We all know about the failed candidate for senator, Sharron Angle, who suggested "Second Amendment remedies" if she didn't get elected.
And last month in Tucson, Arizona, we all saw the results of unfettered gun access in the hands of a lunatic.
Now we read that a Republican voter at a meeting with his US representative, Paul Broun, felt perfectly comfortable in suggesting the assassination of the president of the United States. The reaction in the hall was laughter, as well as an entirely inappropriate answer by the US Rep. Instead of condemning the constituent's suggestion of committing treason against the United States of America, Broun weakly mouthed something about frustration with the president.
Here's the report by Blake Aued from Athens On-Line, Athens Banner Herald:
Question to Broun: Who’s going to shoot President Obama?
By Blake Aued - Athens Banner-Herald
Published February 23rd, 2011
At Rep. Paul Broun’s town hall meeting on Tuesday, the Athens congressman asked who had driven the farthest to be there and let the winner ask the first question.
We couldn’t hear the question in the back of the packed Oglethorpe County Commission chamber, but whatever it was, it got a big laugh. According to an outraged commenter on the article, the question was, when is someone going to shoot Obama?
Update: Broun’s press secretary, Jessica Morris, confirmed that the question was indeed, who is going to shoot Obama? “Obviously, the question was inappropriate, so Congressman Broun moved on,” she said.
Here was Broun’s response:
The thing is, I know there’s a lot of frustration with this president. We’re going to have an election next year. Hopefully, we’ll elect somebody that’s going to be a conservative, limited-government president that will take a smaller, who will sign a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare.
He then segued into Republicans’ budget proposal."
Nice demonstration of cowardice, Rep. Broun. I wonder how he would have felt if someone in a heavily Democratic district in Georgia asked their US representative when someone was going to shoot Broun? And I wonder if Broun's family would think that was a humorous statement?
Apparently, in Tea Party GOP world, they believe in tactics used by Communist countries, if you don't like what your leader is doing, shoot him! These are the same people who constantly accuse liberals of being unAmerican and hating America!
What, may I ask, is more America-hating than suggesting treason against the United States and openly wondering when our duly elected president will be shot? And worse, to have a US Representative treat that question as though it were an ordinary inquiry?
8 comments:
Let's hope the Secret Service is looking into it.
There is a whole subculture out there in which this kind of rhetoric is considered acceptable. Frank Schaeffer has been warning people about it since 2009. We just don't hear much about it except when an occasional incident like this brings it to the attention of the MSM.
Broun's reaction shows how much the mainstream Republican party either is penetrated by, or needs to cater to, this mentality. The Secret Service should probably have a talk with him as well.
Broun's shamefully anemic response to that horrific question: Yet more proof that the KKK is alive and well in the South and the GOP.
Weeks after Tucson, you would think the GOP would cool the rhetoric or at least censor their compatriots when they cross this line. Has one Republican condemned this talk? Not one!
Weeks after Tucson, I recall, how thin-skinned, reactive, and resentful were the Republicans when we called attention to such speech.
Still, they remain tone deaf. Maybe we should keep throwing this back in their faces until they get the message. And if they don't ... (lets see how they like being treated in kind) ...
So...frustration with giving everyone access to health care and plugging the doughnut hole led to an understandable "joke" about assassinating the president. Those Republicans are a laff riot.
Let's call their behavior in this incident what it is: TREASON.
What is even more ridiculous about this: Rep. Broun filed the "Sanctity of Life" bill this session in Congress. Looks like he respects life when it is the unborn, but not for the President of the United States.
http://alexpickett.com/2011/02/25/bipartisan-guide-to-ridiculous-legislation-u-s-rep-broun-files-sanctity-of-life-act-then-laughs-at-assassination-question/
Alex Pickett,
Thanks for stopping by. I lived in the Tampa Bay area for 10 years. My sister and a very good friend still are there. My sister is in Clearwater, my friend in Naples.
I've added your blog "Pushing Rope" and hope to hear from you again.
We got a glimpse into how the real Tea Partiers think this week, and that confirmed what we suspected: That they cannot win an argument with the American people on its merits, so they would consider using mayhem [Gov. Walker of Wisconsin] or laugh at a suggestion of assassination of the president of the US from their constituents as a means of solving their frustrations.
Broun's feeble response to that constituent is sadly what we have come to expect from the GOP. Hell, Broun can't even say for sure that President Obama is a U.S. citizen or a Christian! If the GOP keeps playing to the fringe element of their base, they will only serve to marginalize themselves.
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