Man Takes Gun to Obama Town Hall, MSNBC Brain Trust Befuddled
Thank you CNN MSNBC, I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time. Three observations:
First, the man is holding up a sign that says “It is time to water the tree of liberty.” This is a reference to what I thought was a pretty well-known Jefferson quote:
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
-Thomas Jefferson, from a letter to William S. Smith, according to this site.
The significance of the quote escapes CNN’s MSNBC’s crack team of analysts.
Second, Carlos Watson’s incredulity is so precious. Apparently, he’s never heard of open carry laws, or read the second amendment.
Third, and worst of all, note how anxious this bunch is to override the rule of law with arbitrary state action to deprive a citizen of his constitutional rights. Watson “cannot imagine that there aren’t enough lawyers in New Hampshire that can’t file some kind of emergency injunction.” Jean Chatzky asks “Why can’t we get rid of him now (i.e., before Obama arrives)?”
Ummmm, maybe because he’s doing nothing illegal?
HT to Sarah for bringing this to my attention via Facebook.
Update: Further thanks to Sarah for pointing out that this was the MSNBC crew, not CNN as originally reported. I get them so confused! I wonder why…
Update #2: One minute ago, Rachel Maddow reported on the same thing, and made the connection to the full Jefferson quote. She then snidely compared the armed protester to Timothy McVeigh, who apparently was arrested wearing a shirt bearing Jefferson’s quote. She then went on to whine about protesters comparing the Democrats pushing this crap to Nazis. The message? It’s OK for Maddow to link protesters obeying the law and expressing their views to Timothy McVeigh, but it’s not OK for those same protesters to link socialization of medicine to the programme of the National Socialist party. One wonders if she’s ever heard of F. A. von Hayek, who did just that in his classic book The Road to Serfdom.
“Words can turn into actions. Actions, in some cases, could be violent.”
Ban words, too.
I hope there will be a “ripple impact” (huh?)
Glad you’re blogging again, my friend.
SJA
Sarah Joy Albrecht
August 12, 2009 at 2:00 am
Can’t someone file an emergency injunction against those uninformed talking heads? Seems their poisoned words are considerably more dangerous than firearms carried by average citizens obeying the law.
Dave L.
August 12, 2009 at 2:24 am
Good point, Sarah and Dave. If the state can use an emergency injunction to deny second amendment rights to citizens, why not use the same to deny first amendment rights to so-called journalists?
(Dave is, not coincidentally, the person I was discussing open carry with over sushi at lunch today).
whereslumpy
August 12, 2009 at 3:12 am
Interesting perspective:
http://www.businessinsider.com/did-the-townhall-gunman-save-healthcare-reform-2009-8
In short it says these displays aren’t doing us any favors in stopping health care reform.
Jim
August 12, 2009 at 2:17 pm
The mindset that recoils in horror at the exercise of second amendment rights (“GAAAAH! He’s got a REAL LIVE GUN!”) is the same one that slavishly embraces socialized anything, including medicine. They expect and WANT the rule of law to be destroyed. They love Big Brother.
Until we address the root cause of both, we’re screwed.
whereslumpy
August 12, 2009 at 3:58 pm