Ron Johnson Tolerates Threat Against Sen. Feingold on Facebook:
The Ron Johnson campaign has repeatedly attempted to claim the moral high ground in this contest by giving Russ, one of the most ethical and honorable members of the Senate, their own new and laughable nickname.
But if it's "dirt" they are looking for, perhaps they are better off looking at the putrid, wretched slime emanating from their own supporters and tolerated by their campaign.
A cursory review of only the last 2 weeks of comments by Ron Johnson supporters on his official Facebook "Wall" - a venue which could easily be moderated by campaign staff - range from run of the mill profanity, to borderline slurs, to outright violent threats. (The below were all publicly viewable as of October 13, 2010.)
Insults like:
And stronger ones like:"anyone with one working brain cell in their head knows feingold is an a$$hole"
"All Feingold did was pander to the "takers". He comes off as a too slick used car salesman trying to get you to buy a twice wrecked, flooded out pile of junk with the odometer turned back. Piece of s**t..."
Ugly, borderline religiously motivated slurs like this are also tolerated by Ron Johnson's staff:
"Class warfare from the Dumbs again? Truly, have you nothing else but that argument and if I'm not mistaken didn't Feingold get huge donations from some rich people from the west coast (Speilberg, Weinstein)?"
As are similarly ugly accusations that Sen. Feingold is "on welfare or crack":
"Did Feingold really say that producers are "better than the rest of us"??? I hardly know what to say.... I guess he's on welfare... :-) or Crack"
But worst are the outright threats - threats tolerated by Johnson's campaign staff.
One Johnson supporter laments that he did not do bodily harm to Sen. Feingold - as he apparently intended - at one of Russ' listening sessions this past winter:
"I will NEVER forget Feingold rolling his eyes at the "listening sessions", when person after person was telling him we did not want Obamacare. If I could have gotten my hands on him then, we would not have to be concerned with him now."
And just in case that threat wasn't explicit enough, the supporter repeats it again:
"I remember that little weasel rolling his eyes as person after person told him that we did not want Obamacare. I said it before, and I'll say it again; If I would have been able to get at him that day, we would not have to be concerned about him today."
Let's make sure we understand the context of these comments, and what type of campaign is reflected by them. This is a multi-millionaire candidate, largely unknown until months ago, who has quickly and happily become a central part of a national extremist movement that threatens violence and stokes racial resentment as key elements of their political strategy.
Ron Johnson is now a national leader in that movement.
Is that really the type of representation Wisconsin wants in the Senate?