Rep. Bob Filner (D) blames right-wing media for Giffords shooting

[Liberty Belle]

Source: press release just issued by Filner

Congressman Bob Filner (D-San Diego) issued a press statement remembering his fallen colleague. “Gabby Giffords is a good legislator and a good friend. We work closely together as U.S./Mexico border Congressmembers. We pray for her full recovery."



Filner faulted incendiary talk radio programming as contributing to a climate that may have encouraged today's violence. "I cannot help but believe that the violent context of the recent election is responsible for this tragedy," he said. "Many of us were physically threatened by those who believed they were “right” and we were “wrong” – we were “enemies,” rather than sincere people with different opinions. Their incendiary talk – given legitimacy by equally incendiary talk shows – make violence an acceptable political tactic. Violence as acceptable – bolstered by easy access to guns – made this tragedy almost inevitable. Let us all resolve to recommit ourselves to what is truly exceptional about America – that we conduct our politics with debate and respect, not violence.”


No link yet.

[YvonneCa]

1. Bob Filner is absolutely correct. He has my respect...

...for saying this publically. He used to be my congressman...he is great!

[johnnyrocket]

2. Now prepare for the right to vilify Filner for politicizing this shooting...

...in 3..2..1.

[robcon]

3. I'd like to vilify Filner from the left...

fact-free politicizing of this tragedy is the same as Limbaugh's truth-free speeches.

[Quantess]

4. The shooting was politically motivated.

He isn't "politicizing" anything! He doesn't need to.

[hughee99]

5. Exactly...

we already know what the shooter's motivations were, and who they listened to, so it's not like he's blaming someone without just cause.

[Kingofalldems]

8. What in his statement is not true?

Fact-free?

[progressivebydesign]

11. seriously?

the dude did an attempted POLITICAL assassination, and you're saying that his statement is not fact based? Really? I'm afraid your post was not fact based.

[Jamastiene]

20. It was politicized from the minute the shooter

shot a Democratic politician. It doesn't get more political than shooting a politician. Filner was just stating the obvious.

[TheEuclideanOne]

24. You would like to, but you can't

The only thing that I can comment on is how you fit so much stupid in such a short space.

[FarPoint]

28. Shooting a Congresswoman

and a Federal Judge..at a political Meet and Greet for the Congressional constituents of ones District....well that is indeed political. Also...she was the Primary Target...he came armed and ready....the shooter...he even went to the back of the line knowning he would see her to kill her....the politician.

Yea...it's political.

[Dappleganger]

30. FAIL

The same? If you truly believe that you don't have 2 gray cells to rub together.

[liberation]

33. What "left" is that?

The one to the left of Mussolini?

Technically, aren't you vilifying someone using a fact free argument also? What was "fact free" about Filner's comment exactly, since you provided not a single fact for your vilifying of him?

[Kingofalldems]

34. No answer after almost a day

[TheEuclideanOne]

36. Don't hold your breath

I don't think that he has taken a position, that makes an ounce of sense, let alone is defensible.

[David__77]

37. How on earth is it not "political?"

He committed a murder of an elected official and all his postings have a political standpoint.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

38. "Left"

[roguevalley]

6. everyone, send him a note of support:

https://writerep.house.gov/htbin/wrep_findrep

use: 91910

[Liberty Belle]

9. Filner himself was the victim of a mob led by his opponent on Election Night:

POPADITCH INCITES MOB, CURSES AT FILNER AND REPORTEDLY PUSHES OPPONENT AT ELECTION CENTRAL

http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/4690



November 5, 2010 (San Diego) – In the sore loser category, Republican Nick Popaditch wins hands down. Multiple credible news sites have reported that after Democratic Congressman Bob Filner was declared winner by a 20-point margin, a mob of Popaditch supporters, including Tea Party and white supremacist members, cornered and spat on Popaditch’s opponent, Filner. Video by the Chula Vista Star News reveals that Popaditch cursed at Filner, called him a liar, and made no efforts to calm down an increasingly virulent mob that forced Filner out of Golden Hall’s Election Central and into the lobby. Filner told CityBeat that he was shoved by Popaditch.



