Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) says political rhetoric doesn’t really incite violent behavior at all — but not before describing Arizona shooting suspect Jared Loughner as a “communist” and “the liberal of liberals.”
“This guy appears to be a communist,” Foxx told the Winston-Salem Journal. “His beliefs are the liberal of the liberals [sic]. There is no evidence whatsoever that this man was influenced by Sarah Palin or anybody in the Republican Party. This man is not a conservative; he’s a fan of communism – that’s the opposite of conservatism.”
In ascribing affirmative political views to Loughner, Foxx is going farther than her colleagues. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), by contrast, only claimed Loughner doesn’t appear to be a Tea Party member.
“I don’t think members of Congress incite that kind of rhetoric,” Foxx added. “I don’t think the things we say incite that kind of behavior. And I don’t know that the things other people say incite it. I just think we have deranged individuals in this country and occasionally they do bad things.”
