Right Wing Paranoia Begats Cop Killing

3:53 pm EST April 4th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 105 Comments

And then it happens

Pittsburgh police say a man wearing a bulletproof vest opened fire on officers during a domestic disturbance call, killing three of them.

Police chief Nate Harper says the motive for Saturday’s shooting isn’t clear.

Friends say the gunman recently had been upset about losing his job and that he feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.

>> Was Pittsburgh shooter driven by right-wing gun paranoia about Obama?

>> In this video, Richard Poplawski’s friend says that he was concerned over “Zionist control of the government” which is a key belief of the extremist militia right.

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105 Responses to “Right Wing Paranoia Begats Cop Killing”

  1. ed says:

    Was Pittsburgh shooter driven by right-wing gun paranoia about Obama?

    As with Jim David Adkisson and Timothy McVeigh, it seems more than likely. Thanks Rush! Thanks Sean! Thanks Glenn! Thanks Michelle! Mission accomplished, assholes!

  2. MrGreyGhost says:

    Sad that OW would go beyond REACH to exploit this tragedy for blind leftwing propaganda. Surely, this guy wasn’t deranged or had some sort of personal demons in his life. No, to the Left he was nothing but rightwing nutjob who had enough and decided to go out and kill some cops. Now how convenient is that.

  3. Dennis says:

    As with Jim David Adkisson and Timothy McVeigh, it seems more than likely. Thanks Rush! Thanks Sean! Thanks Glenn! Thanks Michelle! Mission accomplished, assholes! ed

    You guys are little terrier puppies, panting and prancing around like it’s dinner time. “Oh God, Oh God, O God, please let this be a right-winger. Please. Please. Please.”

  4. A little defensive at the beast you all have created.

  5. justadood says:

    While I remain deeply ambivalent towards Police their role and the actions that role frequently spawns, my heart goes out to families of those gunned down by this tool of the Right Wing Noise Machine.

    Unfortunately, I feel they won’t be the last by a loooong stretch.

  6. Apsaras says:

    Looks like someone remembered who he was on 9-12!

  7. Randy Brown says:

    By Monday morning (or maybe even in time for tomorrow’s talking head shows) the Right will have coalesced around a single talking point, which puts the blame on Obama, Pelosi, Ayres etc. Bet on it.

  8. Dennis says:

    A little defensive at the beast you all have created. OW

    Expected it actually, OW. Happens every time there’s a shooting. You can set your watch by it. And I didn’t create anything.

    Expected the same from this terrier puppy shamelessly exploiting the tragedy, too. He’s apparently taking a little breather from his daily Glenn Beck obsession. Or perhaps he’ll blame Beck for this, too. Great opportunity to plug his new book. What fortune.

  9. Parthenon says:

    From Red State:

    At what point do the people tell the politicians to go to hell? At what point do they get off the couch, march down to their state legislator’s house, pull him outside, and beat him to a bloody pulp for being an idiot?

    At some point soon, it will happen. It’ll be over an innocuous issue. But the rage is building. It’s not a partisan issue. […] Were I in Washington State, I’d be cleaning my gun right about now waiting to protect my property from the coming riots or the government apparatchiks coming to enforce nonsensical legislation.

  10. Luv says:

    Think about it. He fears his guns will be taken away. So he shoots and kills multiple people…bring the banning of guns one day closer to reality.

    But they don’t get that.

  11. Luv says:

    From Red State:

    At what point do the people tell the politicians to go to hell? At what point do they get off the couch, march down to their state legislator’s house, pull him outside, and beat him to a bloody pulp for being an idiot?

    At some point soon, it will happen. It’ll be over an innocuous issue. But the rage is building. It’s not a partisan issue. […] Were I in Washington State, I’d be cleaning my gun right about now waiting to protect my property from the coming riots or the government apparatchiks coming to enforce nonsensical legislation.”

    This is why they buy so many guns. This is REASON NUMBER ONE. They sit around and fantasize about slaying dozens of government agents who coming to get them. Probably because they own a lot of guns and threaten public officials…

    But they don’t get that.

  12. Dennis says:

    Friends say the gunman recently had been upset about losing his job and that he feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.
    —–

    “Friends say”. Friends tell me liberals like to jump to conclusions without checking facts and repeat hearsay as gospel truth if it supports a previously held belief. Friends say that.

  13. Zython says:

    Dennis, is right, only the left would ever use a tragedy for political gain.

    Poor Dennis, why do you hate America so much?

  14. Repack Rider says:

    You guys are little terrier puppies, panting and prancing around like it’s dinner time. “Oh God, Oh God, O God, please let this be a right-winger. Please. Please. Please.”

    Not at all despite your desperate wish that it be so, since that does not match the liberal M.O., which tends toward flag burnings rather than multiple shootings. Kindly enumerate the multiple murders over the last two decades or so that were committed either by liberals or in the name of a liberal cause.

    (Crickets)

    I thought so. If we here initially suspect that the shooter was a paranoid conservative loon, we are just going with the overwhelming odds based on past experience.

    You are projecting your own paranoia onto liberals, because even though this crime was committed by an apparent Obama-hater, liberals MUST be guilty of SOMETHING, even if you have to make up a strawman that liberals are HAPPY about it. Where do you suppose this loon got the idea that Obama was going to take his guns? Can you cite something OBAMA said that suggested it?

  15. Down says:

    Hey Dennis, fuck you buddy. Here is the quote from the man’s best friend…in your mind, undoubtedly a liberal plant designed to cast blame on wingnuts.

    Poplawski feared “the Obama gun ban that’s on the way” and “didn’t like our rights being infringed upon,” said Edward Perkovic, his best friend.

