Socialist U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (VT) Uses AZ Shooting to Raise Funds for Re-Election

(By Meredith Jessup, Mediaite) - 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?”