…as democrats who did their best to avoid their constituents before the healthcare votes now claim to fear violence.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is warning that some of his Democratic colleagues are being threatened with violence when they go back to their districts.
Forgetting the wisdom of taking Steny “They are shouting nasty things in the crowd but we somehow didn’t catch them on our cameras” Hoyer at his word conservatives have a few comments.
Let’s start with Gateway pundit who begins with a debunking:
Russ Carnahan is so frightened to meet with his constituents after his very unpopular vote that he is now lying about a prayer service. This is despicable. Russ Carnahan never said anything when his SEIU supporters beat, kicked and stomped on Kenneth Gladney in a parking lot outside one of his events. These were the same supporters he was sneaking into one of his staged town halls. Instead of apologizing for his supporter’s violence, he is making up stories about peaceful tea party protesters at a prayer service.
Read the whole post particularly the link to the local coverage of the event. Amazing that they didn’t see the threat that the Politico saw from Washington.
Dana Loesch elaborates:
This is a guy who ignored how myself and other conservatives in this area were threatened last summer simply because we dissented with this administration’s policies. His own mother, Jean Carnahan, threw fuel to the fire and tried to whip the vitriol to a frenzy when she attacked his constituents and said that the “teabagger” remarks “bordered on treason.” This is a man who had one of the most under-reported (not to mention caught-on-tape with police report) hate crimes ever to happen at his town hall and the next morning he denied its existence in a press conference. Now this man is going to add further insult to injury by making up malicious intent for people having a prayer vigil? What does he hope to gain from this?
Yes I do seem to recall a black fellow named Gladney who was beaten on film and called a “nigger” in that same area. I don’t believe I’ve seen the politico cover that story, or condemnation from Steny Hoyer.
The lawyers at Power line has this to say:
As for the threats, we will take them more seriously if they result in the cancellation of a public appearance by a liberal due to security concerns. But that never happens to liberals, only to conservatives. It happened again last night. That was in Canada, of course; the home of government medicine and little regard for free speech. No coincidence, that.
In large part, the current focus on threats of violence is aimed at the tea partiers, just as they were accused, apparently falsely, of racism. It is not hard to understand the Democrats’ motives; the tea parties are the most vital force, and likely the most popular force, in American politics, so smearing them is mandatory. But anyone who has attended a tea party rally will consider laughable the idea that the movement somehow tends toward violence.
I’ve talked to people who have decried Tea Parties, invariably they haven’t attended one. For their benefit let me point them to my coverage of last April’s Boston Tea Party or my coverage of the protests last week in Fitchburg and a comparative photo of two events last year.
Sister Toldja brings up an interesting point.
The Weekly Standard’s John McCormack, no stranger to left wing violence himself, makes an excellent point here:
Yes, threats are despicable and should be denounced by all. But wouldn’t it have been nice if CBS had informed readers that the “onslaught of threatening messages” he received last week were from those who supported the health care bill? Isn’t it odd that CBS didn’t cover this story last week?
Indeed. When Stupak was “anti” the bill, just what types of calls and threats was he receiving? Isn’t that worth looking into? Apparently not to the liberals at CBS.
Not only that, but remember: It’s not just Republicans who hate this bill. There were many on the left who hated it because they didn’t think it went far enough. NOW, for example, was outraged over the meaningless EO Obama promised Stupak (which Obama signed today without fanfare). Unions are angry at the Democrat no votes on ObamaCare, and we know very well what some of the more radical union members will do when they’re upset. In fact, even though the AFL-CIO ended up endorsing ObamaCare, many union members still had “Cadillac tax concerns” with the bill – concerns which kept them from endorsing it until the 11th hour.
Glenn Reynolds takes Mr. Hoyer and the media down memory lane saying:
Man up, Steny. Or just, you know, shut up. You’re a hypocrite when it comes to thuggery, and you and your colleagues aren’t credible playing the victim.
Conservatives for Palin talks about the democratic strategy:
They cannot run away from the fact that Barack Obama is the face of their party, so they’ll have to do all they can to create a distraction. Right now, they are throwing the kitchen sink by playing the victim.
This strategy won’t work because the real victims from what happened last Sunday are the American people.
I’ll give Michelle Malkin the last word:
Republicans don’t need physical violence — we’ve got November to look forward to, and subsequently the repeal of Obamacare. Of course, as Steny might say, that’s an unspecified number of threats and just an estimate, but it’s the best I can do.
I’m sure that voting out democrats from the congress counts as violence in Mr. Hoyer’s book.
Update: Texas for Sarah Palin puts it even better:
House Dems who voted for ObamaCare knew that they were doing so at considerable risk to their own careers. They can read public opinion polls just like anyone else can, and the Congressmen didn’t want to face the prospect of going home to their districts and having to explain their votes to their constituents. So the Big Lie was put to use to cover their backsides. When your number one talking point is that you allegedly fear for your own personal safety and that of your family, you can use it to to weasel your way out of taking phone calls, answering e-mails or — God forbid — having to actually interact with those pesky citizens face to face. Some Democrats used this excuse to cancel town hall meetings that they had scheduled last summer.
So the twofold purpose behind this latest tactic by the left is not simply to demonize Gov. Palin, TEA Partiers and Republicans, but to also give the Congressional Dems who voted for ObamaCare a bogus excuse to continue to defy the will of We The People. Be ye not deceived.
Remember, these people asked for these jobs.
Update 2: Lucky for us we have the left to provide the voice of reason.
Update 3: Shhhh Politico corrects without noting a correction. Good think we have an MSM eh? Just to let them know all you have to do is type “update” and put it in bold and add the correction to the bottom, it’s easy. Via the same link from Glenn Moe Lane (who we will see later tonight on this blog) give the Mainstream Media some advice.
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