You know, when the Tea Party movement started rolling, a lot on the Left said that it would lead to violence and mayhem. And they were right -- just look at what's happened in the last week or so.
Down on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, there were a couple of cases of arson. Someone decided to torch two rather nice houses. And at one of the fires, the arsonist spray-painted "FUCK THE RICH."
Last week, the Tea Party in Chicago decided to hold a Christmas party at a bar. Someone who wasn't filled with holiday cheer (or, possibly, too much cheer) decided to mess up the party -- and set off a fake bomb in the bar's bathroom. The message left there? "FUCK THE TEA PARTY."
And, of course, down in Florida a man upset that taxes weren't raised and his wife was let go from her teaching job started shooting at a school board meeting -- until he was shot by a police officer in attendance. He left his suicide note, talking about how he had been inspired by Media Matters For America and several other leftist organs.
Now it's worth noting that there haven't been any arrests in the first two, and unlikely to be any in the third -- the guy's dead. But the common elements are here: all three incidents were carrying out (to an extreme) the directives of the left here.
So, shall we lay the body of Clay Duke and the ashes of the Cape Cod and Chicago arsons at the doorsteps of Media Matters and the rest of the professional left?
Oh, it's tempting. They've certainly played that game often enough to us, trying to hang all sorts of violence and mayhem around our necks at every opportunity. It's very tempting, indeed, to go to Media Matters and say "how 'bout that Florida shooter? He was one of your biggest fans. Why the hell are you fomenting this kind of hatred, inciting this kind of violence? Aren't you just as culpable as he was, as the arsonists are?" Very, very tempting indeed.
But no. I'm not gonna go there.
I've long believed in a simple principle: crazy people do crazy things for crazy reasons. And the responsibility for those crazy actions lie with the crazy people. I don't buy into their rationales and justifications; to me, they're just trying to deny responsibility for their deeds.
But I want to keep these cases -- especially the Clay Duke case -- fresh in people's minds. Because the next time Media Matters or their ilk start talking like they did during the census worker's suicide ("send the body to Glenn Beck!")
It's their standard. It's wrong, but they're sticking to it. So let's hang it around their necks, and see how they spin it away. Sooner or later they'll either have to admit they're wrong, or accept the responsibility for these crimes.
Or, at least, ought to. I'm not betting on either actually happening. They're not that good at dealing with reality -- only "reality-based" constructs.



Comments (19)
Dang Mr. Tea,I wok... (Below threshold)1. Posted by Brucepall | December 17, 2010 9:48 AM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Dang Mr. Tea,
I woke up to see double post of, "Tea Party Violence!"
Semper Fidelis-
1. Posted by Brucepall | December 17, 2010 9:48 AM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on December 17, 2010 09:48
2. Posted by Stan | December 17, 2010 9:55 AM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Jay must have posted this before he had his morning caffeine. Damn double posts anyway.
2. Posted by Stan | December 17, 2010 9:55 AM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on December 17, 2010 09:55
3. Posted by Jay Tea
| December 17, 2010 9:59 AM | Score: 0 (2 votes cast)
Not a caffeine issue, Stan -- new software irritation issues. I got an error message on the first publishing attempt, then tried it again -- and both went through.
And I STILL can't post comments directly, but have to go through the site management interface to reply... which is getting annoying as hell.
Damned script kiddies... at least I'm getting e-mail notifications of new comments again.
J.
3. Posted by Jay Tea
| December 17, 2010 9:59 AM |
Score: 0 (2 votes cast)
Posted on December 17, 2010 09:59
4. Posted by GarandFan | December 17, 2010 10:13 AM | Score: 10 (12 votes cast)
"...they'll either have to admit they're wrong, or accept the responsibility...."
Not going to happen. For Progressives, admission of error or acceptance of responsibility are totally foreign concepts.
4. Posted by GarandFan | December 17, 2010 10:13 AM |
Score: 10 (12 votes cast)
Posted on December 17, 2010 10:13
5. Posted by George True | December 17, 2010 10:36 AM | Score: 11 (13 votes cast)
"...sooner or later they'll either have to admit they are wrong, or accept responsibility for these crimes."
I respectfully disagree. The left will never admit to being wrong about anything, nor will they ever accept responsibility for any of their mistakes. As such, they must be hung mercilessly on their own petard. They must have their nose shoved in their own doodoo - hard. Not for revenge, or out of schadenfreude, but because this is the ONLY way to break through their artificial construct of a world.
5. Posted by George True | December 17, 2010 10:36 AM |
Score: 11 (13 votes cast)
Posted on December 17, 2010 10:36
6. Posted by WildWillie | December 17, 2010 11:22 AM | Score: 4 (8 votes cast)
I have always held to the notion that conservatives are far more classy and reasonable then the left. Although our emotions will say we should use this issue, proper decorum says we should rise above it. A person lost his life, his wife is now a widow and the guard who shot him is dealing with taking a life. Way too much going on to use this for political hits. We are better then that. I am not preaching. Just stating a fact. ww
6. Posted by WildWillie | December 17, 2010 11:22 AM |
Score: 4 (8 votes cast)
Posted on December 17, 2010 11:22
7. Posted by Gmac | December 17, 2010 11:28 AM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Rational people do not do irrational things.
