Rep. David Scott Targeted With Swastikas

Two days after Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.) made headlines by yelling at health care protesters at a town-hall meeting on transportation issues, he and his staff found a swastika spray-painted in black across the welcome sign of his congressional office in suburban Atlanta.

"As soon as I saw it, I was just simply appalled," Scott told CNN this morning. "This symbol represents the most heinous period in world history, representing man's greatest inhumanity to man."

Scott said the expression of hate from someone in his community is "very, very dangerous" and is just one of many disturbing messages aimed at him during the health care debate.

Scott, who is African American, then read aloud a letter he recently received that was laced with racial slurs and included a drawing of President Obama depicted as a clown with a swastika on his forehead.

"To n_____ David Scott," he read. "You are, you were, and you shall always be a n_____."

Scott said he worried that the tone of the health care debate, which includes "overtones of hate and racism," is preventing accurate discussion of the bill.

Scott is a member of the conservative Blue Dog coalition in Congress, and said he will have a town-hall meeting in his district on health care later this week. He will also meet Saturday with the doctor who asked him the question that set off Scott's angry words at the recent gathering, saying that constituents who want to talk about health care should not interrupt a transportation meeting to do so.