Threats to Gary Locke's family a factor in decision to not run again

[flamingyouth]

Susan Paynter
Seattle P-I

Something scary and sickening lurks like a stalker behind the pretty picture of Gov. Gary Locke leaving office to spend more time with his small son and daughter.

It's true Locke decided that a run for a third term would leave scant time to savor the joys and discoveries of being an everyday dad.
But ugly threats against Locke's family, specifically his kids, contributed in some measure to the governor's decision. And, however you feel about Locke as a leader, that sinister fact should worry everyone in the state.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/paynter/132272_paynter25.html

[Rose Siding]

1. This is incredible

snip>
Then came Locke's rebuttal to President Bush's State of the Union Address.

An avalanche of ugliness crashed out of the e-mail ether.

Hundreds and hundreds of e-mailed insults and slurs, many of

them personally threatening, poured into the governor's office. "Some were really racist, saying things like, 'Why don't you and your family get on a boat and go back to China,' " Jacobsen recalled. "I think Gary, having had his kids later in life and maybe feeling them to be especially precious, made him worry about what they might face."

[JohnKleeb]

8. I hear Locke and me wouldnt fall in line politically but this is sick

Really tells you what the republican base really is a bunch of cold hearted racist asses. I thought Locke was Japanese American I may be wrong. Anyways to the people who wrote that why dont you go to where you came from you dont have to but you have no right to say that so why dont you get some real morals not the ones Pat Robertson tells you but I mean real morals you know respect.

[Heddi]

9. he is Chinese American

first Chinese American governor!

[Kathy in Cambridge]

2. Sick Brown Shirts

Don't criticize our leader or we will kill you.

What a bunch of scary fucks.

[Pepperbelly]

4. i ain't skeered ...

Fuck them.

Each of them individually and as a group.

[Aaron]

3. I wonder if Bush would factor such things in

Although I can't imagine liberals sending him death threats. I guess those who say the right will stop at nothing are correct.

[DagmarK]

5. So.......we are looking for sinister types........who are behind this?

I think I know where to look.

You all know that Locke is the head gov of the gov's assn, right? He's pretty powerful.......at the federal level.

This is VERY disturbing.

[berry]

6. Very disturbing!

I remember not so long ago the jeering even on TV (I don't hear talk radio) when Daschle mentioned death threats and attributed them to the climate of hate produced by hate radio (maybe he mentioned Rush?). All the pundits said that it goes with the territory, and it was wimpy to complain. I was stunned. There was zero sympathy. This country is seriously sick when hate mail and hate radio are considered normal. Well, duh, yeah, I know, this country IS seriously sick. This is another symptom--not just the violence, but the lack of outrage. (This article being the exception.)

I'm sorry Locke isn't running, but I understand. I sure hope a Dem wins again. If a Repuke won, it would embolden the crazies even more....

This makes me wonder about the WH smear campaigns--against Durbin and Wilson. I wonder if they have released the dogs of hatemail on these guys too?

[Lisa]

7. Bush is going after Oregon and Washington ...

Word is that he really wants to take them from the Dems. I wonder if there is any connection.

[AntiCoup2K4]

10. Despite our reputation as a "liberal state"

Anywhere outside of the immediate Puget Sound region, Washington state can be a truly frightening place.

One Repuke state senator once held a rally in a parking lot across the street from Department of Ecology and actually advocated shooting state employees!

Another, trying to promote an "English as the official state language" bill actually justified his position by saying "If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it's good enough for me"

Jesus apparently wasn't pleased with his comments, but Mel Gibson wasn't available to translate.

There are a lot of sick, psychotic Freeper types up here, and some of them weren't at all happy with a "foreigner" for a governor.

These guys put the :puke: in Repukelican :grr: