He doesn't speak for me, or for anyone I know.

The Secret Service should pay him a visit, and if applicable charge him with the appropriate crime.

This is no joke, and should not be treated as one.

I still think we should show up to the rallies with giant pink Supersoakers.

Oh jeez people...don't you know this is how any good war-loving, capital punishment supporting, Muslim-hating Christian is supposed to do....tote guns to intimidate and squash debate??? Sheesh....

BrooklynGirl trots out the old canard of 'war-lover', et al.

Does the propaganda ever get any fresher, or is this all you've got, BG?

I find it amusing that while (as Carla noted) the Bush administration was arresting people for wearing anti-Bush shirts, these people cheered for what they called "freedom."

Now, although they seem free enough to carry guns to events and jokingly make threats against the President, they scream "Fascists!"

To be able to bring a gun to such events and say such things... For better or worse, that's a level of freedom we have not known for some time.

Carla,

Two thoughts:

1. I wish you and others here at BlueOregon wouldn't give so much credence to the right-wing wackos in the Republican Party. They sure as hell don't represent the majority of us.

2. You have to take into consideration 9/11 and the upgraded security measures that were put in place. To suggest that protesters were unfairly arrested just because of Bush is pure conjecture. I doubt it would've been any different if John Kerry or Al Gore were President during 9/11.

I also remember Alec Baldwin standing before a cheering crowd talking about stoning Congressman Henry Hyde and his children.

I hate being forced to respond to this crap.

You just know every one of these eliminationist assholes as kids must have tortured their sisters on long family trips by holding their hands millimeters above their sisters faces until those poor little girls screamed....

"MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!"

..and every one of those little shits, thinking they had to be the first child brilliant enough to think of such a cool, evil plot, yelled back with glee...

"But Mom, I'm not touching her!!

Fast forward 30 years. Same little shits, just 30 years older. All of us are in the same position those poor tortured moms were trying to drive to Grandma's house with an evil little shit in the backseat.

"Don't make me stop this car and come back there!!!

For each of these faux assassin hints, I think Obama needs to hand out to add a brand new IRS branch office with a brand new allotment of audits for each hometown these little shits who never grew out of their "torture sister with glee" phase. See if we can get a little peer pressure going to quiet down these evil little shits who never grew up.

@ Jason

I wish you were right, that these wackos were not representative of the GOP. But when crowds cheer those statements wishing death to the president it doesn't give encouragement. When people show up at events equating the president to Hitler, and they are cheered, the message is clear. When a man shows up in Maryland at a Town Hall with a sign saying "Death to Obama, Michelle, and his stupid children" what are we to believe?? What is disturbing to me is that this is acceptable behavior and thinking in GOP crowds.

When Bush was the number one target of hostility in Dem. crowds, it was never okay to call for his death, or to joke about assassination, at least in my circles. Has the Dem. party become the party of law and order, and the GOP the party of assassination, militias, and anti-govt. terrorism? When right wing militia members show up at town halls packing assault rifles, people associated with the Viper militia in Arizona, a group that hatched a plot to blow up government buildings? Is this the GOP consituency now??

Unmitigated crap that anyone running under and party line for any office wold say something like this and then pass it off as a joke. Carla, thanks for showing us yet another idiot.

I do, however believe that this is a real outlying whacko.

Again I wish these people were exceptions, but they're not:

" It was a comment from the crowd that may have gone unnoticed. A Redding man, identified as Bert Stead of Redding told a town hall meeting in Redding last week, "I"m a proud right wing terrorist."

Congressman Wally Herger, who represents the district, didn't interrupt or condemn the comment. In response, Herger said, "Amen. God bless you. There's a great American."

http://www.fox40.com/news/headlines/ktxl-news-congressmanterroristcomments,0,6090994.story

These whackjobs are not exceptions, they are being incited and encouraged by the GOP party leadership.

And the right wing gun toters in Phoenix at the presidential town hall. Here's the message they were getting when they attended this church, "Obama must die!"

