(CNSNews.com) - Democrat activists, particularly those with cable TV platforms, berated Republicans on Monday for stoking the violence unleashed by a deranged, homeless nudist on Paul Pelosi, who is recovering from hammer blows to the head and body.
Not so fast, said Republican lawmakers Steve Scalise and Rand Paul, both of them badly injured at different times by people opposed to their conservative politics.
"I mean, there's an eagerness on the left to make this political and immediately to start blaming Republicans, but where's the sympathy, even from the left, for Paul Pelosi?" Sen. Rand Paul asked.
"I mean, I'm sure he is suffering today. He's been through this horrific assault, and nobody's really talking about him, because even the left is talking about making this political and blaming it on Republicans," Paul told Fox News's Jesse Waters on Monday night:
"When I was assaulted, I was struck once in the back. I didn't hear my assailant coming because I had noise cancellation ear phones on. I was struck once in the back so hard that I had six ribs broken, including three of them that were completely separated. My lung was damaged. I coughed up blood for over a year. My lungs filled up with fluid. I about died from an infection. Had part of my lung removed, and then Nancy Pelosi's daughter felt free to go ahead and tweet that, you know, my neighbor should come back and do it again -- that my neighbor was right.
“My current political opponent tweets out and has an ad that he created mocking my attack. On of his campaign workers said that the attacker -- the assailant who struck me in the back is her personal hero. Another one of my opponents' campaign leaders actually put my address up and then puts pictures of me injured and the implication is, I guess, this is where he is if you want to finish the job.
"And so, no. The left doesn't really care. They make everything political. But I will tell you sincerely, I do want Paul Pelosi to make a speedy recovery. And I know what it's like to go through the pain. And I know he's in pain today. And I think we should see him as a human being, not as just sort of this -- you know, we dehumanize everybody in politics. It's like people don't care. They think you don't feel pain.
"Well, I certainly did. And certainly still do, and I think we should have some compassion for Paul Pelosi and not make everything about politics. But I see today and yesterday all the left wing is doing, all the Democrats are doing, are trying to make this about politics, and I think it is a misdirection thing to get away from all of the things that they're doing so terribly with the economy, with crime, and everything else."
'Stand up against crime'
"Laura, my thoughts and prayers are with Paul Pelosi," Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) told Fox News's Laura Ingraham Monday night. "[W]e need to be praying and hoping that he fully comes out of this and we stand up against any kind of violence, that is something I have been hearing loud and clear from all ends of the political spectrum, as it should be.
"And as we've seen through crises there are people that try to take advantage of it for their own personal benefit. And, look, history will judge those people. I don't spend a lot of my time harping on negative people who try to exploit other people's tragedy.
"I pray for people who are victims of any kind of violence. I'll speak out against it, I also fight for policies that will stand up against crime, and as you talked about, all across the nation -- I've been to so many districts in these last few weeks, over 60 districts and crime is one of the top issues people are concerned about across-the-board. We should be uniting to stand up against any kind of violence and crime.
"We don't know many details yet, we're getting more hopefully every day, but at the same time, we're seeing crime ravaging so many cities all across America. We all should be doing what we can to support law enforcement to make sure that criminals are put away so they can't hurt other people."
Scalise said the election has always "been about issues" (although President Biden says he doesn't know what Republicans stand for).
"We actually ran on an agenda called the Commitment to America," Scalise said. "You know, some on the left have attacked our agenda," he continued:
"We have talked about lowering energy costs and addressing inflation so that people don't have to pay much when they go to the grocery store. We talked about securing the border and addressing crime and communities and those are the things we would do in a Republican majority."
Scalise said Republicans are fighting for "hard-working Americans who are struggling every day...That's who we are fighting for. That's what this election is going to be about. Not all the hatred and division by just a small, few people that have large megaphones. Again, I think a lot of people are tuning that out."