Assassination is No Laughing Matter

David Streeter — August 28, 2009 – 9:54 am | GOP Hypocrisies | Obama | Republicans | Stop the Smears | Terrorism Comments (1) Add a comment

Idaho Republican Gubernatorial hopeful Rex Rammell made a “joke” in which he said that he would pay for a license to hunt President Barack Obama. The “joke” came about after a member of the audience, while talking about wolf hunting season, asked about “Obama tags.” Rammell said that he would buy some, and drew laughter from the crowd.

Jokes about assassinating the president are not funny or appropriate given our nation’s history with presidential assassinations. Four of our presidents (Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, and Kennedy) were all assassinated and every president since Franklin Roosevelt endured some sort of plot against them.

But even more disturbing than the actual joke is Rammell’s reaction to the controversy. Rammell told Democrats to “take a deep breath and relax”, as if they should ignore Rammell’s incitement to violence. Interestingly, Rammell is not the first Idahoan to make a statement about assassinating Obama. Apparently, the day after Obama’s victory, schoolchildren in Rammell’s hometown of Rexburg, ID were chanting “assassinate Obama.” In that case, the mayor of Rexburg had the common sense to publicly apologize. Rammell should do the same. But he should not only formally apologize to Obama for his “joke,” he should apologize to every American for reminding us of our tragic collective history. The FBI should also properly investigate this issue.

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