Ugly Political Rhetoric Leads to Violence

Keith Olbermann commented on our ugly political rhetoric, stating that:


" We will not return to the 1850s, when a pro-slavery Congressman nearly beat to death an anti-slavery Senator"
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40981503/ns/msnbc_tv-countdown_with_keith_olbermann/


Lets hope not. The Senator who was beaten with a cane was the anti slavery leader Senator Sumner. He certainly did not deserve what happened to him, but he would have been wise not to use such rhetoric. Wikapedia writes the following:

"Sumner said Douglas (who was present in the chamber) was a "noisome, squat, and nameless animal ... not a proper model for an American senator." He also portrayed Butler as having taken "a mistress who, though ugly to others, is always lovely to him; though polluted in the sight of the world, is chaste in his sight—I mean, the harlot, Slavery." Sumner's three-hour oration later became particularly personally insulting as he mocked the 59-year-old Butler's manner of speech and physical mannerisms, both of which were impaired by a stroke that Butler had suffered earlier.

Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois, who was also a subject of criticism during the speech, suggested to a colleague while Sumner was orating that "this damn fool [Sumner] is going to get himself shot by some other damn fool."

The rest of the interesting story here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sumner

Interestingly, the barbarian who assaulted Sumner was not prosecuted,
but was humiliated and died soon after the assault.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_Brooks

Moral of the story - Tone down the rhetoric


A little more civility would be an improvement