Left wing tolerance/civility watch: Bush, Palin speeches cancelled due to threats, harassment

Via the Denver Post:

Saying it received an “onslaught of personal attacks,” a Colorado nonprofit announced in a news release today that it was canceling a scheduled May appearance in Glendale by former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Palin, the former Alaskan governor and possible 2012 Republican presidential candidate, was to be the keynote speaker at the May 2 Patriots & Warriors Gala at the Infinity Park Event Center in Glendale.

The event, sponsored by the Sharon K. Pacheco Foundation, was announced to the media on Friday. The group said today the event had been canceled because of “safety concerns resulting from an onslaught of negative feedback received by the organization.”

“Due to an onslaught of personal attacks against Gov. Palin and others associated with her appearance, it is with deep sadness and disappointment that, in the best interest of all, we cancel the event for safety concerns,” according to the news release.

Officials of the foundation could not be reached for comment today.

The Pacheco Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing resources to military families and at-risk youth.

Tax records show the organization has had meager support over the years β€” raising only $1,000 in 2008 and reporting total assets of $2,204 in 2009.

[…]

The event was to have served both as an awards banquet and a fundraiser, providing financial resources to military families in need and raising money for a grief camp for children who have lost loved ones in combat, according to the original Friday announcement.

The news release, which was issued by the Pacheco foundation about 4 p.m. Saturday, said that no “direct threats have been made against anyone, but the recent increase in negative rhetoric against the former Alaska governor raises concern for her safety and the safety of others.”

This sounds like a worthy organization that could have used the money and positive publicity that Palin’s appearance could have given them and their mission. I hope the jackasses who pressured the Foundation into cancelling her appearance are happy. And here I thought the left cared about military families and at-risk youth? Apparently not when that support comes from private organizations. x(

And the Bush cancellation, via the Washington Post:

A planned trip to Switzerland by George W. Bush was canceled after human rights activists called for demonstrations and threatened legal action over allegations that the former president sanctioned the torture of terrorism suspects.

The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights and several European human rights groups said they were planning to file a complaint against Bush and wanted Swiss prosecutors to open a criminal case against him once he arrived in the country.

In what would have been his first European trip since leaving the presidency, Bush was scheduled to speak in Geneva on Feb. 12 at a dinner in honor of the United Israel Appeal. A lawyer for the organization said Bush’s appearance was canceled because of the risk of violence, and that the threat of legal action was not an issue.

“The calls to demonstrate were sliding into dangerous terrain,” the lawyer, Robert Equey, told the Swiss daily Tribune de Geneve.

A spokesman for Bush said the former president regretted that his speech was canceled.

“President Bush was looking forward to speaking about freedom and offering reflections from his time in office,” David Sherzer said in an e-mailed statement.

Sherzer said that Bush has traveled to Canada, Brazil, China, Japan, South Korea and the Middle East since leaving office.

Organizers of a rally outside the Hotel Wilson, where the speech was scheduled to take place, had called on demonstrators to each bring a shoe, an effort to echo the assault on Bush during a news conference in Baghdad in 2008 when an Iraqi journalist threw a shoe at him.

Looks like some folks still aren’t getting President Obama’s “let’s just all get along” memo. Where’s the widespread mainstream media/left wing outrage?

*crickets chirping*

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