DISQUS

cmpnwtr · 3 months ago

Yeah, murdering the president. That's real funny. It was really funny when the country lived through an assassination in 1963. I was there. It was really, really, really funny.

Blue387 · 3 months ago

Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy for the lulz.

ProfitOverLife · 3 months ago

Yeah, jokes are always just jokes coming from the fascist, hypocritical right--Coulter and all the rest.

But if Obama says a joke, or Biden, or Clinton, or Letterman (who is PAID to tell jokes)--well THEN it's a federal crisis.

Demochas · 3 months ago

The loyal opposition is no longer loyal, patriotic, ethical, and I dare say, sane. They are only interested in power and control. They despise government, yetlong to govern. They are a national embarrassment.

herbsuperb · 3 months ago

They don't want to govern, they want to rule

Demochas · 3 months ago

Yes, I stand corrected !!!

GrassDog · 3 months ago

OK. Perhaps I need to step away from the computer monitor a bit? It's amazing and uncomfortable how angry that makes me feel.

susanai56 · 3 months ago

Yeah, this is becoming more and more real. This hatred of President Obama is mindboggling, scary and downright treasonable. I just hope that the Secret Service are taking this seriously. It seems not many americans are!

Dave_in_Gainesville · 3 months ago

Don't forget scared.

GrassDog · 3 months ago

I've sort of decided not to be afraid of things anymore. The result is that things that used to make me fearful now make me angry.

I'm not sure if this is a good thing. I'm working on it.

E_Grise · 3 months ago

This is, like, the third or fourth R quote to show up on PW in the last two days that indicates the Rs have lost all semblance of political sanity.

I don't mean this in the sense that they could lose followers by some of their language. I mean it in the sense that our sense of being a nation could be destroyed.

Threatening to kill the President, whether it's a joke or not, should get a very high profile visit from the FBI. And if it's chargeable, a charge should be filed.

And to Hell with what the Republican peanut gallery thinks.

Dave_in_Gainesville · 3 months ago

Regrettably the tipping-point seems to have come some time ago. Perhaps the 2000 election-hijack, when the monster right-wing that puzzled and paige and jgrillo and jeremy support, stole the whole thing with brazen impunity, and the general public rolled over and played dead for it?

MaicoMark · 3 months ago

Republican = Asshole

I think I'll have a few thousand bumper stickers printed up that say this and pass them out. Who cares if I offend some people? It's all a joke, right.

GrassDog · 3 months ago

I like Demochas' comparison:

Republican = National Embarrassment

Dave_in_Gainesville · 3 months ago

It is quite literally a question of good and evil in this country these days. The left side of our political debate in this country would be raging conservatives in any other major industrialized democracy in the world, and the guys on our right make wisecracks about shooting the guy in charge when they're not butt-pirating total strangers in a Minneapolis Airport mens' room.

dectra · 3 months ago

Liar + Quitter = Sarah Palin

Dave_in_Gainesville · 3 months ago

Isn't it interesting how Paige, jgrillo, redvoter, etc. never seem to have anything to say in threads like this? We only seem to hear from them when it's all about cooler heads finding a sensible middle ground on health-care reform. Interesting.

EDIT: I originally included Jeremy, but he doesn't even do *that* -- with him it's just gleeful reprints of Rassmussen polls, with no policy positions at all. To which I say, hey: even friggin' better.

Open letter time: There's a country out there, guys. The fellow who gets the most electoral votes gets to try to govern it. Disagreeing with his best efforts to clean up the mess your guy made of things is part-and-parcel of the process, provided that disagreement is being carried out in good faith; disinformation, pennant-race poll watching, and open calls for his murder are un-American. You're on the side of evil, puzzled. You support monsters, jgrillo. The party you support is without principle, tenant, or agenda, Paige. Black-hearted bully thugs, through-and-through, with no redeeming value whatsoever, and you support 'em for it. And if you can type in complete sentences, as one or two of you occasionally do, then you're smart enough to know better.

E_Grise · 3 months ago

". The party you support is without ... tenant..."

