This is exactly the kind of horrific story that many of us feared we would see this election season. Of course, the other genuine concern is that a human being will be next. What kind of lowlife finds it acceptable to kill in the name of political rivalry?

Obvious answer: A sick, twisted one:

“His four children discovered the gruesome scene.”

Shameful, despicable, heartless, scary, disturbing, horrifying, cruel: Those words don’t even begin to describe such a crime. The kids– the kids, for chrissake!– were exposed to the “slaughtered” carcass of their pet and will remember the trauma, and the senseless madness behind it, for the rest of their lives.

Here is the press release, in part:

On the heels of a weekend of positive news coverage for the campaign of Democratic Congressional candidate Ken Aden, Aden’s campaign manager returned home to find his family pet slaughtered, with the word “liberal” painted on the animal’s corpse.

The Russellville Police Department is investigating, and a report will be made to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Monday morning.

Jacob Burris, who has served as Aden’s campaign manager since late October, arrived home with his family Sunday evening, and his four children discovered the gruesome scene as they exited the family vehicle to enter their home.

The family pet, an adult, mixed-breed Siamese cat, had one side of its head bashed in to the point the cat’s eyeball was barely hanging from its socket. The perpetrators scrawled “liberal” across the cat’s body and left it on the doorstep of Burris’ house. [...]

“It is one thing to engage in civil political discourse, and for Republicans and Democrats to disagree with each other, which is an expected part of the political process. Taking it to this level is beyond unacceptable,” Aden said. [...]

Aden said they did not believe the Womack campaign to be responsible. “… I do not believe in any way that Congressman Womack or his campaign had anything to do with this incident,” Aden said. [...]

“We suspect this is the action of a rogue individual or group of individuals who are the type of folks that stoop to the lowest common denominator instead of engaging in civil political discourse,” Aden said.