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You are here: Home / Gun Issues / Gun nuts / Republican Candidate in Tennessee Posts Photo of Gun to Facebook: ‘Welcome to Tennessee, Mr. Obama’

Republican Candidate in Tennessee Posts Photo of Gun to Facebook: ‘Welcome to Tennessee, Mr. Obama’

by Imani Gandy (ABL)|  October 3, 20123:20 pm| 56 Comments

This post is in: Gun nuts, Post-racial America

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It’s President Obama to you, pal.

Republican GOP congressional candidate Brad Staats wants you to believe that when he posted a photo of a gun to his Facebook page with the note “Welcome to Tennessee, Mr. Obama,” he didn’t mean it like that. It wasn’t a threat or anything. All he meant was that he really believes in the Second Amendment, like deep down in his heart.

From Raw Story:

A Republican nominee for Congress is defending his decision to post a photo of his gun on Facebook along with the message, “Welcome to Tennessee, Mr. Obama.”

In a Saturday night Facebook post, Brad Staats attached a photo of his silver and black Colt 1911 semi-automatic pistol along with a message directed at President Barack Obama:

Many people in Tennessee keep asking me about my opinion on Second Amendment rights. Apparently Tennesseans are part of that crazy crowd that Obama says “cling to their religion and guns.” Well, then I must be part of that crazy crowd. Here is something that I usually have with me. Welcome to Tennessee Mr. Obama, where we appreciate our 2nd Amendment rights and the Constitution that was wisely given to us by our founding fathers.

Staats claimed that his comment was meant to address the UN Small Guns Treaty (even though his statement said nothing about the UN Small Guns Treaty) which wingnuts are convinced is going to usher in a New World Order, one in which white folks aren’t allowed to own guns.

I don’t believe him.

[read full post at ABLC]

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Reader Interactions

56Comments

  1. 1.

    Crow73

    October 3, 2012 at 3:22 pm

    The poor guy has an inverted penis I am told.

  2. 2.

    jackmac

    October 3, 2012 at 3:25 pm

    Will the Secret Service be knocking on this asshat’s door?

  3. 3.

    Pooh

    October 3, 2012 at 3:25 pm

    What the fuck is wrong with these people?

  4. 4.

    BGinCHI

    October 3, 2012 at 3:27 pm

    Yes, dickface, you are part of that crazy crowd.

  5. 5.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    October 3, 2012 at 3:28 pm

    He should be thrilled that Obama has, in fact, expanded gun rights.

    Ya know, when he finds out.

  6. 6.

    Forum Transmitted Disease

    October 3, 2012 at 3:29 pm

    God, he can’t even do it right. It’s supposed to be a tree and noose, you stupid Republitard git.

    Oh yeah, I think the Secret Service needs to have a chat with aspiring Klansman Staats (what the fuck kind of foreign name is “Staats”, anyway?)

  7. 7.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    October 3, 2012 at 3:30 pm

    And, the ads on this post are just wonderful. “Which is the BEST gun for concealed carry?”

    Ugh.

  8. 8.

    zattarra

    October 3, 2012 at 3:30 pm

    I’m thinking that when the Secret Service comes to visit this Congressional candidate (Republican of course) he might want to forget his second amendment rights and bone up on United States Code Title 18, Section 871.

  9. 9.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    October 3, 2012 at 3:30 pm

    @Pooh:

    What the fuck is wrong with these people?

    Watch it there pardner, them thars (un)Real ‘Murkins you’re besmerchin’.

    Or part of the 27%, same thing.

  10. 10.

    BGinCHI

    October 3, 2012 at 3:31 pm

    Is this douche ahead in his race?

  11. 11.

    PeakVT

    October 3, 2012 at 3:31 pm

    Why do so many gun nuts insist on proving they should have their guns taken away?

  12. 12.

    BGinCHI

    October 3, 2012 at 3:33 pm

    A gun is like a penis.

    Discuss.

  13. 13.

    Tone In DC

    October 3, 2012 at 3:34 pm

    I remember that so called “open carry” picnic by the Taxed Enough Already idjits near Bull Run back in 2009. If this brain donor wasn’t there for that craptastic display, he damn well should have been.

  14. 14.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    October 3, 2012 at 3:34 pm

    You know, for someone who likes to wave around used toilet paper the constitution, how do they miss the part where we cannot agree to UN treaties that violate the constitution.

  15. 15.

    Culture of Truth

    October 3, 2012 at 3:35 pm

    says the guy clinging to his gun and his religion

  16. 16.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 3, 2012 at 3:36 pm

    @Forum Transmitted Disease: Boer.

  17. 17.

    Forum Transmitted Disease

    October 3, 2012 at 3:36 pm

    Oh yeah, nice gun and all (I’m partial to stainless, myself) but the traditional 1911 is all black.

