Politico, Rep. Carnahan smear ObamaCare opponents over “coffin” incident

Sigh:

A coffin was placed on a Missouri Democrat’s lawn, another in a string of incidents against lawmakers after their vote Sunday on a health care overhaul.

Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) had a coffin placed β€œnear his home,” a spokesman said Wednesday evening.

The coffin was from a prayer vigil.

This came after Rep. Tom Perriello’s (D-Va.) brother’s gas lines were cut, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) received death threats and Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) received a message saying snipers were being deployed to kill children of those who voted for health care overhaul.

Several other Democrats have had threats leveled against them, prompting a closed-door briefing of Democratic members by the FBI, Capitol Police and the House Sergeant at Arms.

The St Louis Tea Party blog slams the Politico report and has a screen cap of the original story published at the Politico’s webiste, which mentioned nothing initially about the fact that the coffin was -as the Tea Party blog noted – part of a well-publicized prayer vigil, rather than being put there by some fringe loner as a threat to Rep. Carnahan. Strangely enough, even in light of this evidence, Politico still felt the need to keep this story, which clearly equates a prayer vigil that included a coffin that was supposed to symolize future deaths as a result of the ObamaCare bill to actual threats of violence towards members of Congress, posted on their website. If this bothers you, make sure you let them know.

For more on the Politico smear – and the false report filed by Carnahan – click here and here.

Lastly, the gents at Power Line have a must-read on the issue of political threats:

We condemn political violence in virtually all circumstances; certainly in all circumstances that could arise in our democracy. Threats of violence, sadly, are not uncommon in politics; let alone “harassment.” Even insignificant conservatives like us have been threatened with violence on several occasions, and the linked article notes that Jim Bunning received threats after he temporarily held up the extension of unemployment benefits a few weeks ago.

The current threats (assuming they are real, as I assume some of them are) are being played up in the press because the Democrats want to dampen the anger that has erupted over their adoption of a government medicine program through a series of legislative maneuvers that are in some respects unprecedented. It is important for the Democrats and their press minions to understand that there are many millions of Americans who regard Obamacare not just as misguided public policy, but as an illegitimate usurpation of power. I am one of the many millions who are outraged at the Left’s attempt to destroy the private health care system that has served my family so well, and who regard Obamacare as illegitimate.

As for the threats, we will take them more seriously if they result in the cancellation of a public appearance by a liberal due to security concerns. But that never happens to liberals, only to conservatives. It happened again last night. That was in Canada, of course; the home of government medicine and little regard for free speech. No coincidence, that.

In large part, the current focus on threats of violence is aimed at the tea partiers, just as they were accused, apparently falsely, of racism. It is not hard to understand the Democrats’ motives; the tea parties are the most vital force, and likely the most popular force, in American politics, so smearing them is mandatory. But anyone who has attended a tea party rally will consider laughable the idea that the movement somehow tends toward violence.

Make sure to read the whole thing.

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