Hopefully, the Washington Post’s Chuck Lane will have a piece about how Gabrielle Giffords agrees with Paul Broun that this is an acceptable question:
Here’s the latest evidence that nothing has changed in post-Tucson America: A person at a Tuesday town hall with Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) got up and asked, “who is going to shoot President Obama?”
The exact wording of the question is not clear because, the Athens Banner- Herald reports, there was a lot of noise at the event. Perhaps more significant than the question was the response of the crowd and Broun, who is a member of the Tea Party Caucus and one of the most right-wing members of Congress.
The question prompted a “big laugh” from the crowd, in Oglethorpe County, Georgia, according to the Banner-Herald. Broun, for his part, did not object to the question. He said in 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.”
Angry Black Lady
I hate these assholes.
Asshole
The Black Panthers said some stuff in the 1960s about killing cops, so both sides do it.
Doug Hill
@Asshole:
I saw a commenter on Kos say some mean stuff about Scott Walker yesterday too
Mr Stagger Lee
@Asshole: Yeah but the FBI took care of them, quite violently I may add. Of course if I said that about George W.(shrub)Bush five years ago, I probably would just be released from Egypt right now after some loving tender rendition.
suzanne
I don’t know. But I’m going to go sneeze on Paul Broun’s doorknobs.
If I can’t spread liberalism, I’m at least gonna share my cold.
Mike Kay (Peacemaker)
broun is the asshole who tweeted hate during the SOTU and once called Obama, “Hitler”.
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/01/26/paul_broun_sotu
asiangrrlMN
Oh, hahahahahahahaha! SO funny to joke about assassinating the president. Who says the rightwingbatshitcrazynutters don’t have a sense of humor?
Asswipes.
El Cid
From the same blog from the Athens Banner-Herald, via Jim Galloway of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and its news service McClatchy:
The Dangerman
I hear the Secret Service has a fairly low threshold before they will pay someone a visit; I’m guessing that one will qualify.
Mike in NC
@asiangrrlMN:
Apparently the GOP House members from the south now are so freakin’ deranged they wouldn’t even speak to someone like Newt Gingrich these days.
asiangrrlMN
@El Cid: Oh obviously. Which is why everyone had a big, hearty guffaw over it. Obviously, Broun had NO need to say something like, “That’s really inappropriate and shame on you for asking that question.”
Obviously.
Elisabeth
@El Cid:
Of course he “moved on.” Wouldn’t want to take a stand and piss off the constituents. Noooooooooo. Man, I hate these assholes.
mclaren
Wait a minute. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Time out. Hold on.
Doesn’t the secret service investigate and arrest people who make these kinds of threats?
Isn’t that an explicit threat against the president of the united states?
Did I miss something?
Isn’t that against the law?
asiangrrlMN
@Mike in NC: Wow. That’s just…um….yeah. Shit.
Gravenstone
One wonders whether there was a public registry for attendees of that event. And if such a registry exists, I think only appropriate for the Secret Service to interview each. and. every. motherless. whoreson. on. it.
Daily.
For a few weeks in a row.
Teach these inbred fucks what it means to threaten the President of the United States.
Barring that, maybe a couple months at sunny Camp Gitmo will brighten their dour outlooks (and do wonders for their pasty white hides).
MikeJ
@mclaren: I believe they investigated photos on the web implying somebody might have pissed on Reagan’s grave, but shooting a darkie? They got better things to do.
El Cid
@asiangrrlMN: It’s pretty bad when McCain had a much classier response than you.
The Moar You Know
If somebody got that up on YouTube, said idiot will be spending an exceptionally unpleasant weekend with the Secret Service. And a lot of the folks sitting near the idiot will as well.
jenn
@El Cid:
Yeah, but that was before the election when he still hoped he could grab some democratic and independent votes … now he’d probably echo Broun.
asiangrrlMN
@jenn: Or volunteer.
El Cid
@jenn: It may be more interesting that the crowd boo’d and screamed that Obama was a “terrorist”.
Which, other than Obama being all Kenyonesian, probably referred to Obama on some nonprofit advisory board where Bill Ayers was too.
Ash Can
Like other commenters here, the words “Secret Service” came to my mind immediately upon reading this. With presidential threats up fourfold under Obama, maybe our next official Balloon Juice pizza/beer/sub-sandwich bomb should be directed at the Secret Service HQ.
Another Commenter at Balloon Juice (fka Bella Q)
Well, I called Gov.