Simple math says 1 + 1 = 2 in the rational world, not so much in the land of make believe and feelings.
YMMV
7. Posted by Gmac | December 17, 2010 11:28 AM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on December 17, 2010 11:28
8. Posted by Hank | December 17, 2010 11:28 AM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Well said ww.
I completely agree.
8. Posted by Hank | December 17, 2010 11:28 AM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on December 17, 2010 11:28
9. Posted by Constitution First | December 17, 2010 11:42 AM | Score: 5 (7 votes cast)
Leftist/Progressives are little more than inbred children with access to weapons.
9. Posted by Constitution First | December 17, 2010 11:42 AM |
Score: 5 (7 votes cast)
Posted on December 17, 2010 11:42
10. Posted by yttik | December 17, 2010 11:57 AM | Score: 4 (6 votes cast)
Well sheesh, have you read some leftist blogs? Those are some of the most depressed, demoralized people I've ever read. It's actually kind of scary. If you wallow in that kind of despair day in and day out, you're bound to do something stupid at some point! I think those people actually compete for who can express the most misery. Did you know if you don't get your way politically, people will eat children and kill puppies? By the time they're finished harping on it, every minor political setback is now suicide worthy. If they aren't threatening to leave the country, they're claiming that humankind deserves to be destroyed in the fires of global warming hell.
10. Posted by yttik | December 17, 2010 11:57 AM |
Score: 4 (6 votes cast)
Posted on December 17, 2010 11:57
11. Posted by Jay Guevara | December 17, 2010 12:24 PM | Score: 5 (7 votes cast)
yttik, there are times I really believe that leftism is a mental disorder, something like manic depression.
Leftists seem to gyrate wildly between the most abject misery and profound rage (at anything non-leftists do) on one hand and euphoric bliss on the other (see, e.g., any Obama appearance ca. 2008; now, not so much).
They seem to think this is the worst of all countries, in the worst of all times, and run by the worst of all people until 2009, but subsequently on course to building heaven on earth.
These are not the characteristics of emotionally healthy, grounded people.
11. Posted by Jay Guevara | December 17, 2010 12:24 PM |
Score: 5 (7 votes cast)
Posted on December 17, 2010 12:24
12. Posted by Les Nessman | December 17, 2010 12:43 PM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
"..the guard who shot him is dealing with taking a life."
Actually, I think the guard only wounded the nutjob, then the nutjob put a gun to his own head and committed suicide.
It's still a helluva burden to have to shoot someone, but he didn't kill him.
12. Posted by Les Nessman | December 17, 2010 12:43 PM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on December 17, 2010 12:43
13. Posted by WildWillie | December 17, 2010 1:59 PM | Score: 5 (7 votes cast)
Les, you are right. I did hear him speak and he said he shot him in the back and was afraid he would go to prison for that. But the guy did land two or three bullets before the madd man shot himself. Thank God good people have guns. ww
13. Posted by WildWillie | December 17, 2010 1:59 PM |
Score: 5 (7 votes cast)
Posted on December 17, 2010 13:59
14. Posted by Howie | December 17, 2010 2:24 PM | Score: 4 (4 votes cast)
Maybe the Left was scared of themselves? They cannot argue logically or rationally. They either leave the party, attack you, or drown out what you are saying.
14. Posted by Howie | December 17, 2010 2:24 PM |
Score: 4 (4 votes cast)
Posted on December 17, 2010 14:24
15. Posted by pgg | December 17, 2010 4:58 PM | Score: 5 (7 votes cast)
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the definition of Liberalism, courtesy of Jay Tea.
Spot on.
15. Posted by pgg | December 17, 2010 4:58 PM |
Score: 5 (7 votes cast)
Posted on December 17, 2010 16:58
16. Posted by Eric | December 17, 2010 6:56 PM | Score: 4 (4 votes cast)
Not hardly. Instead the Left will ignore any and all examples of violence that comes from the Left wing. When pressed, they will invariably cry that its just a few bad apples and shouldn't be used to paint the entire Left. However, those same people will take any example of Right wing violence and shout how that is proof positive that the entire Right wing is violent.
16. Posted by Eric | December 17, 2010 6:56 PM |
Score: 4 (4 votes cast)
Posted on December 17, 2010 18:56
17. Posted by Scrapiron | December 17, 2010 11:40 PM | Score: 3 (5 votes cast)
Class warfare is being played from the POTUS down to the lowest level democrat, and it's not only the crazy liberals. Look for a lot more violence to result from the class warfare hype of the crazies in the democrat party.
17. Posted by Scrapiron | December 17, 2010 11:40 PM |
Score: 3 (5 votes cast)
Posted on December 17, 2010 23:40
18. Posted by dunce | December 18, 2010 12:30 AM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
You only listed three recent incidents but the list is very long. Who is counting? Certainly not the MSM.
18. Posted by dunce | December 18, 2010 12:30 AM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on December 18, 2010 00:30
19. Posted by trr | January 31, 2011 12:25 AM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
How about if we say all violence is wrong instead of trying to justify it?
Oh - and also the trash fire that was mischaracterized as a "bomb threat" was made up by a tea party official.
19. Posted by trr | January 31, 2011 12:25 AM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on January 31, 2011 00:25