That Candidate Wants All Opponents To Die.

“I wish Sarah and Levy [SIC] were on board” isn’t an aberration, it’s the norm…

Eric Renderking Fisk | August 2010

For those of you who have been in a cave somewhere on Mars – my adopted hometown has been the center of a minor national news item. Amazingly enough I had almost nothing to do with it. Keith Halloran, who was running for State Representative for this region,  made the national news with a remark that he made on of all things, Facebook. This was in response to another candidates Facebook posting the obituary for Ted Stevens, former Senator from Alaska who had died in a plane crash. Mr. Halloran remarked: “I wish Sarah and Levy were on board.” Since then, all hell has broken lose and that day ended with his announcement (again, on Facebook) that he was no longer running for the State Rep seat.

All of us in the region know that “I wish Sarah and Levy were on board” isn’t an aberration, it’s the norm for this local. This is who he is.  His Facebook page has been a long diatribe of short, hateful quips about the people he despises, disagrees or misunderstands. Other politicians have been the target of his venom and vitriol. He has also attacked me and this site on his own page and a local political forum saying that the police in this town "know me, they help me." The implication is that if I don't stop debating or ask challenging questions about his campaign I'll be incarcerated? The cops are his own personal goon squad? Then he turns around a few weeks later and attacks the chief of police in Rindge on the town's Facebook page!

Nobody seems to be immune from his wrath. Halloran's comments about wishing Sarah Palin dead is no different than anything else Halloran has ever said or done. The only difference is that he said it on someone else’s Facebook page, and another someone else fed it to the media via the local branch of a national political party. This was a ticking time bomb and many of us knew this campaign was going to end badly. After snippy remarks to the press like "It's just a tempest in their Tea Pot" in response to the public's disapproval and defiantly defending his remarks, he tried to end the controversy with...

Keith's story ends there for now... but it's where the conversation should begin.

No Longer A Rare Occurrence…

Fact is, if you’ve spent any time on the internet you know that this isn’t abnormal. This isn’t so far out of the realm of plausibility anymore since this is how people on the internet “discuss” political issues. This sensational way of conversing with each other is has been normalized. The only difference this time is that it’s a politician saying it to another openly. On the internet the party pundits and wanna-be political celebrities make accusations, horrific comments, threats... and then the moment there's any controversy they delete the posts and pretend it never happened. "Nope... didn't happen... can't prove it." That's what cowardly people do. Cowardly party pundits, especially.

This is what really troubles me about politics these days - the obsessive, childish, compulsive hate! "I hate YOU because you don't like the same things I do! And I wish you would just die!" Didn't we all leave that behind when we graduated Jr. High? And now that's coming out of the mouths of professional news commentators and candidates! Then there are the apologists who help perpetuate it with the "they started it" statements, as if horrible behavior warrants even worse behavior. Then pretend it never happened after issuing a half-apology while hoping that ends the episode. Cross your fingers that somebody will do something just as bad or worse to focus the spot light on someone else. Where is this heading?

This shows no signs of stopping. Soon candidates will shoot each other in "Drive-Bys" or have fist fights on the debate stage. Another local political figure is going to get mugged in a parking lot, beaten at the super-market, or a shoving match will occur on the corner of any given street in any town then the violence will escalate to an assassination attempt or an actual death. I'm sad and confident that this is an accurate prediction based on how the partisan bickering has been escalating. The vitriol is growing exponentially, it seems. Our society is heading towards politically motivated violence. Not because of Halloran, but because today's climate either tolerates or breeds Hallorans.

By what’s being said on the internet these days, there are too many people wanting to be the next John Hinkley or Mark David Chapmen who has nothing to lose and wants the notoriety for being the one who shot so-and-so or staring the Second Civil War. We need to return some civility to our public discourse. Respect others the way we wish we were treated and stop trying to use sensationalism as a means of elevating ourselves to higher positions in society. This path that has been laid before us by the Hallorans and other political hooligans is unacceptable.

This week it's Keith Halloran saying "I wish Sarah and Levy were on board," next week it's someone putting a gun in Mrs. Palin's or someone else's face and pulling the trigger? Not his fault, he's just contributing to the decline of civility and political discourse. How do we stop this and turn it around before someone really gets hurt?