Not long after the National Review fluffed him, the Republican Tea Party candidate for the House in the Texas 30th went where one of these playground bullies inevitably had to go. Per the Dallas Morning News, Stephen Broden told WFAA-TV in Dallas that if his side doesn't get what it wants, it's time for violence:
“We have a constitutional remedy. And the framers say if that don’t work, revolution.”
Did Broden - laughably described as a 'pastor' - really mean to imply that the violent overthrow of the United States government was something to be considered?
“The option is on the table. I don’t think that we should remove anything from the table as it relates to our liberties and our freedoms. However, it is not the first option.”
We've heard this at Tea Parties, we've heard it dog-whistled on Fox News, we've heard this from the drug-ravaged brains of the Radical Radio Right. And now we've finally heard it from an actual Tea Party candidate, whose supporters actually think he has the minimum allegiance to the United States of America required to serve it in elected office.
There are some tepid mitigations in the newspaper piece.
Jonathan Neerman, head of the Dallas County Republican Party, said he’s never heard Broden or other local Republican candidates advocate violence against the government. “It is a disappointing, isolated incident,” Neerman said. He said he plans to discuss the matter with Broden’s campaign.
Isolated in the sense this was the first moron moronic enough to not encrypt it.
Now, you and I would expect that some kind of parallel comment from a Democrat or Progressive (if any such call to sedition is imaginable) would inspire a conversation in which the local head of the Party would be suggesting the candidate leave the country, or at least epoxy his own lips together.
Why am I thinking Mr. Neerman will settle for a quick "I apologize if you were offended by my suggestion that Republicans should violently overthrow the government, Vote Broden November 2"?
Here is the repudiation from the Tea Party:
Ken Emanuelson, a Broden supporter and leading tea party organizer in Dallas, said he did not disagree with the “philosophical point” that people had the right to resist a tyrannical government. But, he said, “Do I see our government today anywhere close to that point? No, I don’t.”
Emanuelson goes on to suggest that Broden's willingness to run for office instead of, say, try to shoot government officials or try to seize Fort Sumter or something, shows he's not really serious about this insurrection stuff.
Not excited about November 2? Feeling a little let down by the last 21 months-plus? Not really committed to getting one more Democrat to the polls for the mid-terms? Take a number. But as The Right Reverend Treason of the Texas 30th proves, this is no longer about timid Dems or unheard Progressives. This now boils down to keeping the nutjobs out of office.
