Congressman asked "Who is going to shoot Obama?"

[Landslide Lyndon]

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/25/congressman-asked-who-is-going-to-shoot-obama/

Rep. Paul Broun, the Georgia Republican who is among President Obama's biggest critics in the House, faced a startling question from a constituent at a town hall Thursday evening: "Who is going to shoot Obama?"

According to the Athens Banner-Herald, the question was the first the congressman faced at the gathering and the comment drew laughter from the crowd. Broun did not exactly denounce the comments, according to the paper.
"The thing is, I know there's a lot of frustration with this president," he said in response. "We're going to have an election next year. Hopefully, we'll elect somebody that's going to be a conservative, limited-government president … who will sign a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare."

Threats made against the president can constitute a federal crime, punishable by five years in prison or a $250,000 fine. Jessica Morris, a spokeswoman for Broun, told the newspaper that the question was "inappropriate" and said the congressman "moved on." Morris was not immediately available for further comment Friday morning.

[exopolitician]

Thats cute.

[Bull Moose Base]

Witnesses say he laughed when he heard the question.  GOP!

[exopolitician]

Witnesses say he laughed when he heard the question.  GOP!

Even better!

[Middle-aged Europe]

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Historically incorrect. First of all, Hitler was appointed and not elected. In addition, it's debatable whether you could define Germany as "democratic" at the time he was appointed. The country had already been ruled by emergency decree for three years when Hitler became Chancellor. If anything, Obama is Hindenburg and not Hitler.

[Franzl]

Broun has always been dumber than a pile of bricks.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Historically correct Obama/Hitler analogue:

Because of the financial crisis, Obama declares martial law. At the same time, a growing radical movement (the Tea Party?) is making significant gains in congressional elections. Because of those gains, the government becomes effectively deadlocked and in the end, Obama is forced to appoint several prominent Tea Party representatives to his Cabinet. When Obama dies in office, the Tea Party installs one of their own as new VP. After that, they force Biden to resign.

[exopolitician]

Historically correct Obama/Hitler analogue:

Because of the financial crisis, Obama declares martial law. At the same time, a growing radical movement (the Tea Party?) is making significant gains in congressional elections. Because of those gains, the government becomes effectively deadlocked and in the end, Obama is forced to appoint several prominent Tea Party representatives to his Cabinet. When Obama dies in office, the Tea Party installs one of their own as new VP. After that, they force Biden to resign.

Yeah totally...

[Zarn]

Witnesses say he laughed when he heard the question.  GOP!

Some people laugh, when they get nervous or find something unsettling. What kind of laugh was it?

[exopolitician]

Witnesses say he laughed when he heard the question.  GOP!

Some people laugh, when they get nervous or find something unsettling. What kind of laugh was it?

It shouldn't matter. The fact he didn't even denounce the question is ridiculous in itself, let alone him chuckling about it.

[Zarn]

Witnesses say he laughed when he heard the question.  GOP!

Some people laugh, when they get nervous or find something unsettling. What kind of laugh was it?

It shouldn't matter. The fact he didn't even denounce the question is ridiculous in itself, let alone him chuckling about it.

He pointed out how it should be done. He took violence out of the equation.

[Brittain33]

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Historically incorrect. First of all, Hitler was appointed and not elected.

Well, he was elected almost as much as David Cameron was elected PM last year.

[Tender Branson]

Wait, the article says that it wasn't Brown who said it, but a guy who was at the event.

So the headline is incorrect, because it wasn't Brown who asked the question.

[Brittain33]

Wait, the article says that it wasn't Brown who said it, but a guy who was at the event.

So the headline is incorrect ?!

It's skillfully written to be ambiguous. It's grammatical if he asked the question or if he was asked the question.

[minionofmidas]

If he'd asked it himself, it would most likely be "asks". And probably "Congressman asks" would come after "Obama".

Yeah, I'd probably laugh too. He coulda handled it a lot better - just adding something like "but I do hope noone seriously contemplates violence" would have done the trick - but unlike certain comments by a certain North Carolinian Senator regarding the last Democratic President, I don't think this is genuinely scandalous or genuinely actionable.