    Like the President of all of the United States, including your hellspawned pit of rebellion known colloquially as “Tennessee”, Mr. “Not elected to Congress so I’m a fucking nobody” Staats.

  18. 18.

    Culture of Truth

    October 3, 2012 at 3:37 pm

    “Which is the BEST gun for concealed carry?”

    Invisible gun. Only kind I use.

  19. 19.

    Forum Transmitted Disease

    October 3, 2012 at 3:37 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: I figured some breed of Dutch, but still, it sounds good, foreigner telling Real ‘Muricans what to do and all that.

  20. 20.

    mechwarrior online

    October 3, 2012 at 3:38 pm

    This Mr. President crap should stop. I never bothered to call other Presidents Mr. President, and I don’t refer to any Congressmen/Senators by their title either. It’s not a big deal. What the hell changed in 2008 that we all of a sudden have to do it?

  21. 21.

    KG

    October 3, 2012 at 3:38 pm

    what is this UN small guns treaty? and why do I have a feeling it’s not something the US would sign and/or ratify without gigantic motherfucking reservations that basically make it unenforceable in the US?

  22. 22.

    Brian R.

    October 3, 2012 at 3:39 pm

    Welcome to Federal Pound-You-In-The-Ass Prison, Mr. Staats.

  23. 23.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    October 3, 2012 at 3:39 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    I can’t find any polling on this race (TN-5) but his opponent is incumbent Jim Cooper, a Dem but a Blue Dog.

    His district is pretty much Nashville and its surroundings.

    One analysis of his voting record:
    http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/jim_cooper/400081

    And some info on the district and previous races:
    http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Tennessee%27s_5th_congressional_district_elections,_2012

    This asshole doesn’t have a prayer of unseating Cooper.

  24. 24.

    PurpleGirl

    October 3, 2012 at 3:42 pm

    @Forum Transmitted Disease: It could either be German (meaning state) or Dutch (a nickname for Eustace (from Wikipedia)).

  25. 25.

    SFAW

    October 3, 2012 at 3:42 pm

    I dunno, the guy seems like an asshole, but not of the Jesse Helms variety (i.e. veiled threats directed at Clinton). Seemed more like an “I fart in your general direction” kind of guy. I don’t think the Secret Service would consider him a credible threat (or whatever terminology they use). On the other hand, any time someone can put the fear of God into one of these assholes, it’s a good thing.

  26. 26.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 3, 2012 at 3:43 pm

    @mechwarrior online: If you want to say Obama, Bush, or Clinton, go ahead. If you want to have an editorial policy like the Economist and use Mr, go ahead. Don’t, however, pretend that this guy did not choose the salutation intentionally.

  27. 27.

    Culture of Truth

    October 3, 2012 at 3:43 pm

    Many people in Tennessee keep asking me about my opinion on Second Amendment rights.

    No doubt

  28. 28.

    rlrr

    October 3, 2012 at 3:44 pm

    I think a good gift for the President would be a chocolate revolver. And since he’s so busy, you’d probably have to run up to him real quick and hand it to him.
    — Jack Handey

  29. 29.

    El Cid

    October 3, 2012 at 3:45 pm

    Paging Jesse Helms!

    In 1994, angered at President Bill Clinton, Helms suggested in print that if Clinton was to visit North Carolina, “He’d better bring a bodyguard.” He later said the remark had been “a mistake.”

  30. 30.

    SFAW

    October 3, 2012 at 3:48 pm

    @PurpleGirl:
    Gotta be Dutch. No self-respecting Kraut German would have a name like that.

  31. 31.

    PurpleGirl

    October 3, 2012 at 3:48 pm

    @El Cid: “He’d better bring a bodyguard.” [Jesse Helms] later said the remark had been “a mistake.”

    As if the president doesn’t always have some Secrete Service agents within a few feet of him.

    And I do think the Secret Service at least needs to have a talk with this fool (Brad Staats).

  32. 32.

    gene108

    October 3, 2012 at 3:50 pm

    I don’t see the down side in this sort of thing for Republicans.

    They will rarely alienate voters, who would vote for them in the first place.

    The worst thing a Republican can do is come out all reasonable and stuff, like that guy in South Carolina, who said to turn of Rush and Beck and got crushed in the primaries or Sen. Bennett in Utah, who didn’t even qualify for his state’s primary.

    Republican candidates have all the incentive in the world to be rhetorical bomb throwers and very little to be reasonable and polite in public.

  33. 33.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 3, 2012 at 3:50 pm

    @mechwarrior online: Oh yeah, Mr. President has been the correct form of address for the US President since George Washington chose it.

  34. 34.

