Local Republicans in Greene County, Virginia are in full damage control mode after it emerged that the editor of their monthly newsletter called for Obama to be overthrown in a coup if he wins reelection in November (diaried here).
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According to People for the American Way, McPhee initially got defensive, writing a statement on the party's Website saying that "armed revolution" was just a metaphor for speaking out. Well, apparently party officials didn't buy it, because according to a statement on the front of the party Website, McPhee is out as the newsletter's editor.
The referenced comment is included in an Editorial comment made by the former Newsletter Editor. It was written in March before a change in the Greene County Republican Committee (GCRC) leadership, and clearly illustrates the needed change for leadership via recent elections.
The Greene County Republican Committee denounces such language and does not subscribe to that thinking. The membership of the GCRC is composed of hard working, law abiding Americans who raise families, pay taxes, generously serve their community and respect the Presidency of the United States. As a editorial comment, it is the musing of one person, not the party.
The party got it half right. Even if those statements were merely McPhee's opinions, wouldn't you think that someone would have vetted the content before it was published? Still, they deserve credit for giving McPhee his walking papers.
No word yet on whether McPhee still has his gig as a talk show host on WTJU in Charlottesville. Station manager Nathan Moore, however, told me in an email that he found McPhee's sentiments "atrocious" and intended to have "an unpleasant but necessary conversation" with him. Hopefully that conversation ended with McPhee's firing.
Update: Scarce tracked down a piece WJLA in Washington did on this. It couldn't find anyone willing to go on record as backing McPhee's call for a coup. And this in one of the reddest counties in Virginia.