    Every last right wing blowhard on the radio or TV who went on and on about how Obama is going to ruin this country, has blood on their hands today. You can try and backtrack and disown this asshole all you want, but he is all yours, motherfucker.

    I thought wingnuts were all about personal responsibility and owning up to their words and actions…until they realize their words and actions encouraged this loser to shoot cops.

  16. Randy Brown says:

    Where do you suppose this loon got the idea that Obama was going to take his guns?

    The same place he got the idea that Obama is a Muslim.
    The same place he got the idea that Obama isn’t an American citizen.
    The same place he got the idea that Obama wants to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine.
    The same place he got the idea that Obama wants to impose Sharia law.
    The same place he got the idea that Obama wants to censor conservative books.

  17. Dennis says:

    we are just going with the overwhelming odds based on past experience. RR

    Repack-

    Because you are going on just that, odds. And hearsay. Only you left out the hearsay that he in fact didn’t hate Obama at all.

    I don’t know shit about this guy, so I’m not going to speculate at all about what made him do what he did. And unlike you, I’m not going to blame anyone but him at this point; and certainly not roughly half the country’s citizens.

  18. White Whale says:

    …but you will repent for enabling the far right in this country when he is found out to be a Obama hater and killed because of a fear of losing his gun? I won’t speculate also…well more like I won’t hold my breath waiting for you to chastise hateful right wing talk(eliminationist rhetoric). Right Dennis?

  19. jr says:

    Cons hate police for “enforcing the gay agenda” and protecting the “abortion mills”

  20. Jay says:

    Where do you suppose this loon got the idea that Obama was going to take his guns? Can you cite something OBAMA said that suggested it?

    Oh like you can provide reams of fucking evidence that prominent conservatives were telling people to shoot cops?

    Can any of you idiots name any?

    Crickets.

    What a bunch of assholes. Three cops get killed and you guys get erections happily blaming it on Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.

    Do you people have an ounce of shame?

  21. Down says:

    Jay, you are pretty stupid, but let’s try and penetrate that ten watt brain of yours.

    people like Glen Beck and Erick Erickson are out there EVERY DAY screaming Obama is a traitor, he’s dangerous, he’s unAmerican, he’s coming for your guns. Alan Keyes says ‘he has to be stopped’. Glen Beck hosts shows about armed insurrection against the government. Don’t act like your heroes in the media bear no responsibility…they do.

    I can go on and on and on if you’d like, as there are plenty of things pundits and politicians have said that would encourage this behavior.

    All you dickhead wingnuts are trying SO hard to back away from this guy, but guess what? It will stick as he’s one of you. He watched your shows, read your blogs, and like a typical right wing loser, he felt threatened by the idiotic notion that Obama is somehow coming for his guns. All you morons on the right think this, without ONE single shred of proof, other than ‘Everyone knows it.’

  22. Zython says:

    and certainly not roughly half the country’s citizens.

    A quarter.

    Do you people have an ounce of shame?

    Read my earlier post. That is all.

  23. Dennis says:

    well more like I won’t hold my breath waiting for you to chastise hateful right wing talk(eliminationist rhetoric). Right Dennis? White Whale

    At this point I don’t blame right wing talk for this crime any more than I blame the Beatles for the Manson murders, White Whale.

  24. Jay says:

    I won’t speculate also…well more like I won’t hold my breath waiting for you to chastise hateful right wing talk(eliminationist rhetoric). Right Dennis?

    Why? Talk radio had no more to do with this man (who apparently has always been a troublemaker) shooting three cops than anti-Christian rhetoric we often hear from the left was responsible for the church shootings in Colorado two years ago.

  25. White Whale says:

    A: Expressing a desire or a demand for extermination, removal, or infliction of harm

    Rush Limbaugh: “I tell people don’t kill all the liberals. Leave enough so we can have two on every campus — living fossils — so we will never forget what these people stood for.”

    Stop the ACLU [post since removed]:

    Rope + Tree + ACLU Lawyer = Pinata

    Ann Coulter: “I think our motto should be, post-9-11: ‘Raghead talks tough, raghead faces consequences.’”

    Ann Coulter: “We need somebody to put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens’ creme brulee. … That’s just a joke, for you in the media.”

    Jay and Dennis: “What is this eliminationist rhetoric you talk about?”

  26. ed says:

    Wingnuts will keep saying that there’s absolutely no correlation between this shooting (or Jim David Adkisson) and the Right Wing Noise Machine. But they’ll also keep on saying or pretending or even believing that Rush Limbaugh isn’t a racist asshole, or that B. Hussein Obama is a secret Muslim and was not born in America. Or that Global Warming isn’t happening. Thankfully, the majority of the U.S. and the world knows better, can put 2 and 2 together, and is relatively grounded in reality.

    What a horrible tragedy. Who could have predicted…? And Right Wing Assholes come out of the woodwork to lamely defend themselves. What a shame.

  27. Jack J. says:

    I just wanted to drop in and tell Dennis he’s a limbaugh cheese coated butt-plug (as always, no surprise here) and to STFU.

    Please.

  28. elspi says:

    “Where do you suppose this loon got the idea that Obama was going to take his guns? Can you cite something OBAMA said that suggested it?

    “Oh like you can provide reams of fucking evidence that prominent conservatives were telling people to shoot cops?”

    Jay treading on his own dick again.

    “Friends say the gunman recently had been upset about losing his job and that he feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.”

    Where could that murder inspiring lie come from?
    http://tinyurl.com/djpdwk

  29. Repack Rider says:

    like you can provide reams of fucking evidence that prominent conservatives were telling people to shoot cops?

    Henry II didn’t tell anyone to assassinate Thomas Becket. He just said, “Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?”

