Has George Zimmerman Become A Right Wing Folk Hero?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

26 votes, 1 pass | Time left: Unlimited
	Yes
	22 (85%)
	No
	4 (15%)
	1 DU member did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[Lucinda]

1. Nope. I think he served as an "useful idiot" for the Rep gun crowd. They'd never make a Dem

a folk hero.

[name not needed]

2. They need someone to look up to now that James Earl Ray is dead.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. And Joseph Paul Franklin is still incarcerated/nt

[grasswire]

3. no, he's pretty much a cipher.

A hero to no one.

[HappyMe]

5. RW NRA poster boy hero.

Kind of disgusts me.

[Hoyt]

6. I think FOX news loves Z, and plenty of folks sent him support. Racist Randy Weaver is rwing martyr

Teddy Nugent. . . . . .

[aikoaiko]

7. A lot of people on the right leaning gun boards think he is a dangerous asshat.

Asshat is the phrase I see most often.

[Hoyt]

12. Go there often?

[mwrguy]

14. It's just for research, I swear

LOL

[aikoaiko]

17. well every time there is an interest in a firearm tech group,

the anti-gunsters say to go elsewhere to an existing group.

So we do.

[aikoaiko]

16. Yes, I go for the info on firearms not the politics.

That's what DU is for.

[NoGOPZone]

49. are there any left leaning gun boards? nt

[aikoaiko]

57. Not many and none with the depth of expertise I'm looking for

[Skittles]

8. he is a hero for gun humping racist cowards

most of whom are right wing

[Nye Bevan]

9. I don't frequent the RW websites,

so I don't know.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. Just turn on FOX. He's their 21st century Wyatt Earp/nt

[Nye Bevan]

11. No thanks nt

[DemocratSinceBirth]

18. He might get his own show/nt

[hrmjustin]

13. All you have to do is turn on Fox and see they have made him a saint.

[Spirochete]

15. Maybe, till the first time he does something to annoy them in any way

Then he'll just be "that stupid spic"

[MNBrewer]

19. how would I know?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

20. Ronald Reagan is a right wing hero.

You really don't need to be a genius to divine these things.

[MNBrewer]

43. Yes, Reagan is, isn't he?

How does that relate in even a small way to the case of Zimmerman?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

47. They seem to be popular in the same circles, aren't they?/nt

[MNBrewer]

48. They might be

I wouldn't know. I don't run with that crowd.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

50. No need to run with them. Do I have to be a soccer fan to know David Beckham was popular?/nt

[MNBrewer]

52. I don't care what the right wingers think, why would I research their heroes?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

53. Advanced research is superfluous. The fact can be divined by the most casual of observations/nt

[MNBrewer]

55. then what is the purpose of this idiotic poll?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

56. You seem mad. Have a nice day./nt

[Coyotl]

21. That's like asking is the wingnut gun-toting crowd trying to legitimize racism.

In this context, one wonders about the true impact of all the media attention on this particular case.

[XemaSab]

22. I'm FASCINATED

by the narrative being spun by both sides.

Zimmerman and Trayvon both seem to be perfect blanks that both sides are projecting all their socioeconomic and racial anxieties onto.

There are people here totally denying that there was even a fight and disregarding all the testimony and evidence in the trial to make it sound like Z set out that night to go kill a black kid and chased down and shot Trayvon from afar, and then Z and the cops and the witnesses together colluded to falsify a self defense claim.

There are people on the right who are making it sound like Trayvon was this vicious thug who set out to beat up Zimmerman, and Zimmerman was this wide-eyed naif who just happened to be out for a walk in the same place as Trayvon.

Based on my understanding of what happened and the personalities involved, they were two flawed people who ran into each other at the wrong place and time. Zimmerman's cowardice led him to chase down Trayvon, and Trayvon flipped out and started wailing on him.

Trayvon wasn't a saint, he was a normal kid who had some problems but who was minding his own business at the time. Zimmerman's not the devil, he's just a garden-variety busybody with a gun.

Zimmerman was responsible because he had the gun and he set out looking for trouble instead of waiting for the cops, and he ran into a kid who was not afraid to fight him. Zimmerman was the one screaming on the tape, and it's the sound of a desperate man who knows he's getting his ass kicked and he's powerless to stop it.

Manslaughter or negligent homicide would have been a just verdict if the prosecution had proven its case, but poor witnesses and a lack of evidence meant that there was a possibility that Zimmerman was fearing for his life when he pulled the trigger. Whether or not he should have actually feared for his life or not, I don't see how the jury could have found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

[Hoyt]

27. Well Zman trained as a fighter, carried a gun, thought he was a policeman, and sounded like a

bigot on the 911 call. When, he left home to go to the Target, he took his gun. A black kid on a Sunday evening at 7:00 PM caught his eye, and made him mad. How can that not be morally wrong, and illegal?

[XemaSab]

28. Morally wrong? Maybe

But training as a fighter, carrying a gun, joining the neighborhood watch, being a bigot, calling the cops, and following a kid walking down the street aren't illegal.

[Hoyt]

30. They are steps that any murderous bigot takes. Sorry, you have to look at the big picture in these

type cases. Zman was a bigoted monster, ready and prepared to kill. He did. Luckily for him, a bunch of bigoted gun lovers had written the law in 2005 so that he got away.