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/pastor_of_gun-toter_at_obama_event_day_before_even.php?ref=fpblg

Bill R wrote:

"It was a comment from the crowd that may have gone unnoticed. A Redding man, identified as Bert Stead of Redding told a town hall meeting in Redding last week, "I"m a proud right wing terrorist." "

That actually is a joke.

It's a poke at the Janet Napalitano's DHS report that labeled pro-lifers, anti-illegal immigration activists and other conservative political types as 'threats', 'violent radicals' and implied that they were 'terrorists'.

There have been strong 2nd Amendment supporters going public about such folks saying "Do you really want to sabatoge our movement? Do you really how you make us all look?".

The wingnut fringe is out in force.

Jason, "2. You have to take into consideration 9/11 and the upgraded security measures that were put in place. To suggest that protesters were unfairly arrested just because of Bush is pure conjecture. I doubt it would've been any different if John Kerry or Al Gore were President during 9/11. "

Gee, I guess that is why some small town elected officials were not on invitation lists for the Bush events.

Secret Service generally requires that people pick up tickets in advance of events.

But the Bush events seemed screened so that only friendly folk came in and no one would ask tough questions.

Yo Joe White, nice try. You're kind of like the guy who says he's opposed to abortion and also SAYS he abhors the terrorists who attack women's clinics...but in fact is winking and nodding to those terrorists the whole time. Idiotic audience members making inane "jokes" about "Obama tags" is one thing, but a GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE going along with the joke and even amplifying it?

Get a grip, Jason: people were being roughed up, bounced, and arrested at Dubya's events because of the messages on their frigging T-SHIRTS. "Upgraded security measures": what bullshit.

Crazed eliminationists with guns: read what the Southern Poverty Law Center has to say about them.

Yo Joe White, nice try. You're kind of like the guy who says he's opposed to abortion and also SAYS he abhors the terrorists who attack women's clinics...but in fact is winking and nodding to those terrorists the whole time. Idiotic audience members making inane "jokes" about "Obama tags" is one thing, but a GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE going along with the joke and even amplifying it?

Get a grip, Jason: people were being roughed up, bounced, and arrested at Dubya's events because of the messages on their frigging T-SHIRTS. "Upgraded security measures": what bullshit.

Crazed eliminationists with guns: read what the Southern Poverty Law Center has to say about them.

joel dan walls wrote:

""jokes" about "Obama tags""

Apparently my condemnation of this is not enough for you. You want to smear and accuse regardless of the facts.

Grow up.

@ Joe White

Haha.. yeah it's real funny to joke about right wing terrorism. We're all still laughing about Timothy McVeigh. Right wing congressmen have an odd sense of humor and an odd sense of patriotism.

Where is the Secret Service, Homeland Security, and the FBI when they are needed? (See below.) The terrorist anti-American that asked the question and the terrorist anti-American GOP candidate that answered it both need to be deported. These two definitely are not Americans! Their falsified birth certificates, passports and other forged documents should be confiscated as well.

I will tell you where those agencies are, they out there supporting these kind of asshole terrorists rather than corralling them and sending them to Afghanistan where they should be dumped bare ass naked in the middle of a fire fight.

I guarantee that none of these right wing subversive supporting agencies will do their sworn duty. I sure hope that someone does something.

Joe White wrote: ""It was a comment from the crowd that may have gone unnoticed. A Redding man, identified as Bert Stead of Redding told a town hall meeting in Redding last week, "I"m a proud right wing terrorist." "

That actually is a joke."

Is this kind of a joke like when in the 1930s some Germans wore uniforms with swastikas on them? I love that one! Get's 'em rolling in the ditch every time! Almost as funny as when they burn crosses on black folks' lawns! Oh my god, my stomach hurts from laughing so hard!

