Good grief, David Frum! Have you lost your f'ing mind?
David Frum published a piece today concerning the recent uptick in rhetoric coming from the right.
http://www.theweek.com/bullpen/column/99474/The_reckless_Right_courts_violence
So far, so good. He then nonchalantly adds in this gem:
If Barack Obama really were a fascist, really were a Nazi, really did plan death panels to kill the old and infirm, really did contemplate overthrowing the American constitutional republic--if he were those things, somebody should shoot him.
Does he not think that there are really people out there you believe this stuff? Does he not know that even if all of it was true, there are constitutionally mandated methods to remove a president? This is disgusting. There are NO instances in a functioning democracy when it's okay to shoot a president. One last question, David: Where in the hell is your editor?
h/t to Balloon Juice
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Link, please. We need to get Frum's statement edited or taken down. This is unwitting (I hope) incitement of the worst sort.
August 13, 2009 12:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here's the
link
August 13, 2009 1:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're picking the wrong target for this little freak-out. Frum's column is very good. Seriously, do you disagree with his statement? Do you think anyone is waiting for Frum's say-so before they think it's okay to off a fanatical mass-murdering dictator?
Give the whole context:
"if he were those things, somebody should shoot him.
But he is not. He is an ambitious, liberal president who is spending too much money and emitting too much debt. His health-care ideas are too ambitious and his climate plans are too interventionist. The president can be met and bested on the field of reason—but only by people who are themselves reasonable."
August 13, 2009 1:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with the rest of his column although I guess I didn't state that succinctly enough. As far as what "statement" you're referring to, I haven't a clue.
Regardless that's not the point. We can sit here and scream that he's not all of those things and yet there are people who believe it. How many stories have there been debunking the Kenyan birth story and yet how many still believe it?
I'm sorry if you feel like I took taken his quote out of context, but it was an incredibly irresponsible thing to write in context or out of context. If you disagree then, please, in what context is it okay to shoot a duly elected POTUS?
August 13, 2009 2:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
You think the assassination attempts on Hitler were immoral? But we're getting too abstract. And attacking Frum, who's desperately trying to pull the GOP back from the brink really does a disservice.
August 14, 2009 8:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
Was there a mandated constitutional method for removing Hitler?
I don't care what David Frum is TRYING to do. His statement was irresponsible on both the part of him and his editor.
August 14, 2009 9:43 AM | Reply | Permalink