, but lacked the courage to do yourself.

And that makes you a coward.

(Believe it or not, I say all of this with love in my heart.)

Any comments that are posted which contain only insults will be deleted.  Any hostile comments that do not address specific points in the post will be deleted.

Please forgive me for the self-indulgent nature of this post.