Lots of tenants, but no tenets, methinks. (;>)

Dave_in_Gainesville · 3 months ago

Miss... what was her name, again? ...strikes again! Curses! ;-)

E_Grise · 3 months ago

Miss Quimby, my dear. But you may call me Stella if you like.

Dave_in_Gainesville · 3 months ago

I thought her last name was Artois?

E_Grise · 3 months ago

My cousin by marriage, dear. She was last seen on a stranded railroad car. Drunk.

Blythespirit413 · 3 months ago

Me thinks someone knows his Belgian Beer. Are you a Stella drinker Dave. I learned to like it in Antwerp.

CAfan · 3 months ago

This is why it is so easy to vote for the Democrat in every election (House, Senate, Presidential)....The Republican party of today, (ever since Reagan) has become so mean-spirited, hateful, & bitter....They offer zero ideas & solutions to any problems, they just stick with the playbook that is full of xenophobia, & scare tactics....

LKM · 3 months ago

I think the GOP lost its morality in the Civil Rights movement, when they decided this was their opportunity to regain power in the South rather than doing what was right. I'm not sure who were the political hacks that made that decisions, but they are the catalysts IMO.

Johio · 3 months ago

Since Reagan? Have you forgotten Tricky Dick?

BluTex · 3 months ago

I used to hope that someday the Republicans would run out of space in their mouths in which to insert their feet, but I've determined that the mouth space is much larger and deeper than I originally thought because I didn't account for the extra space in the head afforded by the lack of a brain.

ExistentialKid · 3 months ago

If the Right's gonna keep crankin' out & supporting crazies like this, I say FUCK BIPARTISANSHIP.

Bush surely did so...

bpai99 · 3 months ago

Rammell may not support the current President being assassinated, he just jokes about it and would celebrate if it happened.

xian · 3 months ago

the language is so stilted and strange, that he would not "support" assassination of the president - I mean wtf!?

dswx · 3 months ago

Indeed the fact remains that there are Republicans who would definitely celebrate such a national tragedy. They are the American Taliban.

susanai56 · 3 months ago

I call them Fox watchers and commentators.

rightwingrick · 3 months ago

I'm sure Fox "News" and the conservative talking heads who all love America and are such great patriots will jump all over this and slam this guy for such a remark, as they would have had someone said the same about any Republican president.

morphy · 3 months ago

"...I would never support him being assassinated."

What a relief -- I'm sure we all thought you were publicly advocating that.

So then, I guess it's perfectly alright. Who's got the Rammell tags? Ha Ha Ha. Sure is funny. You're a riot, Alice.

BigDogQ · 3 months ago

The Reflublican party just keeps digging that hole deeper and deeper

Mark_in_VA · 3 months ago

This guy and Huckabee could get together. Huck could pull a gun on Obama so he'd hit the floor knocking over a chair, then tag him so no-name Rammell could murder him. That's one fine comedy duo there, ya'll regressives. Yuk yuk yuk.

shaunnol · 3 months ago

Actually, bring Cheney along with them, because with Cheney's aim, he could hit either Huckabee or Rammel instead.

DroolingLamb · 3 months ago

I guess I'd have to actually see the video to see if Rammell was actually being sarcastic or not. If he was, he could have been condescending to the questioner, and if that's the case, I don't really have a problem with his response. If you make a stupid joke, you get a derisive response.

At the same time, I'd be surprised if that was the case. Without having seen the exchange, my guess is that these Idaho politicians all got a good belly laugh out of their constituents by making an assassination joke.

And I thought Harry Reid was going to have the classiest quote of the day...

susanai56 · 3 months ago

What kind of an idiot are you? BTW I clicked on 'liked this' by mistake.

Kinsey · 3 months ago

So you didn't have time to watch the video before jumping to the guy's defense? The guy who joked about assassinating our President?

And then you compare this ugly comment to ANYTHING Harry Reid has to say?