    White Whale’s compilation above will suffice to illustrate the concept that you don’t have to order something done directly to push people into horrible acts. You just have to be someone whose desires are considered important by followers, and who expresses “desires” that include harm to others.

    Of course the nutwingers like Limbaugh, Beck, Coulter et al have a First Amendment Right to spew their hatred and love of violence, and we have a First Amendment right to point out that their cowardly and hate-filled rhetoric might be put into action by a weak minded sycophant, as the recent church shooter indicated in his own words that he had done. We have a responsibility to point out this hatred and these calls to arms and resistance to lawful authority would have been called sedition if Democrats had done it five years ago.

    You can always tell who is a coward, because they are the people who talk the biggest smack. Confident people don’t have to talk smack.

  30. Jay says:

    I will ask again:

    Provide evidence that prominent conservatives were telling people to shoot cops.

    Of course, we can talk double standards.

    You had a prominent talk left wing talk show host (Randi Rhodes) say that it would be a good idea to shoot President Bush. It didn’t merit a mention at this blog and was virtually ignored by the media and the left (probably because many of them agreed). Of course, she wasn’t run off the air until she had the audacity to all Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton “fucking whores.” That was finally enough for Air America management. Calling on the President to be assassinated? No biggie.

    So when you find those quotes where conservatives were advising people to shoot cops, let me know.

  31. Jay says:

    White Whale’s compilation above will suffice to illustrate the concept that you don’t have to order something done directly to push people into horrible acts.

    I knew it. The goalposts have been moved ladies and gentlemen.

    And I’m done. It’s useless trying to reason with close-minded assholes.

  32. Mal Carne says:

    G. Gordon Liddy on his talk show, September 15, 1994 –

    “If the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms insists upon a firefight, give them a firefight. Just remember, they’re wearing flak jackets and you’re better off shooting for the head.”

    Thanks for playing, Jay!

  33. White Whale says:

    Lets enter the alternate universe of Mr. Jay
    “Right wing hosts, both “prominent” and not prominent advance ideas,rhetoric, suggestions of violence of politicians, gays, muslims and people who do not share thier ideology”
    “Right wing listener shoots wildly at “supposed” enemies(lets just say it happens to be a cop) and fulfills thier and right wing idols violence fetish/whims”

    Jay responds:
    “It not like right wing hosts specifically said “cops”, so its not like you can cast espursions or blame the right wing for influencing people!”
    Jay “As long as they didn’t say cops, thier talk is fine by me”NYC….keeping a firm grip in anti-reality.

  34. Dennis says:

    “Friends say the gunman recently had been upset about losing his job and that he feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.”

    Where could that murder inspiring lie come from?
    http://tinyurl.com/djpdwk
    –elspi

    You just really weakened your case with that link, elspi, whatever legitimate argument you had to begin with. I read Niewert’s post and watched the Glenn Beck interview. Both you and Niewert are delusional if you think either one of those guys spoke about an “insidous Obama plot to rid us of our guns’. Neither one of those guys even came close to saying that. Niewert simply made up that claim in his title for purposes of attracting the attention on memeorandum.com. That, and his obsession with Beck rivals that of you guys and Limbaugh here.

    Please point to anything at all that Beck and his guest discussed that would lead any rational person to conclude that they were inciting anyone to commit murder.

  35. Dennis says:

    To White Whale, with regards:

    * Comedian Chris Rock: “If President Clinton would pardon me I would whip Starr’s ass right now. I will get a crew from Brooklyn and we will stomp him like, like, we’re Savion Glover. We’ll stomp him like it’s bringing da noise.”

    * Director Spike Lee on Charlton Heston: “Shoot him with a .44 caliber Bulldog.”

    * James Carville on Ken Starr: “He’s one more mistake away from not having any kneecaps.”

    * Actor Alec Baldwin on Conan O’Brien: “[I]f we were in other countries, we would all right now, all of us together, all of us together would go down to Washington and we would stone Henry Hyde to death! We would stone him to death! [crowd cheers] Wait! Shut up! Shut up! No shut up! I’m not finished. We would stone Henry Hyde to death and we would go to their homes and we’d kill their wives and their children. We would kill their families.”

    * USA Today syndicated columnist Julianne Malveaux, on Clarence Thomas: “I hope his wife feeds him lots of eggs and butter and he dies early like many black men do, of heart disease.”

    * Comedian and (former) talk show host Craig Kilborn [Caption under footage of George W. Bush]: “Snipers Wanted”

  36. C.S.Strowbridge says:

    Jay. Caruso: “Oh like you can provide reams of fucking evidence that prominent conservatives were telling people to shoot cops?”

    Strawman attack.

  37. White Whale says:

    People who influence politics vs. comedians.LMFAO!!!!! Dude, I literally spit up the water I was drinking. This has to be THE lamest, most false equivelance laden list I have ever seen. You see, the thing is Dennis, I don’t care for anyone(who is serious!) to use violent language in political discourse, Democrat or Republican. Pointing to comedians is absurd. You do get why comedians are absurd right? They do and say absurd things. Jeeez!

  38. fafaroo says:

    Provide evidence that prominent conservatives were telling people to shoot cops.

    How about reassuring them that they have a case for shooting cops?

    http://www.oliverwillis.com/2009/03/31/right-wing-militia-watch-dick-morris-cheers-on-killing-atf-agents/

  39. White Whale says:

    Oh and here is some more for you to chew on there Dennis. This is far too easy!
    Bill O’Reilly

    Hey, you know, if you want to ban military recruiting, fine, but I’m not going to give you another nickel of federal money. You know, if I’m the president of the United States, I walk right into Union Square, I set up my little presidential podium, and I say, “Listen, citizens of San Francisco, if you vote against military recruiting, you’re not going to get another nickel in federal funds. Fine. You want to be your own country? Go right ahead.”

