DNC Chairman Tim Kaine released a statement last night urging Republicans to tone down their rhetoric in response to threats of violence towards Democratic leaders. Here’s his full statement:
I am very concerned that it has become necessary for federal law enforcement officials to look into actions directed possibly at Members of Congress and their families following the historic vote on health insurance reform. I understand that law enforcement officials are taking these actions seriously. In all, at least ten Members have related concerns about threats made since last weekend.
This is especially troubling given racial and other slurs that Members were subjected to over the weekend by protesters on Capitol Hill.
No policy dispute justifies violence and intimidation. It is time for Republicans to do more than express concern about the actions of some of their supporters.
Republican leaders are themselves engaging in actions and rhetoric that previously would have been limited to fringe elements of the Republican Party. Sarah Palin has invoked health care ‘death panels’ and has now placed gun sights on 20 Members of Congress who supported reform. House Minority Leader John Boehner used overheated language and tone of the floor of Congress to denounce the health insurance reform vote. Off the floor, he said that passing health reform was ‘Armageddon’ for America and that a Democratic Congressman in an adjoining Congressional District would be a ‘dead man’ for voting for reform. A Texas Congressman yelled “Baby Killer” on the House floor while a Democratic Member was speaking.
The Republican National Committee has followed up its infamous fundraising presentation with a new fundraising appeal that shows the Speaker of the House aflame online. The RNC’s Chairman has said that the Speaker should be put before a firing squad and vehemently defended Rep. Boehner’s characterization of the passage of health insurance reform as ‘Armageddon.’
It is no coincidence that we now have reports that Democratic Congressional offices have been vandalized, Democratic Members of Congress have received threats and been subject to racial epithets and homophobic slurs, and a gas line was cut at what was thought to be the home of a Democratic Member of Congress after the address was posted online and tea partiers were encouraged to intimidate the Congressman.
These now cannot be brushed off as isolated incidents.
It is no longer enough for Republicans to characterize threats and incidents of vandalism as isolated. It is no longer enough for Republicans to blame these events on outsiders.
Republican leaders must disassociate themselves from this deplorable behavior, they must condemn these acts decisively and, most importantly, they must tone down their own tactics and rhetoric to set a better example for their supporters and the country. I call on them to do so.
