Modbert
Daydream Believer
- Sep 2, 2008
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The backlash: Reform turns personal - Jake Sherman and Marin Cogan - POLITICO.com
Reps. Louise Slaughter and Bart Stupak have received death threats.
A tea party participant published what he thought was Rep. Thomas Perriellos home address and urged disgruntled voters to drop by for a good face-to-face chat.
Vandals broke windows at Slaughters office in New York and Rep. Gabrielle Giffordss office in Arizona.
And angry voters are planning to protest this weekend at the home of Steve Driehaus whos already seen a photograph of his children used in a newspaper ad published by reform opponents.
The vitriolic health care debate has become personal too personal, say House Democrats who voted for the bill and now find not just themselves but their families in the cross hairs of opponents.
Slaughter, a Democrat who chairs the House Rules Committee, said a caller to her office last week vowed to send snipers to kill the children of the members who voted yes. Her office reported the call to police, who were dispatched to provide protection for Slaughters grandchildren. She has also been in touch with the FBI and U.S. Postal Service inspectors, who intercepted a letter en route to her home in upstate New York.
Stupak, the Michigan Democrat whose last-minute compromise on abortion guaranteed passage of the bill Sunday, said callers have left messages for him saying, Youre dead; we know where you live; well get you.
But Democrats said their political opponents go too far when they bring members families into the fray.
Driehaus, a Democrat from Ohio, was outraged last week when a group called the Committee to Rethink Reform used a photo of him and his two young daughters in a newspaper ad urging him to vote against any health care reform bill that included federal funding for abortion. Both the group and the newspaper the Cincinnati Enquirer apologized for including Driehauss daughters in the ad.
And Rep. Dennis Cardoza, a Blue Dog Democrat from California, said hes gotten physical threats over health care reform.
There are some folks that identified themselves as being members of the tea party [who] called, [and] my staff has gotten to know their names over time, and they have been very loud and very ugly, Cardoza said.