Democratic Operative's Cat Slaughtered, 'Liberal' Painted On Corpse

WASHINGTON -- The race for the Arkansas' third congressional district took a gruesome turn on Sunday, when the campaign manager for Democratic challenger Ken Aden came home and found his cat slaughtered with the word "liberal" painted on the corpse.

According to a press release sent out by the Aden campaign, "The family pet, an adult, mixed-breed Siamese cat, had one side of its head bashed in to the point the cat's eyeball was barely hanging from its socket. The perpetrators scrawled 'liberal' across the cat's body and left it on the doorstep of [Jacob] Burris' house."

Burris, Aden's campaign manager, told The Huffington Post that it was his 5-year-old son who first saw the atrocity. He had taken his children out to fill the family car with gas before going to church, and the young boy was the first one out of the vehicle when they returned.

(Click here to see a photo of the mutilated cat, via Blue Arkansas. WARNING: Extremely disturbing image.)

Burris has contacted the FBI and is further pursuing the matter with local law enforcement. The police officer who originally investigated the matter, according to Burris, said he wasn't sure whether the cat's killing could be construed as a threat. He was planning to file a report and said he would note that Burris was Aden's campaign manager.

Burris, however, said he had no doubt that this incident was meant as a threat.

"Absolutely," he told The Huffington Post. "There's a pretty strong fringe here, but it's never really been personal like this," he added.

Aden, a veteran of the war in Iraq, said in a statement, "To kill a child's pet is just unconscionable. As a former combat soldier, I've seen the best of humanity and the worst of humanity. Whoever did this is definitely part of the worst of humanity."

Aden made clear that he did not believe Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) or anyone involved with his campaign were involved in the incident, and Beau Walker, Womack's campaign manager, strongly condemned it.

"The thought of brutalizing any animal to make a political statement, no matter what that statement is, is beyond any standard of decency," he told The Huffington Post. "The person or people, if there was more than one, who are responsible -- they definitely need to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. There should be no tolerance in our political discussion here in this nation for this kind of behavior."

Aden is the only Democrat currently challenging Womack.

Comments

[conservo]

10:39 PM on 03/13/2012

A puzzling crime, no doubt. Typically we see this type of behavior from the left.

[Miranda Wrietz]

12:26 AM on 03/13/2012

:The police officer who originally investigated the matter, according to Burris, said he wasn't sure whether the cat's killing could be construed as a threat."

SERIOUSLY? And you are a police officer? What a sick individual to do this to a fmaily pet. That poor five year old. Such HATE from the right, and such LACK or responsibility for their RADICAL WORDS

[JoeMentia]

03:09 PM on 01/26/2012

Womack:
‎134 N Pleasant Ridge Dr
Rogers, AR 72756-0701

[prolib]

07:41 AM on 01/26/2012

"The police officer who originally investigated the matter, according to Burris, said he wasn't sure whether the cat's killing could be construed as a threat."

Either criminally stupid or, more likely, complicit.

[Natalie Neilsen]

12:59 AM on 01/26/2012

x20

[CJ1]

10:28 PM on 01/25/2012

Who shot Giffords? A republican. Who kills a vet's child's cat? A repuBlican..they must take blame for encouraging hate in the crazies.

[moutonnoir]

01:00 AM on 01/26/2012

They wont...

[conservo]

10:43 PM on 03/13/2012

Umm...just so you know...the guy who shot Giffords was NOT a Republican. Although I do recall the left jumpming for joy when they originally tried to pin it on a Tea Partier....then their disappointment when it came out that he wasn't.

[CJ1]

10:21 PM on 01/25/2012

As only republican scum can do. Kill a kid's pet. That's it. Straight ticket democratic vote from now on.

[yorfutrxhsbnd]

07:24 PM on 01/25/2012

Is there any upside to the United Sates of America, in having Alabama, Arkansas, South Carolina, Texas (and a few other states) as part of the union? Or maybe that should be rephrased as to whether the benefits of these states outweigh their disadvantages.