    And if Al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we’re not going to do anything about it. We’re going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you, except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead.

    Daniel Kish, a senior adviser to Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., in an email:

    “Connecticut should have its statehood taken away from it. The foolishness of its pampered residents should be demonstrated to others by a government program to bulldoze the entire state, salt the land and construct a windfarm to supply NYC with electricity. And its residents should be relocated to Guantanamo Bay where they can take a number behind the 3 who hung themselves this weekend, since they seem so intent on suicide.”

    Bachmann: I would say, what I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look — I wish they would. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America? I think the people would love to see an expose like that.

    Ann Coulter once wrote that the debate over Bill Clinton should be about “whether to impeach or assassinate.”

    Jesse Helms in 1994: “Mr. Clinton better watch out if he comes down here. He’d better have a bodyguard.”

    I am sure myself and most here can do this dance all night:)

  40. White Whale says:

    Fafaroo,
    “Um ATF agents are not…um regular cops so nah!”-Jay/Dennis

  41. it’s too easy to hold a bunch of media millionaires responsible for an unemployed, deranged man decision to murder cops.

    The bottom line is that Poplawski was a man who let fear and paranoia rule his life instead of compassion and respect for humanity.

    I hope his family and friends review his life & death and learn some lessons from it.

    Deepest condolences to the families of the victims.

  42. Amused Observer says:

    Liberals are fellow Americans, currently in power and trying hard to reshape this country into a perfect place where all good intentions come true. They are both selective and less than intellectualy honest in thier outrage.

    Oliver is trying to make political hay from tragedy. A pretty common leftist ploy. Can we all remember the travesty of the Wellstone memorial?

    Ollie does liberal propaganda for a day job and practices his craft here for sport. His dedication to truth and honesty are suspect at best.

    Does anyone here really think Oliver gives a damn about the either the mentally unbalanced man or those three cops that were shot? His interest is in slurring his political opponents.

  43. Randy Brown says:

    Provide evidence that prominent conservatives were telling people to shoot cops.

    G. Gordon Liddy, Nixon administration official, convicted felon, and talk radio host:

    August 26, 1994 – “Now if the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms comes to disarm you and they are bearing arms, resist them with arms. Go for a head shot; they’re going to be wearing bulletproof vests.” … “They’ve got a big target on there, ATF. Don’t shoot at that, because they’ve got a vest on underneath that. Head shots, head shots…. Kill the sons of bitches.”

    September 15, 1994 – “If the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms insists upon a firefight, give them a firefight. Just remember, they’re wearing flak jackets and you’re better off shooting for the head.”

  44. Randy Brown says:

    And now, there’s news breaking out of Seattle where a man MAY have killed his five children before turning a gun on himself. If this turns out to be true…

    Two days. Three multiple shootings. 21 victims (not counting the dead shooters in two of the incidents).

    And I don’t want to hear ANY MORE BULLSHIT about Oliver “exploiting tragedy.” The Right perfected that gambit long, long ago, and will certainly use this weekend’s tragedies as a bludgeon.

  45. C.S.Strowbridge says:

    Dennis: “‘Friends say’. Friends tell me liberals like to jump to conclusions without checking facts and repeat hearsay as gospel truth if it supports a previously held belief. Friends say that.”

    So did the news reports lie about the friends, or did the friends lie about the psycho?

  46. C.S.Strowbridge says:

    Dennis: “Because you are going on just that, odds. And hearsay. Only you left out the hearsay that he in fact didn’t hate Obama at all.”

    So when a friend says he did this because he was scared they were going to take away his guns, that’s heresay and not worth shit.

    But the same friend says, ‘he wasn’t VIOLENTLY opposed to Obama’ that’s hard proof that you are right and the rest of us are wrong.

    Interesting double standard there. Care to explain?

  47. C.S.Strowbridge says:

    Amused Observer: “Liberals are fellow Americans, currently in power and trying hard to reshape this country into a perfect place where all good intentions come true. They are both selective and less than intellectualy honest in thier outrage.”

    The hypocrisy here is overwhelming.

  48. fafaroo says:

    …it’s too easy to hold a bunch of media millionaires responsible for an unemployed, deranged man decision to murder cops.

    The only person responsible for this guy’s actions is the guy himself.

  49. Amused Observer says:

    I fail to see the hypocrisy, perhaps you can explain my Canadian leftist fellow commentator.

    Is it the selective outrage or the intellectual dishonesty. Media Matters is a creature of the far left and is dedicated to the furthering of leftwing propaganda rather than an allegiance to the United States. Media Matters signs Ollies paycheck.

    Ollie makes fun of half the country for sport. His motives are quite clear, but intellectual honesty is neither a tactic nor a strategy for furthering his goals.

  50. Zython says:

    Oliver is trying to make political hay from tragedy. A pretty common leftist ploy.

    *cough*

    Ollie makes fun of half the country for sport.

    The people Oliver describes make up 25% of the country. Nice try.

    I know that my comments make you run away in fear, leaving only a trail of urine where you once stood, but it won’t make me go away.

  51. Amused Observer says:

    LOL Zython,

    If you think 25% adequately describes the opposition to leftist, Democrat policy you’re in dreamland. Don’t let an unpopular Bush followed by a black enigma that the media didn’t even try to disguise thier cheerleading for constitute a lasting shift of political affiliation.

    Zython you’re way too scary. The way you puncuate your message with urine is just a little too much jr. high don’t you think?