The unacknowledged difficulty is that this all exists on a continuum. It is all part of the right wing conservative climate of violence, which begins with, "It's my constitutional right not to have to care about / you / illegal aliens / poor people / other people's children / the unemployed / the uninsured / women / old people / young people / anyone but my people!" and it ends with valorized violence of: "The Second Amendment is there to protect the rest of the Constitution!"

Under such transparent social signification (I mean, you don't have to be Sigmund Frakking Freud to see the anxieties and compensation going on here) it's no wonder that we see . . .

Bringing guns (including assault weapons) to town meetings (including meetings where the President will speak).

The murder of Dr. George Tiller in Kansas.

The murder of guard Stephen Johns (a black man) at the U.S. Holocaust Museum.

The murder of two people at a Unitarian church by a shotgun-carrying Fox-news watching conservative who said he was there to "kill liberals and gays."

Another right wing extremist guns down three police officers in Pittsburgh because he's afraid President Obama is coming to take his guns.

At the margins, this is neither chance nor mere aberration. This is the expression of who the right wing hate machine really is. This is what the hate speech against "liberals" and "socialism" (including all the hate speech here) generates - not by accident, but as a well-known by-product of the incivility and greed and fear that make up the core of the right wing agenda.

So when Republican politicians say they want tags to go Obama hunting and then say they're just joking, they're not joking. They're dog whistling. We all know it.

We all see what's going down.

No, these folks aren't "Real Republicans". They represent the far-right extremist right wing Palin/Beck/Limbaugh crowd. I say keep the camera right on them. They may think they represent "real" Americans (rural white evangelical "Christians") but the last election showed how wrong they are. Keep focusing on the most extreme elements of the Republican Party. The anti-government Reaganites. It reminds the rest of America how big a mistake electing GW Bush was.

Fear, Hatred, Distortion and Division. It's all Republicans have to offer

We're talking "dog whistle" politics here. When GOP politicos praise these extremists as "patriots" and refuse to call them out, then the message is clear. The politician incites and the extremist activist acts out the wish. The right wing politician has a fig leaf of deniability but the message is clear.

Today GOP Rep. Lynn Jenkins of Kansas said the Republicans are looking for "the great white hope" to defeat Obama and the Democrats. Her target audience is pretty clear, and despite her pretend apologies and denials that this was an appeal to white racial fears, the message was delivered and received. And there are plenty of people out there who know they now have permission from Republican political leaders to act out their violent hatred in the name of patriotism. Trying to dismiss this dynamic as fringe is a cover. http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/gop-congresswoman-party-looking-for-great-white-hope.php

Joe Klein is right in his article in Time. The GOP has become a party of nihilism. Anything goes, including incitement of violence and turning Americans against each other in a way to incite irreconcilable divisions. It is Rovian wedge politics to the extreme. The right wing terror groups that spawned Timothy McVeigh do not happen in a vacuum. http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1917525,00.html

If and when the violent incidents and actions do happen, we should all know as a country who to hold accountable.

I still think it's peculiar that the terrorist McVeigh targeted OKLAHOMA, which is perhaps the most right wing state in the US....but perhaps if you're trying to kill federal employees, it's not important where they are, as they're all Enemies of the People.

Joe White: As a matter of fact, your "condemnations" written here don't mean a damn thing. If you want to walk the walk, go to some venue where the elimnationist crazies are gathered and tell them to disperse, take their meds, shut off the radio, and lock up their guns.

Never underestimate the stupidity of Republicans. After being betrayed by two Bushes, some of them are clamoring for a third. No wonder this country is such a basketcase. I blame the Department of Education...after the Federal Reserve, it's number two on my hit list.

Old Ducker, all the fault is with the Dept. of Education and the Federal Reserve? Or with stupid Republicans?

I have known people with your point of view, but I don't think that comment solves anything.

There is a very intelligent Republican consultant, I think her name is Kellyanne Conway. I saw her on a CSPAN show dissecting the 2008 election. She said she believes Obama won in part (if not in large part) because he never listened to the people who say "he can't win".

