SARASOTA COUNTY (WSNN) – None of us will ever forget what we witnessed in the Nation’s Capitol Wednesday. Violence, wanton destruction, and even death. With a day to absorb what we witnessed, SNN reached out across the Suncoast for a slice of local reaction.
“The trauma of watching your government burn like in 9/11; it was that same feeling I had watching the unhinged people scaling the walls of the Capitol, our center of government,” Former Chair of Sarasota Dem Party Rita Ferrandino said.
“At the end of the day look we’re all Americans, that’s our country; that’s our Capitol building that we actually pay for, that represents our country,” Republican Party of Florida’s Vice Chairman Christian Ziegler said. “And I don’t want to see anyone damaging the windows, you know breaking in and getting on the Senate floor when they’re not allowed; possibly harming law enforcement, that’s just not the way to do it…. It’s not productive, and frankly, it’s illegal, and it’s disgusting.”
Suncoast Congressman Vern Buchanan posted on Twitter saying, “Assault against the U.S. Capitol should serve as a wake-up call to end the violence and toxic rhetoric that has inflamed the country for months.”
New College of Florida, Political Science Professor, Frank Alcock agrees.
“Hopefully there’s some learning with respect to how we got to this point and a commitment from the vast majority of this country,” Alcock said. “The vast majority of Americans that is a low point that we do not want to repeat and hopefully we start moving in a better direction.”
Alcock questions how things went so wrong.
“This is a massive security failure,” Alcock said. “We knew this was a possibility ahead of time. And I for the likes of me can’t understand why they didn’t have a more robust presence around the Capitol.”
“Ziegler offers hope.
I think the country will like it always does, move forward,” Ziegler said.
