Vt. senator cites shootings in fundraising letter

[cali]

(AP) – 11 hours ago

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — An independent U.S. senator from Vermont drew criticism Tuesday from Republicans for citing this past weekend's shootings in Arizona in a fundraising letter for his 2012 re-election campaign.

The e-mail that Sen. Bernie Sanders sent Tuesday begins by mentioning the shooting spree in Tucson that killed six people and left Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 13 others wounded. The letter also mentions issues such as health care, Social Security and taxes.

In his discussion of the shooting, Sanders mentions the vandalism that occurred last year at Giffords' district office after the House passed President Barack Obama's health care overhaul and threats made against other Arizona Democrats, including Rep. Raul Grijalva and former Rep. Harry Mitchell, who was defeated in the November mid-term elections.

"Have right-wing reactionaries, through threats and acts of violence, intimidated people with different points of view from expressing their political positions?" Sanders said in his letter.

He added that "the Republican Party, big money corporate interests and right-wing organizations will vigorously oppose me" in his bid for a second term.
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hCr0MrDblJn-XtS7xH7vna2nobIw?docId=b11b381818784395a74a6d27c8674adb

[xchrom]

1. Awesome. nt

[kath]

2. Way to go, Bernie!

And fuck off, Republicans. Don't like it that the chickens have come home to roost - well TOOOOOOOO fucking bad.

[DCKit]

3. That's just not FAIR Bernie.

How the hell are the (R)s supposed to field a candidate against you if you've pre-emptively called them out on their violent rhetoric?

May you be Vermont's best ever Senator, for (a very long) life.