(Image source: KSFM )

 

BY ALYSSA CARTEE

ANCHOR LAUREN GORES

A Democratic campaign manager comes home to a gruesome scene Sunday night.  Jake Burris and his family arrived at their Russellville, Arkansas home to find their family cat dead on their porch.  Just a warning, the image you are about to see is graphic.

Written on the cat’s fur in black marker was the word, “liberal.”  According to a statement released by the family, one side of the animal’s head had been bashed in and one of its eyes was barely in its socket.

Burris works for Arkansas Democratic Congressional candidate Ken Aden. Burris told KSFM he has never felt threatened because of his politics.

“Of course you get into arguments. Everyone is passionate about their politics and things like that but especially in this town, I mean everybody’s cordial with each other.” 

Even though no person’s life was threatened, a blogger for the Huffington Post says this kind of violence needs to be taken very seriously.

“Even if it's about a cat. If we don't speak now, when will the dehumanization stop? But if people can't see the common thread of life that binds human beings together -- liberal and conservative, immigrant and native-born, black and white -- how can they see the force that binds us to other life?”

But was the cat killing really about politics?  A blogger for Gather thinks maybe not.

“It has to be some really crazy person, and probably not political at all. Police should be on the lookout for a serial killer in the making.”

Politically motivated or not, liberal blogs have taken up the cause.   Blue Arkansas used the incident to call out local news outlets owned by the Republican opponent's father.

“I would also hope that Steve Womack’s father, owner of a local radio station, would stop giving out the names, phone numbers, and addresses of members of the Aden team or anyone else for that matter on his radio program when ranting about Aden. ... Clearly there is someone out there that doesn’t need anymore of that kind of information.”

Some are even questioning if the attack is all it appears. Blog HyperVocal says politically motivated violence always comes with a small side of doubt.

“While we’d never accuse Burris of faking the attack — and there’s certainly no evidence suggesting it — a politically motivated incident like this calls to mind the Pittsburgh woman who in 2008 carved the letter B (for Barack Obama) in her own face and filed a false police report, inventing a mugging.”

If the incident was indeed intended to be a threat to slow down Aden’s campaign, he tells CNN it won’t work.

“It’s very upsetting but we as a campaign are going to continue to move forward and do our job here in the third congressional district of Arkansas.”

Police have said the incident falls under an animal cruelty statute which is a felony in the State of Arkansas.  The FBI has also been notified.