Two Virginia Tea Party activists posted what they said was Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA)'s home address Monday, urging people upset over health care reform to go "drop by" and "express their thanks" for the Democrat's "yea" vote. The next day, the house — which actually belongs to Perriello's brother, Bo — was vandalized; the FBI and local authorities are investigating a severed propane line that Bo and his family say they discovered on their screened-in porch Tuesday. (Watch Tom Perriello's comments on the incident.) While no charges have been filed, some commentators are alleging that Tea Partiers have taken political activism too far:
This was a clear "assassination attempt": Venting a flammable gas at what you're told is a politician's home "has to be viewed flatly as terrorism and political violence," says Jeff Fecke in Alas a Blog. Conservatives need to strongly warn Tea Partiers that violence isn't justified, since they've spent a year whipping up hysteria that health care reform is "literally a communist plot to destroy America."
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