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You are here: Home / Congressional death threat round-up

Congressional death threat round-up

by | 90 Comments

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Remember that this is a constitutional right:

The right-wing protest movement that amped up during the final debate over the health care reform bill in the House has stepped up another notch, according to one of the most senior black lawmakers in the Congress.

[Also today, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) received a drawing of a noose faxed to his congressional office. See the full story here.]

And

The Democratic chairwoman of an influential House committee says someone left her a voice mail threat that used the word ’snipers.’

[ … ]

Slaughter said Wednesday the snipers message was left on an answering machine at her campaign office. She said the U.S. Capitol Police, the FBI and local police departments were investigating.

Congressional death threat round-up may become a regular feature here. I’m thinking of adding a category.

Reader Interactions

90Comments

  1. 1.

    El Cid

    Don’t you understand? These are all the heroic people who oppose tyranny and believe in FREEDOM, at least when it comes to taxes and such.

  2. 2.

    Dreggas

    Add rep carnahan to that list, i linked in the other thread about pics of him being burned at his offices and of the teabaggers leaving a coffin on his lawn.

  4. 4.

    Joseph Nobles

    Category suggestion: Final Solution.

    Too Godwin? How about None Dare Call It Terrorism?

  5. 5.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Are these people aware that the Secret Service and FBI take these types of things quite seriously? Hell, the Secret Service takes these types of thing personally.

  6. 6.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Betsey McCaughey and Sarah Palin invented a paranoid fantasy called “death panels” as red meat for their followers.

    John McCain endorsed the notion that this legislation included something about “death panels.”

    Elected representatives who voted for this legislation are now getting death threats.

    John McCain will be on your TeeVee on Sunday (I haven’t seen the schedules, but I figure it’s at least a 90% probability), saying Democrats caused this by enacting legislation according to majority rule in elected legislatures. David Gregory’s hair will bob in sympathy.

  9. 9.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    We ain’t seen nothin’ yet. It is a big negative feedback loop we are witnessing. The perceived loss of power and control from elements of the right, that causes them to do stupid shit that will cause them to lose more power, which brings more and escalating violence. Not to mention pulling dems together and convincing independents the GOP is becoming a home bred terrorist party from their courting the tea baggers.

    Well, done goopers. A lesson on ritual political suicide.

  11. 11.

    Midnight Marauder

    Congressional death threat round-up may become a regular feature here. I’m thinking of adding a category.

    This is one of the saddest things I’ve read in a long time.

  12. 12.

    Bubblegum Tate

    I posted this in the other thread, but it bears repeating here because it illustrates just how demented wingnuts are in the quest to deny reality. Mark Noonan calls BS!:

    I call BS on all such stories. We know the stories of racial epithets at the Capitol on Sunday were false, and its my contention that all the more recent accusations are also false.
    __
    Yes, this includes Stupak’s voice mail – unless you can provide forensic evidence linking someone to it who has voted Republican in every election since 2004, I won’t believe its an actual conservative/Republican/TEA Party member doing it. Absent such proof, my presumption will be that its either a flat-out lunatic or, more likely, a false flag operation…such as has already happened many times since the Democrats first started to tremble in fear of the TEA Party.
    __
    Furthermore, we know from experience – and Matt from personal experience with union thugs – that the violence comes from the left. Unable to win an argument and knowing that if patriots get the truth out, they’re cooked, it is natural for the left to try either intimidation or slander to derail the opposition. They’ve tried intimidation, and it didn’t work – now they’re trying slander.
    __
    We’re on to your game, liberals, and we’re not having any of it.

  13. 13.

    Urza

    @MikeJ #3

    Disgustingly that myspace page has an ad for seminary school when I took a look.

  15. 15.

    MattF

    Hey, good, evil, yadda yadda. It’s all relative, it all depends on who’s doin’ it.

  18. 18.

    Joseph Nobles

    Unable to win an argument

    Yeah, Democrats, able to win elections and pass health care, but just can’t manage to win an argument.