“Last night, Nick Popaditch made Election Central a threatening and unsafe place to be,” CityBeat’s Dave Masse wrote. Mayor Jerry Sanders’ security detail ultimately rescued the Congressman from the mob, CityBeat reported.


East County Magazine reporter Mary Paulet interviewed a witness, Robin Buse, during the altercation, whose statement confirms Filner's allegation. Buse told ECM that she saw Popaditch push Filner. “I ran and got the cops,” added Buse, a Filner supporter. Others, fearful for their safety, confirmed assaults by Popaditch and his supporters.



A second witness, who asked not to be named, said she also saw pushing and cussing. She added that a Popaditch supporter also pushed a Filner supporter. East County Magazine editor Miriam Raftery, also at the scene, spoke with yet another distraught person who said “Popaditch just went after Filner.” Raftery photographed police officers moving in to calm down the mob.


Southwestern College Sun reporter said that a Popaditch supporter punched a Filner supporter in the face, that Popaditch backers spat on Filner supporters and chanted “Bob’s a bitch.”

(More at the link above. Note the rabid hate-mongering comments posted by some of Popaditch's Tea-Party followers, who don't seem to see anything wrong with pushing, swearing at, or physically intimidating a member of Congress. This is exactly the mentality that needs to be changed and the sort of behavior that should not be tolerated anymore.)

[DBoon]

15. and as a former congressman, he knows exactly the type fo threats we face

nt

[still_one]

7. Gee, I wonder if our president will say that?

[countmyvote4real]

18. Don't hold your breath. n/t

[fascisthunter]

27. he'll say the left is doing the same shit

[progressivebydesign]

10. Damn straight it is the Glenn Becks and the Palins who have done this.

They need to STOP inciting the unstable. They know DAMN well what they are doing, and they truly hope that more of their opponents are attacked. They know. They HAVE to know. The level of threats against elected officials (hugely disproportionately Democratic!) has gone up exponentially since the insurance/koch brothers/teabaggers starting fighting against heath care reform. The NRA (aka gun manufacturers lobby) has put money behind these vitriolic attacks, as well. They know what they're doing... and the elected officials and innocent bystanders are all just collateral damage, in their fight to make sure that the insurance CEOs keep their multi-million dollar payouts. It's a disgrace.. and a National shame.

[russspeakeasy]

12. I have never heard of Bob Filner, but I agree with him.

[Kievan Rus]

13. He is 100% absolutely correct

[freshwest]

14. I hope you find a link to that so I can share it. I googled but the only reference is DU.

I searched for it and found one with Duncan Hunter (R) in which ABC seemed eager to paint Hunter as a great guy:

http://www.10news.com/news/26414235/detail.html

Filner definitely has had a tough battle with Tea Party candidates. Filner and his supporters were attacked on Election Night:

http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/4690

A bad atmosphere with white supremacists and Tea Party people. From the report, Popaditch is encouraging them. Here's more:

http://lastblogonearth.com/2010/11/05/white-power-popaditch-supporter-brags-about-golden-hall-violence-calls-for-armed-revolution/

I've seen news reports that the Nazi party has been involved in protests in AZ with the same tactics as used nationally.

When do we start calling them brown-shirts, fascists, thugs?

Or will the name Tea Party come to equate this behavior?

I know people in Europe who say this is exactly as the 1930s were there. But the mainstream media won't call it what it is.

[No Elephants]

16. What about right-wing politicians and their murder-inciting dog whistles?

Crosshairs, reload, by any means necessary, do whatever it takes to stop the Socialist takeover of our nation?

What about RW preaching that echoes this garbage?

[OneAngryDemocrat]

17. DO NOT BE SILENT

Do not remain silent.

Conservatives certainly will not speak out.

They will blame the lone, solitary, shooter...

They will blame liberal society...

They will blame anything and everything but modern-day conservatism, which preaches that liberals and democrats are the bona fide enemies of America and threats to the nation's very existence.

And as long as that is the case, the bodies will continue to pile up.

And that leaves it to us to speak out.

We need not mince words - it is vital that we speak clearly and succinctly and firmly.

Conservatism must evolve.

It must change.

To believe otherwise is to help pass around the nails for the next coffin in which the next liberal democrat will be buried in.

