Gun-Toter From Obama Event: I, Like My Pastor, Want The President To Die

[Tx4obama]

Gun-Toter From Obama Event: I, Like My Pastor, Want The President To Die

Chris Broughton, the man who brought an AR-15 rifle and a handgun to an Arizona Obama rally earlier this month, says he "concurs" with his fundamentalist pastor's prayer for President Obama "to die and go to hell."

And in an interview with a local TV station, pastor Steven Anderson himself elaborated on his statement to TPMmuckraker that he would prefer Obama to die of natural causes so "he's not some martyr."

"I don't want him to be a martyr, we don't need another holiday. I'd like to see him die, like Ted Kennedy, of brain cancer," Anderson now says.

In an interview with ABC 15 outside the storefront Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Broughton said of Anderson's controversial August 16 "Why I Hate Barack Obama" sermon: "I concur, I think we'd be better off if God would send where he's going now instead of later. is destroying our country."

And when a reporter followed up with, "you're not advocating violence against the president?" Broughton, who has previously said his weapons are for defense, says "I'm not going to answer that question directly." "I don't care how God does it, I'm not going into further detail than that," Broughton says. "It would be better now than later."

The Secret Service has not returned calls for comment about whether it has contacted Broughton...

Full story here: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/gun_toter_i_like_my_pastor_want_obama_to_die.php?ref=fpb

[greenbriar]

1. see..this shit has GOT to stop

and we must not back down



bush would have had everyone arrested involved in this shit

[muffin1]

4. Didn't protesters have to stay one mile from any of shrub's events?

UNARMED protesters, that is. I seem to remember being called of all things, "The Free Speech Zone".x(

But birthers, secessionists, and deathers armed with assault weapons are ok?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

15. I'm not aware of any Shrub rally...

...that precluded people on private property in the vicinity of the rally from carrying firearms. But There Should Be A Law about this sort of nonsense.

[struggle4progress]

22. Hmmm. I'd bet the Secret Service considers whether people have a prospect of actually harming

the President, not whether they're on private property or not.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

23. I don't think the Secret Service has the power to make shit up as it goes along.

[FLyellowdog]

29. Actually I think they have the right (and responsibility)

to determine what the President's venue encompasses and to safeguard it as such. Seems like I saw a post on this a week or so ago. :shrug:

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

37. I am in complete agreement with you.

Unfortunately, some states say that it's A-OK to carry around an AR-15 semiautomatic weapon, the sole purpose of which is to kill human beings in large numbers.

[struggle4progress]

31. Your theory is "Threatening the President is illegal only when you're on Federal property?"

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

36. No.

But there is a difference between some dipshit with a gun standing on private property and some dipshit with a gun showing up at an event.

[struggle4progress]

38. Many political events occur on private property. Your theory is that

the Secret Service cannot restrict people from bringing guns to such events?

RFK, for example, was murdered on private property

[niceypoo]

27. Of course they do

Im sure that moron was in the crosshairs of more than a few sniper rifles

[ManiacJoe]

32. In a jail cell is more likely.

The Secret Service snipers don't aim at folks they don't intend to shoot.

[madeline_con]

2. "to die and go to hell." Does NOT mean he wants to kill anyone.

Sorry, but we have to protect free speech for everyone.

[VOX]

13. Sorry, but saying you want the president dead, and carrying a deadly weapon "

Is really, truly pushing it. There's probably no law in Arizona that makes it illegal to pull a handgun from a holster in public. However, if this guy did that in a room where the president was present, the guy would likely be blown away on the spot by Secret Service Agents.

[janet118]

14. Yeah . . . I want to yell FIRE!!!!!!!! at the next town hall. Okay? n/t

[classysassy]

17. Hate speach

is not free.

[paulsby]

41. yes it is

this is america. we do not criminalize hate speech. france, canada, the UK etc. do

frankly, i like free speech.

i don't like every example of it, nor do i like it in the instant case, but it is constitutionally protected whether i like it or not.

and i like the concept of protecting all hate speech.

[tridim]

3. FUCK

:grr:

[Becky72]

5. Isn't that a felony?

Isn't publicly wishing for the President's death a felony? I guess not since he wished a natural death. but damn!

[Mariana]

26. No, you actually have to threaten him.

Wishing someone dead, and saying so, isn't the same thing.

[paulsby]

42. no. it's called free speech

you can WISH for anybody's death. you can pray for anybody's death.

you cannot threaten (the legal term is a "true threat) somebody.

those are ENTIRELY different things.

case law has upheld, for instance, a man to post a website where he wishes for his ex-wife to die of a horrible disease, etc. this was in a case where she even had a protective order against him (prohibiting him contacting her, etc.)

expression of a desire or an opinion is 100% protected in the US. this is not canada, the UK, etc. where many examples of hate speech ARE criminal.

our speech is much freer. threats: illegal. wishes, opinions, etc: protected

[RamboLiberal]

6. Earlier thread on this

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6430728

[gratuitous]

7. "I don't care how God does it . . ."

Oh yeah, nothing wrong can possibly ensue from some fanatic walking around with a rifle at a presidential appearance. We must not deprive poor, misunderstood Mr. Broughton of his First or Second Amendment rights! Especially not his Second Amendment rights! We'll just watch him, real closely for that tell-tale moment when his fanaticism trips over the line to outright assassination.

