Guns and Bricks

The far right conservative leaders need to tell the Tea Partiers and the rest of their clan who are in a hyped-up frenzy to scale it back by a couple of degrees.
If you don't already know by now, several members of congress have received threats, had their offices vandalized, and even been verbally assaulted while trying to walk into the Capitol building in D.C. One congressman was even reportedly spit upon.
Democrats finally came out and admitted to the public what was happening, security was beefed up at the Capitol, and the media has run with the story.
After all these embarrassing stories about threats and actual violence, you would think that conservative leaders would at least try to leash their dogs and calm down the people who are obviously so crazed that they are willing to do actual violence because of this bill, right? Nope. When asked to tone down the violent rhetoric in an effort to attempt to calm down these people who are one the verge of doing serious violence, big party leaders such as McCain and Palin merely said that words like "targeting a candidate" and other violent imagery were common in politics. In Palin's case, she said that, although actual violence was wrong, the images of Democratic districts with gun cross hairs will remain up on her facebook site. Her other language has been militant as well, urging people, "Don't retreat, instead RELOAD!" She also claimed that the violence was a "ginned up conspiracy" put forth by the media.
I'm sorry Ms. Palin, but in this, you're wrong. When a former civil rights leader gets called the N-word outside of the Capitol, and has a noose sent via fax to his office, and when people are having bricks thrown at their offices, and windows shot out, that is not a ginned up conspiracy, that is a prelude to actual violence! What will it take for you and yours to finally realize that the rhetoric that you, Eric Cantor, and John McCain are spouting isn't toning things down, like you should be and isn't encouraging political action and only political action, but instead, you and yours are lighting a match under a powder keg. A powder keg, I might add, that you created with your polarizing speeches. What will it take before the conservative right realizes that the imagery they utilize when talking about this bill is over the top? Will someone have to be hit by one of those bricks being thrown at a window? How about one of the bullets? Will you concede then, Ms. Palin, Mr. McCain, and Mr. Cantor, that the Dems might have a point in calling for a lower level of violent imagery in those speeches that you just love to give? Or, god forbid, will someone actually have to die before you realize that you're wrong on this point? Will you not concede even then?
I understand that words like "targeting" and other phrases have been used in campaigns with no negative consequences. But when the political tone over this issue is already at a fever pitch, and there are so many with so much vitriol that they are quite ready to do violence, it is your responsibility to calm them down Mr. McCain, Ms. Palin, and Mr. Cantor. They are your constituents and your supporters. They will listen to you, not Democrats, not moderates, and others who are already urging them to calm the fuck down, but you.
In fact, Ms. Palin, you should be wary of all this violence against the Democrats, because the last thing your party would want for the Healthcare movement is a martyr. Not that this movement doesn't already have a hundred thousand martyrs in all the people who died and continue to die from not being insured, but if this movement garnered a political martyr, that would be a death knell for your party ever getting to overturn or change this bill. So, not out of the humane interest of preserving the health, property, and perhaps even lives of your opposition, but out of mere political interest, perhaps you should calm your constituents down. Put in those terms, can you now see a reason to bring the rhetoric level down a bit?
I would never seek to deny anyone their personal political views. I have my own, and I would consider it the height of hypocrisy to deny someone else such a freedom that I enjoy. However, your rights end where another person's rights begin. The Tea Baggers can hold all the protests and rallies they want. That's fine. They have the right to do that just like I have the right to think they're crazy and snicker at their ridiculous name like a six year old.
But when they start spitting on Congressmen and hurling racial and gender epithets, that's where their rights stop. That crosses the line of political action and wanders towards the territory of disturbing the peace and even flirts with assault.