[XemaSab]

35. Lemme tell you about my grandfather

He served in World War II, he played football, he used to box, he dropped the n-bomb like it was going out of style, he owned a bunch of guns, he called the cops on his trashy neighbors all the time, and he had a concealed carry permit and he would pack heat going to the grocery store.

God, the other day my aunt's husband was telling me that the first time he met my grandpa, grandpa was wearing a shirt that said, "I support the PLO."

By your logic, he was taking the "steps that any murderous bigot takes."

This is the same shitty "logic" that leads to "Trayvon smoked a j so that makes him a crip."

[Hoyt]

37. Look, the Zman obviously wanted to hurt, or kill someone -- he worked hard at preparing for it.

Here's a little story for you.

When I grew up, this guy used to run for political office. He always declared he was not a racist, although his photos and words made it obvious. He was later convicted of bombing a black church in Alabama. I suppose he was like your grandpa in some way, because his speeches were filled with "N______s and J__s." I'm assuming that the PLO bit means your grandpa was an anti-Semite. If not, please disregard.

[XemaSab]

42. Bombing a church is illegal

Being a garden variety racist isn't illegal, it's just a sign of bad character.

When you study a martial art, are you preparing to attack or are you preparing to defend?

Both, depending on the circumstances.

Saying that Z took martial arts because he was preparing to hurt or kill someone can't be determined without knowing his mental state.

And the cops told him to get a gun to protect himself from loose pit bulls in the neighborhood.

[libodem]

29. If Zimmerman

Were truely innocent he would have testified in his own behalf. All the jury could do was find him not guilty by a reasonable doubt. He lied to create that doubt.


If anyone had tried to hang on to that big slippery head, it would have left some thumb marks, or ear damage, or a blood spattered sidewalk embeded with scraped off skin. Where were the x-rays of this "broken" nose, the follow up visits, the blood spattered shirt. He should have soaked both of them with blood.
You go pound a wet 13 lb.bowling ball into the sidewalk 30 times. You don't get to put your fingers in the holes. Hold it like a basketball, get on your knees, lean over. Pound that thing like you are mad. See if you don't slip and get a finger. Travon's hands were pristine. No skin under the nails.
Zimmerman may have given himself a bloody FN nose. It saved him 30 years. He has NO conscience. He was never sorry. It was never an accident. People go to prison for an accidental death. This was deliberate. Instigated. And carried out by one responsible party.

And it wasn't Travon.

[XemaSab]

32. "If Zimmerman Were truely innocent he would have testified in his own behalf."

Defendants rarely testify.

I'm also FASCINATED by how many people are happy to change the legal system when it delivers a verdict they don't like. If defendants were compelled to testify, a lot more innocent people would wind up in prison.

I don't like the verdict, but I understand how the jury got there.

[libodem]

36. I'm relieved to know you didn't like the verdict

Thank you for that. You are just more generous to the
justice system than I can be at this time. Too many botched and tainted evidence gathering problems for me to accept that the police didn't help fix the get out of jail free, outcome.

I'm bitterly disappointed. Heartbroken.

[yardwork]

33. Thanks for summing up how I feel about this case.

This is pretty much exactly what I think happened:

There are people here totally denying that there was even a fight and disregarding all the testimony and evidence in the trial to make it sound like Z set out that night to go kill a black kid and chased down and shot Trayvon from afar, and then Z and the cops and the witnesses together colluded to falsify a self defense claim.

[LWolf]

23. Other: IDK.

I have not talked nor listened to the RW re TM.

[treestar]

24. Undoubtedly

I've heard several right wingers defend him. But what he did stands for the way they would like the world to be. He did what they'd like to do.

[RB TexLa]

25. Until he kills a white

Then they will begin calling him Jorge and questioning his legal status.

[Hoyt]

31. +1.

[yardwork]

34. So true. /nt

[Tom Ripley]

40. +1000

[rppper]

59. Agreed....he's like this months version....

.....of the chi-fil-a eat ins the wing nuts pulled last year....the eat ins have long since went the way of Romney, and I and millions of others still don't eat there....

Honestly, i think he'll kill someone again...he has an out..."my noteriety put me in jeopardy" excuse, but I don't think anyone will buy what he's selling a second time around....

[cigsandcoffee]

26. They're more anti-Trayvon Martin than pro-George Zimmerman n/t

[Egalitarian Thug]

38. If he hasn't, he will be. n/t

[Tom Ripley]

39. Yes, he and Randy Weaver can go out and co-headline the yahoo festival circuit

[Blue Owl]

41. A right wing fucking zero, I'd say

n/t

[Populist_Prole]

44. From hearing right winger friends or acquaintances, I'd say as a person: No

They were happy with the verdict, but other than one or two die-hard bigots, most think he was looking for trouble and handled it badly. They seem to support him only insofar as it prevents another push for gun control.

[GreenEyedLefty]

45. Given the fact that Zimmerman is a registered Democrat

it's a little ironic. And strange that this is a partisan issue rather than one of reason and fairness.

[jwirr]

46. He will eventually go the way of bachmann and palin. His true personality will show.

[Politicalboi]

51. Let's hope we hear more from the woman who said he raped her as a child

Till she was 19. She's probably not the only one. GZ is NO Ted Nugent. LOL!

[Turbineguy]

54. In the same way

that Obama is a Messiah to the Left?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

58. I don't like phony moral equivalence/nt