Long Before the Tiller Assassination
Frederick Clarkson printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Thu Dec 31, 2009 at 09:44:34 PM EST
I had to dip back into 2008 for the story I want to tell about the asassination of Dr. George Tiller last summer, as my final post for 2009. The ideology and culture of rightwing violence often exists side-by-side with mainstream conservatism -- and there is hardly a better example than the story that surfaced during the 2008 presidential campaign, about how Shelly Shannon, the woman convicted of the 1993 attempted murder of Dr. Tiller was in effect, celebrated by the then-Vice-Chair of the Oregon GOP while John McCain stood by.

Raw Story reports that John McCain, against the advice of wiser heads, addressed a conference of the far right Oregon Citizens Alliance in the early 90s. He should have listened.

The speaker just prior to McCain publicly expressed sympathy for Shelly Shannon, who then stood accused (and was eventually convicted) of the attempted murder of Dr. George Tiller of Wichita, Kansas -- as well as carrying out a multi-state spree of clinic arsons across the West.

Shelly Shannon also considered herself a soldier in the underground terror organization, Army of God, which views Shannon as a "hero of the faith" and a "Warrior Soldier in the