September 28, 2009

9/28: Murder In Kentucky

The blogosphere buzz about the gruesome death of a U.S. census field worker is growing louder. The census worker -- a 51-year-old single father named Bill Sparkman -- "was found bound and gagged, with his Census Bureau identification card taped to his head." Liberal bloggers are suggesting that Sparkman's death "may have been a politically-motivated slaying," and they're blaming conservatives such as Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) who have attacked the Census. Meanwhile, righty bloggers are accusing their lefty counterparts of "exploiting every bloody opportunity to redefine conservative political expression as an incitement to violence."

What else is happening in the blogosphere?

• Liberal bloggers (Sirota, digby) are criticizing the Obama admin. following reports that it offered a job to ex-CO House Speaker Andrew Romanoff (D) in a failed effort to deter him from challenging Sen. Michael Bennet (D). In other SEN news, lefty bloggers are excited about rumors that Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) may be getting a top-tier Dem challenger.
• Conservative bloggers (Stevens, RS Insider) are criticizing CA SEN candidate Carly Fiorina (R) for skipping last weekend's CA GOP convention.
• Liberal bloggers (Levine, Greenwald) are excited that the Accountability Now PAC is recruiting a candidate to challenge Blue Dog Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN).
• Conservative bloggers (Malkin, Johnson, Liebau, Lane, Reynolds) are accusing the New York Times of being biased in favor of liberals after its public editor criticized the newspaper for being slow to cover the ACORN controversy. However, liberal bloggers (Benen, Marshall, Black) are complaining that the Times is taking the wrong lesson from the controversy.

SPARKMAN: A Political Statement?

Several liberal bloggers are suggesting that Sparkman's murder was politically motivated:

• The Reality-Based Community's Mark Kleiman: "I can't think of an interpretation of taping the victim's Census ID to the body other than as a political statement; if the man had just stumbled across a meth lab, he might have been killed, but hardly in such a dramatic fashion. Unless and until contrary facts emerge, I'm prepared to call this a terrorist incident, and to say that Glenn Beck* very likely has Bill Sparkman's blood on his tongue and lips. Here's hoping that the President will make a full-throated statement that all the power of the Federal government stands behind each and every Federal employee attacked for doing his job."
• The Washington Monthly's Steve Benen: "As was the case earlier in the week, it's still worth emphasizing that this is an open investigation and additional information is needed before reaching any conclusions. [...] That said, what we've learned thus far is gruesome, and continues to raise the prospect of what may have been a politically-motivated slaying. [...] The record on that front is clear -- Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Glenn Beck, and Neal Boortz have invested considerable energy in trying to convince confused, right-wing activists that the Census and those who work for the Census Bureau are not to be trusted, and may even be dangerous. Here's hoping that their reckless and irresponsible rhetoric did not have deadly consequences."
• MyDD's desmoinesdem: "If conservative politicians and opinion leaders keep stoking fears about the government using census data to steal from or perhaps even round up law-abiding citizens, I am concerned that mentally unstable individuals will commit further acts of violence against census-takers next year. Republicans should condemn the hatemongers and make clear that the census is not only permitted, but required under the Constitution."

SPARKMAN II: Stop Pointing Fingers!

Conservative bloggers are accusing their liberal counterparts of trying to politicize Sparkman's death:

• Legal Insurrection's William A. Jacobson: "We do not know how or why Bill Sparkman -- a part time Census worker -- was killed in Kentucky. Let me repeat this, since this is the internet and lower case lettering does not carry any meaning: WE DO NOT KNOW HOW OR WHY BILL SPARKMAN WAS KILLED. [...] Left-wing politicians and blogs appear to be hoping for an act of right-wing violence so that they can justify their attacks on ordinary citizens who are against the overly intrusive and destructive Democratic policies. The problem is, right-wing extremists have not obliged, fortunately. So in the absence of right-wing death squads, the left-wing agitators invent facts and events to fit their narrative. So here's my moderate voice on the subject: You are a bunch of ghouls who would love to do nothing more than perform a political dance on the grave of poor Bill Sparkman, about whom you really don't give a damn."
• Michelle Malkin: "They did this with the George Tiller shooting and the Holocaust Museum shooting and the Binghamton immigration center shooting. Motives had yet to be determined and bodies were still warm, but that did not stop the stampede from exploiting every bloody opportunity to redefine conservative political expression as an incitement to violence. [...] The criminalization of conservatism continues."

Meanwhile, conservative blogger Dan Riehl speculates that Sparkman may have been "a child predator" -- a suggestion that drew strong condemnation from other bloggers.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: "Rising Rightroots And Declining Netroots Now at Parity (or Better)"

The Next Right's Patrick Ruffini:

"Lost in the hubbub about the tea parties, the health care town hall protests, [SC Rep.] Joe Wilson, and the ACORN sting is the outcome of a long-simmering meta debate about the vibrancy of the grassroots right and its capacity to organize online. Along with a slew of other bad political indicators, the perception that the GOP might be stuck in a permanent Luddite rut reached its peak with the election of Obama and the role the Internet played in his victory. Nearly a year later, not only have things turned around, but they've done so faster than anyone could have dreamed or imagined in those post-election doldrums.

First, hundreds of thousands of people showed up, flash mob-like, at Tea Parties not even three months after Obama Nation reached its apogee with the inauguration. [...] In August, the rightroots gained further velocity with the health care protests. This was significant in that it was the first head to head match with OFA and the unions, and it was no contest. The third key moment came when Joe Wilson was able to raise as much (if not more) money than his Democratic opponent after the 'You lie!' outburst. The left's immediate rallying around Rob Miller was a textbook netroots play, aided by ready-made infrastructure (an ActBlue page ready to accept contributions without crashing and display real-time feedback). For a Republican -- especially one deemed to be on the 'wrong' side of a PR war -- to have been competitive in money raised with a netroots Democrat is something that simply would not have happened in the [George W.] Bush years. [...] Finally, the [James] O'Keefe/[Hannah] Giles video bust of ACORN -- the right's biggest media coup since Rathergate -- showed the right to be getting its sea legs in investigative journalism, a space virtually patented by the left in recent years.

What we seem to be witnessing is the Feiler Faster Thesis in action, with a robust grassroots opposition to Obama, aided by the Internet, taking shape far more quickly than anyone could have predicted, and comparatively speaking, in a far more timely fashion than it took the left to gets its act together against Bush."

LEST WE FORGET: You Set 'Em Up, I Knock 'Em Down

From Overheard in New York:

Kid #1: It's so hard!
Kid #2: That's what she said!
(Kid #3 high fives Kid #2)
Kid #1: That sucked.
Kid #2: So does your mom!
Kid #3: Yeah! (high fives Kid #2)

Posted by Ian Faerstein at September 28, 2009 12:49 PM