Firebombing did the most damage to Democrats

It’s bewildering. Who is the genius who thought it would be a good idea to firebomb the Republican headquarters building in Hillsborough, N.C.?

A firebomb was hurled through the front window of the Orange County GOP headquarters early last Sunday, severely damaging the inside of the building and destroying furniture, campaign placards and other paraphernalia. The phrase, “Nazi Republicans leave town or else” and a swastika also were spray-painted on a nearby building.

Local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, are investigating. But it’s hard to imagine, unless someone snitches, how they will find the culprit any time soon.

Meanwhile, Republicans have effectively exploited the incident. N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory, locked in a tight re-election race, visited the burned-out building Monday, calling the attack “an assault on our democratic process.”

GOP vice presidential candidate Mike Pence made a surprise stop at the headquarters Tuesday, giving a pep talk to local volunteers as he stood among fire-singed Donald Trump posters. Pence labeled the firebombing as an “act of political terrorism.”

Trump resorted to his favored means of expression, the tweet: “Animals representing Hillary Clinton and Dems in North Carolina just firebombed our office in Orange County because we are winning.”

Democrats tried to minimize the damage, probably in vain. Hillary Clinton sent out a tweet of her own: “The attack on the Orange County HQ office is horrific and unacceptable. Very grateful that everyone is safe.”

A group of Orange County Democrats created a GoFundMe page to raise $10,000 to help reopen the GOP headquarters. They met the goal in 40 minutes.

But after raising a little more than $13,000 by Monday night, they cut off fundraising, apparently reasoning that enough is enough when it comes to such symbolic gestures.

Local Republican Party officials quickly set up a makeshift operation, using folding chairs and tables just outside the torched headquarters. They signed up volunteers and passed out yard signs that had not been fused by the fire.

This idiotic act has been good PR for the GOP. It also has helped blunt one of the most potent Democratic complaints about the Trump campaign, that Trump’s thinly veiled calls for violence against Clinton supporters could actually prompt some of his followers to exercise their Second Amendment options.

With Sunday’s firebombing, Democrats sacrificed the high ground in that debate. Pence is accusing them of inciting domestic terrorism – which is precisely what the Democrats would have done if the tables had been turned.

This act of wanton stupidity is so ill conceived it is tempting to think that it is part of a diabolical Republican plot. They could have firebombed their own building just so they could point fingers at the Democrats!

Nope, that’s too crazy even for the Trump campaign. Besides, it’s the type of conspiracy mongering Trump engages in on an almost daily basis, for which Democrats constantly criticize him.

Unfortunately, this commando attack probably was the work of some anti-Republican dope who doesn’t realize that as soon as you invoke Nazis and swastikas, you’ve lost the argument. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

The worst damage was to the Democratic brand.

This story was originally published October 23, 2016 at 3:51 PM with the headline "Firebombing did the most damage to Democrats."