Posted on 10/12/2004 11:20:37 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
By Michelle Malkin
© 2004 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
How many hate-crime anecdotes does it take before the mainstream media spot a trend? If the victims are politically correct, all it takes is one or two.
One alleged name-calling. A few alleged acts of vandalism. A suspicious arson here or there. In an instant, an unsubstantiated attack against the right kind of ethnic, racial, religious or sexual minority becomes undisputed evidence of an epidemic of violence. A symbol of rising hate. A national crisis.
But what happens when the targets are the wrong kind of victim? What happens when conservatives and Republicans are on the receiving end of discriminatory threats or harassment or worse?
Hello, reporters? Is anybody home? Is it my imagination, or do I hear pins dropping in the grievance corners of America's otherwise victim-friendly newsrooms?
For the past several weeks, the Internet has been buzzing with story after story of election-related mayhem aimed at Bush-Cheney supporters. Some have downplayed the incidents as run-of-the-mill pranks. Others claim that "both sides are doing it" equally.
Yes, both Democratic and Republican signs have been torn. Yes, there has been juvenile behavior on both sides. But left-wing activists have escalated their campaign attacks to a seemingly unprecedented level. We have gone from simple mischief to open-season malice. And the supposedly objective reporters who are always so willing to connect the dots to expose the politics of hate are now whistling past the smashed windows and flaming signs and bullet holes.
In Madison, Wis., someone burned an 8-foot-by-8-foot Nazi swastika on a homeowner's lawn, which had been decorated with Bush-Cheney signs. The vandals used grass killer to spray the hate symbol (it's OK, Bush-hating trumps environmentalism). Several other homes nearby were vandalized.
In Orlando, Fla., Democrats stormed the local Bush-Cheney headquarters, and the ensuing melee resulted in physical injuries to at least two Republican campaign workers. The liberal protesters justified their actions including ramming the head of one of the workers into an office door by blaming President Bush's "negative campaign."
So, the 30-second ads made them do it. It's always someone else's fault.
In Knoxville, Tenn., someone shot into the Bush-Cheney headquarters. Shots were also fired into Bush-Cheney offices in Huntington, W.Va., and Florida. The GOP office in Gallatin County, Mont., was vandalized twice in less than a week. Republican offices in the Seattle area, Spokane, Wash., Canton, Ohio, Fairbanks, Alaska, and Edwardsville, Ill., have also been burglarized and/or vandalized.
On an Alaska-bound flight, a drunken Kerry supporter went ballistic after harassing a female Bush supporter and refusing to calm down at the request of flight attendants. In Gainesville, Fla., police arrested a Democrat accused of punching the chairman of the Alachua County Republican Executive Committee in the face at the town Republican headquarters. The accused, David McCally, also punched a life-sized, cardboard cutout of President George Bush. McCally is a community college instructor whose specialty is social and behavioral sciences.
According to the GOP chairman, Travis Horn, McCally hurled obscenities at him before the assault. "He proceeded to say how he had a Ph.D., and he was smarter than me. I'm a stupid Republican." And that, no doubt, is the superior attitude held by media reporters and anti-hate crime advocates and peace preachers and civility pleaders who refuse to acknowledge the totally unhinged tactics of Democrats Gone Wild.
Liberals promise to do "whatever it takes" "by any means necessary" to win this election. If it were conservatives mouthing those slogans as shattered glass was flying and lawns were smoking, Karl Rove would be under federal investigation. Jimmy Carter would be requesting U.N. assistance. And the New York Times would be calling for a National Day of Reconciliation.
A single act of hate is a danger to the Republic, except when it's fomented by bug-eyed, rock-throwing, lighter-wielding Kerry-Edwards supporters just exercising their "free speech."
bump
I remember when an abortion doctor was killed before an election, and the national media went absolutely crazy with coverage.
Most if not all of these incidents have at least received coverage in local media, but it would be nice if somebody placed a wake-up call to the liberal elites in NYC and Wash DC, who continue to ignore the nationwide problem. Kudos to Michelle Malkin for raising this.
If John Kerry was any kind of a decent person or a leader, he'd call a press conference and tell his surrogates to knock it off.
I just heard a caller to the Mike Gallagher show say that she was almost run off the road for having a Bush/Cheney bumper sticker.
Well he isn't and he won't. He is a lying jerk that doesn't really care about the US. Only himself.
Five posts and no Michelle Malkin photo yet? What's going on here?
Civil war may be getting closer....I will fight a looney leftist in this country just as hard as fighting a terrorist. They are becoming equal threats......
Right! Kerry doesnt care about any kind of vandalism of property etc. as long as it will get him votes!
Imagine being in this guys class. Imagine what being in this guys class is doing to students? Add the number of community colleges in the nation and add the number of students. Pretend nothing is happening.
Some of these people doing "whatever it takes" believe that the other side has already done "whatever it took" to steal Florida, and they are just returning fire. I know this amounts to a sort of insanity defense, but there it is.
She didn't mention the video clip I saw on TV the other night (Can't remember which station I was watching on DishNetwork - probably Fox, MSNBC, ?). A union-looking thug with a baseball cap on was standing holding up a Kerry sign with both hands. Behind him, a tall, skinny guy with a cowboy hat on, was holding a Bush sign. He also had a backpack hanging off one shoulder. With no audio, I don't know if anything was said, but without any visible coercion from the skinny guy, the Kerry thug wheeled around and sucker-punched the skinny guy in the face. The skinny guy stepped back, dropped his pack, and got into a defensive, "bring it on" posture. His look was, "what the hell did I do to deserve THAT?". That was the end of the clip. Anybody else see it, or know anything about it? I would have either gotten him charged with assault, or kicked his ass - or both.
Even the "insanity defense" breaks down in their case, because this the same ideology that DEMANDED that "hate crimes" were a special category, and must be given special punishment when there was even a suspicion that prejudice emerged in the execution of the crime.
But then rational is not a part of that equation. Emotion is the one criteria that counts.
What is being done in the course of these assaults is the direct equivalent to harassment of a minority individual, family, or community organization.
"Equality under the law" is one of those concepts readily dispensed with when the victim of the crime is perceived as being wealthier or better positioned in the community. Bullying, pure and simple. Cowardly and overpoweringly asymmetrical.
One word (actually four words...): RICO
The Fibbies should be looking closely into the Union Thugs, to see if these acts are a coordinated campaign.
I forget, which side has all the gun nuts?
I seem to remember a thread on that incident back in September. The RAT just turned around and punched the B/C supporter in the face. Turned out he was drunk and the cops busted him for assault, IIRC.
I'll pick up the slack.
Your "If" is a big one!!! All commie-Viet Cong ass kissers like sKerry just aren't that decent!
bttt
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