  52. Jaim says:

    What will it take for wing-nuts to fess up and realize that their constant message of fear-mongering and hate actually has an effect on some people?

    This guy was worried about Obama coming to take his guns. Obama himself has said no such thing. It isn’t a policy plank. Never has been. And yet somehow, from somewhere, this guy got it in his head that Obama (personally, I guess) was coming for his guns.

    And so he murders three cops.

    Gee, he must have just made that up, no?

    Oh wait, here’s Glenn Beck interviewing the head of the NRA:

    http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/beck-and-nras-lapierre-warn-insidiou

    Republicans have no shame. And they don’t have the simple guts to man up and recognize their own handiwork.

    Cowards. Complete fucking cowards and fear-mongers. There’s a reason why America is ignoring your tired, fearful message these days.

  53. C.S.Strowbridge says:

    Amused Observer: “I fail to see the hypocrisy, perhaps you can explain my Canadian leftist fellow commentator.”

    Certainly. How many times did the Republicans use 9/11 to their political advantage? In fact, Cheney is still using it to try and score political points.

    It doesn’t take being a ‘Canadian leftist’ to see the hypocrisy in complaining over OW but supporting Cheney & Company.

    But I guess being a right-wing retard like you are could be a problem seeing that.

    “Ollie makes fun of half the country for sport. ”

    Half?

  54. Jay Tea says:

    Oh, look! A crazy person did a crazy thing! Let’s all surrender our Constitutional rights because a crazy person did a crazy thing!

    Yes, it’s solid political policy — because something might be abused by the most extreme fringe, everyone needs to be stripped of their rights on the chance that they might spontaneously snap and go postal.

    Hmm… would this be an appropriate time to bring up Al Gore and the Unabomber?

    J.

  55. Grumpymann says:

    Jay Tea,
    How many of Al Gores books did they find in the unibombers shack?

  56. C.S.Strowbridge says:

    J.G.Thayer: “Oh, look! A crazy person did a crazy thing! Let’s all surrender our Constitutional rights because a crazy person did a crazy thing!”

    Are you really this fucking stupid?

    And that’s a serious question.

  57. Ozy says:

    Jay
    April 4, 2009 at 8:41 pm

    “You had a prominent talk left wing talk show host (Randi Rhodes) say that it would be a good idea to shoot President Bush.”

    Jay you are a liar to the extream! Randi Rhodes never said that! You are refering to a bit which was done on her show by and AAR Producer which she had nothing to do with and it never said it was a good idea to shoot the pres.

    You guys need to quit lying and grow a set of honesty balls! If you are refering to any other time I recomend you PROVE IT!

  58. Jaim says:

    I’m not calling for anyone’s guns to be taken away. I’m calling for the intellectual and moral leadership of the Republican Party (Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, Coulter) to be mocked, ridiculed and shunned, along with anybody who take them seriously, as more wing-nuts “go Galt” and decide to blow away cops, parents, and children.

  59. Amused Observer says:

    Indeed Eric Holder did threaten to start an assault upon American civil liberties. And let us not forget that the alleged Constitutional Professor Barak Obama was able to find in the Constitution some sort of urban clause, perhaps written in invisable ink, to justify stripping away the rights of citizens in the fair state of Illinois.

    Remind me to send another check to the most patriotic defenders of American civil liberties in the nation today, the NRA.

    But perhaps if only I could write a check big enough, Eric Holder could see his way clear to uphold his oath to defend the Constitution with the same amount of vigor he used to help out Marc Rich.

  60. Repack Rider says:

    Eric Holder did threaten to start an assault upon American civil liberties

    Was he going to tap phones without warrants? Did he tell Americans that they should be careful what they say? Did he instigate criminal indictments of political enemies? Did he try to suppress voting rights? Did he allow prisoners to be tortured?

    Wait. That the Bush administration. Did you take exception then? If not, why start now?

  61. Jay Tea says:

    I’m not calling for anyone’s guns to be taken away. I’m calling for the intellectual and moral leadership of the Republican Party (Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, Coulter) to be mocked, ridiculed and shunned, along with anybody who take them seriously, as more wing-nuts “go Galt” and decide to blow away cops, parents, and children.

    Gee, I thought that was what you were doing.

    And where does this idea stop? There are a hell of a lot more rapes every year than mass shootings, and every man is a potential rapist. Perhaps we ought to take DNA samples from every man and put together a “potential rapist database” as a preventative screening measure.

    Where’s the blame for those who knew the killer, who knew his mental state, who knew about his access to weapons? Can’t have that when you can instead wave the bloody shirt and push your own agenda.

    No, the blame for this goes squarely on one person: the shooter. And he’s beyond the reach of mortal justice.

    Lessons to be learned: know those around you. Watch for those who show signs of distress and violence. And remember, should the worst happen, when seconds count, the police will be there within minutes — but then might spend an hour or so before entering the scene.

    J.

  62. Amused Observer says:

    I see Jaim’s meager education has left him completely in the dark regarding the novel Atlas Shrugged. When making witty remarks about literature it helps to have actually read the book.
    You sound silly worrying about people going Galt. Although if enough did you would be in serious trouble. You don’t strike me as a real sort of hands on type of fellow.

  63. Bruce Henry says:

    Tea, not one commenter here said anything about gun control laws, except you. The argument was about whether or not wingnut pundits encourage this type of violence. You were losing, so you tried to change the subject to make others defend an assault-weapons ban, which is not what the post or the comment thead was about.

  64. soullite says:

    Look at the right wingers scream and howl and protest.

    You fuckers did this. And what you’ve done will cause a lot more of this shit. You people keep going into places to murder Americans you dissaprove of. Churches, Community colleges, Ambushing the police during one of the rare occurances when they show up to help normal people.

