"The United States House of Representatives Minority Leadership inspired and encouraged, through their own subtle brand of hate, the violent reactions that occurred in the wake of the House passage of Health Care Reform. Representative John Boehner whips up what he knows is a very volatile branch of the Republican party and then expresses dismay that his words have inspired death threats, racial epithets and spitting upon minority members of Congress as well as homophobic attacks on his fellow Congressman.

Rush Limbaugh, the far right’s spokesman, encourages his followers to “lets get these bastards; wipe them out“. Republican members of Congress line the outdoor balcony of the House and cheer while their “tea party” supporters spit upon colored member of the House and shout “nigger” “fagg” and “you’re going to be shot like Martin Luther King”. Some of these same men had marched in and were arrested an beaten by white opposition, including police, during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. A Republican House member from South Caroline shouts “baby killer” as Representative Bart Stupak, an anti-abortion Democrat, speaks in support of Health Care Reform.

Overnight many other Democratic members of the House and their families receive death threats and one member’s family has a gas line to their house deliberately cut. Other acts of violent vandalism are perpetrated on Democratic offices. Representative Boehner goes on television and tells his Republican supporters that it is ok to express their discontent and then says he does not condone violent actions. He was not even successful in hiding his “ally cat” grin while saying it. Texas republicans express a desire to “secede” from the United States while far right talk show host talk about another “civil war”."

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Harold Monteau: Grand old Party of Intolerance (Pechanga.net 4/31)