CLIMATE OF FEAR UPDATE: I dropped by the bullet-riddled Bush-Cheney HQ mentioned below on my way home from work. It wasn’t bullet-riddled anymore, as the shot-out window panes had been removed. Nor, I have to say, was there much of a climate of fear in evidence, as the place seemed pretty crowded with people picking up Bush-Cheney signs and bumperstickers, children in tow.

This being East Tennessee, of course, I suppose that many of them were armed, which no doubt bolstered their courage. (Best line from one of the campaign HQ staff, which I heard secondhand from the news director of a local TV station: “We support their right to have a gun, just not their right to use it in that fashion.”) [LATER: I misunderstood — this was a joke, and no one at the Republican HQ actually said that. Sorry; my mistake.] There was also a substantial media presence, suggesting that this whole effort is likely to backfire, as it should. More here via USA Today.

Perhaps tonight someone should ask John Edwards how he feels about such violent behavior.

UPDATE: More violence here: “ORLANDO, Fla. — A group of protestors stormed and then ransacked a Bush-Cheney headquarters building in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, according to Local 6 News. . . . Local 6 News learned that most of the protestors were from the AFL-CIO and were taking part in one of 20 other coordinated protests around the country.”

Video here.

ANOTHER UPDATE: These peace movement folks seem happy with the drive-by Bush HQ shooting.

Patterico “Does anyone have any doubt, any doubt at all, that if it were a Democratic campaign office that was attacked, it would be all over the news? That it very likely would have been the topic of a question at tonight’s debate?”

I don’t know, but here’s more violence in Wisconsin: “More than 50 demonstrators supporting Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry stormed a Republican campaign office in West Allis at mid-day today.”