As we all know, an anti-abortion extremist gunned down and murdered Dr. George Tiller in his church where he served as an usher and his wife sang in the choir. This was the second attempt on the physician's life. In 1993 Dr. Tiller had been wounded by anti-abortion extremists in an unsuccessful assassination attempt. During that same year, Dr. David Gunn was murdered by anti-abortionists in Pensacola.
Records reveal that Tiller's murder suspect has a criminal record and a history of anti-abortion postings on friendly web sites. Apparently the suspect also spends a lot of time at a home known for its strange gatherings.
Neighbors said they've seen a similar car at the house in Merriam. They describe the ongoings at the house as strange. They said it's a revolving door of men coming and staying there and describe what appear to be religious gatherings.
Dr. Tiller has been a target of the right for some time as he was one of the few doctors in the country who would perform late term abortions. A number of right wing TV and radio talk show hosts have made a practice of demonizing Dr. Tiller in an attempt to whip the religious right into frenzy. This time the hate talkers hit the jackpot.
Bill O'Reilly of FOX "News" is one of those who led the charge against Dr. Tiller.
Jed Lewison over at Daily Kos captured the video clip below in which Bill O'Reilly called Dr. Tiller:
Tiller the Baby Killer
ADVERTISEMENT
We don't have to declare war on Iraq or a country in the Middle East in order to find terrorists. It seems that we have our own home grown jihadists who despise freedom as much as the Taliban and other Islamic extremists.
Here in the good ol' U.S. of A. the anti-choice group has become so extreme that Attorney General Eric Holder feels compelled to send U.S. Marshalls to protect those who provide abortions.
Fortunately, there is at least one former anti-choice hate talk leader who will take responsibility for his actions. Frank Schaeffer, a former evangelical Christian and son of the late well-known conservative leader Francis Schaeffer, said he and his father share the blame for the murder of Dr. Tiller.
My late father and I share the blame (with many others) for the murder of Dr. George Tiller the abortion doctor gunned down on Sunday. Until I got out of the religious right (in the mid-1980s) and repented of my former hate-filled rhetoric I was both a leader of the so-called pro-life movement and a part of a Republican Party hate machine masquerading as the moral conscience of America.
Sadly, conservatives like Mr. Schaeffer are few and far between.
Cristina Page, author of "How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America: Freedom, Politics and the War on Sex" and the spokesperson for birthcontrolwatch.org., argues in her article:
The Murder of Dr. Tiller, a Foreshadowing
that his murder is not an isolated incident. According to Miller, a pattern is clear and it is chilling. During the pro-choice Clinton administration violence against abortion providers increased five fold.
Today's assassination of Dr. George Tiller comes 5 months into the term of our second pro-choice president. For anyone who would like to believe that this is a statistical anomaly, a coincidence that doesn't portend anything, again, you are wrong.
During the entire Bush administration, from 2000-2008 there were no murders.
During the Clinton era, between 1994-2000 there were 6 abortion providers and clinic staff murdered, and 17 attempted murders of abortion providers. There were 12 bombings or arsons during the Clinton years.
During the Bush administration, not only were there no murders, there were no attempted murders. There was one clinic bombing during the Bush years.
One can only conclude that like terrorist sleeper cells, these extremists have now been set in motion. Indeed the evidence is already there. The chatter, the threats, the hate-filled rhetoric are abundant.
In the last year of the Bush administration there were 396 harassing calls to abortion clinics. In just the first four months of the Obama administration that number has jumped to 1401.
The nature of the abusive abortion debate.
Miller argues that the abortion providers face greater danger when it is in a strong position. When the anti-choice group believes it is threatened, sleeper cells of extremists emerge to take action.
Battered women are at greatest danger of being killed by their abusers when they are most strong -- that is, when they muster the courage to leave. The same phenomenon may be true in the abusive political abortion debate. The pro-choice movement, specifically our abortion providers, are in the greatest danger of violence when we take power. When the anti-abortion movement loses power, their most extreme elements appear to move to the fore and take control. The murder of Dr. Tiller suggests that violence against abortion providers may be far more linked to the power, or lack thereof, anti-abortion groups have politically than to laws designed to increase penalties against such acts.
Meanwhile, the King of Hate Talk and leader of the GOP, Rush, relentlessly gins up racial hatred in his message that could only be meant for racists and white supremacists.
There they go again. The GOP predictably resorts to good cop/bad politics.
The two-sided strategy would allow Limbaugh and Gingrich _ who hold tremendous sway among the Republican faithful _ to do the political attacks while those facing election can avoid potential backlash if they derail a historic nomination.
Texas Senator double talking Kay Bailey Hutchison is part of this hypocritical and irresponsible dog and pony show.
"I definitely think we need to have the respectful tone, and we need to look at the record," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Republican from Hispanic-heavy Texas. "We need to have the responsibilities that have been put on us by the Constitution taken very seriously."
Not so fast, Kay. You can't have it both ways. You can no longer talk out of both sides of your mouth about your "responsibilities" as a U.S. Senator and "respect" for minority nominees while unleashing your Party's attack dogs at the same time. The bottom line is that when you sleep with dogs you get fleas. The election cycles of 2006 and 2008 have told us that the GOP suffers from a devastating infestation.
Hate talk has consequences, folks. I fear that we will see its outcome more than once during the Obama Administration. Where the anti-abortion groups are concerned, Miller writes:
Anti-abortion groups will put out carefully worded press statements condemning the murder of Dr. Tiller, as became routine for them during the Clinton years. But unless the rhetoric they choose from now on becomes careful too -- they may be the enablers of murder and terror.
Enablers of murder and terror indeed. Hasn't this train already left the station?
In his comment above Mr. Frank Schaeffer wrote:
I was a leader of the so-called pro-life movement and a part of a Republican Party hate machine masquerading as the moral conscience of America.
