Arkansas' Democratic Party Chairman Shot

Details are sparse at this time, but here's what's surfaced: A man in his 50s walked into the Little Rock, AK Democratic party headquarters and shot Bill Gwatney, Arkansas' Democratic party chairman. Gwatney is in critical condition. The assailant fled the scene in a blue Dodge pickup truck, but police later shot and apprehended him.Here's a link to the full story.

Now, this story is pretty fucked up on its own. But what's even more fucked up is the resultant bickering in the comments section of the story.

The first comment, posted at 12:30PM CST by msparky:

good lord what an idiot!!!!! i hope they find him and hang him at the capitol

Nine minutes later, Chele0017 makes the fourth post, stating:

He was probably a republican !!

agod2some follows up Chele's comment 6 minutes later:

Damn angry conservatives. You know, one shoots-up a church, and now this? *shakes head* A liberal would never do a thing like that.

At 12:51, twenty-one minutes after the story broke on THV's website, LRSmitty sheds light on a new angle:

Hate to hear that about anybody....hope he is alright. He's probably an Obama hater. I'm a Democrat and I don't trust that rotten S.O.B. either and don't want him as president, but I'm not about to shoot anybody, just going to vote Repulican as much as it hurts.

Ten minutes later, shoecarrot chimes in on a similar note:

This has nothing to do with party lines, but if you all want to bash republicans, I would be more inclined to believe a democrat did this than a republican, just look who you have running for president... I would be very upset if I were a democrap...

isalansdell, in response to no one in particular, says:

Its getting worse.People are scared. No one has the right to kill someone else.When a muslum is on t.v holding up a sign for obama you better bet your butt I am voting for someone else.

At 1:16 CST, LRSmitty is back:

I bet it was a democrat who hates terrorists and doesn't want one running for President in our own country.

Many comments also revolve around praying for Gwatney's health and recovery. One such poster, RichieRich1961, ends his or her post with:

Society is in a downward spiral. Mothers killing their babies...brothers killing brothers. What will it take to stop its further decline...I wish I knew.

A little over half an hour later, arkman870 responds:

RichieRich1961
I agree with you. The answer I believe is God. Our moral decay and religious lack of convictions. We do not have discipline anymore anywhere. There is none in the schools, their hands are tied. These things happen and we wonder why? We are not God fearing and have no discipline.

These comments, all these comments, are fucked up. We have people blindly assuming the shooter is conservative, we have people calling for a public lynching, we have people claiming Barack Obama is a terrorist or a "rotten S.O.B.," we have people lamenting America's fearlessness in God.

Thankfully, in the midst of the mindless chatter, HOGS8403 acts as the voice of reason. She or he posts several times, but this, I believe, is his or her definitive post. From a comment left at 1:22:

Come on people!! You people are what is wrong with this country. It has nothing to do with President Bush it has nothing to do with any politician, at least our politician's would not go around saying that it was the Democrats fault or it was the Republicans fault when a tragedy like this happens.

By the way, the commenting system THV implements allows for a "Recommend" option for each post. As of now, 4:48PM EST, here is the tally of "Recommend"s for some of the posts I've quoted above:

msparky's original post: 46
Chele0017: 25
LRSmitty: 3
HOGS8403: 8