Scott Tibbs
blog post
April 22nd, 2005
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A Vietnam veteran spit tobacco in Jane Fonda's face at a book signing.
It's difficult to feel any sympathy for Fonda, after she committed treason during the Vietnam War and demonized American soldiers as "war criminals". (Not all of the things said about Hanoi Jane are true, though.) It's also very easy to sympathize with how a Vietnam veteran would want to do something like this, because so many Vietnam vets despise and feel personally betrayed by her.
However, if we're going to denounce the Leftist wackos who assaulted Ann Coulter and David Horowitz, we can't applaud the guy who spit on Jane Fonda. She should have been prosecuted for treason, but she wasn't. What this guy did was wrong.
I do not believe that the Vietnam veteran committed a terrorist act by spiting on Fonda. Unlike the fanatics that assaulted Coulter and Horowitz, the goal here was not to suppress her speech, but to express disgust for a traitor. I think it is more accurate to label spitting on her as low-level vigilantism. I think spitting tobacco in her face is far less egregious than what Jane Fonda did to provoke such contempt in the first place: commit treason against her country.
I am willing to cut some slack to someone who risked his life to defend my freedom when he spits in the face of a traitor. Nonetheless, he was wrong and this act should not be cheered by conservatives.