People For The American Way: Pima County Sheriff Clarence W. Dupnik, the most visible law enforcement official handling the incident thus far, has come under attack from the Right for speaking the truth. He has acknowledged that the Tucson gunman, Jared Loughner, appears to be a deeply disturbed individual. But the sheriff has rightly noted that the increased inflammatory and violent rhetoric over the last several years in our national political debate has created a dangerous climate that could contribute to senseless acts of violence like this one, which claimed the lives of six innocent people and injured 12 more.
Voices on the Right are now accusing him of politicizing the tragedy. How long until Sheriff Dupnik is featured on Glenn Beck’s chalkboard?
It’s important that when someone gets smeared and attacked for telling the truth, we stand up to defend them. If you would like to show your support for Sheriff Dupnik, please take a moment to sign a letter solidarity with him against the increasing smears he is facing from the Right.
Dear Sheriff Dupnik,
Thank you for your forthrightness in your public discussion of the recent tragedy in Tucson. It’s painfully clear that angry, hateful and, yes, violent rhetoric has made toxic our national political discourse. The overheated debate which crosses the boundaries of civility is an important reality to acknowledge in assessing the nature of Saturday’s massacre and potential for future acts of violence.
For telling the hard truths, you risk attack from some powerful people and interests. Please know that I stand in solidarity with you, and reject the wholly undeserved smears and attempts at character assassination which are already starting to bubble up in certain spheres of our political debate.
Signed….
Send the letter from here
Thank you Sarah for passing on the link
Sheriff Clarence Dupnik: “The kind of rhetoric that flows from people like Rush Limbaugh, in my judgment he is irresponsible, uses partial information, sometimes wrong information. He attacks people, angers them against government, angers them against elected officials and that kind of behavior in my opinion is not without consequences.”
“I don’t have a problem with heated arguments. As a matter of fact you are kind of getting a little heat out of me now, and it is because I am very angry at what has transpired. Not because it’s Tucson, Arizona, but because of two beautiful people – one almost dead and one assassinated – that were personal friends of mine (Gabrielle Giffords and U.S. District Judge John Roll) and outstanding individuals and public servants.”
The Obama Diary 
Thank you Sarah and Chipsticks. I’ve signed the petition and wish I could do more. The sheriff is going to continue to be vilified for his truth-saying and so needs as much support as possible from the other side.
Thanks for posting this – knew I’d picked the right place.
Thank you so much for the link Sarah, really appreciate it – I’m just thrilled people are making their support for Sheriff Dupnik known. Thanks again.
Rethuglicans always attack anyone who speaks the truth and this honest sheriff is no exception. It’s what they do. It’s what bullies do. And Rethuglicans are bullies. Fear and hatred are their calling cards. Violence is the inevitable result.
If anyone tells you that this massacre was just some deranged lunatic and it had nothing to do with politics, please respond by pointing out that this insane person made plans to kill this particular person for her political affiliations and nothing else. If he was just a lunatic with no political agenda, why didn’t he just randomly open fire ANYWHERE? How about the community college that threw him out? How about from some rooftop into a crowd? Why, indeed, did he single out this particular event with this particular DEMOCRATIC congresswoman and her constituents? No other reason than a political agenda to assasinate an elected DEMOCRATIC public servant.
Targeting politicians with rifle sights, using words like “take them out,” making campaign speeches about “Second Amendment remedies” if the ballot box doesn’t give them what they want is WHY insane people take this kind of action. They’ve been given marching orders from these fanatics and this particularly insane person acted on those orders.
The Rethuglicans own this massacre. Hook, line and, now tragically, sinker.
The key word here is “Bullying” tactics left over from the previous administration. If one thinks that the bullying that takes place in schools is deplorable look where those kids get it from. The world breathed a giant sigh of relief from bullying when Pres Cheney (OOPS,I mean Pres Bush)left office
Petition signed 😉
Thank you Sarah and Chipsticks, I’ve signed the petition and forwarded it to others so that they may sign it too.
just signed, thanks
I signed also. I have been so appreciative of the sheriff’s blunt truth-telling.
Signed, thank you Chipsticks. Very proud of this Sheriff.. also lets not forget Congresswoman Giffords’ own father made it clear that his daughter had been harrassed by the right/ tea party… I suspect it will not be long before he too is verbally harassed. Sheriff Dupnik KNOWS whats going on in his own county.. he knows how hate radio and political rhetoric are being acted out by folks in his own county- long before this Saturday’s events occurred.
Signed, sealed and delivered. How could the assassination attempt of a sitting Congresswoman NOT be political????
Have posted the petition address to 3 other sites. What a wonderful way to show we support the Sheriff.
Signed it earlier today.
signed
Thank you for this info. I tried to contact the good Sheriff all day but Primaoounty.org have not been
loading for me. Makes me sad and fearful for him because I can just imagine what the right wingers are flooding the site with. Poor guy. I thank him so much for saying what needs to be said. I am praying for him.
*http://pimasheriff.org/
I went to the Pima County Sheriff web site and sent him an email expressing my appreciation for his courage. The right does this all of the time. They do things they know are wrong, and when someone has the courage to stand up to them, they attack him. I’m standing behind Sheriff Dupnik the same way I’m standing behind the president. When I was a little girl we used to sing a song in church, “I Shall Not Be Moved.” I’m using the title of this song as my newly established principle to aid me in my resolve to not back down from the evil coming out of the GOP. I will stand firm against it.
Is anyone with me on this?
Yep Maji.. I shall not be moved either.
Thanks, sherijr,
Sometimes the only way to deal with evil is to confront it. We’ve been nice enough for long enough. It’s time to lift our voices loud enough to get the attention of the GOP and the MSM. I’m going down to my local Democratic party headquarters before the end of the week and try to set up a rally to protest this kind of ugliness.
I agree wholeheartedly maji.
100% with you Majii, the only ray of light to have come out of this horror is Clarence Dupnik, he is an extraordinarily honest and courageous man who is now, naturally, a target of the right’s hate. But it is people like him who give us hope.
Petition signed, and thanks to your tip Majii, I also sent a note of gratitude and support to Sheriff Dupnik and those serving and protecting Pima County. I think I’ll fire off an e-mail to Jon Kyl, who advantageoulsy politicized Sheriff Dupnik’s sincere and heart felt comments.
Done.
Besides signing the petition to Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, I also sent him a letter of gratitude at Pima Sheriffs site.
Thanks Sarah and Chipsticks for the information.
barb
I’m not an American citizen, so I don’t really think it is appropriate to sign the petition. However, it does shock me that this man’s 30 years in the job of sheriff and 50 years in law enforcement don’t garner a single shred of respect in the minds of people who didn’t want to hear what he had to say.
I’m not suggesting that the poisonous political rhetoric was a causative factor in the recent shootings, and I don’t think the sheriff was suggesting it either. I think he was speaking to contributory factors. I feel anyone with that length of time in the job, and that wealth of experience has a perfect right to offer his expert opinion on the social atmosphere in his county.
I’m glad there are people in the world of his stature and dedication to the office who have the courage to offer up their views. They are informed and worth considering. Whether you agree with him or not.
There will be a gathering today @ Sheriff Dupnik’s office on the old Benson hwy in Tucson to. Show him our support.
@ 3pm
Peace-out
Here is an interesting article about the Sheriff
http://wp.me/p1rn8I-2T