Murray faces death threats after health care vote

The right wing's latest attacks are downright deadly.

Back in February, we told you that Tea Party activists had called for Senator Patty Murray's hanging. Yesterday in Washington, an even scarier threat was made against the three-term U.S. senator. News outlets have reported that Charles Alan Wilson was charged with threatening a federal official for allegedly leaving death threats for Sen. Murray. Following her vote to pass health care reform, Wilson began contacting the senator's office, reportedly saying she "had a target on her back." This threat is all too eerie of an echo of Sarah Palin's gun sight styled map of Democrats she'd like to defeat in 2010 for voting for health care.

The full complaint from the U.S. attorney adds that Wilson allegedly called Sen. Murray's office and left messages multiple times between March 22 and April 4, 2010, telling the senator "I want to (expletive) kill you." Wilson also bragged to an undercover FBI agent about regularly carrying a gun and said that both Sen. Murray and Washington's junior senator, EMILY's List alum Maria Cantwell, "need to be strung up, and I mean put [in] the gallows."

Do we need to remind anyone that these actions cross the line? Sadly, this is just how out of touch the far-right fringe is. And the fear tactics and angry rhetoric currently being used by conservatives is only riling up the base -- and leading to frightening results.

Now more than ever, our women need to know we have their backs. Sen. Murray could be headed for a tough re-election fight this November now that two-time gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi is seriously considering jumping in to the race for the GOP.