    KG

    October 3, 2012 at 3:50 pm

    @KG: oh, for fuck’s sake… just did some research, there isn’t even a fucking draft of this treaty yet. it’s in the investigative stages, meaning: it’s something countries are talking about.

  35. 35.

    rlrr

    October 3, 2012 at 3:51 pm

    @gene108:

    “You lie!”

  36. 36.

    SFAW

    October 3, 2012 at 3:53 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Maybe, but President Mittens will demand that he be addressed as “My Lord”. For Pet’s sake!

  37. 37.

    gene108

    October 3, 2012 at 3:54 pm

    @El Cid:

    Don’t ever page Helms. You say his name three times in the mirror and there he is to spew divisive racist crap all over the place.

    I lived in NC, when he was a Senator and he was the master of winning 50.1% of the vote.

    He’d have lost to Gov. Hunt in 1984, but Reagan’s coattails saved his neck.

  38. 38.

    bs23

    October 3, 2012 at 3:58 pm

    this from the state where MLK was assassinated? jeebus

  39. 39.

    AA+ Bonds

    October 3, 2012 at 4:06 pm

    Staats claimed that his comment was meant to address the UN Small Guns Treaty (even though his statement said nothing about the UN Small Guns Treaty)

    well, he is telling the truth about that part – you need to be in the club to get the rub – but that belief also goes hand in hand with implying that people should assassinate U.S. leaders, so he’s really got everything covered with his base here

  40. 40.

    El Cid

    October 3, 2012 at 4:09 pm

    @gene108: We don’t need to page Helms. CNN pays his evil scriptwriter, Alex “White Hands” Castellanos to spew bile as an “expert” all the time.

    Remember, this is the man who — after Obama won North Carolina said live on CNN, well, here he is:

    CASTELLANOS: He was a much broader-reaching candidate when this process started.
    __
    And now, I think it’s fair to ask would the people that you see in Barack Obama’s life be the same people you see in his administration? You know, would you see Bill Ayers? Would there be people like Reverend Wright? The answer may be no, by the way.
    __
    BRAZILE: Alex, that is so small.
    __
    CASTELLANOS: But he has raised — no.
    __
    (CROSSTALK)
    __
    BRAZILE: That is so small, Alex.
    __
    CASTELLANOS: No, no, no. But I’m saying — no, I’m saying that —
    __
    BRAZILE: That is so small.
    __
    CASTELLANOS: Whether — yes or maybe no. But the question is certainly out there for a lot of voters.
    __
    BROWN: I think in fairness —
    __
    BRAZILE: To walk on a lie and see all of our troops die on a lie? And not actually preventing it —
    __
    CASTELLANOS: The plane[s] crashing into a building.
    __
    BRAZILE: Come on. Come on, Alex. Don’t do that.
    __
    CASTELLANOS: Planes crashed into a building. It was not a lie.
    __
    BRAZILE: You all want to make it superficial conversation, not a real substantive conversation. Let’s make it about substance and not do all of this.
    __
    BROWN: OK, guys. Hey, you know what, Donna, let me —
    __
    BRAZILE: You know, that’s destiny, Alex. You know better.

    I respect Donna Brazile for having the willpower to limit herself to repeating “That’s so small” instead of a number of choice words I’d be using.

  41. 41.

    AA+ Bonds

    October 3, 2012 at 4:14 pm

    @El Cid:

    That is also a great transcript to watch Paul Begala race-bait like the soulless vulture he is

  42. 42.

    Badmoodman

    October 3, 2012 at 4:17 pm

    “Republican GOP congressional candidate…”

    Umm, as opposed to Democratic GOP congressional candidate?

  43. 43.

    pseudonymous in nc

    October 3, 2012 at 4:18 pm

    The UN Small Arms Treaty had been blocked by the US for a while, when John fucking Bolton was in charge of “arms control” at State, which meant in practice blocking every arms control treaty.

    Its aim is to stop gun trafficking to the world’s worst warzones, which apparently translates into gunnuttese as “those durned world-gubmint folks are comin’ for mah guns.” The UN would like it to be a bit less easy for, say, African militants to arm children; it does not want to take away Bubba’s small arsenal, unless Bubba intends to sell it on the black market to the Lord’s Resistance Army.

  44. 44.

    AA+ Bonds

    October 3, 2012 at 4:20 pm

    The truth of course is that America will never shut down its kickass trade selling handguns to everyone on its no-sell list through various half-concealed means

    It’s not like anyone wants to buy our rifles

  45. 45.

    Joel

    October 3, 2012 at 4:31 pm

    @comrade scott’s agenda of rage: Cooper is a big proponent of basic science, which makes him one of the good guys. Considering that TN-5 is Nashville (and Vanderbilt being a major basic science institution), I think he’s safe.

