Two's a Trend: Arkansas Democratic Party Chairman Gunned Down at Party Headquarters

Word just came down the wire that Bill Gwatney, former state senator and current chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party, was shot multiple times in the upper torso by a lone gunman in the Democratic Party's headquarters. The assassin, one Tim Johnson, age 50, then hopped into a pickup truck and led police on a chase before being shot himself -- he later died. Gwatney is in critical condition. (UPDATE: Several hours after the shooting, Gwatney died.)

Like I said, this just happened a little while ago. Motives are still up in the air. Maybe it was a personal matter that led Johnson to stroll into Little Rock's Democratic Party headquarters and blast away. The truth will soon out. But I'm far from the only one whose immediate suspicions equated this shooting with the recent crazed spree of Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Michael Savage fan Jim Adkisson, who ambled into a left-leaning Unitarian Universalist church in July with a shotgun in his hands and a loathing in his heart. Books by the aforementioned blowhards were found in his home, and he told police that, along with chronic unemployment, his reason for killing two innocent churchgoers was the church's liberal leanings.

If that is what we have here -- and that is a very big "if" at this point -- we need to go back and revisit that reading list into which the press studiously refused to delve deeply in the aftermath of the Adkisson massacre. After Columbine, spotlight-hungry congressmen -- Joe Lieberman chief among them -- were quick to point that shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were big fans of Marilyn Manson. After Oklahoma City, much was made of the fact that Tim McVeigh had a copy of The Turner Diaries. Hell, people even dissected the fact that Mark David Chapman was carrying a copy of The Catcher in the Rye when he took out John Lennon.

And yet, when we learned of Adkisson's reading list, it simply sat there, all too fittingly like an elephant in the room. If this latest attack turns out to carry similar motives to that of Adkisson, perhaps we should start wondering whether when someone says...

"I tell people don't kill all the liberals. Leave enough so we can have two on every campus -- living fossils -- so we will never forget what these people stood for." (Rush Limbaugh)

Or

"My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times building." (Ann Coulter)

Or

"I'll tell you who should be tortured and killed at Guantanamo -- every filthy Democrat in the U.S. Congress." (Sean Hannity)

Or

"To fight only the al-Qaeda scum is to miss the terrorist network operating within our own borders ... Who are these traitors? Every rotten radical left-winger in this country, that's who." (Michael Savage)

... that maybe these statements have some, small effect on some small percentage of listeners. That maybe, just maybe, when Sean Hannity says that Democrats should be tortured and killed, someone might actually take him seriously. We have already decided in this country that free speech, while enjoying a broad reach, ends at yelling fire in a theater. So the only question we have to ask is whether Savage, Hannity and their ilk are yelling fire.

Is it getting hot in here?

Comments

[Michale32086]

Mark David Chapman said that CATCHER IN THE RYE was his motivation for killing John Lennon.. Guess that book has to be burned and the author arrested..­.

John Hinckley had an obsession with Jodie Foster which lead to his attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan..

Why isn't Jodie Foster in jail as an accomplice!???

I honestly can't believe that I have to lecture the hysterical LEFT on the First Amendment.­. I honestly CANNOT believe it...

Michale...­..

[Gidster]

Because Jodie Foster never once mentioned that Reagan needed killing!

I'm surprised I had to lecture the hysterical right on cause and effect!

[Phidippides]

I'm surprised you have such an arthritic grasp on the relationship between causes and effects.

[MiddleRoadLiberal]

My mother listens to/watches all of these people twenty-four hours a day (yes, even when she is sleeping). She also listens to people that are actually worse: Way of the Master Radio. It may sound Buddhist, but it's a wacky far-right religious network that repeatedly informs their listeners that liberals hate america and are the enemy. She is absolutely brainwashed. I will watch her closely from now on.

[Crake]

Get her some help dude, I hope she gets better soon :-(

[rose london]

wHAT i DON'T UNDERSTAND IS WHY DO AMERICANS ALLOWED FAUX NEWS TO VENT THIS AMMOUNT OF HATRED, SHOUTING AND COMPLETE IGNORANCE TO THE MEANING OF JOUNALISM. SEAN HANNITY, LIMBAUGH AND BILL O'REILY CAN NEVER ENGAGED WITH THIS VENOM IN ANY WHERE IN THE WORLD. LET'S FACE THE FACT AND ASK OURSELVES IS THIS TYPE OF JOURNALISM GOOD FOR THE MENTAL WELL BEING OF CHILDREN?. NO WAY. AND IT IS NOT FREE SPEECH. IT IS PLAIN ABUSE OF THE NETWORK AIRWAVE AND IT IS POISONOUS. IT DOES'T REPRESENT THE TRUE AMERICAN VALUE THAT THE REST OF THE WORLD IS FAMILIAR WITH. THIS SO CALL JOURNALIST MAY THINK THEY ARE DOING AMERICA GOOD, THEY ARE NOT.

