Remember Everyone, It's Conservatives Who are Thuggish and Violent... Right?

Freedom Works assailed with death threats

As talk of the Tea Party continues to dominate the political discourse in the United States, it's hard to forget the effort that many among the United States' left wing went to in order to portray the Tea Party as thuggish and violent.

Yet in Washington, DC, Freedom Works, a group led by former Republican majority leader Dick Armey has been the target of numerous threats.

The group supports Tea Party activism.

"FreedomWorks and Dick Armey receive dozens of threatening and harassing calls and E-mails each day. Many imply violence and use of weapons," said Freedom Works spokesman Adam Brandon. "As we get closer to the election we expect the harassment to increase."

The group has responded by moving its headquarters to a more secure -- and more expensive -- location, and by hiring extra security.

However, that means that the group will have less money to spend on its Get Out the Vote efforts on election day.

"Unfortunately, we may have to use resources for security guards that we would rather use for GOTV," Brandon added.

Some of the threats are directed toward Freedom Works staff, or Tea Party figures. Others are directed toward conservative figures.

"Now, we are going to destroy and obliterate Rush [Limbaugh] and Sean Hannity," one callter threatened. "Those two guys are dead."

Unfortunately, this extra spending on security, and the diversion of funds away from their election-day activities was probably the ultimate goal of this intimidation campaign against the organization.

With things going badly for President Barack Obama, the left's desperation is beginning to show. This thuggish behaviour may be more of a symptom of that than a cause unto itself.