ELIMINATIONIST RHETORIC: Chicago pastors warn of political “friendly fire” as anti-Rahm battle continues:

Pssst, Democrats — they’re talking about you. A group of pastors in Chicago warned today that the battle for justice after the Laquan McDonald killing would be a political war in which “there are going to be casualties,” and that “friends of ours are going to go down.” They want a petition drive for a call of “no confidence” in Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and they also want the video of another police shooting released. So far, Emanuel’s administration has refused, but the community is organizing protests to push harder:

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That warning about “friends” wasn’t aimed at Rahm Emanuel. It’s aimed at Democrats who might be inclined to circle the wagons to protect him. It’s a warning to the state legislature not to bottle up the recall-election bill introduced this week for the specific purpose of ousting Emanuel. And at least to some degree, it’s a warning to Hillary Clinton to quit supporting the longtime family friend.

“Casualties”? “Friends of ours are going to go down”? Why are Chicago pastors using gun-related metaphors that MSNBC has deemed the equivalent of the N-word? Particularly after President Obama called for “a New Era of Civility in U.S. Politics:”

“At a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized, at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do,” he said, “it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.”

You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. As legendary pacifist Alec Baldwin also asked of his fellow Democrats in 2011, “What Changes Will We Make After the Giffords Shooting?”

When will their fellow Democrats finally heed these idealistic cri de cœurs?