Socialist U.S. Senator Uses AZ Shooting to Raise Funds for Re-Election

Socialist U.S. Senator Uses AZ Shooting to Raise Funds for Re-Election; Meredith Jessup; The Blaze

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., sent out a fundraising email to supporters Tuesday in which he offered his personal analysis of last weekend’s shooting in Arizona, tying the tragedy to “right-wing reactionaries,” despite offering no evidence that the shooter, Jared Loughner, even followed politics or conservative causes.

The Vermont senator, a self-proclaimed socialist who caucuses with the Democratic Party, cited past acts of vandalism at Rep. Gabrielle Giffords‘ district office after last year’s health care overhaul vote, as well as Sarah Palin’s now-infamous “crosshairs” map.

“In light of all of this violence – both actual and threatened – is Arizona a state in which people who are not Republicans are able to participate freely and fully in the democratic process?” asks Sanders. “Have right-wing reactionaries, through threats and acts of violence, intimidated people with different points of view from expressing their political positions?”

Sanders called Saturday’s Tucson shooting a “horrendous act of violence,“ but suggested that ”nobody can honestly express surprise that such a tragedy finally occurred.”

When pressed about why the senator would use the Arizona tragedy to solicit donations from his political supporters, Sanders’ spokesperson defended the message, claiming that Sanders regularly sends out such letters to his supporters.

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