WankerWalker a pig eyed idiot in a previous thread here tonight, so both sides do it. But I denounce Stalin, as well as the broccoli mandate, so perhaps that can get some slack cut for me.I mean, WTF? Can you even imagine the RW freak out if someone had asked John Blow (D-Lower Liberalia) “who’s gonna shoot Bush?” and Rep. Blow had done anything other than shout the questioner into submission about how “we are a principled and civilized democracy and we pull levers, not guns, against those with whom we disagree”, and then had security detain said questioner for Secret Service questioning? It would be fucking all news all the time if Rep. Blow had simply said “I know there’s a lot of frustration wit this president but we’re gonna have an election next year and maybe we’ll do better.” That’s assuming Rep Blow didn’t also get perp walked on a charge of accessory to threat of assassination. Yet, it’s fine to brush off a question about shooting the Islamokenyansoshulafascist who is the POTUS?
I’m renouncing my citizenship along with Stalin and broccoli if this isn’t widely reported. Braun’s behavior is a shandah.
Jules
Yeah…this…but listen it is more important for the pearl clutches at the WSJ to whine about the Dropkick Murphy’s union song.
When the boss comes callin’ we gotta organize
Let em know
We gotta take the bastards down
Let them know
We gotta smash them to the ground
Let em know
We gotta take the bastards down
hamletta
@MikeJ: That’s horseshit, and an insult to the fine men and women of the Secret Service.
Let’s not forget that Obama got Secret Service protection way early in the campaign because they insisted, and that they leaked the 400% percent increase in threats once he was elected.
These are people who take an oath agreeing to take a bullet for the duly elected POTUS, whoever he/she is. They take their job seriously.
They don’t protect a person, they protect our democracy.
I don’t know how old you are, but assassination is horrible, and as much as I loathed George W. Bush, I would have taken a bullet for him myself in order to protect our government.
I’m confident that the Secret Service will find this clownhole and make him eat his words with a bitter, bitter sauce of regret.
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
I hope everyone at that little shindig enjoys fisting, because they’re going to have the S.S’s hands up their ass for a while.
Joel
These guys are pure scum.
Roger Moore
@Mike in NC:
Which is why they are following some of the exact same strategies, i.e. government shutdown, that Gingrich found to be losers when he tried them. What’s that old saying about those who fail to learn from history?
D.N. Nation
Arrest the questioner, and interrogate Broun until he lawyers up.
Uloborus
Honestly, we have people who’d say ‘Who’s going to shoot Bush?’ and probably mean it.
What we don’t have is a room full of people at the town hall who’d laugh and then the elected Representative would smile and nod and let it slide.
If somehow this happened, the rest of the Democratic party would go ‘Dude, UNCOOL.’
They have their crazies. We have our crazies. They encourage and mainstream theirs. That is the gigantic honking difference.
Citizen_X
Apparently, Broun is a big fan of the John Birch Society, and gave a speech for them a couple of years ago.
Wile E. Quixote
@hamletta:
I would have done the same thing, especially when you consider that Cheney was next in line.
Batocchio
Both sides do it! Both sides do it!
I know people who literally say that, and will launch into lectures about it. Having a platitudinous general theory of politics is a nice way to ignore studying the facts on any specific issue, and feel smug at the same time.
TenguPhule
Is this enough to get the CIA to whack Paul Broun yet?
TenguPhule
Objection!
It’s “Which Iraqi National is going to kill Bush and Cheney slowly, preferably with video play by play?”
Alwhite
2 things:
Anyone remember the guy in South Dakota that got 5 years in prison for making a joke about a ‘burning bush’ early in Boy Blunders disaster?
Am I the only person surprised that there has not been an attempt on the life of this President? One of my greatest fears on election night was that the loonies would want to earn the biggest spider web tattoo of all times. I feared for Obama and his family to say nothing of the turmoil it would cause in the country. Several people went gunning for Clinton so I really expected worse & it has not materialized.
Alwhite
@TenguPhule:
Not me, I’m hoping they live to a ripe old age so that they can begin to truly understand the damage they did and feel the revulsion of society.
JPL
Last night the AJC closed it’s comments on the site about Broun. They are open now and fortunately most of the comments are civil. you have to be registered to access the AJC.. link
Paul in KY
@hamletta: I would have too, if only to deny Cheney the de-jure title of ‘President’.
Paul in KY
@Wile E. Quixote: Great minds think alike :-)