The race for the Democratic nomination has officially gotten ugly.
In neighboring Norristown, Pa. last Thursday, Jose Ortiz stabbed his brother-in-law, Sean Shurelds, after a political dispute while the two were watching the Democratic debate. Shurelds, an Obama supporter, complained that Clinton was “trashing” Barack unfairly. Ortiz, a staunch Clinton backer, took offense. Shurelds recalls the conversation as follows:
Shurelds: Obama is winning this thing!
Ortiz: He can’t win, be realistic.
Shurelds: Let’s see how realistic you are when he wins.
With that brilliant last retort, there’s no doubt that Shurelds won the war of words. But Ortiz, whose candidate proclaims she is a “fighter“, then took matters into his own hands by plunging a kitchen knife into his brother-in-law’s stomach. Shurelds sustained spleen, lung and diaphragm injuries. Ortiz is in county jail and if convicted of felony assault, could face a more serious injury: disenfranchisement.
(Perhaps more bizarre than his behavior is how adamantly Ortiz bucks the demographic trends of the race. He’s a 28 year-old registered Republican, which is noteworthy because Senator Obama has been winning over both Republicans and younger voters consistently.)
While it is nice to see Pennsylvania voters so engaged in this historic election, this story definitely takes political action a bit too far. Let this be a warning to the warring Democratic factions at Penn that violence is not the answer.
Well, at least until the general election.
Tags: Clinton, kitchen knives, Obama
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