what are liberals doing after OUR democrat is shot? i am seeing peaceful and thoughtful

[seabeyond]

mournings being held holding candles. i am seeing people gather at memorials, crying and in thought and asking the hate speech to stop.

what would the repugs do if one of theirs was killed by a leftie. they would have their guns, yelling, ranting on tv and radio, taking to the streets.

they say BOTH sides. BOTH sides would not be acting as liberals are the last two days.

i am so sick of media portraying it as both sides. this is what causes this problem. the right needs to publicly be outed by all.

[Speck Tater]

1. Every time we use words like "Repuke" we give fuel to those who say "both sides".

Don't give them that kind of material to use. Be respectful toward our political opponents so when the people finally get sick of the violence and disrespect they will see clearly that it is ALL coming from one side only; THEIR side.

But if we treat them with disrespect with insulting names and derogatory terms meant to demean and depersonalize them then it truly IS coming from both sides. The only thing that will give us the right to object to the claim that it comes from both sides is if it absolutely does not come from our side. And as long as we insult and demean them then it IS coming from our side too.

Either be respectful to our political opponents or stop denying that it comes from both sides.

(WWGD: What Would Gandhi Do?)

[lillypaddle]

2. More false equivalency

:thumbsdown:

[JDPriestly]

3. Good Heavens? Speck Tater.

The term Repukes is not violent.

The point is not to repress all emotional expression. The point is to end the violence.

The difficult thing to understand is that we must protect the First Amendment while still being personally responsible in our speech.

If you and I don't like to use the term "Repukes," then that's fine. But we can't stop others from using it and shouldn't try. It is really harmless.

Putting targets on a map at your political opponents' websites and then using a lot of gun metaphors and military metaphors in your speeches -- that is bringing violent thought into the political debate.

Even speech that brings violent thoughts into the political debate is still probably protected by the First Amendment -- but it is very irresponsible, very unwise.

We are not asking people to give up their First Amendment rights. We are just asking them to use common sense and be responsible in their speech and in the imagery they use in political contexts.

On edit, I do agree that we on the left should try to focus on peaceful discussion at this time.

Accusing people too much causes a defense reaction rather than thoughtful reflection on what we could do better.

[seabeyond]

6. do you THINK all the "both sides" on the networks and repugs and DEMS alike MIGHT

be taking it from a peaceful discussion? three days now being told we do the same as the repugs has about got most ALL of us.... oh, PISSED.

lol

anytme the repugs are called on anything, i hear the both sides. and with the both sides, the issue goes away to not be addressed again until the next time.

when does BOTH SIDES stop that allow us the opportunity to solve and go forward

[seabeyond]

4. bull fuckin shit. repug = kill em? really? maybe you are with the "both sides" group. nt

[seabeyond]

5. am i allowed to disagree with them? or is that too confrontational and makes it both sides

too

[Rainbow Wave]

7. Both Sides Do It

- Fox Business' America's Nightly Scoreboard: If I hear the phrase "millionaires and billionaires" one more time, "I'm going to shoot somebody"
- Sen. Bernie Sanders: "How can I get by on one house?" Sanders said (imitating fictional millionaires). "I need five houses, ten houses! I need three jet planes to take me all over the world! Sorry, American people. We've got the money, we've got the power, we've got the lobbyists here and on Wall Street. Tough luck. That's the world, get used to it. Rich get richer. Middle class shrinks."

- Beck threatens to shoot govt. workers if they try to "take my kids because" he won't get them flu vaccines
- While emphasizing caution, the surgeon general of the Army said there's no reason to be alarmed by swine flu.

- An ugly scene took place outside the Kentucky Senatorial debate Monday night as what appeared to be a supporter of Republican candidate Rand Paul was captured by a local news affiliate literally stomping the head of a member of the progressive-activist organization MoveOn.org.
- Acknowledging the various labels that are applied to both of them and the rest of us – liberal, conservative, etc. – Valle (victim of head stomper) then writes, “Fundamentally and most importantly, you and I are both human beings. We are also both American citizens. These two facts, to me, are far more meaningful than the multitude of labels that we carry. And if these two facts are true then it means we are on the same team.”

- Beck talks about "put poison" in Pelosi's wine.
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that the anti-government rhetoric over President Barack Obama's health care reform effort is troubling because it reminds her of the violent debate over gay rights that roiled San Francisco in the 1970s.

- Fox News contributor Dick Morris asserted that President Obama's policies are "internationalist" and that "hose crazies in Montana who say, 'We're going to kill ATF agents because the U.N.'s going to take over' -- well, they're beginning to have a case."
- President Barack Obama says he’s troubled by the angry rhetoric of those who are trying to make the case that government is “inherently bad.” He tells graduates at the University of Michigan that people who take that line of attack seem to forget that in a democracy, “government is us.” Obama also says in his commencement speech that members of the class of 2010 should seek out and listen to opposing views on the issues of the day.

- In a February 3 interview with New York magazine, when Fox Business host John Stossel was asked, "What's hanging above your sofa?" he responded: "Barney Frank in effigy."
- Barney Frank: "I’ve had Hannity, Limbaugh, Beck basically say things about me that weren’t true and if people say things that aren’t true over time and you don’t respond, then it has an impact, so I’m responding."

- Beck portrays Obama, Democrats as vampires, suggests "driv a stake through the heart of the bloodsuckers."
- Obama: So, given all those anxieties – and given the fact that, you know, in none of these situations are you going to fix things overnight. It’s not surprising that somebody like a Mr. Beck is able to stir up a certain portion of the country. That’s been true throughout our history. What I’m focused on is making sure that the decisions we’re making now are going to be be not good for the nightly news. Not good even necessarily for the next election. But are good for the next generation. And I’m very confident that those decisions are the ones that we’ve made.