  22. 22.

    Guster

    How about ‘Unsubstantiated Conclusions?”

    The top Republican on the House intelligence committee, Michigan’s Pete Hoekstra, has asked the director of national intelligence’s ombudsman to investigate the Homeland Security report [about rightwing extremist] for “unsubstantiated conclusions and political bias.”

    http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D97JU0881

  24. 24.

    mcc

    In addition to the blog post and the noose, the fax also has the line, “All baby killers come to unseemly ends Either by the hand of man or the Hand of God,” the word “Achtung” and the symbol of the Nazi secret police.

  25. 25.

    stuckinred

    @Mark S.: From How To

    A Fax is a document that is transmitted electronically over a telephone line. Faxes can be sent from and to any telephone number. They do not require a special line. The origin of any fax can be traced simply by tracing the phone number from which it was sent. You trace a fax number the same way you trace any other phone number.

  26. 26.

    demkat620

    They are not even mildly amusing anymore.

    There is a proverb about riding a dragon.

    The problem comes when you try to get off. This shit they have been feeding is going to be the end of their party.

    They may do well in the fall but they won’t take back either house. And then it is gameover. 2012 is going to be a sight to behold.

  30. 30.

    Incertus (Brian)

    So I guess someone will soon be arguing that you can’t call hanging a noose a racist act since a white guy got a picture of one faxed to his office, right?

  32. 32.

    The Bearded Blogger

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck: Sorry for the pedantry, can’t resist… it’s a positive feedback loop. Negative feedback reduces variables that are getting out of hands (eg. feeling full when you eat too much)

  34. 34.

    Violet

    They can try to deny it, but when mainstream news media outlets, like NBC Nightly News run TWO segments on the out of control rightwing, the cat is out of the bag. Suddenly pictures that show the head of the Houston tea party holding a sign that says N—–r [sic] carry a slightly different weight. As do the posters and signs with the guns on them. They can try to deny it, but the pictures don’t lie.

    Full out teabaggers will never believe “their side” could do anything bad, but those who are slightly less rabid are not going to like that kind of behavior and won’t want to be associated with it.

  35. 35.

    Peter J

    The origin of any fax can be traced simply by tracing the phone number from which it was sent.

    The place where the fax originated can be traced, but I’d argue that the person sending the fax can be untraceable if he would want to be.

  36. 36.

    New Yorker

    I may have said this before, but the Teabaggers are really making me appreciate the 2nd Amendment more. You never know when you might need to be armed in order to defend yourself from the brownshirt mob.

  37. 37.

    Joe1347

    Why not call them for what they really are – and that is ‘terrorists’.

    ter·ror·ism (těr’ə-rĭz’əm)
    n. The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons.

    Huffington Post was calling them “activists”, which is too honorable of a title given the tactics being used – namely violence.

  38. 38.

    Citizen_X

    @Bubblegum Tate:
    Dave Chappelle did it earlier and funnier :

    Prosecutor: Mr. Chappelle, what would it take to convince you that R. Kelly is guilty?
    Dave Chappelle: Okay, I’d have to see a video of him singing “Pee On You,” two forms of government ID, a police officer there to verify the whole thing, four or five of my buddies and Neal taking notes, and R. Kelly’s grandma to confirm his identity.
    R. Kelly’s Grandma: That’s my Robert, always peeing on people.

  39. 39.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    I have been inspired by the wingnuts to rewrite a song in their honor.

    Ballad of the Screen Beret (to the tune of Ballad of the Green Beret)
     
    Whiny Wingnuts from sea to sea,
    fearful men who smell of pee.
    Men who hate anyone that’s gay,
    the members of the Screen Beret.
     
    Beating loudly their flabby breasts,
    these are men who failed the test.
    Epic fail in every way,
    they proudly wear their Screen Beret.
     
    Fingers coated with Cheetoes dust,
    underwear that looks like rust.
    Men who lie all night and day,
    that’s all you get from the Screen Berets.
     