    Really, you people may despise the fact that you’re to blame, but you are. You’ve been shrieking and howling this shit for decades without even giving the slightest thought to what the unbalanced among you might do with that motivation. Now a week doesn’t go by when one of your crazies goes into a place and murders innocent people.

  65. Right wing Commentary blogger Jay Tea is exactly the kind of deceiver who pushed the gun nut over the edge. As Bruce Henry pointed out, “Tea, not one commenter here said anything about gun control laws, except you.”

    Jay Tea and his right wing extremist buddies have been rhetorically throwing around a loaded gun, and then when their crazy game finally ends up shooting people (in this case three American law enforcement officers whose duty was to protect our neighbors from lunatics) they (Jay Tea & company) act like the “NOT ME” ghost in a Family Circus cartoon.

    Jay Tea, your side (the right wing) definitely shares responsibility for killing those American law enforcement officers.

    Jay Tea, if you had any sense of personal responsibility (or integrity) you would recognize that the right wing’s inflammatory rhetoric is clearly and deliberately trying to provoke violence prone gun waving extremists into committing crazy acts. It’s what pushed “http://HavenWorks.com/people/a-z/a/adkisson-jim-david”>Jim David Adkisson over the edge and it’s clearly what pushed this guy over the edge.

  66. Leota2 says:

    Interesting thread . . .
    A sick sad young man who loses his job and
    listens to right wing rhetoric ends up killing
    three cops. Now all the right wingers can do is try
    to walk back every toxic, nut ball, videotaped screech
    that people like Bachmann, Beck, Coulter, Limbaugh and the rest
    of the winged idiot Furies of the Republican party have ever
    vomited–or change the subject.
    Typical.

  67. Right winger Jim David Adkisson went on a killing spree that was directly motivated by right wing hate-filled literature.

  68. Oh, look! A crazy person did a crazy thing! Let’s all surrender our Constitutional rights because a crazy person did a crazy thing!

    Oh, now they care.

  69. Amused Observer, Ann Rand, the author of Atlas Shrugged was a sociopath.

    That the right wing would be drawn to a sociopath’s fiction is telling.

  70. Bruce Henry says:

    Oh look! Nineteen crazy people did a crazy thing! Let’s all surrender our constitutional rights, torture some suspects, and invade a country that didn’t attack us, because nineteen crazy people did a crazy thing!

    I can change the subject as well as you can, Tea.

  71. “Nineteen crazy people did a crazy thing” as a result of militant right wing extremist rhetoric.

    And the right wingers in America responded that “the Constitution isn’t a suicide pact” and systematically shredded the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the rule of law, and any ethical shred that prevented them from committing war crimes, unlawful domestic surveillance, and getting a tax cut during a costly, unnecessary war (Iraq) that the right wing lied US into.

  72. Bruce says:

    It should be noted that the vast majority of gun owners, including enthusiastic hunters, marksmen and general advocates of citizen firearms access as a last-line bulwark against tyranny, are strictly law abiding. Blaming this on gun rights advocates makes about as much sense as blaming Colin Ferguson’s murders on Al Sharpton’s fiery rhetoric.

  73. Jay Tea says:

    OK, Bruce, fine with me. So you’re not calling for the abolition of the 2nd Amendment (yet). Instead, you’re calling for the abolition of the 1st Amendment.

    “The argument was about whether or not wingnut pundits encourage this type of violence.” That’s a bullshit argument. Crazy people will do crazy things, regardless of what Limbaugh or Steele or Liddy say.

    The scary ones are those who are sane. McVeigh, Bill Ayers, MOVE, the Black Panthers (New and Classic), the Black Muslims who ran the bakery in California, Eric Rudolf… they are the truly dangerous ones.

    J.

  74. White Whale says:

    Shorter Jay Tea “Words don’t influence ANYBODY. See I just proved all you idiots wrong”

  75. Leota2 says:

    It’s interesting that none of the individuals or groups Jay so kindly informed us were “sane” but dangerous had a cable news show or was a congressional representative that could reach tens of millions of disaffected, uneducated, scared people in a matter of minutes . . . .

  76. Bruce Henry says:

    “That’s a bullshit argument.”

    One in which you enthusiastically participated until it became painfully obvious you were losing. At which point you attempted to change the subject to whether or not we should infringe on the 2nd Amendment as you interpret it.

    By the way, discussing whether or not wingnut blowhards encourage nuts like Poplawski does not constitute advocating the abolition of the 1st Amendment. As you well know, but are dishonest enough to pretend that you don’t.

  77. Longer Jay Tea: crazy right wingers that blow up federal building and bomb abortion clinics and murder clinic doctors are sane.

    Shorter right winger philosophy: Insanity is now sanity.
    And 2 + 2 is 5.

    Jay Tea, citing 60′s militants conveniently ignores the last 30+ years of right wing violence in America.

    FYI, militant Muslims are right wingers.

  78. Parthenon says:

    Even if we are to grant the point that extremism of ANY political philosophy can encourage violence and has done so in the past, that doesn’t alter the point that current American conservatism is drifting further rightward and its media personalities are absolutely encouraging extremism in their base.

    Nobody is saying the second amendment is teh eevil, and nobody is saying Glenn Beck got on the air and said ‘kill some cops before they take your guns.’ But you are willfully blind if you don’t see the effect of dramatic pronouncements about FEMA concentration camps, ‘we surround them,’ the boogey man coming to take your guns away, etc.

  79. Sepasco says:

    “You had a prominent talk left wing talk show host (Randi Rhodes) say that it would be a good idea to shoot President Bush.”

    Rhodes never said any such thing. This is a right-wing myth.

