Whoever is behind acts like this needs to stop it immediately, because hey, this too is domestic terrorism guys.
The weekend firebombing of a North Carolina Republican headquarters drew national attention Sunday, with one state GOP official calling it an act of “political terrorism.”
Hillsborough police say the incident at the Orange County GOP headquarters occurred when a bottle of flammable liquid was thrown through the front window of the office that housed the local GOP headquarters.
The words, “Nazi Republicans get out of town or else” and a swastika were spray painted on the side of an adjacent building. Officials said the bomb ignited inside the office. No damage estimates were available.
“This highly disturbing act goes far beyond vandalizing property; it willfully threatens our community’s safety … and its hateful message undermines decency, respect and integrity in civic participation,” Mayor Tom Stevens said in a statement. “Acts like this have no place in our community.”
Hillsborough police and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were continuing to investigate. The incident took place in Orange County, home of the University of North Carolina in nearby Chapel Hill.
The county is overwhelmingly Democratic. Democrats and independents outnumber Republicans 5-1.
Democrats condemned the bombing. “The attack on the Orange County HQ @NCGOP office is horrific and unacceptable, Hillary Clinton’s campaign tweeted. “Very grateful that everyone is safe.”
N.C. Democratic Party Chair Patsy Keever called the bombing “outrageous.”
“The North Carolina Democratic Party strongly condemns this attack,” she said. “Violence has no place in our political system … Our deepest sympathies are with everyone at the North Carolina Republican Party.”
Dallas Woodhouse, executive director of the state GOP, called the bombing “political terrorism.”
“The office itself is a total loss,” he said. “The only thing important to us is that nobody was killed, and they very well could have been.”
Later, Woodhouse said, “Whether you are Republican, Democrat or Independent, all Americans should be outraged by this hate-filled and violent attack against our democracy. … Everyone in this country should be free to express their political viewpoints without fear for their own safety.”
For those of you unfamiliar with NC, Orange County is home to UNC-Chapel Hill and is just west of Durham. It's very liberal, part of the Research Triangle Park and has a lot of suburban areas, in fact it's about the most liberal county in the state (maybe Buncombe County and Asheville) and for this kind of thing to happen here, well.
Here's the thing though, we've seen Democrats raising money to help the NC GOP rebuild the office. That's a nice sentiment, but it's misguided for two reasons, one, because the NC GOP is most certainly fundraising on this out of anger and not sorrow, and two the Republicans are taking this as a tacit admission of guilt and will blame "violent Democratic rhetoric" for this, as if somehow it's not Donald Trump saying we need Second Amendment solutions to America's problems.
Believe me when I say being raised as a liberal Catholic from a New York family that I intimately understand the concept of guilt and it motivating our actions to take action to be the better world we want to see, but this isn't the way to do it.
Nor do we need to be attacking the folks that did give. Again, I understand the impulse. It will not be received in the spirit in which it is being offered, believe me. Sometimes doing nothing is better in the long run.
I have my suspicions about the incident still. Whoever did it, needs to face the full extent of the judicial system. Republicans are already howling for blood as it is.
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