Since there is already a movement to have the U.S. constitution amended to render “Citizens United” moot, I think anybody who cares about education, the environment, health care, women, minorities, transportation and quality of life (not an exhaustive list but you get the idea) should go for an amendment to release these states from the U.S. They hate the federal government and by doing so prevent all of us from moving forward. They are all about state’s rights; let’s give them what they want. I certainly feel nothing in common with a state that could elect Rick Perry as governor.

[moutonnoir]

01:01 AM on 01/26/2012

As part of our ongoing welfare to the entire region we have built a large number of our military bases there... But i get what you mean.

Their regressive nonsense is clearly a huge drain on the country, and their personalities cause us ill-will across the world..

[saranac7]

09:57 AM on 01/26/2012

It rather proves the old joke: the North LOST the civil War!

[bobnky]

07:07 PM on 01/25/2012

Is it possible the Devil did this just to make Republican's look bad? I'm thinking he probably wouldn't be above that kind of thing?

[moutonnoir]

01:02 AM on 01/26/2012

there is no devil - this is just yet another excess of the authoritarian personality.

ww2 was not enough for them....

[bobnky]

08:15 AM on 01/26/2012

See what I mean though? He might have succeeded in fooling you?

[saranac7]

05:05 PM on 01/25/2012

"The more helpless the creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man." Gandhi Still rings true.

[JacklynD]

04:28 PM on 01/25/2012

Jeffrey Dahmer tortured animals too.

[RonPaul2012-End-The-War]

04:24 PM on 01/25/2012

I don't like most democrats or republicans since they both support pointless wars.

But that is just sick to go after someone's cat. Fight them with words or information, don't attack their pets to "win" an argument, so lame.

[Harbinger08]

07:30 PM on 01/25/2012

It's not to "win" an argument. It's political terrorism, a direct injury to the members of his family, a threat of violence towards his family, a message that "you may be next". This is political thuggery.

[Jack Glastra]

04:14 PM on 01/25/2012

This is what happens when we stop seeing each other as opponents and start to see each other as enemies. Thanks Karl Rove, Abramoff, Nordquist and the rest of your pathetic neo-con movement.

[moutonnoir]

01:04 AM on 01/26/2012

Nah... This is just one more example of 'the southern strategy' wearing it's true colors on it's sleeve.

It isnt new or unique for the... citizens... down there to act this way towards non-authoritarians...

[biabouman41]

04:14 PM on 01/25/2012

I know that republicans hate:

Women
Latinos
African Americans
Gays
Union members
Teachers
The Elderly
Immigrants
Asians
Poor Children
Jews
Muslims
Catholics
Scientists
Artists
The Educated

Yesterday I learned they also hate Italians. Italian groups are asking Limbaugh to apologize for his nasty anti-Italian comments, but he will not. He is safe among his friends.

Today I learn they also hate Animals. What's next? Trees?

[saranac7]

04:48 PM on 01/25/2012

my friend, they have always hated trees, air, soil, water, earth, wildlife, and anything that gets in the way of profit, or their agenda.

[rain247fire]

06:19 PM on 01/25/2012

^^^^ agreed.

A person capable of doing something like that to an animal is not a person whose views I'd trust.

[tomteboda]

08:30 PM on 01/25/2012

If you really believe that "republicans" as a group, hate all those things, you've been sold a really nasty bill of goods.

[biabouman41]

07:44 AM on 01/26/2012

There is a problem with hate among Republicans. Some use it merely as a tactic to win an election, but it demeans the target group and divides the country. It is bad.

[AlexLiveFree]

04:12 PM on 01/25/2012

The increasing shift to the right that our politicians have taken, the constant propaganda from the extreme right that is aired as news, and the increasing violence from right-wing extremists is really starting to make this country resemble a fascist nation from the first half of the 20th century.

Then you combine that with SOPA/PIPA, NDAA, the Corporatist takeover of our government and judicial systems, private prisons, and the constant bashing of unions, then you begin to get the picture. We are not a democratic nation any more. Any one who questions the establishment get harassed, anyone who does not go along with what our right-wing government says gets harassed or threatened, and things are only getting worse.

The American population is not opening their eyes to what is happening, and I don't think they will any time soon. It only took Germany to get bombed and millions of their people killed for them to wake up; what will it take for our population to wake up?