Gabby Giffords and an Ominous Development in Missouri

[one...two...tree 2,762]

There was overwhelming bipartisan agreement on Tuesday night that Gabrielle Giffords' arrival for President Obama's State of the Union address was the most compelling moment of the evening.

and there's simply no arguing with that—the Arizona congresswoman looked terrific. Her incredible comeback from a near-fatal shooting one year ago seems all the more remarkable each time she appears in public. (Not that she doesn't face challenges ahead;

over the weekend, in which she announced that she's stepping down from her congressional seat to focus on her further recovery, is equally moving.) Her story is as potent a mix of painful and inspirational as there is, and you'd hope that it could stand as something of an antidote to the poisonous politics of the era.

Which is why some news out of Missouri on Tuesday was particularly stomach-churning: Just hours before Giffords made her way into the nation's Capitol, an unknown provocateur was stalking the halls of the Missouri Capitol, tagging the doors of lawmakers—most of them Democratic women—with images of rifle crosshairs. From the Columbia Daily Tribune:

Orange stickers with an image of rifle crosshairs were found Tuesday on the office doors of several Democratic state senators, prompting an investigation by Missouri Capitol Police, Senate Administrator Jim Howerton said. The stickers were on the doors of all four Democratic women in the Senate — Jolie Justus and Kiki Curls, both of Kansas City, and Maria Chapelle-Nadal and Robin Wright-Jones, both of St. Louis, Justus said. One similar sticker was found on the nameplate outside the door of state Rep. Scott Dieckhaus, R-Washington.

"If anyone thinks this was a prank, it is not a prank," Justus said after discussing the discovery of the stickers on the Senate floor. "You don't joke about someone's personal safety." A sticker also was found on the door of Sen. Victor Callahan, D-Kansas City and the Democrats' floor leader.

Columbia-based reporter Sherman Fabes posted photos of the stickers that showed up at the lawmakers' offices:

photo

Sen. Chapelle-Nadal herself weighed in on Twitter (her tweets are "protected" but one was posted by St. Louis Activist Hub) and didn't mince words, emphasizing her disapproval with "#DisgracefulCowards."

It's an apt moment to recall that Giffords once criticized Sarah Palin for using a map that literally put political enemies in the crosshairs. "We need to realize that the rhetoric…for example, we're on Sarah Palin's 'targeted' list, but the thing is, the way she has it depicted, we're in the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district," Giffords said in an interview with MSNBC in spring 2010. "When people do that, they've gotta realize that there are consequences to that action."

We all know what followed.

Palin and other conservatives strongly rejected the notion that their imagery and rhetoric had anything to do with the bloodbath in Arizona a year ago. And no one can know what was truly in the deranged mind of Jared Loughner. But common sense says that when enough targeted political vitriol mixes with enough guns, bad things will eventually happen.

http://motherjones.c...ckers-democrats

[Obama 2012 1,714]

you don't become a politician if you care about your own personal safety.

There are risks associated with the job that you need to be willing to take.

Just ask JFK, Lincoln, and hell even Reagan about that. Robert Kennedy anyone?

When you place yourself in a position to write laws for the people, you place yourself in a position for sever consequences from the people. Some will just want to vote you out, but others may not want your resume to last that long.

Anyone who thinks that politicians have a 'safe' job and should have a 'safe' really need a reality check on what politicians really do for a living.

[slim 1,530]

Mother Jones is the trollop who birthed the ####### big brother.

Edited January 25, 2012 by slim

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Mother Jones is the trollop who birthed the ####### big brother.

Do you know who she was historically and what she stood up for? You Libertarian fanbois are amusing on so many levels. No wonder Best Buy hires guys like you. You're pure entertainment.