It's fun to make fun of Republicans, also easy, but they are such poor sports that I am beginning to worry about them. The incident that occurred at the home of Rep. Tom Perriello's brother, in Ivy, Virginia, captures the half-ridiculous, half-scary essence of the loyal opposition. Perriello is the Democrat representing Virginia's conservative-leaning Fifth Congressional District whose vote for health-care reform helped ensure its passage last Sunday evening. A couple of Tea Party patriots, upset over the outcome and Perriello's vote, published on the Internet what they thought was Perriello's home address and urged their readers to "drop by" and "express their thanks." But the address they published was actually that of Perriello's brother, Bo Perriello. Then, on Tuesday evening, members of Bo's family smelled gas and discovered that the propane line to a grill on their screened porch had been slashed.
Politico traced the site where the address was posted to one Mike Troxel, a recent graduate of Liberty University, where he majored in journalism. We know this because, when contacted by Politico, Troxel admitted to publishing the address before adding, "I was a journalism major in college, so I have every reason to believe my research is accurate." He said he'd be glad to take it down, however, if Tom Perriello's office would supply the congressman's right home address. His friend Kurt Feigel, who runs a companion blog, defended the decision to publish the address on the ground that Tom Perriello does not respond to their emails, or their letters, or their visits to his office.
Of course he doesn't. He's sane and doesn't want to waste his time with people who aren't.
Meanwhile, another Virginia congressman, Republican Eric Cantor, held a press conference on Thursday in which he blamed Democrats for "fanning the flames" by talking about incidents such as the one at Bo Perriello's house.
"Just recently I have been directly threatened," explained Cantor, the second highest ranking Republican in the House and a particular favorite of the Power Line philosophers. "A bullet was shot through the window of my campaign office in Richmond this week, and I have received threatening emails." Turns out that this direct threat levelled against Cantor was a random rifle bullet shut into the air that, when it landed, had enough force to penetrate the glass, but not the blind, of a window in a building in which Cantor rents office space on another floor. When the police investigation of the incident revealed that Cantor was not a victim of a violent threat but, rather, a fan-flaming exaggerater of the kind he pretended to condemn, his response was that he had not known any details at the time of his press conference and was relieved to learn no on was hurt.
It's hard to know what to make of this iceball pack of rage and hapless stupidity. I don't blame myself for laughing at the dolts but someone could get hurt.
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