- Beck: "To the day I die, I am going to be a progressive hunter."
- Chris Hedges: “The language of violence always presages violence. When someone like Palin posts a map with cross hairs on the districts of Democrats, when she says “Don’t Retreat, Instead—RELOAD!” there are desperate people cleaning their weapons who listen. When Christian fascists stand in the pulpits of megachurches and denounce Barack Obama as the Antichrist, there are messianic believers who listen. . . .These movements are not yet full-blown fascist movements. They do not openly call for the extermination of ethnic or religious groups. They do not openly advocate violence. But, as I was told by Fritz Stern, a scholar of fascism who has written about the origins of Nazism, ‘In Germany there was a yearning for fascism before fascism was invented.’ It is the yearning that we now see, and it is dangerous. If we do not immediately reincorporate the unemployed and the poor back into the economy, giving them jobs and relief from crippling debt, then the nascent racism and violence that are leaping up around the edges of American society will become a full-blown conflagration. Left unchecked, the hatred for radical Islam will transform itself into a hatred for Muslims. The hatred for undocumented workers will become a hatred for Mexicans and Central Americans. The hatred for those not defined by this largely white movement as American patriots will become a hatred for African-Americans. The hatred for liberals will morph into a hatred for all democratic institutions, from universities to government agencies to the press.”

See? It's the exact same thing!

[Rainbow Wave]

8. Both Sides Do It

- Fox Business' America's Nightly Scoreboard: If I hear the phrase "millionaires and billionaires" one more time, "I'm going to shoot somebody"
- Sen. Bernie Sanders: "How can I get by on one house?" Sanders said (imitating fictional millionaires). "I need five houses, ten houses! I need three jet planes to take me all over the world! Sorry, American people. We've got the money, we've got the power, we've got the lobbyists here and on Wall Street. Tough luck. That's the world, get used to it. Rich get richer. Middle class shrinks."

- Beck threatens to shoot govt. workers if they try to "take my kids because" he won't get them flu vaccines
- While emphasizing caution, the surgeon general of the Army said there's no reason to be alarmed by swine flu.

- An ugly scene took place outside the Kentucky Senatorial debate Monday night as what appeared to be a supporter of Republican candidate Rand Paul was captured by a local news affiliate literally stomping the head of a member of the progressive-activist organization MoveOn.org.
- Acknowledging the various labels that are applied to both of them and the rest of us – liberal, conservative, etc. – Valle (victim of head stomper) then writes, “Fundamentally and most importantly, you and I are both human beings. We are also both American citizens. These two facts, to me, are far more meaningful than the multitude of labels that we carry. And if these two facts are true then it means we are on the same team.”

- Beck talks about "putting poison" in Pelosi's wine.
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that the anti-government rhetoric over President Barack Obama's health care reform effort is troubling because it reminds her of the violent debate over gay rights that roiled San Francisco in the 1970s.

- Fox News contributor Dick Morris asserted that President Obama's policies are "internationalist" and that "those crazies in Montana who say, 'We're going to kill ATF agents because the U.N.'s going to take over' -- well, they're beginning to have a case."
- President Barack Obama says he’s troubled by the angry rhetoric of those who are trying to make the case that government is “inherently bad.” He tells graduates at the University of Michigan that people who take that line of attack seem to forget that in a democracy, “government is us.” Obama also says in his commencement speech that members of the class of 2010 should seek out and listen to opposing views on the issues of the day.

- In a February 3 interview with New York magazine, when Fox Business host John Stossel was asked, "What's hanging above your sofa?" he responded: "Barney Frank in effigy."
- Barney Frank: "I’ve had Hannity, Limbaugh, Beck basically say things about me that weren’t true and if people say things that aren’t true over time and you don’t respond, then it has an impact, so I’m responding."

- Beck portrays Obama, Democrats as vampires, suggests "driving a stake through the heart of the bloodsuckers."
- Obama: So, given all those anxieties – and given the fact that, you know, in none of these situations are you going to fix things overnight. It’s not surprising that somebody like a Mr. Beck is able to stir up a certain portion of the country. That’s been true throughout our history. What I’m focused on is making sure that the decisions we’re making now are going to be be not good for the nightly news. Not good even necessarily for the next election. But are good for the next generation. And I’m very confident that those decisions are the ones that we’ve made.

- Beck: "To the day I die, I am going to be a progressive hunter."
- Chris Hedges: “The language of violence always presages violence. When someone like Palin posts a map with cross hairs on the districts of Democrats, when she says “Don’t Retreat, Instead—RELOAD!” there are desperate people cleaning their weapons who listen. When Christian fascists stand in the pulpits of megachurches and denounce Barack Obama as the Antichrist, there are messianic believers who listen. . . .These movements are not yet full-blown fascist movements. They do not openly call for the extermination of ethnic or religious groups. They do not openly advocate violence. But, as I was told by Fritz Stern, a scholar of fascism who has written about the origins of Nazism, ‘In Germany there was a yearning for fascism before fascism was invented.’ It is the yearning that we now see, and it is dangerous. If we do not immediately reincorporate the unemployed and the poor back into the economy, giving them jobs and relief from crippling debt, then the nascent racism and violence that are leaping up around the edges of American society will become a full-blown conflagration. Left unchecked, the hatred for radical Islam will transform itself into a hatred for Muslims. The hatred for undocumented workers will become a hatred for Mexicans and Central Americans. The hatred for those not defined by this largely white movement as American patriots will become a hatred for African-Americans. The hatred for liberals will morph into a hatred for all democratic institutions, from universities to government agencies to the press.”

See? It's the exact same thing!