That's not a metaphor either. I mean literaly. Arkansas party chairman shooting just one of four violent incidents from the right in the south.
Read further on down the article after clicking the link.
This is VERRRY bad.
Gunman murders Arkansas Democratic Party chairman
By Patrick Martin
15 August 2008
The Arkansas state chairman of the Democratic Party was shot to death Wednesday by a gunman who was himself killed in a later exchange of gunfire with police. Bill Gwatney, 48, was murdered in his office in Little Rock. While little evidence has yet been released to the public, it is already clear that he was deliberately targeted by his attacker.
The gunman, Timothy Dale Johnson, entered the premises pretending to be interested in volunteering, then pushed past several staff members to reach the chairman’s office. He introduced himself to Gwatney and they shook hands, whereupon he pulled out a handgun and opened fire, hitting the Democratic Party official four times, including once in the head. Gwatney died four hours later.
Johnson fled the scene, and six blocks away pointed a gun at a security guard at the offices of the Arkansas Baptist Convention, but did not open fire. He told the guard, “I lost my job.” He then drove south from the Arkansas state capital with sheriff’s deputies in pursuit, finally hitting a police roadblock near Sheridan, about 30 miles away, where he got out of his truck, fired at police, and was shot to death himself.
Gwatney was the son of a wealthy automobile dealer who became prominent in state politics before he was 35. He served as a state senator before giving up his position because of term limits. He was the finance chairman for Mike Beebe, the successful Democratic candidate for governor in 2006, and Beebe named him state Democratic Party chairman after that campaign.
Like most Arkansas Democratic politicians, Gwatney was a supporter of the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, whose husband was a five-term governor of the state. He was a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention being held in Denver later this month.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/aug2008/arka-a15.shtml