Great belly laughs, all around. Congratulations, Idaho.

dmarko1 · 3 months ago

This crap is not funny. Its not funny because of our awful history of killing Presidents. Its not funny because we are in a vulnerable time in our history. Its not funny because of our history of race brutality. ts just not freaking funny.

shawsr · 3 months ago

You know President Obama has done nothing but help this Nation. When there was talk of an economic meltdown earlier this year, President Obama took action. Now the economy seems pretty steady. The GOP forecast higher taxes. President Obama cut taxes. The Nation has need a healthcare overhaul for years. President Obama has begun an aggressive campaign to do fix the healthcare problem.

What has he gotten in return from the GOP? Distortions. Lies. Death threats. For this reason, move forward Mr. President and do it without them.

TLars · 3 months ago

Ha, ha, ha.... Anyone want to buy a "Rammell tag"? Ha, hha, ah...

He probably would find that to be very funny...

Dave_in_Gainesville · 3 months ago

We should start a website where we sell them to Democrats in Idaho and then press release the whole thing -- I'm sure he'd think it was *hilarious*.

Incidentally, I'd like to take this opportunity to hereby officially call on the hunters of Idaho to shoot and murder Rex Rammell.

...What's that you say? How dare I? Well, I was joking of course.

morphy · 3 months ago

Didn't mean to parrot you. Was off in my own little world, reading and typing, without refreshing before posting.

TLars · 3 months ago

Just means we are all thinking the same thing. Joking about tragedy occuring to the "other guy" is always more funny that having the same tragedy visit yourself. That's the wisdom behind what Jesus teaches -- "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you."

KevinFinity · 3 months ago

First they bring guns to protest rallies... now these "jokes" start?

This is really starting to get disturbing.

I mean, dang I really hated GWB, but I never joked about killing the man. What the hell has gone wrong here?

avahome · 3 months ago

They feel empowered. I am more than certain they feel democrats are weak.
I certainly hope they are paid a visit by authorities... It's sad that men are no longer gentlemen.....perhaps that explains things a bit.

LKM · 3 months ago

What makes this disturbing is this is not just the wingnuts making comments. These are "respectable" people who presumably can't claim mental illness as the reason they act the way they do.

nagol100 · 3 months ago

I'm sure they weren't referring to actually murdering, or even joking about people actually murdering him. I've seen people say some things at political rallies that they don't mean simply because so much of it is improvised.

That being said, these guys should man up and admit when they were wrong. We don't need some long, personal exhortation on MSNBC saying how sorry they are, or the chicken sh*t suggestion that it was all "taken out of context" (which seems to be the popular scapegoat nowadays), but rather a simple note on their legislative or campaign website stating their apology for even giving passing credit to the idea of this being funny.

After that, wipe your hands and be done with it.

ThatOneDemocrat · 3 months ago

In 2008, Republican voter turnout declined from 2004 by a measly 1.3 percent. Furthermore, Gallup recently noted that the current post-honeymoon levels of opposition to Obama roughly mirror the levels of opposition to him as a candidate. In other words? They had their chance at the polls, and lost. So now that they have been defeated in the legitimate channels of power, some extremists are fantasizing about more extreme measures. I'm furious, but I'm not scared. Oh no. Because if something actually does happen, right-wing extremists, hell will be unleashed.

I seriously wonder if the gun-toters or the Rex Rammells have stopped to realize what will really happen in this country if Obama is assassinated.

GrassDog · 3 months ago

While I agree with your statement about the apology, for the most part, the following sentence of yours is gibberish:

"I'm sure they weren't referring to actually murdering, or even joking about people actually murdering him."

What were they referring to or joking about then?

ID1 · 3 months ago

Well it is okay to criticize every politican expect a black politican or the president. Where were the defenders of women when Palin was attacked. Apparently it is only certain people who get the distinctions and thus can't be joked about. He was joking, ligten up. he joke may have been in bad taste, really bad taste but it was a joke. get over it. 40 years later this nation is still afraid to face its past and talk about it.

euphgeek · 3 months ago

Tell me, when Palin was "attacked" did anyone suggest that she be murdered? Did any of her opponents show up to her rallies armed? No, what happened to poor Sarah was that she merely got her feelings hurt a little bit. For equating the two, I say fuck you very much.

