Working The Political Scene

The uncontrolled anger being stoked by the "responsible" forces on the right continue to spiral out of control.  If you thought the death threats against lawmakers subsided with the passage of heath care reform, you're sadly mistaken.

I voted for you,” the caller said in a voice mail to Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler’s district office. “If you vote for that stimulus package, I’m gonna kill you. Simple as that.”

The FBI says the caller was a 70-year-old resident of Shuler’s North Carolina district with a history of mental illness and a cache of guns. In the weeks before calling Shuler’s office, the FBI says, the caller beat and choked his wife. She told the FBI that she’d tried to clear her home of guns — and that she went to bed at night with a can of mace tucked under her pillow.

When agents showed up at the man’s door, they asked him why he’d threatened to kill Shuler.

“I was trying to work the political scene,” he said. 

After all, such hateful rhetoric flooding the airwaves is the heart of the political scene in 2010, folks.  It's part and parcel of the daily bread of anger, violence, and hatred that's force fed to millions, hour after hour after hour.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) were threatened with assassination. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (D-Texas) were threatened with bodily harm. Someone told Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) that her throat would be cut. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) was told someone would physically “f—- her up” if she held a town hall meeting in her district, according to the FBI files.

There may have been more threats — the FBI won’t release information on investigations that are still open — and there will likely be more this year; Senate Sergeant at Arms Terrance Gainer says threats against members of Congress were up 300 percent in the first few months of 2010.

FBI agents arrested the North Carolina man who threatened Shuler, and prosecutors charged him with threatening to kill a federal official — a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Court records show that the case was dropped after he was found incompetent to stand trial.

Shuler says he was shaken — and that he has taken precautions to protect himself and his family. Family members have altered their daily routines to be more security conscious, and Shuler said that he and his wife have obtained concealed-weapons permits.

“You get a threat like that, and you start to rethink your priorities,” Shuler said.

Welcome to America, a democracy where we threaten to kill lawmakers who don't vote the way we want them to.  And it's perfectly normal, everyday occurrence because talk of doing it is now a perfectly normal, everyday occurrence.

It's just working the political scene.  El Rushbo, Glennsanity, Michael Savage, Sean Hannity, just working the scene, man.  It's what they do.  If anyone gets hurt, well it's your fault for talking about the possibility that violence might happen because this, you know.  It's all your fault, not theirs.

They're just working the political scene.