[EricHayes]

Just an update: Gwatney has died of his wounds. As to the first poster's remarks: We far left liberal wingnuts use words to persuade and convince. The words of Hannity et al that Sweeney transcribed are designed to do one thing only--instill hate.

[quincyscott]

I don't hear liberal pundits saying that their opponents are scum that should be tortured or killed. Isn't there a qualitative difference here? This is not "free speech". The point Sweeney makes is that speech of this kind, much like the proverbial shouting of "fire" in a theater, is not protected speech.

He also is making the case that right wing extremists have a knack for using violence and violent rhetoric to get their point across, and although this is a broad generalization, there is some truth to it. It's like some conservative relatives of mine who, when discussing problems in the middle east, invariably arrive at the following answer: "Nuke 'em." Limbaugh, Coulter, Hannity and their ilk always come up with some version of the "Nuke 'em" answer. In this world view, violence always trumps dialogue. We do know that the nut-job who attacked the Unitarian church was a reader of the above mentioned hatemongers. I do grant you that we don't yet know enough about the shameful Arkansas killing to draw a parallel. We shall see...

[albertBarr]

I truly hope that it is not the case that this man had right-wing inspiration for this murder. It is a slippery-slope to bring violence to the political equation. THat is why, whether or not it is the reason, right-wing talking heads need to be held accountable for their violent language. Hate and violence against non-white, non-repugs is one of their talking points. They may have a right to free speech, but not to hatred or bigotry or violence against those they disagree with. Raise your glass to the memory of Bill Gwatney...­who gave his life serving America.

[OldLeatherNeck]

Dan, you forgot one other salient point. It has been just over a week since the Secret Service arrested a white guy from Georgia (the state) from threatening to kill Barack Obama. These three incidents occured in the south (Tennessee, Florida and now Arkansas). The perpertrators were all angry white men and one of them clearly expressed a hatred for liberals, and hate RW hate literature in his home.
While it is too early to claim a clear connection between the three incidents, it is not too early to start drawing parallels.

I strongly suggest a very concerted, funded and organized campaign, by all concerned citizens to contact the networks and advertisers for at least the following hate-mongers:

Rush Limbaugh
Sean Hannity
Michael (Weiner) Savage
Ann Coulter
Bill O'Reilly
Glenn Beck

With all of the problems GM is currently having, I think that they would cease sponsoring Sean Hannity, if they received a million e-mails and were boycotted by every progressive in America. Let's pick the sponsors one at a time and use free-market capitalism (freedom of consumer choice) to cripple hate radio in it's tracks!!

[Michale32086]

}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
The perpertrators were all angry white men
}}}}}}}}}}}}}

Well, then the problem is easy to fix...

Why not simply arrest ALL "angry white men"???

There...

All your problems are solved.. :^/

Michale...­..

[Gidster]

Ok. That would be the Limbaugh solution. Oh wait...He'­s an angry white man......

[jsk1]

Agreed. How to organize this citizen revolt, though, when the people who would revolt-boycott aren't their key demographic?

[whiteboyblues]

Goodness the Conservatives are filled with so much hate, what did Liberals ever do to you guys?

[Gidster]

They suggested that people come before profits

[Querent]

Showed them up for the fools they are.

[BlueTongue]

We tried to educate their children, protect the constitution, and prevent useless wars against weaker countries. Enough to tick any neo-con off.

[applebutter]

Michale, I think you've got blinders on. First of all, Georgia provoked the bear, then the bear retaliated, and then some. No one is cheering on Russia - your statement here is hyperbole. And censorship? Some speech is not free. Libel is not free speech. Hate speech is not protected by law, either. For good reason.

I'm with you, Dan, even though we can't know for sure right now.

[Michale32086]

}}}}}}}}
No one is cheering on Russia
}}}}}}}}

You obviously haven't been reading the Georgia/Russia threads...

}}}}}}}}}
Some speech is not free
{{{{{{{{{

So, you want to censor speech that you disagree with, right???

And here I thought that the Left stood for freedom and liberty... I guess it's just freedom and liberty for people that you agree with and jail and censorship for people you DON'T agree with..

Whatever happened to "I disagree with what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it!"

I guess that is an outmoded concept, eh applebutter???

Michale...­..

[kellygrrrl]

I'm wiling to bet this guy is a fan of Rush and Faux

[DoomtoNeoCons]

Probably is.

[Gidster]

He is a Repub troll that also barks up Shearer and Greenwald

[Gma11]

This was my first thought on hearing this news as well. . .

I hope the ensuing investigations will give us some answers about any such connections.

[tdpubs]

I smell a trend. The Republican economic meltdown has just begun. We've found that social ills are higher during Conservative administrations. This study was done in England a few years ago. The lack of services created more psychological instability. Crime usually rises during economic downturns. We are seeing that again as well.
Hopefully we are moving out of our 30 year cycle of conservative economics. We can't afford another year of it.