    Beating loudly their flabby breasts,
    these are men who failed the test.
    Epic fail in every way,
    they proudly wear their Screen Beret.
     
    With their keyboard they show their might,
    by egging on the violent right.
    Evil men who maim and slay,
    but that’s ok with the Screen Berets.
     
    Wingnut warriors shouting “Country First!”,
    all the while they wish the worst.
    Using violence when their lies won’t sway,
    the minions of the Screen Beret.

  40. 40.

    soonergrunt

    @Mark S.: They don’t even need that. They can pull the Line Usage Details from the Congressman’s fax phone line and know precisely who sent it.
    I’ll grant that as another poster already said “your average tbagger is not also in Mensa” but it’s not that hard to disable the header on a fax machine. Of course, that requires the person to think through it in the first place.

  41. 41.

    Camchuck

    Obligatory “Peak Wingnut was a lie” reference (its one of the rotating taglines now, right?).

  42. 42.

    celticdragonchick

    @New Yorker:

    I may have said this before, but the Teabaggers are really making me appreciate the 2nd Amendment more. You never know when you might need to be armed in order to defend yourself from the brownshirt mob.

    I agree.

    BTW…it took a lot to make me sympathetic to Bart Stupak, but the idiots on the right have managed to pull that off.

  43. 43.

    soonergrunt

    @Peter J: Simple detective work will suss that out. When’s the last time you’ve seen a “walk-up free unregistered fax” service?

  48. 48.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    Silly Libtards. And we wonder why this is happening

    Obama Derangement Syndrome

    * 67% believe Obama is a socialist.
    * 57% believe Obama is a Muslim.
    * 38% believe Obama is “doing many of the things that Hitler did.”
    * 24% believe Obama “may be the Antichrist.”

    via Pol wire/Harris Poll

  51. 51.

    The Bearded Blogger

    @Bubblegum Tate: I picture Mark Noonan walking around penguin like with his pants down, stating vehemently that his pants are not down. Wow… this is like doublethink but dumber… somthing like stubbornthink

  52. 52.

    Annie

    Rachel Maddow has a good piece on the violence. One message advocated killing the children of all representatives that voted for health care. Pro-life?

    Another — one Mike Vanderboegh — “happily” advocates violence. Interestingly enough, Mr. Vanderboegh lives off of government-sponsored Social Security disability payments…

    I think I will throw up now…

  53. 53.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    We are told that the Tea Party is the work of the angry white male. Seems maybe not so much.

    Republican –The Quinnipiac poll out this morning shows the just 13% of voters all themselves tea partiers, and those that do are on the far fringes of anger at and distrust of the government. The group is basically 77% identified themselves that way, with just 5% calling themselves independent. In a surprise, 55% are women, while just 45% are men.

  54. 54.

    Annie

    @Bubblegum Tate:

    I’m suprised that Mark could even spell “forensic.”

    LOL. In the comments section, Mark claimed that he has been a victim of left-wing, union violence. One commenter asked him if he had “forensic evidence” of the attack…

  55. 55.

    The Bearded Blogger

    Teh Crazy will bring:

    1) some form of reinstatement of the fairness doctrine, for safety reasons

    2) the realization, on the part of t-baggers, that life is not like a Rambo movie: bullets can hurt you, being in jail is awful, a guy with a machine gun in each hand doesn’t actually kill all his enemies and saves the day

    3) some grave and pointless violence, I fear

    4) the demise of the GOP in it’s current form

  57. 57.

    on a whim

    You can call them terrorists, but I don’t think they would even care. No doubt they think they are the good kind of terrorists. You know, the white kind.

  58. 58.

    KDP

    @soonergrunt: No, but there are free online efax services. And, there are plenty of places to access the internet without a subscriber DSL line, together with free email through yahoo or gmail. It wouldn’t take a lot of tech-savvy to put a layer of confusion onto fax transmissions. And, despite the idiocy of the gop.com site, there are tech-savvy teabaggers, regardless of their MENSA standing.

