From The Hill:
At her weekly news conference, Pelosi (D-Calif.) was asked if she was concerned about whether the debate over healthcare and the role of the federal government — much of it wrapped in escalating anti-government rhetoric — could lead to acts of violence.
“I think we all have to take responsibility for our actions and our words. We are a free country and this balance between freedom and safety is one that we have to carefully balance,” Pelosi began.
But she then reached back some 30 years, to the very beginning of her career in politics, to recall how heated rhetoric led to the assassinations of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk by a disgruntled former supervisor on Nov. 27, 1978.
“I have concerns about some of the language that is being used because I saw … I saw this myself in the late ’70s in San Francisco,” Pelosi said, choking up and with tears forming in her eyes. “This kind of rhetoric is just, is really frightening and it created a climate in which we, violence took place and … I wish that we would all, again, curb our enthusiasm in some of the statements that are made.”
Following the press conference, Pelosi aides confirmed that she was referencing the Milk and Moscone assassinations, which coincided with a wave of politically driven violence throughout the city.
When Dan White murdered George Moscone and Harvey Milk it had NOTHING to do with political rhetoric. White was angry because Moscone rejected his request to be reappointed to the Board of Supervisors. The only other notable political violence in that period was the 1979 “White Night Riots” which were an expression of outrage by the San Francisco gay community over the lenient sentence White received for the murders.
BTW – Dan White was a Democrat.
UPDATE:
Was Nancy P. referring to protests surrounding the “Briggs Initiative?” From Capitol Briefing:
The House Republicans’ top campaign chief strongly denounced Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s comments that appeared to question whether today’s angry conservative protests were similar to anti-gay rallies in the late 1970s that preceded the assassination of two San Francisco political leaders.
Rep. Pete Sessions (Texas), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said Pelosi crossed the line when she related the rhetoric of anti-gay protesters in San Francisco in 1978 — the year Harvey Milk, the first openly gay member of the city’s board of supervisors, and his political ally, Mayor George Moscone, were killed by former supervisor Dan White — to that of contemporary conservatives while answering a question about the protests against President Obama’s health-care proposals.
The 1978 Briggs Initiative (Proposition 6) would have banned gays and lesbians from working in public schools. Even Ronnie Raygun opposed it and it was overwhelmingly defeated. I don’t recall there being many Prop 6 supporters in the SF Bay Area – it originated in SoCal. Nor do I recall any violent rhetoric being associated with either side of the campaign.
In any event, it had nothing to do with the Moscone/Milk murders.
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Filed under: General | Tagged: Dan White, George Moscone, Harvey Milk, Nancy Pelosi |
The Confluence 
At least she didn’t use the “r” word. Some consolation.
Maybe not, but, vixtim was clearly the theme, poor Obama it’s not that he and we for supporting him are untalented, it is they the evil ones being mean again boo hoo etc. I have no clue if her emote was real or acting, nor do I care, she and her House leadership have cried wolf to many times and displayed some of the most aggressive rhetoric starting with the Clinton’s as racist that she has lost, for me at least, her creditability no longer believable
Ditto ditto ditto.
Poor weepy Nancy seems to forget that she is the one who flung the word “Nazi” to label the protesters. Quite the diplomat. Can you imagine Hillary saying that about protesting citizens?
More from The Hill:
I think the rhetoric of the early nineties was worse, and it led directly to the Oklahoma City bombing.
I still remember bumper stickers from the sixties and early seventies that said “America – love it or leave it!”
Actually, I’m trying to recall any significant political violence anywhere in the country during the late seventies.
That was the post-Vietnam, post-Nixon, Disco era. There was criminal violence (Son of Sam) and cult violence (Jonestown) but politically things were fairly calm.
Thanks, as usual, Myiq for an excellent take on the nonsense, and a perfect squelch.
White’s actions were a vendetta. The only political aspect was that it involved politicians.
Am I correct, in my rememberance, that White used a “twinkie” defense?
You are correct – the legal term was “diminished capacity” and it has since been abolished.
Hey, that describes the new Democratic party. Diminished capacity. Can we ban them too?
They think this is harsher than the attacks directed at Bill and Hillary Clinton? Give me a break!
I think they largely agreed with the attacks on Bill and Hillary, so that makes these seem worse.
sigh…everyone else must be sleeping. I feel
Cleve Jones’ reaction to Pelosi’s comments (Maddow starts interviewing him at around the 5:20 mark…)
Notice that Maddow describes Dan White as “conservative” — yet he was a Democrat?
I don’t know if White had enough of a record to determine whether or not he was a conservative.
Regardless of where he was on the political spectrum, the important news item if it is relevant or not is the fact that he was a fellow Democrat. So to say he was conservative is obviously chosen in this context to imply he was in the opposing party just like the current protesting Republicans.
If you saw “Milk” ( and I highly recommend it) he was portrayed in the movie as a conservative democrat.
A SF Democrat—which in the broad scheme of SF politics, does not a conservative make.
Listen carefully to their words for the hidden truths. It’s right in front of us.
Yeah, the riots followed the murders not vice versa. This is ridiculous.
