CWAA

[filkertom]

A leader of the Tucson, AZ Tea Party says it was Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' own fault she was shot.

The Arizona congresswoman shouldn't have attended an event "in full view of the public" if she had security concerns, according to Tucson Tea Party co-founder Trent Humphries.

[...]

"It's political gamesmanship," he told the Guardian. "The real case is that she [Giffords] had no security whatsoever at this event. So if she lived under a constant fear of being targeted, if she lived under this constant fear of this rhetoric and hatred that was seething, why would she attend an event in full view of the public with no security whatsoever?"

I want to help elevate the discourse.

REALLY I do.

So, I shall use Charles Lavoie's suggestion for making New Yorker cartoons funnier by replacing the caption with a particular phrase. Your clue to this shall be the tag: CWAA.

Comments

[emiofbrie.livejournal.com]

You have the wrong link up. The link goes to the story you linked to in your last post

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I do indeed. Fixed.

[fabricdragon.livejournal.com]

while OBVIOUSLY if you are in fear of an attack you should have security (at least as a politico) somehow this speech /comment doesn't come off that way.

it comes off as "its her own fault" indeed.

however, i suspect strongly that the person was trying to make a point that she obviously didnt feel threatened by all this political rhetoric, or she would, in fact, have had security.

poorly phrased at best

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

And did you see that Anthony Miller, one of the Arizona District Chairmen of the Republican Party has announced that he (as well as the Secretary and Vice-Chairman) is resigning because they fear violence from the Tea Party?

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

IIRC he's the only person of color to hold a regional chair in the party, in the state. Quelle surprise.

[infinitemorning.livejournal.com]

And was opposed by Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who rules Arizona with an iron fist and defies even the federal government. Quelle...even less surprise. More? I had like one semester of French.

[judifilksign.livejournal.com]

What a pity the threats and hatemongerers got their way. It will encourage more of the same, since fear worked so well this timel.

[delazan.livejournal.com]

"Don't raise your voice, improve your argument." -Desmond Tutu

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

Yes - of course it's your fault if somebody goes psycho on you, not the psycho's fault.

By that line of reasoning, it's not the government's fault Trent Humphries pays taxes, it's his fault. I wonder if anybody has brought that up to him.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Just like rape is always the fault of the victim, not the perp. I have a nasty sneaking suspicion that if Giffords had been male, he'd have found a different phrasing to use.

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

And I suppose women who are provocatively dressed (meaning showing an eyelash) are at fault for being raped, too?

It is getting very hard to keep a positive outlook on humanity; really it is. When I crack Contragrav tech, I may just colonize the solar system and tell the nutjobs I leave behind to rot in their own filth forever.

[morpheus0013.livejournal.com]

That's actually a common enough opinion that it wouldn't surprise me. Or "what did you expect walking your dog in that part of town at 4 in the morning," which was what the first comment was on a news article about a local rape here a few weeks ago. Because yes, the impetus is on me as a woman to not do things to "make" men rape me, and not on men to, I don't know, NOT RAPE ME.

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

Knowingly placing yourself in jeopardy = poor judgement.
Raping a woman = crime.

Poor judgement does not give license for a crime to take place.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Except in the case of rape, when not doing everything absolutely perfectly (even when some of the things you should have done are mutually contradictory) completely exonerates the criminal in the eyes of many.

[lizziecrowe.livejournal.com]

RIGHT. Because it was her fault for making herself open to her constituents that she was shot. I wonder if he feels rape victims deserve it, too. *Grrrrrrrr.....*

[cluegirl.livejournal.com]

That's right, it was her fault. And she shouldn't have been wearing that hooker suit and stiletto heels either. It's always the bitch's fault when she gets herself hurt, you know, ask any prison inmate. She just had it coming, it's obvious, and he's just pissed off he didn't get to be the one to give it to her.

*Retches*

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

It's not possible to describe Mr. Humphries adequately in English. I suggest that either, and possibly both, of two words in Yiddish are pinpoint accurate: vantz and putz.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

It's pretty easy, really. As Tom pointed out: "Christ, what an asshole."

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

That's close, but not, IMNSHO, strong enough. (The way things are going these days, I'm far likelier to swear by any of a number of Greek gods (rereading the opener to the second series of the Percy Jackson books) than The Rabbi.)

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

There's some choice phrases in Klingon that'll do nicely though.

[alverant.livejournal.com]

So in other words the teabagger is saying "Let the terrorists win. Be afraid of people like us because we might shoot you one day." I know the shooter wasn't a tea party member, but teabaggers were the ones making death threats at Gliffords.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Ah, but they're not terrorists if they're white american male republicans you know...

[smoooom.livejournal.com]

So free speech is ok, but not the right to congregate openly.

Or do I have congregating openly mixed up with another nation?

I still think that some of these guys need to watch what they say, I don't think they realise what impact their words have. But censoring them, or anyone isn't the answer.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

The right to congregate openly is guaranteed, like the right of free speech, but it's normally called the right of "free assembly" I think.

No, censoring them isn't the answer. Let the rattlesnakes rattle; its how you know where they are.

But it's perfectly okay, when the rattlesnakes rattle, to use your right of free speech to shout "Hey everybody! There's a rattlesnake over here!"

