It did not take long for the hate speech to begin after the Fort Hood shooting. His exact words:
If there is even one more act of Muslim terrorism, it is then time for Americans to start slaughtering Muslims in the streets, all of them.
We do not know why Breitbart continues to give him a platform when they potentially expose themselves to liability. When someone implies that a shooting was an act of terrorism and it turns out not to be, that is, at very least, a reckless disregard of the truth. We have seen Glenn Beck get sued for falsely claiming that someone was involved in the Boston Marathon bombing who wasn't. And this raises a question of whether or not this speech amounts to an incitement to violence as well. Normally, I believe in the First Amendment, but when hate speech of this nature comes along, then these questions need to be discussed. None of the Constitutional Amendments, including the First, is absolute. You can't solicit a bribe, you can't lie to the government, and you can't yell fire in a crowded theater, for instance. I'm not a lawyer, but there are certain lines that you can't cross. Building a nuclear bomb, for instance, is not exercising one's right to bear arms.
Dollard's remarks turned into a Twitter brawl with Frank Luntz. Dollard alleges that Luntz jumped in just because he had a prior beef. Here are three of Luntz's choice remarks:
No conservatives should support @PatDollard in anything other than getting proper mental health treatment.
@PatDollard People like you are the reason it's so hard for intelligent conservatives to get proper attention and respect for their ideas.
@PatDollard You most likely have no intelligent response, so it's probably best you give none. For your own sake.
There is truth in that second remark. Todd Akin's "legitimate rape" remark helped tank the GOP's chances at taking the Senate in 2012 in a year that was supposed to be good for them. A bunch of other people chimed in, including Expatriot, who had this Twitter rant pointing the finger back at Luntz:
Actually, Frank, it's got nothing to do with blowhards like Dollard. The problem is a structure that you helped in part to create.
Referring to a liberal poster, he said that poster was a "perfect example" of a hardline stance to never list to what Luntz had to say. "The irony, of course, individually, stripped of the trappings of propaganda, the left and the right are in near perfect alignment," said Expatriot.
As for Dollard, he digs his heels in:
I've never seen such mass idiocy. #Awesome This has been quite the fun chuckle night. America is so pansied, talking trash is a hate crime..
Every single critic of that tweet needs to be ashamed of the fact that they willingly surrendered their balls after losing their brains.
He can rationalize this as a figure of speech all he wants. But the problem is, someone who doesn't understand the difference between hyperbole and serious speech might take it literally and act on it. And even if it doesn't, such speech is specifically designed to create a chilling effect on millions of people who work hard and play by the rules here.