  80. Jay Tea says:

    Sorry, Parthenon, but I just got past eight years of BusHitler and Darth Cheney and “ZOMG they’re trampling the Constitution!” and “we’re all gonna end up in Gitmo!” and “Teh guvernmint is eavesdropping on my every phone call!” And now most of those same raving whackos are suddenly convinced that the government is all wonderful and benevolent and wise, and needs to be trusted with all sorts of power and authority over the common people.

    The question of whether the government should have a power or not should be utterly irrelevant to who currently holds the reins — because there’s always another election, and a power granted does not expire with an administration.

    Look at the abuses piled up under RICO and the PATRIOT Act and the “war on drugs.” All sorts of things that people said would never happen, and then did.

    I don’t trust the government — whoever’s running it — for the best possible reason: because I once did.

    J.

  81. Mal Carne says:

    …and yet, perfectly innocent people were put in Gitmo, phones were wiretapped, and the Constitution was in fact violated execessively.

    And Obama has done none of the outrageous things the right wing’s accused him of. No guns have been taken away. No one’s being forcibly converted to Islam. Government officials are not fleeing the country with bags of cash.

    Funny, that. It’s almost as if one side of this argument actually has a grounding in reality.

  82. Plantsmantx says:

    What kind of a doormat is this Aaron Vire kid?

  83. Parthenon says:

    JT-

    Listen mate, I’m willing to bend to evidence. And yet, I don’t recall any shootings inspired, quasi-encouraged or carried out by the ‘Evil Darth Cheney Bush=Nazi’ types. I try to be a results-oriented type of person, but I can’t help but see a difference here.

    Look at the abuses piled up under RICO and the PATRIOT Act and the “war on drugs.” All sorts of things that people said would never happen, and then did.

    I’m not going to argue the American government can’t be abusive, and that we shouldn’t keep an eye on it, no matter who is president/in control. But there’s a nuanced position between ‘keeping an eye on it’ and collapsing into hysterics and daily violating Godwin’s Law whenever anyone says ‘hey, maybe cities should have the right to set their own gun laws.’

  84. Jay Tea says:

    ‘hey, maybe cities should have the right to set their own gun laws.’

    Sorry, Parthenon, but cities (or states) do NOT have the right to rewrite the Constitution. We kinda settled that in the 50′s and 60′s.

    J.

  85. fafaroo says:

    I don’t trust the government — whoever’s running it — for the best possible reason: because I once did.

    Cut to …

  86. Media Matters is a creature of the far left and is dedicated to the furthering of leftwing propaganda rather than an allegiance to the United States.
    “Far left” in this case meaning “rational, factual”. We’re so anti-American we post our work for everyone to see. OMG factual refutations of conservative misinformation!!!!!

    Media Matters signs Ollies paycheck.
    In the blood of innocents!

    Ollie makes fun of half the country for sport.
    As others have said, half is a gross exaggeration. At any given time the wingnut faction is only about 25-30% of our blessed population.

  87. Michael Over Here says:

    I love how all the sudden Jay Tea is so pro-first amendment to the point that he believes that we’re not allowed to even criticize Glenn Beck for encouraging armed insurrection.

  88. Zython says:

    Yes, it’s solid political policy — because something might be abused by the most extreme fringe, everyone needs to be stripped of their rights on the chance that they might spontaneously snap and go postal.

    Doesn’t stop the right from opposing women’s right to have an abortion.

    You sound silly worrying about people going Galt. Although if enough did you would be in serious trouble. You don’t strike me as a real sort of hands on type of fellow.

    Going Galt only worked in Atlas Shrugged because of a bunch of fictional assumptions, including, but not limited to:

    1. Having the very existence of New York be dependent on a single bridge over 1000 miles away.

    2. Disobeying the laws of thermodynamics (perpetual motion machine)

    3. Inventing a death ray and something called a “sonic blaster”, not even going to touch that one.

    Yeah, good luck with that.

  89. Michael Over Here says:

    Zython is right. Going Galt is a contrivance that is based on a series of other contrivances.

  90. Parthenon says:

    Sorry, Parthenon, but cities (or states) do NOT have the right to rewrite the Constitution. We kinda settled that in the 50’s and 60’s.

    Well of course not. What you’re getting at (the unconstitutionality of city gun laws) is a fair and defensible legal position – not the only one, but fair and defensible. Obviously (DC v. Heller) the current SCOTUS agrees.

    What I was getting at was a politician says something relatively mild – gun control works, cities should have a say – and the con media seems to ramp it up into ‘THEY ARE COMING FOR YOU – GET THE SHOTGUN AND GET BESSIE AND THE KIDS TO THE SHELTER.’

    As I’ve said before, I’m pro-gun rights. But I also try to be pro-reality, unlike Crazy Glenn Beck and co.

  91. fafaroo says:

    Zython is right. Going Galt is a contrivance that is based on a series of other contrivances.

    That certain conservatives take as gospel.

  92. Parthenon says:

    Zython is right. Going Galt is a contrivance that is based on a series of other contrivances.

    As has been pointed out, I hear Somalia’s immigration policy is quite liberal.

  93. REPUBLICAN BUSH REVOKED THE 2ND AMENDMENT in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Only the Republican’s private mercenary corporation Blackwater and the gubmint were allowed to use guns.

    Right wingers sure have convenient memories. And convenient ethics.

    Right wingers moral relativism is like taffy, it can be stretched in any way that’s politically convenient and then stretched back when the opposite is convenient.

  94. Daniel Doyle says:

    Oliver, you’re my main man, but I’ve gotta call this: The present tense verb in your headline should be “begets.” I’m kind of a douche like that.