ID1 · 3 months ago

Don't give me that BS. If you expect every politican who dislikes the president to never say anything bad about him go to the moon. I wonder where you guys were when people made jobs about assassinating Bush. You tell me to fuck off, but your president and your party, as well as people like you already have. Your party is so afraid of losing the race card they have to do anything to keep it alive. Pathetic.

euphgeek · 3 months ago

Fuck you again. I said nothing about never saying anything bad about the president. We're talking about MURDER. A MURDER that a REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE advocated, even if in jest. Can you grasp that? And yes, anyone who joked about assassinating Bush is just as despicable. And as far as race goes, you're the one who brought it up, not me.

ID1 · 3 months ago

Ooh, mommy he used the f word. Get over yourself and your self-righteous crap. It was a fucking joke. Do you honestly believe he is seriously advoacting this crap? Yes it was stupid and yes it was in bad taste but get over yourself. Are we now not allowed to make jokes because of any historical reference. As for those that joked about killing Bush being despicable, your about 4 years and change late. Didn't you any of you guys calling them despicable then.

euphgeek · 3 months ago

If you seriously don't see anything wrong with this "joke" other than it being "stupid" and "in bad taste" then you obviously have no moral standards. And if you have to distract from it by bringing up race and the tu quoque fallacy then you obviously had no argument to begin with. When was the last time you heard a Democratic candidate for office joke about the assassination of a political figure? You are just as despicable a human being as Mr. Rammell. The fact that you continue to defend him just proves my point.

tony511 · 3 months ago

I don't know, man, this doesn't strike me as that big a deal. An unelected scrub Republican candidate for governor of a state that hasn't been electorally competitive in half a century responds positively to a distasteful "hunting the Democratic president" joke. Meh. Maybe it came across worse in person, but it just reads like lame political toadying. He should have apologized (as Mike Huckabee did after his lame Obama assassination-joke and John Kerry did after that Bush joke) but I'm skeptical these kind of informal rules really apply to fringe candidates.

The sad truth is that because our the way our primary system is structured, this will probably bump this guy a bit in the polls. This is a good thing for Idaho Democrats (see Sali, Bill).

Joseph Granata · 3 months ago

A republican making a "joke" about this is nothing, but I will say this if a democrat ever made the same "joke" about Bush when he was President they would have a field day. They would urge him to apologize and some might even call for the Secret Service to investigate. I say this we all have the right of free speech unless that speech is harmful to someone else or threatens someone else. This speech is harmful because it talks about and in my mind demonstrates a lack of control from someone. I wish the Secret Service knocks on his door and chats with him a bit, maybe even say they are incvestigating a threat made on the Presidents life, then he will apoligize for sure.

mohanna · 3 months ago

Here's something even he might understand. It's against the law to threaten the life of the President. I hope the Secret Service pays him a visit.

ThatOneDemocrat · 3 months ago

Maybe he'll do what that gun-toter who threatened to assassinate Obama last October did when he was arrested by the Secret Service...look them in the eye with a steely gaze and proclaim that he's willing to die for his *true* country....

....Oh wait, no, that guy broke down and sobbed like a spanked child. Which is probably what Rammell and most of these idiots would do.

mohanna · 3 months ago

Two potatoes were walking down the road. One was a prostitute. How do you know which one is the prostitute? It has "IDAHO" stamped on the side.

SGAstumpJ · 3 months ago

I wanted to get in on this yesterday, but this computer wouldn't let me write on here. But if Gibbs got asked about this comment in his briefing today, here is the West Wing quote he should have responded with:

"The Secret Service investigates all threats made against the President; it's White House policy not to comment on those investigations."

It's the wonkish way to say "we are not amused."

Snick1946 · 3 months ago

I just wrote this guy a letter telling him what I thought of him- don't worry I worded it carefully. His web site has a comments link that has been 'unavailable' the last few days.
My sense is that this guy is a perennial canidate for office who represents the fringe. Which in Idaho is really fringey. I hope the Secret Service investigates him.
Many years ago when Clinton was president some moron parked his pickup every day outside an office I worked with a bumper sticker 'Lee Oswald, we need you". I put a note on his windshield telling him what I thought and that he was being reported to the US Secret Service, I called, never got any feedback but the sticker was peeled off next week.