No one was out there speaking about the radical right-wing elements that threaten our civil society until Janet Napolitano issued a DHS report warning about extremists that might resort to violence - a report which conservatives across the country demanded to be immediately rescinded. Now that we have seen a series of right-wing assassinations take place, the original DHS report looks, in hindsight, to have been very timely and prescient.

We have seen Jim David Adkisson open fire upon the congregation of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church with a sawed-off shotgun, killing two, simply because he opposed the all-inclusive nature of the church, and of the church's liberal teachings. Adkisson wrote in a letter which he assumed would be his last, "I thought I’d do something good for this country — kill Democrats ‘til (sic) the cops kill me.” His hatred for his fellow Americans could not be contained: “Liberals are a pest like termites, millions of them … the only way we can rid ourselves of this evil is kill them in the streets, kill them where they gather.”

James von Brunn, a radical right-winger from Maryland sought to turn the nation's Holocaust Museum into a symbol for his particular brand of racism, when he went there with the intent to kill blacks and Jews, as an example to the rest of white America to emulate. Luckily for those visitors inside of the museum, the first man von Brunn decided to open fire upon was a black man who had the ability to return the favor, and so no one besides than the very heroic Stephen T. Johns died that day.

Shawna Forde, and two other members of the anti-immigrant Minutman group which she founded, the ''Minutemen American Defense,'' decided that one way to finance her burgeoning organization was to dress up as law enforcement agents, and to rob Mexican immigrants. When Shawna and her compatriots illegally entered the home of Raul Flores, and demanded money, the head of the family ordered the trio to leave, prompting the radical right-wingers to put a bullet into the head of little 9 year old Brisenia Flores, and into the head of her father. Unluckily for the conservative killers, Brisenia's mother was able to barricade herself in her bedroom, where she kept a handgun, and she was able to keep at bay her would be assassins until the real police arrived.

Richard Poplawski opened fire on police officers during a domestic disturbance call, in April of 2009, killing three of them.

Why?

The 23 year-old right-winger feared that the President was poised to take away his hand guns.

Just a few days after that shoot-out, two sheriff’s deputies in northern Florida were shot and killed by Joshua Cartwright who later was fatally shot by other deputies. The reason, according to Cartright's wife, was because Joshua "believed that the US Government was conspiring against him," and, according to her, he had been severely disturbed that Barack Obama had been elected President.

The list of victims from right-wing terror does not stop there.

It goes on, and on.

Doctor George tiller.

Arkansas Democratic Chairman Bill Gwatney.

Congresswoman Giffords and the other victims of the Tucson shooting are but the latest victims of this madness.

Hours before the shooting spree in Arizona which the took 6 lives including that of a Federal Judge and a 9 year old little girl, Christina Greene (born on 9-11-2001), Representative Peter King, a conservative Republican and the new chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, made clear his intention to use taxpayers' money - our money - to investigate the radicalization of American Muslims, claiming in his zeal to persecute American Muslims, that "These are very legitimate hearings."

But since the day little Christina was brought into this world, on that fateful September morning, the number of victims who have been laid to rest due to domestic jihad pales when compared to those who have been killed by conservative terrorists during little Christina's 9 years on earth.

For moderate conservatives to hide these blood-thirsty radicals within their ranks behind the legitimate dissent of the anti-abortion lobby, or of that of any other conservative movement, be it anti-immigration, or advocates for 2d Amendment Rights, and to deny any responsibility for help in fostering these lunatic's bizarre views, doesn't help the conservative lobbies attain their aims and goals...

It, instead, helps the radical conservative terrorists attain theirs.

We should be there, in Washington DC, on the day Rep. King begins his American Muslim witch hunt.

We should be there to tell him with a thunderous voice that we know who the real domestic threats to America are.

Del Wasso,
Rockford Coffee Party Coordinator,
Rockford, Illinois,
www.rockfordcoffeeparty.org

[Swagman]

19. he is correct and said it well. Fox News, Limpballs and the rest

..it is blood money they take. The will rot forever if there is any justice in the next life.

[Jamastiene]

21. Thank you for speaking the truth.

I wonder if any more will come out and speak the truth to the right wing lies and hate.