    This is a frightening situation, and I will be donating money and time to these congresspeople during the 2010 elections.

    I think tomorrow I will be calling the offices of these congresspeople to express my gratitude and respect.

  59. 59.

    celticdragonchick

    @DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal):

    Heh!

    Here is one of mine:

    Glen Beck loves me, this I know
    Fox Broadcasting tells me so
    Corporations do no wrong
    No regs banking keeps us strong!

    Yes, Glen Beck loves me!
    Advertising subsidies…
    keep his eyes bubbly!
    ‘Cuz Fox News tells me so!

  61. 61.

    AhabTRuler

    He asked, “Is his dick as big as his brain?”

    The English language lacks the descriptive attributes that would reliably transmit how remarkably small either of those objects are.

  64. 64.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    OT

    The Mustache of Understanding is smoking the good stuff today.

    My definition of broken is simple. It is a system in which Republicans will be voted out for doing the right thing (raising taxes when needed) and Democrats will be voted out for doing the right thing (cutting services when needed). When your political system punishes lawmakers for the doing the right things, it is broken.

    Of course in a sane world, Friedman would be challenged to provide a humane definition of why you would need to cut services if moran republicans would agree to raise taxes to allow us to pay for ours and their shit. Republicans start preventive wars without just cause and charge and borrow it from the Chinese to run up our debt, and then cite that debt they ran up as a reason to cut services when 30 million of our own citizens can’t get HC insurance and die at a rate of 50 large a year.

    This is your Big Media equivalence at work for you America.

    edit – screwed up the Times linky , here is url

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/opinion/24friedman.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

  65. 65.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    @gbear:

    I just saw that on Rachel’s show. She is on this whole mess right now and her next segment will be about the politicians who are inciting the teabaggers.

    @celticdragonchick:

    Jeebus luvs me… ;)

    Nicely done and in a way that the simple mind can easily enjoy without straining their brain.

    I expect this may become a hit. :)

  66. 66.

    Jim Once

    @AhabTRuler:
    Ell. Oh. Ell. My husband simply snorted at your comment. But he’s busy looking at beautiful places in Costa Rica where Rushbo can stay. Actually, we’re thinking of visiting there ourselves, hoping that we won’t run across The Large One.

  67. 67.

    gbear

    The place where the fax originated can be traced, but I’d argue that the person sending the fax can be untraceable if he would want to be.

    I’m gonna bet they find that some really dim bulb sent it out from his/her office’s fax machine.

  68. 68.

    Joseph Nobles

    I would hate to see the Fairness Doctrine back in place. You shoot one of ours, we shoot one of yours?

  69. 69.

    Leelee for Obama

    @celticdragonchick: I tried to send him ane-mail on his Congressional website expressing my thanks for his change of vote and my disgust with the attacks, but he doesn’t seem to accept e-mail from outside his district. Anyone know of another way. This is important enough to try again.

  71. 71.

    someguy

    Maybe we ought to reconsider this free speech thing. Canada has a pretty good model, based on what they’re doing to Ann Coulter. Criminal charges are a real possibility. Given her type of speech, that’s probably about right.

  74. 74.

    wrb

    These guys must have really been traumatized by a thermometer when young to be so agitated over being able to go to a doctor.

  76. 76.

    CalD

    [Also today, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) received a drawing of a noose faxed to his congressional office. See the full story here.]

    A picture? You telling me whoever sent that couldn’t afford the price of sending him a real noose? It’s a piece of rope!

    What does 3 or 4 feet of rope cost? A whole dollar?

    Pikers.

  77. 77.

    FoxinSocks

    I think this story is finally hitting the mainstream. My little sister, the one who didn’t know what I was talking about when I asked her to call her rep to support health care reform, just called me and asked what was up with all the crazy people trying to kill congressmen .

  78. 78.

