Camels With Hammers has put up a powerful series of images of women who have been disfigured by acid in response to comments made on Facebook by Jay Townsend, spokesperson for Rep. Nan Hayworth (R-NY). Do not click through if you are squeamish.

A spokesman for Rep. Nan Hayworth (R-N.Y.) is facing criticism after advocating violence against female Democratic senators in a Facebook post. Jay Townsend, the official campaign spokesman for the freshman representative, went on a vicious online rant on Saturday, which he began by taunting a constituent who voiced criticism about an earlier post on gas prices. “Listen to Tom. What a little bee he has in his bonnet. Buzz Buzz,” Townsend wrote. “My question today… when is Tommy boy going to weigh in on all the Lilly Ledbetter hypocrites who claim to be fighting the War on Women? Let’s hurl some acid at those female democratic Senators who won’t abide the mandates they want to impose on the private sector.”

How did this happen to the Republican Party? They used to be the Small-Government Party. But ever since Christian extremists infected the GOP and took over, it has become the Government-In-Your-Bedroom Party and the We-Hate-Women-Who-Have-Sex-And-Speak-Up-For-Themselves Party. They’ve become more daring and unfiltered in their efforts to derail the separation of church and state in a genuine effort to establish a Christian theocracy. It’s surreal to watch.

It’s difficult to find the words to describe my shock at what Mr. Townsend has said. To speak so casually about disfiguring violence against those you disagree with you goes so far beyond civil discourse. And his choice of violence is telling. Throwing acid on people is a strategy used by the Taliban to punish girls who go to school and by Christians in Nigeria against children accused of being witches.

This kind of speech is not protected speech. Calling for voters to throw acid in the faces of senators… isn’t that a crime? How is that not a crime? Even if it was intended as a sick joke, such language could be taken seriously by extremists who gravitate towards this kind of violent rhetoric. Mr. Townsend’s words were recklessly incendiary.



