Sarah Palin and Other Conservatives Condemn Right Wing Terrorist Act

While it sometimes aggravates some readers on the left (although usually not regulars who are aware of the variety of material posted) I do try to quote conservatives when they are making sense. Perhaps I have a fantasy that such positive reinforcement will contribute to improving the sanity of the right wing. In that vein I quoted from Dick Cheney earlier today. It is often the case that I can find material to quote from most politicians that I both agree with and disagree with, I’m not sure that I ever posted anything from Sarah Palin which I agreed with. Finally I found something worthwhile:

“I feel sorrow for the Tiller family. I respect the sanctity of life and the tragedy that took place today in Kansas clearly violates respect for life. This murder also damages the positive message of life, for the unborn, and for those living. Ask yourself, ‘What will those who have not yet decided personally where they stand on this issue take away from today’s event in Kansas?’ Regardless of my strong objection to Dr. Tiller’s abortion practices, violence is never an answer in advancing the pro-life message.”

Along similar lines, TeamSarah.org founder and Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser released the following statement about the killing yesterday:

“The Susan B. Anthony List condemns this anti-life act in the strongest of terms. The heart of the pro-life movement is one founded in love. Without this driving powerful center no justice can possibly be achieved.  Authentic progress in women’s rights has always encompassed the protection of human rights of every person across the board. The rights of one human being can never be honored by diminishing or ignoring the rights of another. This week as we gather for our annual June Tea event, themed Love Lets Live, we will lift up George Tiller’s loved ones in prayer.”

As I noted last night, there has been both unfortunate support from some on the right as well as opposition from others for this act of right wing terrorism. The blogosphere, especially in the comments, can easily amplify the views of a noisy minority and hopefully the comments supporting this type of terrorism do represent a tiny minority on the right.

Some additional sane views from the right on this issue, with Allahpundit followed by Ed Morrissey at Hot Air:

I could say there are no Bill Ayers types on our side, but I can’t; I wish I could say there are no right-wing nutroots degenerates online cheering them on, but I can’t say that either. As for those who condemn the murder while merrily hoping that he’s burning in hell, let a poor confused atheist ask you this: Isn’t the proper Christian response to any death to pray that God will have mercy on a flawed, fallible sinner, who’s now at last seen the error of his ways? Tiller might have changed his mind about abortion and repented in years to come but his killer’s deprived him of the chance. No prayers that God will take that into consideration?–Allahpundit

The murder of George Tiller at his church is a heinous crime, without any sense or justice. Regardless of how one feels about George Tiller’s profession, his murderer is nothing more than a domestic terrorist — someone attempting to impose by force a policy that one cannot get in place through democratic means. Tiller’s killer is no better than William Ayers, Kathleen Soliah, and Eric Rudolph, people who attempted to use violence for their extremist ends. Those who value life know that murder is the antithesis of the pro-life movement.–Ed Morrissey

The far right wing ties of the accused killer have been revealed today. While many conservatives are condemning this, there continues to be signs of support from some on the right.  Right Wing Watch has video and text on Randall Terry’s  press conference at the National Press Club “to discuss how the pro-life movement should deal with Dr. [George] Tiller’s death” and defend his statement that Tiller essentially deserved to die because he was a “mass-murder.”

While there have been far more vile responses from some on the right who have condoned this act of terrorism (which I won’t bother to give any publicity to) one of the more absurd arguments has been that this coverage given to right wing terrorism somehow justifies the bizarre reaction on the right to the report from the Department of Homeland Security on right wing terrorism. This act actually verifies the fact that right wing terrorism is a real problem, with this being only one example. This demonstrates that the Department of Homeland Security had reason to prepare a report on right wing terrorism. Of course conservatives who are bringing up the report ignore the facts that DHL prepared reports on both far left and far right wing terrorism, and that the recently declassified reports were prepared by a Bush appointee.

5 Comments

  1. 1
    Chance says:

    Its good to see a liberal blog acknowledging that a large portion of the right has condemned this act.  You can’t be pro life and pro murder.

  2. 2
    Ron Chusid says:

    I think that most liberals differentiate between right wing extremists who use violence and the vast majority of conservatives who do not engage in such action.

    It didn’t help the right to see some conservative blogs get flooded with comments in support of such violence, but as I noted in the post blog comments can easily amplify the views of a small minority. I also note that some of the conservative bloggers are quite frustrated with receiving comments in support of violence.

  3. 3
    cany says:

    After two repeat visits from a defender of the killer who even took to task his shocked and grieving Lutheran Church,  I banned the IP and put comment mods on my blog to stop further postings.

    I have visited a LOT of sites discussing this issue, and it is my take that there are far more right wingers defending and/or celebrating this horrible terrorist assassination than not.

    Terribly sad.

    As for Operation Rescue, it is clear that the founder, Terry Randall is a sad excuse for a human being and that one of their leaders was previously incarcerated as intending to bomb.  Nice.

    God’s Army, on the other hand (and it seems many affilliate with more than one group) appears to be a nest of violence and their commnents on the killings were vicious.

    It leads me to the conclusion that thiere is a lot more hang wringing with a wink*wink attached than not coming from the pro-fetus bunch.

  4. 4
    Ron Chusid says:

    I’ve had some people try to post comments here defending the killer. I’ve had more problem with conservative nuts who object to any discussion of right wing terrorism, or who twist what I am saying about this and then attack based upon their distortions–something I’m not going to waste a moment of my time  or bandwidth on.

  5. 5
    Mike says:

    I mentioned a tactic a while back that I think might be worth bring up again. (Although the context of which I brought it up in, I’d rather forget.)  That is the hunger strike.  If one feels so passionate about something that one feels it is worth taking of life.  Let that person put their life on the line, perhaps even sacrifice it with a self-imposed hunger strike.   Would that not gain as much, if not more attention for one’s cause and create far more political pressure than an act of violence?  

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