[Bull Moose Base]

Some people piss their pants when they're nervous too.  He managed not to do that as far as I know.  Post-Giffords, this guy had one job to do when getting a question like that and he ed up.  The GOP should demand his resignation.  Even acknowledging frustration with Obama is response to that question is dumbass.  The Right loves Christie for getting in people's faces when they complain teachers are underpaid.  A guy brings up assassination, congressman instead laughs and treats his feelings as valid if suggesting another course of action.  This is exactly why people were railing on the GOP post-Giffords.  They whipped people up into thinking the Democrats were a domestic enemy that might warrant a violent revolution, then turned a blind eye to resultant violent threats.

[Bacon King]

For the record, it was Broun's office who contacted the Secret Service about the guy.

[Middle-aged Europe]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Historically incorrect. First of all, Hitler was appointed and not elected.

Well, he was elected almost as much as David Cameron was elected PM last year.

Not quite. Because of Weimar's semi-presidentialism a comparison with France's prime ministers (Lionel Jospin?) would be more fitting.

[Brittain33]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Historically incorrect. First of all, Hitler was appointed and not elected.

Well, he was elected almost as much as David Cameron was elected PM last year.

Not quite. Because of Weimar's semi-presidentialism a comparison with France's prime ministers (Lionel Jospin?) would be more fitting.

I would say that Hindenberg had more in common with Queen Elizabeth II than with any President of France.

Hitler had as much democratic legitimacy as possible for a leader in Germany at the time. I'm not building off of that to say that everyone voting for him knew what they were getting into or wanted both the Holocaust and total war with the Soviet Union--clearly they didn't.

[Frodo]

I can almost see it: a new Oliver Stone-style JFK movie in the pipeline thirty years from now, this time with President Barack Obama in the starring role as the victim of a successful assassination attempt (hatched by corporate and government interests along with the tacit complicity of the by-then thoroughly southernized GOP) while campaigning for re-election in a major southern city.

God, I hope this remains historical fiction...    

  

[Free Palestine]

For the record, it was Broun's office who contacted the Secret Service about the guy.

Watch as the hacks either ignore this fact or come up with another justification for their hackery.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Witnesses say he laughed when he heard the question.  GOP!

Some people laugh, when they get nervous or find something unsettling. What kind of laugh was it?

It shouldn't matter. The fact he didn't even denounce the question is ridiculous in itself, let alone him chuckling about it.

As somebody who has sat on panels and done radio interviews, you don't always know how to react.  I remember once when me and the chairman of the Michigan Democratic party were on a panel together about the election, a crazy Ron Paul supporter got up and started talking about Iran and transitioned into a talk about the American people have guns, and it's time we used them and overthrow the government.

Neither one of us knew how to respond.  We just kinda looked at each other for about 10 seconds and Mark Brewer finally said, "I'll let you take that one."  And then the whole room started laughing and we moved on... but when you get a nut job throwing you an insane question, you don't always know how to respond.

[Marokai Backbeat]

For the record, it was Broun's office who contacted the Secret Service about the guy.

Watch as the hacks either ignore this fact or come up with another justification for their hackery.

Good that he notified them, disappointing that he basically made no public attempt to denounce those things. I certainly recognize he did that, but I don't think negates his disappointing first reaction. Congressmen are our leaders, and they should act mature, responsible, above the fray. They can't indulge the lowest common denominator, or it makes all of our politics violent and stupid.

[Landslide Lyndon]

For the record, it was Broun's office who contacted the Secret Service about the guy.

Watch as the hacks either ignore this fact or come up with another justification for their hackery.

I'm not an expert but if he failed to report it wouldn't that be like failing to report a crime?
The article says that threatening the President is a punishable offense, so it's not like Broun had much of a choice about reporting it.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

We are discussing the fact that one person out of the 300,000,000 living in the United States made a tasteless joke about shooting the president. And I'm honestly not sure why.

I'm not an expert but if he failed to report it wouldn't that be like failing to report a crime?

You clearly are not an expert, that much is true.