  95. C.S.Strowbridge says:

    Jaim: “I’m not calling for anyone’s guns to be taken away. …”

    J.G.Thayer: “Gee, I thought that was what you were doing.”

    That’s cause you are stupid.

    The sooner you learn this, the better.

  96. C.S.Strowbridge says:

    Parthenon: “I’m not going to argue the American government can’t be abusive, and that we shouldn’t keep an eye on it, no matter who is president/in control. But there’s a nuanced position between ‘keeping an eye on it’ and collapsing into hysterics and…”

    And that’s where you lost J.G.Thayer. If I recall correctly, this is the man who said he preferred to look at the world as black and white.

    He can’t handle nuance, because he’s too dumb to handle nuance. Therefore he avoids it at all costs.

    This is a problem with a lot of conservatives.

  97. Jaim says:

    None of the wing-nuts have made any substantial critiques of the basic premise of this thread — Limbaugh, Beck, Coulter, etc., the leaders of the modern-day Republican party, encourage this type of thing with their vile rhetoric.

    The point isn’t to get them censored, the point is to further shine more light on the hate-filled sewer that is modern-day conservatism. That’s all.

    They made their bed, now they’re lying in it. And reality-based Americans want nothing to do with them any longer.

    So don’t ignore them, simply register the fact that they are anathema to modern, progressive society.

    The KKK never disappeared completely either.

  98. Dennis says:

    The point isn’t to get them censored, the point is to further shine more light on the hate-filled sewer that is modern-day conservatism. That’s all. Jaim

    No, Jaim, the point here is to blame those guys for what happened, as if this poor bastard was driven to it by something Glenn Beck said, which is complete lunacy. Do you pretend to understand the psychological make-up of someone so mentally disturbed as to commit mass murder? If you do, please write a book and help educate the experts who study it and who haven’t been able to figure it out yet, none of which as of yet have blamed any of them on any talk show hosts.

  99. Jaim says:

    “Do you pretend to understand the psychological make-up of someone so mentally disturbed as to commit mass murder?”

    I know enough about it to see that there is a potential for a very disturbing trend here. First off, the guy lost his job. That’s a crushing experience for anybody. But when you take this and sprinkle in healthy doses of hate and fear (Obama is coming for my guns, personally, just like Glenn Beck said, Obama is a closet-Muslim and hence pro-terrorist, just like Limbaugh said, Obama is a socialist-fascist, which is a complete logical paradox buy hey, it’s Republicans we’re talking about, just like Coulter said) you’re asking for trouble.

    I hope this isn’t the start of an ugly, tragic series of spree shootings. I really don’t. But if more of these guys decide to go postal, and we find out they were followers to right-wing philosophy that makes up the base, not the fringe, of modern-day conservatism, then yeah, we have every right to blame the Republican Smear Machine.

    See, this is how adults think Dennis — actions have consequences, and you have to take responsibility for your actions. Hate speech is an action. You shouldn’t be arrested for it or censored, since it’s your right to spew ugliness under the First Amendment, but everybody else has a right to consider you to be a hate-filled bigot, and hence ignore you.

    Like I said, the KKK never fully disappeared. Neither will the Republican Party. It will just shrivel into irrelevance if and when more Republicans decide to become terrorists.

  100. C.S.Strowbridge says:

    GOP: “Obama is going to take away your guns. Obama is going to take away your guns. Obama is going to take away your guns. Obama is going to take away your guns. Obama is going to take away your guns.”

    Some Crazy: “Obama is going to take away MY guns.” *BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM*

    GOP: “That’s not our fault. If you say it is, you are against the first amendment.”

    That about sums it up.

  101. Understanding right wingers like “Dennis” in three easy steps:

    Dennis essentially says it’s “lunacy” for someone to “pretend to understand the psychological make-up of someone so mentally disturbed as to commit mass murder[.]”

    Then Dennis pretends “to understand the psychological make-up of someone so mentally disturbed as to commit mass murder[.]”

    By Dennis logic, Dennis is a lunatic.

  102. Duros62 says:

    Actions have consequences. Yes, this guy is responsible for his actions. So are those who drove him to it.
    Deal.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide#Media_Propaganda

    In March 1992, Radio Rwanda was first used in directly promoting the killing of Tutsi in Bugesera, south of the national capital Kigali. Radio Rwanda repeatedly broadcast a communiqué warning that Hutu in Bugesera would be attacked by Tutsi, a message used by local officials to convince Hutu that they needed to protect themselves by attacking first. Led by soldiers, Hutu civilians and members of the Interahamwe, subsequently attacked and killed hundreds of Tutsi.[8] At the end of 1993, the RTLM’s highly sensationalized reporting on the assassination of the Burundi president, a Hutu, was used to underline supposed Tutsi brutality. The RTLM falsely reported that the president had been tortured, including castration of the victim (in pre-colonial times, some Tutsi kings castrated defeated enemy rulers). From late October 1993, the RTLM repeatedly broadcast themes developed by the extremist written press, underlining the inherent differences between Hutu and Tutsi, the foreign origin of Tutsi, the disproportionate share of Tutsi wealth and power, and the horrors of past Tutsi rule. RTLM also repeatedly stressed the need to be alert to Tutsi plots and possible attacks and called upon Hutu to prepare to ‘defend’ themselves against the Tutsi.[8] After 6 April 1994, authorities used RTLM and Radio Rwanda to spur and direct killings, specifically in areas where the killings initially were resisted. Both radio stations were used to incite and mobilize, then to give specific directions for carrying out the killings.

  103. Duros62 says:

    Some Crazy: “Obama is going to take away MY guns.” *BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM*

    Rinse and repeat, you start to see a trend.