Sick

Liberals want to save the planet. Save the animals. Help the poor. Help the elderly. Educate our children and help them to eat well. Accept those who are different from us. Give equal opportunities for all. Liberals want peace. Liberals think the life of a woman is just as important as the life of any fetus. Liberals may be accused of being weak, pansies, hippies, elitist, tree-huggers. Liberals get angry when the healthcare plan they wanted isn't strong enough or when discrimination laws are not repealed speedily enough. Liberals understand that many people who own them cannot be trusted with guns. 

There will be those who try to paint Jared Loughner as leftist because a high school friend said he used to be one years ago. Loughner is sick. He is delusional. Many of his online writings are conspiracy-filled and sound like they came direct from Glenn Beck. He may not have been a right-winger but we know a few things: 1.) He owned a gun 2.) He didn't trust the government 3.) Spoke of gold as a safety net 4.) He's not opposed to violence. 

Republicans know exactly what they're doing when they stoke fear into the hearts of people not smart enough to know the difference between the truth and the GOP dog whistled lies, subtle racism, hatred defended by religion, government involvement when it's in their interests (abortion) but not when it isn't (taxes). 

Jared Loughner might not have been a republican but he's definitely picked up some of their "facts" along the way. All it takes is one crazy person to take it too far, to become too scared, to feel "the man" is out to get him, to hear the mystifyingly influential Sarah Palin to command people not to "retreat" but to "reload" before some sicko thinks he's justified to accomplish his goal by horrifically violent means. This kid is an idiot, he is an outcast, he was impressionable and he was looking for other people to tell him why and how he'd been wronged. Unfortunately, he had a lot of GOPers to help him figure that out. Anti-government, angry, armed and dangerous. Why do I feel like that describes way too many people than is comfortable?

Assassinations center around those who are advocating or protecting something bigger than themselves. Basic truths. Those who want freedom, equality, peace. 

Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, Robert Kennedy, Malcom X, John Lennon, George Tiller.

Conservatives aren't ever going to stop the hate and nastiness. It's a game they're good at, one they've had a long time to perfect. One they know is effective because the liberals are too fucking haughty to dignify half their shit with a response. There's nothing stopping the Glenn Beck nutcase express or Sarah Palin delusion central members from continuing to take things way too far. Not when they think their "leaders" would approve.