Which is pretty much what we're doing right now :->

[catnip13.livejournal.com]

But it's perfectly okay, when the rattlesnakes rattle, to use your right of free speech to shout "Hey everybody! There's a rattlesnake over here!"

I love this!

[sdelmonte]

Well, at least the Tea Party is behaving consistently. It would have been so shocking for any of them to say, "hm, maybe we are overdoing it."

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

Well, of course it's her own fault--she insisted on winning the election in a year when only Republicans were supposed to win!

If she had lost graciously and let the Tea Party Candidate take the seat, no one would have had to shoot her.

Of course, voters in the district share some of the blame for this, too, for not voting her out.

[kirylyn.livejournal.com]

of course the victim is ALWAYS to blame -- unless the one screaming that is of the same ethnic/social group.

ALL females strut just *begging* to be raped. They don't have the right to say NO.

oh, you received a death threat? sure, its YOUR fault for daring to appear in public. Its *your* fault that the little girl was also shot. But it was also the little girl's fault for even *thinking* about being near the Congressperson.

I really have a major problem with people blaming the victims. Talk about avoiding personal responsibility! It isn't *my* fault. they were in the way! *rolls eyes out of sockets*

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

...what?

Does the person in question not get the concept that she didn't have security concerns? The only equivalent I can come up with is, "Well, you shouldn't have gone around without an armored skullcap if you had concerns about a meteorite striking your head," and that's not a very good comparison.

[morpheus0013.livejournal.com]

That's a panicked response from a man who is perhaps afraid underneath it all that people are right and his "party" is responsible for creating a toxic environment.

My second-father-in-law (who I really do believe is a good person who happens to disagree with me in some large ways, but like many other folks he turns into the world's biggest asshole on the internet) is reacting in a similar fashion, losing his shit all over the place because somehow my declaration that the political discourse is out of control = my wanting to limit free speech and blaming the shooting on the right. Which...no. Neither.

It's been very hard the last few days to remain dedicated to no longer lowering myself to that level. It's difficult to not respond to every scramble and hypocrisy from the right with barbs from my own direction. But I think it's the right thing to do, and if I favour taking the high road in other avenues of life, I must take it in this arena as well, and hope that an example is more powerful than screaming, in the long run.

I will venture to say, though, that Trent Humphries encapsulates something I've seen over and over the last several days: "how dare you make this political" by someone who is...making it political. WTF, people.

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

One thing I just thought of. We in this land of free speech now routinely fire people from companies for creating "Hostile Workplaces". People who tell racist jokes or suggest that we shoot all the $group... a company can be sued if they do not proactively take steps to prevent a hostile work environment.

So how is it we tolerate these Vox Feces folks from creating a Hostile Society?

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

One advantage of all this... with the Tea-baggers coming out and saying exactly what they are thinking, what they really believe... at least we now know who the scumbags are and why not to vote for them next time.

I say we let them keep talking, and take notes.

[kayshapero]

Bugs Bunny's classic "What a maroon." comes to mind. Though I gotta agree with Lavoie.

[tomreedtoon.livejournal.com]

Nobody said this, and I can't believe it. This is why Rush Limbaugh has very heavily screened calls, practically never appears in public, and refuses to directly answer questions. And this is why Bill O'Reilly cuts off anyone who would argue with him, so that he can avoid making people mad enough to kill him.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

What a surprise.

A doucheturd male blames the female victim for another man's violent attack on her person because she shouldn't leave the house unburqua'd. (Or not carrying a big old metal penis in a holster. Or not having a man around to perteckt her.)

A loud, proud Christ-fucker on CNN insists that maybe this incident will have a sinnin' Jewess discovering Jeeziz Chraaahst.

How long before the hate-women (excuse me, "pro-life") Teaholes call her a child-killer because of what happened to Christine?

[invader-tak-1.livejournal.com]

Do you often think of genitals as a weapon? I suggest getting psychiatric help.

[alverant.livejournal.com]

As George Carlin pointed out bullets and missiles are shaped like dicks. So are guns. You've heard of "cocking a gun" right? You don't need to be Freud to see the similarities.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

It's the other way around. The NRA is a pack of pasty guys who make up for what's lacking in their shorts by waving around their 30mm surrogates. (Okay, except for the .003% of them that actually use their guns for hunting and target-shooting.)

[james-the-evil1.livejournal.com]

I put this in the same category as the Republicans in the House calling their health care reform effort the "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act". (No, I'm not making that up, that's the official/formal name).

Both show the true face of the people involved, and what they're really about, I just hope more people see it.

[signy1.livejournal.com]

Methinks I smell a no-win situation. If she *had* barricaded herself away from the public behind a wall of security guards, undisclosed locations, and whatever else friend Trent thinks she should have had, they'd probably have blasted her in the press for being distant, elitist, and out of touch with her constituents.

Now, for her sake and that of all the other victims, I wish that a bit of hateful, ignorant nonsense on the airwaves was the *worst* thing she had to worry about. I do wish it. But this latest barrage of idiocy is just too much on top of everything else.

[alverant.livejournal.com]

And now we find out that the hero ho defeated the gunman (without a gun) was nearly killed by a law-abiding honest gun owner who stumbled upon the scene after it happened.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/armed-bystander-shot-hero-disarmed-az-shooter/