    Fern

    @someguy:

    Canadian law actually defines hate crimes fairly narrowly – the individual or group being targeted has to belong to one of the protected groups defined in federal human rights legislation AND the communication has to have been public in some way. Private conversation is outside the scope of the law.

    Practically speaking, what it does is keep the media from spreading the kind of vituperative rhetoric (eg against gays, immigrants, etc) Americans hear from right-wing tv and radio.

    Personally, I am reasonably comfortable with this, but I don’t think it would fly in the US.

    more info here, including the text of the legislation:

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/hatecrimes/

  79. 79.

    SGEW

    @Fern:

    . . . but I don’t think it would fly in the US.

    That’s because we would need to repeal or amend the 1st Amendment first.

  81. 81.

    BDeevDad

    Their just taking a hint from their favorite poll Sarah Palin.

    Sarah Palin is targeting — yes, with gun sights — House Democrats facing tough reelection fights who voted for health care reform.

  82. 82.

    tripletee

    Sure, there may have been a few death threats and bricks through windows and racial epithets and nooses and cut gas lines – but sometimes you need to just keep walking. {/wingnut apologist}

    I think these fucksticks ought to be locked in a room with P-Lo and her Giant Gavel of SMASH. We’ll see how tough they are then.

  83. 83.

    Sasha

    Congressional death threat round-up may become a regular feature here. I’m thinking of adding a category.

    The Right’s Constitutional Rights

  86. 86.

    soonergrunt

    The point is that internet-based fax services and gmail and all of those things log the ip addresses of the computers that access them. That information leads to things, such as the third computer from the right at the library was used for this purpose at 3:43 PM local time, which leads to detectives asking librarians and others for the sign-in/sign-out log or for a description of the person who was using that computer at that time. A search of the browser cache reveals every site the computer visited before, during, and after the time involved, which frequently leads to things like webmail or other sites that have logon requirements. Sites owned by people who will respond to a subpoena or a national security letter.

    I do IT security for the Air Force. It’s really not that hard for a person with the right tools and training to find all of this information, and most of it is not subject to search warrant because no reasonable person believes that he/she has any expectation of privacy on a public computer. Private computers are another matter, but just knowing that it came from a private computer (as shown by the IP address and information provided by the ISP) and there’s your probable cause. If it came from a computer in a workplace, it’s the company, and not the user who owns the computer, and again, there’s no right to privacy on the company’s computer.

  87. 87.

    Bubblegum Tate

    @The Bearded Blogger:

    Stubbornthink is exactly it. He’s always been a wingnut, but it’s really remarkable just how much crazier he’s gotten and how far he has wedged his head up his ass.

    @Annie:

    Yeah, h’s getting lit up in the comments–and he just keeps making it worse for himself.

  88. 88.

    Luthe

    @tripletee:

    I think these fucksticks ought to be locked in a room with P-Lo and her Giant Gavel of SMASH. We’ll see how tough they are then.

    WIN.

  90. 90.

    Common Sense

    Wow…I see many people “disgusted” by the violence from the “right”, but immediately follow their denounciations by their own call to violence.

    Hypocrisy…ah…the left has mastered this well; ditto for ignorance.

    Where is the media reports of the death-threats made against the Democrats and Republicans whom OPPOSED the healthcare bill?

    But ah…its ok for liberals to make such statements; b/c they are ethically and morally superior, right?

    While I’m no Bush fan, I cannot recall massive media coverage when all the death-threats were made against him and Congressional Republicans and conservative Democrats.

    Hmmm….lopsided in the media are we?

    Sorry kiddies…you can’t have it both ways. Stop playing the bait-game and end this hypocrisy. Both sides play this game, and as someone else has already mentioned: it’s very easy to make an accusation without evidence…

    brb, phone call…

    Hey, I just received a call from a Coffee Party supporter who threatened to kill me and my dog!!! OMG

    See…pretty easy to invent such things…

    Regards,

    Non-Republican, Non-Democrat, Non-Conformist Independent Thinker

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