But thank the lord above (or below) that Mr. Broughton wasn't deprived of his Holy Relic of the High Church of Redemptive Violence, no matter how irresponsibly he was brandishing it. Because THAT surely would have been tragic.

[X_Digger]

10. Had he been _at_ a presidential event, sure..

Nevermind that he never entered rifle range or even had line of sight to the president.

Oh, sorry, continue the emotional flailing & hand wringing.

[darkstar3]

24. Penile extensions should not be used as a political statement.

And in this case, you can't tell me that that rifle was ANYTHING else.

[greenbriar]

11. yea and Operation rescue never specifically wished for Tiller to be shot

but some lone freak took it literaly

[Arkana]

8. Fuckknuckles like this are the best argument possible

in favor of mandatory reeducation camps.

[sharesunited]

9. Just like God killed Tiller, right? Sent a Godly emissary.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

12. I pray Broughton and his preacher receives God's greatest Angels' curse of boils,...

,...all over their bodies until the devil collects them, piece by bodily piece.

I also anticipate that God will ensure Broughton is beaten while in a bar or bitten by a rabid possum or arrested by the FBI or thrown in a hospital for the mentally ill before Broughton believes God is telling him he must kill the President.

Meanwhile, I do hope the "HATE" speech is investigated and prosecuted.

[lonestarnot]

16. Oh yeah those two fuckrods are sure christian material.

:eyes:

[LynnTheDem]

18. Holy shit, sick twisted people.

Holy fucking shit.

And these fucks hate the Taliban because...???


:wow:

[StarryNite]

19. My, my how things have changed...

Arrested Bush dissenters look to the courts

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — When school was canceled to accommodate a campaign visit by President Bush, the two 55-year-old teachers reckoned the time was ripe to voice their simmering discontent with the administration's policies.

Christine Nelson showed up at the Cedar Rapids rally with a Kerry-Edwards button pinned on her T-shirt; Alice McCabe clutched a small, paper sign stating "No More War." What could be more American, they thought, than mixing a little dissent with the bunting and buzz of a get-out-the-vote rally headlined by the president?

Their reward: a pair of handcuffs and a strip search at the county jail.

Authorities say they were arrested because they refused to obey reasonable security restrictions, but the women disagree: "Because I had a dissenting opinion, they did what they needed to do to get me out of the way," said Nelson, who teaches history and government at one of this city's middle schools.

"I tell my students all the time about how people came to this country for freedom of religion, freedom of speech, that those rights and others are sacred. And all along I've been thinking to myself, 'not at least during this administration.'"

Their experience is hardly unique.

In the months before the 2004 election, dozens of people across the nation were banished from or arrested at Bush political rallies, some for heckling the president, others simply for holding signs or wearing clothing that expressed opposition to the war and administration policies.


http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-07-23-bush-protesters_x.htm

[spanone]

20. sounds like an implied threat

[paulsby]

43. please cite me case law

involving "implied threats"

i have investigated scores of ACTUAL crimes involving threats.

wishing for somebody's death, or praying for god to strike somebody down is LEGAL.

it's called free speech.

that's why we have a 1st amendment

[brettdale]

21. im guessing

Faux news, wont air this.

[yourout]

25. how is this any different than the Taliban?

[Statistical]

30. You have to ask?

[Mariana]

28. Does it never occur to these assholes that it's God's will

that Obama is president? I just bet this jerk believes that God personally put Shrub in office.

[krispos42]

33. Never mind

That was in really bad taste.

[Hannah Bell]

34. Why do these people get so much press? You never heard a peep out of people

who wanted to off Bush, though I don't doubt there were some. But they didn't get TV & media coverage.

So why does the media *choose* to give such people coverage? It's not Standard Operating Procedure, so why the difference this time?

I think there are several possibilities:

1. The media in question hope to instigate violence v. the president.

I don't think that's likely; Obama's policies thus far seem pretty corporate/finance friendly, & unless there are hidden tensions between different factions of capital we're not privy to, I don't see who would be particularly served by this.

I also think the teabaggers & their ilk, being so much media-created, are likely to be heavily infiltrated by political operatives, FBI agents, & the like.

Every US "war on terror" arrest I remember seemed to have FBI or other gov't/intelligence provocateurs lurking in the background; since it's public knowledge they monitor even innocuous groups, why wouldn't they be monitoring this media-creation too?


2. The media in question, or their funders, wish to give the *impression* of instability & opposition; of *potential* for violence.

What would this serve?

[benEzra]

35. Fear sells; it's an opportunity to knock health-care reform off the headlines

(which was the intent of the protestors); and the MSM is both obsessed with and ignorant of guns and gun law. Possibly a combination of the above, who knows.

[trueblue2007]

39. I want Chris Broughton, and the pastor to hit the road jack

I want them gone too.

My idea: Send all loony toon GOPS to the moon. Create a barracks for them on the moon. Give them all the comforts of home. Food, air etc. Put them ALL in a shuttle and send them to the moon. Then they CAN NOT harm the earth anymore.

Send EVERY GOP pig there. Get them OFF the earth!

[trueblue2007]

40. Not advocating violence... Just send them to the moon and get rid of transportation

They will be there forever.