Republicans have fomented an atmosphere that ultimately led to the Charleston Terrorist

[MohRokTah]

Exhibit A, a Lee Atwater interview from 1981 while he was working for Ronald Reagan:

[daleanime]

1. Hell yes....

[KT2000]

2. yes they have

and any politician running for office needs to put the R's of the defense about it. We have been tolerating racism as just another "heartfelt opinion" for too long. It is deadly - as we have seen or experienced over and over again in this country. It cannot be tolerated anymore.

[calimary]

6. Yeah, that, too. That "sincerely-held belief" bullshit.

THAT has to go, TOO!!!

[orpupilofnature57]

3. Kkkarl Roves hero .

Another one of Ronnies henchmen, who played on republicans of the south and their desire for antibellum, and making Media the ZOO it's become .

[calimary]

4. Damn straight.

lee atwater burns in Hell. Down deep in the lowest depths. Former RNC chair. kkkarl rove and friends learned all their dirty tricks at his knee. Most of the SHIT you see playing out now traces directly back to him. reagan era, too, mind you.

Even HE finally came around to what an absolute abomination he was. He was dying of cancer and asked Michael Dukakis to come to visit him on his deathbed. And he apologized to Dukakis for flaying him over the coals about the disgusting reprehensible Willie Horton campaign ads that atwater crafted and spread all over everywhere. Scared a lot of the whites and handed the election to george bush senior. That's one of the big things that helped put dubya's AND jebbie's daddy over the top. Evidently, when that miserable bastard finally started to feel the cold breath of the Grim Reaper down the back of his neck, he finally realized what he did was too disgraceful even for him to stand by anymore.

Michael Dukakis forgave him. Something I'm not sure I could do.

[Iliyah]

5. When McCain chose Palin, look at boisterous crowds that came

to her rallies. She spew hatred. . . they clapped and the corporate media loved it. Look at how the corporate media covered the racist tea baggers, 24/7 coverage. Look at the coverage of corporate media with GOPers, they rarely question them. Look at the disrespect of the United States President, Mr. Obama.

[immoderate]

7. .

--imm

[awoke_in_2003]

8. Wow. K&R. nt

[KT2000]

9. Please post in Video and MM

so it will show up more - people need to be reminded where the R talking points came from.

[countryjake]

10. Did you hear state Rep Todd Rutherford on CNN today?

He really spoke his heart when Jake Tapper asked why he thought a massacre like the Mother Emanuel Church shooting could happen in our country today.

South Carolina state Rep Todd Rutherford...

South Carolina is one of five state that does not have a hate crimes law. South Carolina is still the only state that I am aware of that still flies a Confederate flag in front of the statehouse dome. South Carolina represents and is emblematic of the problem, which is words that come from these networks that broadcast what they call news, but it's not. It's really hate speech and coded language and leads people to believe that they can walk into a church, because it's no longer a house of God, but a killing ground. It's a place they can feel free to desecrate and leave blood everywhere and that's what this young man did.

And he did so based on some ill-gotten belief, on some wrong belief that it's okay to do that. He hears that, because he watches the news and he watches things like FOX News, where they talk about things that they call news, but they're really not. They use that coded language, they use hate speech, they talk about the president as if he's not the president. They talk about church-goers as if they are really not church-goers. And that's what this young man acted on. That's why he could walk into a church and treat people like animals when they are really human beings.

[dem in texas]

11. Fox News, Rush, Hannity, O'Reilly, World Net Daily, etc. have to bear a big responsiblity

They have an audience of mostly old white men, misfits and just plain sickos. They are selling advertising and making money with their hate-filled shows based on half truths and plain out lies. They won't change their ways until the advertising dollars they are bringing start to dry up.

[MFrohike]

12. No disagreement

The dominant form of terrorism in America has come from conservatives for at least 40 years. Groups like the Weathermen and some others gave them a little challenge before that, but terror in America has almost always had a conservative, racist face.

[heaven05]

13. racist POS

period. As are most on the RW side of politics, then and now.