Over the weekend, the angry crowds that Republicans had so effectively leveraged against the Democrats during the health-care debate crossed the line from asset to liability when the protesters began screaming slurs and, in one case, spitting in a lawmaker's face. There have also been acts of vandalism, and in one particularly frightening example, the gas line to the home of Virginia Rep. Tom Perriello's brother was cut after a Tea Party activist posted his address, thinking it belonged to the congressman. Jim Clyburn and Bart Stupak have had nooses faxed to their offices. Law enforcement held a briefing with Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday about how to deal with security threats.
Democrats have been quick to hold Republicans responsible for this behavior, accusing them of fanning the flames by portraying the Affordable Care Act as tyranny.
Yesterday, Minority Whip Eric Cantor sought to reverse the narrative, saying that he had also been threatened and someone had shot a bullet through the window of his campaign office in Richmond. He also said that it was Democrats, not Republicans, who were actually responsible for "fanning the flames" by ... pointing out the incidents:
"Any suggestion that a leader in this body would incite threats or acts against other members is akin to saying that I would endanger myself, my wife or my children," Cantor said. "It is reckless to use these incidents as media vehicles for political gain."
It turns out, though, that the Richmond police said the bullet was "randomly fired":
Richmond police say the bullet that hit a window of Republican Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor's office had been randomly fired skyward.
So in the midst of accusing Democrats of "using these incidents as media vehicles for political gain," Cantor misrepresented a random incident as an act of political intimidation or harassment, which it does not appear to have been.
There are always going to be crazy people doing crazy things, particularly at moments of political significance, and if nasty phone calls and juvenile threats are all that happens from now on, well, it's not really a big deal. This stuff happens. Democrats have been a bit precious in their response to these threats in order to make Republicans look bad. But it's also true that the GOP has spent the last year firing up its base with hyperbole about totalitarianism, and now that some small elements of that fired up base are starting to make the GOP look bad because they've taken these outsize complaints at face value. You can't complain about people using these incidents for "political gain" when you've spent the last year portraying every right-wing outburst as evidence of justifiable civil unrest in the face of impending tyranny.
-- A. Serwer
