What Did Paul Broun (R-GA) Contribute To The Mayhem In Arizona? A Guest Post From Russell Edwards

We first came across a young attorney, Russell Edwards, last August when he was campaigning for a House seat held by radical right fanatic and John Bircher Paul Broun (R-GA). Russell wrote a thoughtful guest post for us at the time and he's written another one today. I have to admit, Blue America is trying to persuade him to run against Broun again in 2012. In November Broun took 137,263 of the votes to Russell's 66,574, a respectable first-time effort with no help whatsoever from the DCCC. In fact, Russell won in Athens (Clarke County) with 63% of the vote and did respectably well in Richmond County (Augusta). Broun spent $1,786,409 on the race and Russell spent $218,078-- just a million and a half less. We'll keep pushing him; I was encouraged by the clear-thinking behind his analysis of what happened in Tucson over the weekend. Russell Edwards:

The point-blank shot in the head received by Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords along with the murder of 6 others, including a Federal Judge, shook the nation over the weekend, leaving folks wondering how something like this could happen in America. Frankly, I believe now is a good time for us to examine the words of our Congressman and whether or not he needs to tone down his vicious rhetoric. Before you fly off the handle and claim I’m using this tragedy for political gain, please hear what I have to say.  

Paul Broun Jr. is a public official. With his office comes heightened responsibility and an expectation for a sense of decorum. However, our Rep. routinely disgraces his office by spreading conspiracy theories which threaten the existence of our democracy. His conspiratorial claim during the health care reform negotiations that “they’re going to give your grandmother narcotics until she catches pneumonia and dies” was particularly gruesome. You see, when conspiracies are propounded from an elected office, they achieve a greater sense of legitimacy-- a sense of legitimacy which can wreak havoc in the mind of a mentally unstable, fully-armed boy like Saturday’s shooter.  

Is Paul Broun Jr. fully responsible for Saturday’s tragedy? No. But do his words often, in effect, create permission for acts of violence against our democratic government? Of course. Back on the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, Paul Broun Jr. attended a 2nd Amendment rally on the Mall where he said: “Fellow patriots, we have a lot of domestic enemies of the Constitution, and they're right down the Mall, in the Congress of the United States... The 2nd Amendment is all about us protecting ourselves from a tyrannical government." Should Paul Broun Jr. be so shocked, as he claimed last Sunday, that someone took the life of one of the “domestic enemies of the Constitution” who voted to create “death panels?”

In the Rolling Stone yesterday Matt Taibbi asks that we also not overlook the role of the ratings-driven media in helping haters like Broun create an atmosphere conducive to this kind of tragedy. "I think," he writes, "the reason that many people are going to be criticizing right-wing rhetoric in particular in the wake of the Giffords incident is not for what people like Rush and Sarah Palin say openly, but precisely because their underlying message is suspect. I think it's pretty clear that in many cases, and especially with people like Beck, their hottest rhetoric is delivered with a conspiratorial wink, as in, "I'd be more explicit about the threat your political enemies pose, but I can't. But you know what I'm trying to say about them, and about what has to be done." Beck in particular gets his market share by going further in that direction than his competitors." And our old pal Nicole Sandler has put together a little video that demonstrates his point-- and Russell Edwards'.



More on Georgia at 10AM (PT)-- although from a very different perspective.


UPDATE: More Threats From Right-Wing Fanatics Against Democratic Congressmen (From Tucson)

In the past we've covered the violence from right-wing terrorists perpetrated against Raul Grijalva, the other Democratic congressman from Tucson. Apparently, the level of threats have increased since Saturday but Capitol Hill police hasn't increased what passes for vigilance. According to the Huffington Post, Grijalva's office has reported "at least two very credible threats" to the division, yet the Capitol Police responded by directing the office to the Tucson Police. In the past, said the aide, the Capitol Police would immediately send the FBI to investigate the source of the threat to determine its seriousness. Late Monday night, the threats division called Grijalva's office to apologize for the slow response, said the aide, but still had little interest in the threats. "It's like they don't pay attention," the aide said. "He's a very polarizing figure. He's been in Tucson politics for over thirty years. He's lived in Tucson his whole life. There are people who are gunning for him." Literally.