Domestic terrorist James Adkisson sentenced to life
“Know This If Nothing Else: This Was A Hate Crime”
Progressives around the country can breathe a little easier today: James Adkisson has been sentenced to life behind bars for the deaths of Greg McKendry and Linda Kraeger, the Unitarian Universalist martyrs who died during his assault on their church in Knoxville, TN last July.
Many of us intuited at the time that Adkisson’s rampage was exactly the kind of rancid fruit that would inevitably take root in an American countryside thickly composted with two decades of hate radio bullshit, freshly turned and watered with growing middle-class frustration over the failing economy. That suspicion that was verified in the days that followed, when police searched Adkisson’s apartment and found it filled with books and newsletters penned by Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, and other right-wing hate talkers.
But yesterday, Adkisson told us himself – in his own words – just how central right-wing eliminationism was in driving him to his shooting spree. Shortly after he was sentenced yesterday, he released a four-page handwritten “manifesto” – which he’d intended to be his suicide note – to the Knoxville News. In it, he unleashes the full measure of his hatred for liberals – and encourages other would-be right-wing warriors to take up arms and follow him into battle.
Some choice excerpts:
“Know this if nothing else: This was a hate crime. I hate the damn left-wing liberals. There is a vast left-wing conspiracy in this country & these liberals are working together to attack every decent & honorable institution in the nation, trying to turn this country into a communist state. Shame on them….
“This was a symbolic killing. Who I wanted to kill was every Democrat in the Senate & House, the 100 people in Bernard Goldberg’s book. I’d like to kill everyone in the mainstream media. But I know those people were inaccessible to me. I couldn’t get to the generals & high ranking officers of the Marxist movement so I went after the foot soldiers, the chickenshit liberals that vote in these traitorous people. Someone had to get the ball rolling. I volunteered. I hope others do the same. It’s the only way we can rid America of this cancerous pestilence.”
“I thought I’d do something good for this Country Kill Democrats til the cops kill me….Liberals are a pest like termites. Millions of them Each little bite contributes to the downfall of this great nation. The only way we can rid ourselves of this evil is to kill them in the streets. Kill them where they gather. I’d like to encourage other like minded people to do what I’ve done. If life aint worth living anymore don’t just kill yourself. do something for your Country before you go. Go Kill Liberals.</em>
Proud of yourselves, Rush? Sean? O’Reilly? Because I’m betting this guy didn’t have Air America playing on the way to the church the day he decided to commit partisan murder. I’ve posted nearly 3000 items on this blog, a solid majority of them filled with outright loathing for the GOP and its assorted warmongering, treasonous sacs of pond scum, and never once did I advocate violence nor do I think anyone read what I wrote and shot anybody*. But this a-hole got all wound up listening to 24/7 extremist hate speech, drove to a church and shot people because they voted differently than he did. Sure, he is crazy…but the GOP and its serfs in the media actively court these lunatics. Image if the reverse had occurred- what if somebody shot up worshipers in one of those mega mall arena churches in Texas, and left behind a rant quoting Al Franken or Michael Moore? Fox News would speak of nothing else but “savage, crazed liburuls!” for a year. But this Adkisson guy? He’ll be noted in passing at best, and certainly nothing will be mentioned of his fervent devotion to the conservative cause.
*Now, it is true that I did call for our former president and his VP to be hung from the neck till dead. But that’s just the stated punishment for treason, not some sort of personal vendetta.
