In this interview with The Guardian on Jan. 11th, Tucson, Arizona TeaParty Leader seems to be loading the onus of responsibility for the Tragic Murders and Assassination attempt on Gabrielle Giffords on ...Gabrielle Giffords.
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.
Giffords warned MSNBC's Chuck Todd last year that there would be "consequences" to violent rhetoric and imagery after Fox News' Sarah Palin released a graphic which placed crosshairs over the congresswoman's district.
"But the thing is that the way that [Palin] has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gunsight over our district," Giffords said. "And when people do that, they’ve gotta realize there’s consequences to that action."
But Humphries thinks Giffords was just speaking out against Palin for political gain.
"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?"
"For all the stuff they accuse [Palin] of, that gun poster has not done a tenth of the damage to the political discourse as what we're hearing right now."
"There are people who are genuinely confused, scared, and I understand it. But there are also people who are deliberately manipulating this event and tragedy for political ends," Humpries added.
And he may be right. Another tea party group in California has been using the tragedy to raise money.
Meanwhile, back in Tucson, the 43 year old Republican District Chairman, Anthony Miller and several other staffers tendered their resignations this week following the mass shootings.
Miller, who had been a former campaign worker for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), said that verbal attacks and blog posts from members of the tea party had him fearing for the safety of his family, according to a report in The Arizona Republic.
"Today my wife of 20 yrs ask (sic) me do I think that my PCs (Precinct Committee members) will shoot at our home?" he wrote in an e-mail following the shootings. "So with this being said I am stepping down from LD20GOP Chairman...I will make a full statement on Monday."
Tea party members supporting J.D. Hayworth for senator in the midterm elections accused Miller, an African American, of being a "McCain's boy." One detractor had even made his hand into the shape of a gun and pointed it at Miller.
"I wasn't going to resign but decided to quit after what happened Saturday," Miller said. "I love the Republican Party but I don't want to take a bullet for anyone."
Perhaps this is Millers fault as well.......
2 comments:
If YOU had security concerns, would you headline an event with no security whatsoever?
Would also you flash money to people in a high crime area?
I'm not saying that Giffords was at fault for what happened to her but, if she was out there saying that she had deep concerns about her own personal safety, would'nt it make sense to at the bare minimum to have some type of security on hand? Have a contingency in place for the very trouble you're telling people exists?
Even the "E" list of Hollywood takes minimal security precautions WITHOUT mentioning beforehand that they feel threatened by something.
Sadly, it's just a part of being famous in just about any part of the world.
So then, you admit in the present climate of gun toters easy access to politicians and the age of insane rhetoric we live in, it is the responsibility of political figures to protect themselves qnd their constituents from any possibility of violence which may or may not have been provoked by this aforementioned situation?
Thank you for your clarification of this issue.
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