The shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has brought the call for toning down the political rhetoric.  Some have accused talk radio and the Tea Party of causing the violent behavior that we witnessed on Saturday.  Where were these people when Alec Baldwin, on Letterman I think, called for people to go to Ken Starr's house and stone him.  George Bush was so defiled in the media that many expressed "hate" for him.  I had a close friend walk into my house one day and exclaim that he would like to "smash Geworge Bush's face".  When I asked why, there was only some vague reason.

On the other side, Sarah Palin's organization put crosshairs on those states where the Tea Party intended to concentrate on removing Democratic encumbants.  Whether or not this could cause an unstable person to actually try to kill the encumbant in a state is something to be determined by psychologists, not TV pundits. 

In the Arizona shooting, the local sherrif commented "When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government.  The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting outrageous."   Nice rhetoric but what might possibly be behind this anger in Arizona?  Could the good people of Arizon be upset with a Federal government that sues them when they exercise their right to vote for better enforcement of EXISTING  immigration laws?  Could they be angry that the current administration pushed through a massive health care bill that a large majority opposed? 

In November, those of us in our society who are at least half-way sane, registered our anger at the ballot box.  And, pretty effectively, I might say.  It is a shame that there are those in this country, unbalanced according to the media, who feel they must express this anger in violent was eg, stonings, assassinations, etc.

Before they start pointing fingers at political rhetoric for inciting such violence, maybe they need to take a look at how their unpopular decisions affect their constituents. 

© 2011 Rudy K - 1/9/11