NASHVILLE – Calling it time to “turn the volume down” on political rhetoric, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Phil Bredesen Saturday night denounced the mass shooting earlier in the day at a Pittsburgh synagogue, saying “there is no room for hatred in this country.”
The former Tennessee governor, now locked in a fierce Nov. 6 battle with Republican U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, said the current “political climate” may have motivated incidents, including the synagogue massacre, which left 11 people dead and wounded six others, including four policemen.
Bredesen also referenced the arrest of a Florida man Friday who is accused of mailing homemade pipe bombs to former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton as well as several prominent Democratic politicians and critics of President Donald Trump.
Hot rhetoric political discourse is “showing up, at least giving some encouragement to crazies on the fringes of society who do things like pipe bombs and like the shootings today,” Bredesen told reporters following an event for supporters at Nissan Stadium, where he highlighted his role as Nashville mayor in bringing both the Tennessee Titans NFL franchise and the NHL’s Nashville Predators to town in the 1990s.
“Obviously, we’re going to wait and find out exactly what this person’s motivations were and everything else,” Bredesen said of the synagogue shooter, who has been arrested. “But you know, it really is time to turn the volume down a little bit on this rhetoric, I think, on all sides. and I hope we can do that. It just encourages crazy people to act in a crazy fashion.”
Saying he believes America is “a better country than that,” he added everyone should “recognize that we’re all Americans first and that people who hold different views of things aren’t evil people. They’re just people who have a different view of the world. This country is strongest when it accommodates a wide range of these views and I hope we can get back to that.”
Blackburn, a staunch and sometimes fiery conservative, has run as a Trump loyalist, with the president expected to make his third visit to the state, perhaps coming to Chattanooga in the coming days on her behalf in a tight race that has drawn national attention.
In recent days, she has joined Trump in criticizing a caravan of Central American immigrants making its way through Mexico to the U.S. seeking sanctuary. She and allied GOP outside groups are attacking Bredesen on the development.
During a campaign swing through Chattanooga on Saturday, Blackburn strongly denounced Saturday’s synagogue shooting.
The gunman is alleged to have barged into the synagogue yelling “All Jews must die,” WDKA-TV in Pittsburg has reported.
Trump, whose son-in-law is Jewish, as is his daughter, who converted to Judaism, and the couple’s children, has strongly denounced the synagogue attack.
Asked by a reporter if he thought the shooting and pipe bomb mailings represent a “tipping point” in the elections, Bredesen said “I don’t know if it’s a tipping point or not. I think that it’s become clear in the lead up to this election that the rhetoric has gotten out of hand. It’s shown up in kind of the ridiculous process we went through in confirming a Supreme Court nominee.”
Bredesen had been doing well in polling despite GOP dominance in Tennessee. But that began shifting to Blackburn’s favor during the national uproar over the battle to confirm Trump’s nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh.
Kavanaugh was confirmed amid accusations by a woman that while both were in high school, Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her, a charge Kavanaugh denied. During the nomination fight, Blackburn firmly backed Kavanaugh.
Bredesen delayed commenting, saying he wanted to hear additional Senate committee testimony, and announced as the Senate confirmation floor vote was about to happen that he too would have voted for Kavanaugh based on publicly available information. Some Democrats were incensed and several moderate Republicans weren’t happy either with him over that.
Speaking Saturday night, Bredesen said “I think all the Kavanaugh stuff is in the rearview mirror. I mean, there’s a few people for whom there’s a real problem. Most people have moved on beyond that, that’s very clear.”
He said he is working for every vote, noting “obviously I need to have Republican and independent votes to be elected in this state. But I’m certainly not ignoring Democrats. This is a campaign of inches, not Ds and Rs, and I need to get the votes wherever they are.”
Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550. Follow him on Twitter @AndySher1.