[calimary]

22. About time we started seeing this.

And there should be a LOT of it.

[Judi Lynn]

23. The targeting of Gabrielle Giffords

The targeting of Gabrielle Giffords
The Arizona congresswoman shot on Saturday had ominously predicted the possible consequences of violent rightwing rhetoric

Alex Hannaford guardian.co.uk,
Sunday 9 January 2011 03.12 GMT

In March last year, Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona congresswoman who was shot in the head in Tucson around lunchtime on Saturday, was interviewed on the MSNBC news channel. Just the day before, she had voted in favour of Obama's healthcare reform, and that night, the door of her office was destroyed.

She told the interviewer she wasn't fearful for her life, but that protesters' rhetoric was becoming "incredibly heated". She was asked if the Republican leadership should have spoken out more to denounce the violence. Diplomatically, she said both parties should. But then, she recounted how she was on Sarah Palin's hit list. "We have the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district," she said. "And when people do that, they've got to realise there are consequences."

Giffords was referring to a map of the US that Palin had posted on her website. There were a number of gun sights; one was for Giffords. But shortly after the shooting on Saturday, it mysteriously disappeared from Palin's site.

That's not all. Giffords' Republican opponent in the 2 November race for a seat in the House of Representatives was Jesse Kelly. He had held a campaign event in which he invited his supporters to "Get on Target for Victory in November". He asked them to "Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office – shoot a fully automatic M15 with Jesse Kelly."

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jan/09/usa-arizona

http://regularguyrant.com.nyud.net:8090/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Jesse-Kelly1.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_rIZfaHBJWHE/TMJjevIzazI/AAAAAAAAXU4/AlC9pg7ay5w/s400/McCain+Kelly+Brewer.jpg

Jesse Kelly, Republican opponent.

http://zingstrom.files.wordpress.com.nyud.net:8090/2010/10/tucsonteaoct9-2010-73.jpg

These two photos found at:
http://zingstrom.wordpress.com/2010/10/10/mcclung-kelly-campaigns-surge-as-mccain-meets-the-tea-party/

http://zingstrom.files.wordpress.com.nyud.net:8090/2010/10/tucsonteaoct9-2010-82.jpg

From the last Arizona election.

http://zingstrom.files.wordpress.com.nyud.net:8090/2010/10/tucsonteaoct9-2010-65.jpg?w=640&h=392

[panzerfaust]

25. Yep. "The Government" as enemy

and, as noted, she was on Palin's "Target List."

Likely the little girl would have been too, had Palin known that a nine-year old was gett'n mixed up with the demonrats (as they are known in Texas)?

So far the only people to act out on the hate-filled right-wing rhetoric have been nutters (I am willing to predict that this shooter turns out to be schizophrenic) - but at some point it will infect the general population.

Likely we are not that far away. During the last election I was told (proudly) by an otherwise normal person that in his county there were no demonrats on the ticket because "they were smart enough to not run." Perhaps he just meant that it was because they would lose, or perhaps he meant something else.

Just remember, their view is:
"There ain't no end to doin' good," Captain Terrill in The Outlaw Josey Wales
To appreciate the irony, one must have seen the movie.
Or, one can just wait as more and more right-wingers start Doing Good

[Lorien]

26. How much are we going to take before we even TALK about restoring the fairness doctrine??

And no, breaking up the media monopolies alone won't cut it. Wealth is concentrated in very few hands these days. Whoever buys up the bits and pieces may be even MORE Right Wing. The Fairness Doctrine worked for 60 years. Let's make it work again to end America's swift slide into fascism.

[xchrom]

29. recommend

[Swampguana]

31. They should be held accountable

[BanTheGOP]

32. Obama needs to use Executive Orders to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine

If he can order the Internet to be controlled, he can certainly do the same for talk radio, using the proven and direct connection between shows like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck to the insidious murders of Giffords' team. In addition, emergency orders with regard to leading to a ban on gun ownership can be severely looked into, and any republican scumbucket who opposes this is toast next election.

[Fire1]

35. They've certainly played a significant role in it! n/t

[Overseas]

39. Well Said!! K&R !! Thank you Congressman Filner! //nt