Just Another Victim

By Kleinheider Posted on October 28, 2008 at 11:20 am

Steve Benan on the Tennessee Republican Party’s press release of yesterday that put a thwarted attempt to kill black Americans and assassinate a presidential candidate beside an overenthusiastic Democrat hanging Sarah Palin in effigy.

There’s an odd tendency in some far-right circles for conservatives to feel like they’re victims of some kind of persecution. The problem with this bizarre complex, though, is that a) it’s absurd; and b) it leads to ridiculous comparisons like this one from the Tennessee Republican Party. The statement seems to argue, “Sure, white supremacists planned a killing spree, but everyone should feel sorry for us because we’ve been targeted, too.”

The Tennessee GOP really sees a parallel between a crude piece of art, random vandalism, and a plot to kill more than a hundred children and a presidential candidate. In Robin Smith’s eyes, there’s some kind of equivalency between the three. This is pure madness.

This is, of course, the same Tennessee Republican Party that’s been so extreme in its vile attacks against Obama that McCain and GOP lawmakers felt the need to condemn them.

We’ll see if there’s any pushback against Robin Smith’s breathtaking press release.

(TFJ: Joe Powell)

permalink | 1 Comment

Tags: Assassination, Barack Obama, Bill Hobbs, effigy, Robin Smith, Sarah Palin, Skinheads  

Skinheads, Sarah Palin and Bill Hobbs

By Kleinheider Posted on October 27, 2008 at 5:38 pm

From the Tennessee Republican Party:

The Tennessee Republican Party expresses its shock and outrage today at the alleged plot by two neo-Nazi skinheads in Tennessee to go on a shooting spree targeting African-American high school students before attempting to kill presidential candidate Barack Obama.

“Hate is not a political party, policy statement, agenda or ideology - it is a pure evil that no place in civil society,” said Robin Smith, Chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party. “Whether it is neo-Nazi skinheads plotting a racist shooting spree targeting Sen. Obama, or West Hollywood liberals hanging Gov. Sarah Palin in effigy and calling it ‘art,’ or unknown anarchists tossing bricks through the windows of a county Republican headquarters in Murfreesboro, Americans of all political views should be outraged.

“The American system provides for Americans to express their political passions on the campaign trail and at the ballot box, Violence, intimidation and threats poison the political process.”

UPDATE: Ben Smith thinks the TNGOP is stretching.

SEE ALSO:
Sean Braisted
Enclave
Newscoma
Dork Nation

permalink | 9 Comments

Tags: Assassination, Barack Obama, Bill Hobbs, Sarah Plain, Skinheads