Nancy, please get to work and stop mooning idiots.
Amen!
Joan Walsh:
Permanently disabled liberal politics where? San Francisco?
WTF?
It was in San Francisco where Obama made his fundraising remarks behind the Democratic primary voters back after all, calling them bitter and clinging to guns and religion and xenophobia because of economic frustration, while he conflated the Clinton years with the Bush years. That is some disabled liberal politics right there if you ask me.
He kept talking about the “Bush-Clinton years.” As if there was such a thing. I can’t believe how many otherwise smart people fell for that bs.
What Joe Wilson did wasn’t cool (though compared to Britain’s house it was so mild, and wouldn’t even have been noticed there) but sometimes when I think about that man, all that comes to mind are the words liar, liar, liar.
No kidding. Did a lobotomizing energy burst pass over these folks while we were spared for some reason?
Maybe my Hillary for President cap had protective features of which I was unaware….
I don’t remember seeing so many supposed liberals so delusional as I’ve seen over the last year or two. And it isn’t getting any better.
Yeah. I think they’ve created some divisions where there were none before too.
That’s an understatement given their new definition of racism. Every time they I think they can’t get lower or more delusional, they come right back with another whopper. Between these two parties, I think we have a running contest of who can be more batshit crazy and delusional. It’s a close race.
lol–so true!
It all started with calling the Clintons racists.
On CNN last week I think, they were talking about the ACORN videos could be doctored and saying how unlike Fox they have to fact-check everything before they air it. I was wondering where there fact-checking was all the months that Donna B was not labeled as an Obama supporter and Paul Begala and James Carville were listed as Hillary supporters.
LOL, they have to fact check. That’s pretty funny. CNN wouldn’t know a fact if it bit them on the ass. And sadly they’re marginally better than the other two cable joke news channels.
the one that gets me is that they STILL refer to the Obama’s yard and driveway in Chicago as a separate lot. Obama’s pay to play behavior in Chicago was totally ignored.
Did nancy shed any tears over Katrina?
Isn’t that the standard for women in politics when they cry?
Why no outcry over the violence at the caucuses during the primaries? Aorn and others were not even held accountable when it was documented .
Nancy can cry me a river. She never once stood up to be counted when she should have done so. Her name calling of citizens protesting a little understood and a lot not trusted health bill sort makes her speech hypocritical.
WOMEN WITH INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERIENCE,MEN WHO SUPPORT THEM AND COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY ALWAYS
PUMAS,BUBBAS,EQUALISTS AND THOSE PEOPLE RULE
Right.
Ironic, she’s using the horrendous Milk murders as an example of scary political times. I guess she’s forgotten that that was a time when Dems were in control, the system was full of corruption, and a disgruntled Dem committed an atrocity. She’s trying to rewrite history and imply that the scary Right was so opposed to Dem policies that they became violent.
This whole nightmare came in the wake of Jonestown which had recently relocated from San Francisco. Jonestown was of course another experiment in the joys of socialist utopias. Let’s not forget that Democratic San Francisco Mayor George Moscone appointed Jim Jones to the city’s housing authority. Willie Brown, who later served as Democratic Speaker of the California Assembly, in 1976 introduced Jones as a combination Martin Luther King, Angela Davis, Albert Einstein and Chairman Mao. Jimmy Carter wrote to Jones saying: “Knowing your commitment and compassion, your interest in protecting individual liberty and freedom have made an outstanding contribution to furthering the cause of human dignity.” Walter Mondale said: “Knowing of your congregation’s deep involvement in the major social and constitutional issues of our country is a great inspiration to me.”
More than 900 people were killed at Jonestown, including Dem Congressman Leo Ryan, followed closely by the horrendous assassination of Harvey Milk and Mayor Moscone by yet another Democrat, Dan White.
This entire tragedy has nothing to do with potential right wing violence. If anything it’s an example of how crazy and bizarre politics can be on the other side of the political aisle.
Interesting that it’s perfectly fine for her to talk about assassinations and political violence, but when Hillary brought it up in relation to the length of the primaries, she was automatically a racist and secretly wished Obama would be assassinated so she could get her hands on the prize.
I’m tired of the double standard.
if I agreed with the republicans on more than one or two issues I would become one. That is how disappointed I am with democrats.
Me too.
I can barely stomach watching what was my party for 2 decades plus some.
I must admit that for years they have seemed spineless to me, and my enthusiasm was waning until Hillary stepped up and I thought we might have a chance of giving the Dems some backbone.
There is no need for fact checking because the Ministry of Truth creates the facts AND can change them at will.
Well, I know it’s pointing out the bloody obvious but Nancy Pelosi is a world-class idiot.
The guilty dog barks. Did Pelosi think she was toning down that rhetoric when she spoke of the town hall disruptors as unAmerican? While I agree that some of those disruptions WERE to shut down discussion, by using the term un-American, she herself was adding fuel to the fire. I guess she doesn’t remember those opposing the war being called traitors and unAmerican. And yeah, the Clinton years seem to have disappeared into thin air. Hypocrite.