Rachel Maddow: "They're winning"

The MSNBC host details the modern history of pro-life violence

Published June 2, 2009 4:03PM (EDT)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

On Monday night's episode of "The Rachel Maddow Show" the MSNBC host played a necessary foil to Bill O'Reilly on the murder of Kansas abortion doctor George Tiller. While O'Reilly presided over a callous self-defense seminar, Maddow took the opportunity to detail the history of the "modern antiabortion terrorist movement" from the 1993 murder of Dr. David Gunn in Pensacola, Fla., to Sunday's shooting. Maddow discussed high-profile crimes from extremist groups -- including the 1996 bombing of the Atlanta Olympics -- and the subsequent reactions of antiabortion operations like Rescue America, who after one doctor's murder responded by saying, "We don't condone killing an abortionist, but we don't condemn it either." In the unsettling clip above, Maddow warns that "violence as a political strategy is working ... they're winning" and attempts to outline a way to stop them. You can also check out Maddow's interview with Dr. Tiller's friend and fellow physician Dr. Susan Wicklund, author of "This Common Secret," which details the years she spent traveling the Midwest to provide abortions and running a clinic in Montana, as well as the death threats that ensued. Salon interviewed Wicklund last year.


By Joe Coscarelli

MORE FROM Joe Coscarelli


Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Broadsheet Love And Sex