She talked about the hiring process for her small business (interview and testing take hours) and says the kind of process her company uses should be used for Republican candidates---no more "choose him because he can win".

I find that a very intelligent approach.

What I will also say knows no ideology. People choose whether to be merely angry or to do something practical about it. As someone once said, if you are looking for leadership, look in the mirror!

LT, I wish it were that easy. As of today, there are two emerging Republican candidates for congress and the senate that actually believe in free markets and limited government. Naturally the GOP establishment opposes both of them.

Oh, their names are Peter Schiff and Rand Paul (son of Ron Paul).

Nothing will ever be enough for the birthers. They are worse then the teabaggers.

First the birthers, Obama has shown more proof then any president in history that he was born in the U.S. A "long form" will not change the birthers minds. They will claim it's afake just like the short form, and the newspaper anouncements. Their minds are already made up. He is half black, he must be foreign. Obama should produce his long form only when the birthers show Ronald Reagans long form birth certificate.

Secondly the Teabaggers, why are you protesting Obama cutting your taxes? I mean these people who are at the teabagger protest don't make 6 figures. I know they don't make 6 figures cause most of them have wal-mart garb on. So why protest Obama cutting your taxes? I guess he would have been ok if he cut taxes for the rich?

ROFL, Ron Paul and Peter Schiff are a joke.

Daniel wrote:

"Obama has shown more proof then any president in history that he was born in the U.S. A"

The greater question is not 'was he born in the US?' I've said all along that I think the odds are greater than 50% that he was.

But does he hold dual, or even multiple citizenship (US, Britain, Kenya, Indonesia)?

What's missing here are Republican leaders standing up and denouncing the death threats. While it is true that several Idaho Repulican heavy weights did speak out about this guy, we haven't seen any national Republican leaders condem these racist assains.

If this had occurred during the Bush administration Ted Kennedy would have been among the first to speak out.

Where's the outrage?

Just curious....what would have happened if a Middle Eastern looking man wearing a headscarf had shown up at a Bush event carrying an AK47?

Joe White sez:

I've said all along that I think the odds are greater than 50% that [Obama] was [born in the US]. But does he hold dual, or even multiple citizenship (US, Britain, Kenya, Indonesia)?

The odds are greater than 50%? Damn, Joe White, that is really white of you!!

By the way....

Are the UK, Kenya and Indonesia in the business of granting citizenship to people born in Hawaii?

Is there something in the US Constitution stating that a person holding dual citizenship is ineligible to be president (bearing in mind, of course, that--as far as I know--the US does not recognize dual citizenship)?

Yeah, I know, I know, Joe, you're just a Concerned Citizen. You just want to tie up those loose ends, boost your level of confidence from 50.1% to something a wee bit greater.

But Joe, I was wondering if I could ask you something: DO YOU STILL BEAT YOUR WIFE? I realize that you have previously insisted that no, you gave up that lamentable habit, but here's the thing: I, too, am a Concerned Citizen. I need to get all the data and convince myself that you're no longer a wife beater. When are you going to release your long-form police record?

I'll tell you why I'm still suspicious about Obama's citizenship: the man learned to speak Bahasa Indonesia while he was living in Indonesia as a kid. What sort of red-blooded American would learn to speak a foreign language, goddammit, especially a weird, subversive, Muslim-loving language like Bahasa Indonesia?

Joel Dan Wells wrote:

"Are the UK, Kenya and Indonesia in the business of granting citizenship to people born in Hawaii?"

The answer is yes, someone born in Hawaii could indeed automatically be a citizen of a foreign country at birth if one of his parents is already a citizen of that foreign country.

In addition, one can become a citizen of another country (even if you weren't one by birth) if one is willing to take the proper steps.

This seems rather elementary. Please tell me that you were already aware of it.

OK, Joe, I'm going to write off for my honorary Indonesian citizenship right now!!!

Still waiting to hear if you still beat your wife.

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