    I hope this Brad Staats dipshit shoots himself in the nuts.

  46. 46.

    Badmoodman

    October 3, 2012 at 4:34 pm

    Why do extremists say stupid shit and then say they were quoted out of context? His entire quote is there.

    Gabby Johnson: “The sheriff’s a ni—-!!”

  47. 47.

    Hungry Joe

    October 3, 2012 at 4:55 pm

    a New World Order, one in which white folks aren’t allowed to own guns.

    Hmmmmm … Now, I’m not saying, mind you, I’m just thinking. But … hmmmmm …

  48. 48.

    unspiek

    October 3, 2012 at 4:57 pm

    Wingnut threatens President, chickens out, then lies about it.

    Gee, that’s a shocker.

  49. 49.

    LanceThruster

    October 3, 2012 at 5:29 pm

    This is the thinly veiled threat I think of whenever I see that freakin’ TeaTard poster…

    WE CAME UNARMED…
    THIS TIME.

  50. 50.

    quannlace

    October 3, 2012 at 5:43 pm

    Yup, Santorum was right. Smart people aren’t going along with the Republican party/brand. Only an idiot would think there wouldn’t be repercussions having a hand gun next to an implied threat to the President. And then not even have a good Plan B when you get called out.

  51. 51.

    Waynski

    October 3, 2012 at 6:49 pm

    @SFAW: Don’t hate on the Dutch. I’m part Dutch and part Irish which means that after I beat half of your teeth out of your mouth into the street, I’ll take you to the doctor where you’ll get excellent free healthcare.

    Waynski +3

  52. 52.

    1badbaba3

    October 3, 2012 at 6:54 pm

    Please wingnuts, please pick up arms against a sitting President. Because it worked out so well for you last time.

    Get a brain, morans!

  53. 53.

    gelfling545

    October 3, 2012 at 7:02 pm

    @mechwarrior online: Some do it, others don’t. I tend to refer to people by their titles as they were at some pains to acquire them.

  54. 54.

    Anatoliĭ Lъudьvigovich Bzyp (Mumphrey, et al.)

    October 3, 2012 at 8:32 pm

    These assholes never mean anything they say. It’s always our fault for “misinterpreting” their words or their funny, funny e-mails with pictures of the president made to look like a witch doctor: “Oh, you see something racial about this? Well, I guess you’re the one who’s all hung up on race, then.”

    One of these dickwads could stand up and scream, “B. Hussein Osama is a fucking nigger and niggers should all die and I’m going to string him up from a tree like the damned, no-good nigger that he is!” And when people got all upset about it, he’d say, “There’s nothing racial about this! What’s wrong with you? I never threatened the president! Why do you always have to assume the worst about decent white conservative folk like me?”

    My wife works at a non-profit that a retired army general runs. It helps out soldiers with loans and grants when they get forecolsed on or can’t pay their bills. Stuff like that. About a month ago, a woman who worked there sent out an e-mail, from her non-profit address, to everybody she knew thaat had a picture of a refrigerated warehouse filled with watermelons and it said, “The Obamas’ new walk-in freezer”.

    The general guy was less than thrilled. It came from somebody who worked for him, and she sent it out from his non-profit’s address, which meant he had to find out who all got the damned thing and call them all up and tell them how sorry he was and that she didn’t do this with his or the organization’s approval and that she damend sure wasn’t going to be working there much longer. And he fired her. She still, even after she got dumped out on her ass for it, didn’t know what the big deal was. It was funny, right? It was a joke, right? Why do minorities have to be so damned sensitive and so damned serious about everything? It’s unfair to whites, who now can’t even make a funny, funny, rib-ticklingly hilarious joke without some humorless darkie scold coming along and making a big thing about it.

    And then a few days later, this woman called up her black “friend” and wept and wailed and asked, “Hey, you understand that I’m not a racist, right? You thought it was funny, right? I have black friends. You’re one of my friends, and you’re black, so how can I be racist?” It was like she was begging this woman to tell her, “Oh, no, that wasn’t racist at all. And I don’t understand why they fired you over it, that was soooo unfair.” The poor woman didn’t say much at all to her. What could she say? Nothing was going to reach her. Nothing ever will. I guess we’re just stuck with these subhuman creeps. The only good thing is that they seem to be dying off faster than they can breed. So there’s that, at least…

  55. 55.

    themann1086

    October 3, 2012 at 9:13 pm

    Hey, it’s not like there’s a history in Tennessee with white assholes, guns, and prominent black leaders! Wait…

  56. 56.

    bjacques

    October 4, 2012 at 5:13 am

    @BGinCHI: The gun is good. The penis is evil.

    This thread’s prolly dead, but the perfect handgun? Dali’s Handgun of course!

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