GOP Foot-In-Mouth Disease Strikes In Idaho

[Patrick Degan]

You just can't make this shit up:

MSNBC.com

Idaho GOP hopeful jokes about ‘Obama Tags’
He later says, ‘I would never support him being assassinated’
The Associated Press
updated 6:21 p.m. ET, Thurs., Aug 27, 2009

BOISE, Idaho - An Idaho Republican gubernatorial hopeful insists he was joking when he said he'd buy a license to hunt President Barack Obama.

Rex Rammell, a former elk rancher slated to run against incumbent C.L. "Butch" Otter in the May 2010 GOP primary, made the comment at a Republican rally Tuesday in Twin Falls.

Talk at the meeting turned to the state's planned wolf hunt, for which hunters must purchase an $11.50 wolf tag. When an audience member shouted a question about "Obama tags," Rammell responded, "The Obama tags? We'd buy some of those."

Rammell told the Times-News newspaper the comment was "just a joke."

He said, "I would never support him being assassinated."

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© 2009 MSNBC.com

[Darth Fanboy]

Being a former resident of the state of Iowa, I am used to people from other parts of the country confusing the name of the state with Idaho.

[Patrick Degan]

Request to a mod to correct the state name in the title, please.

[CmdrWilkens]

Idaho vs Iowa aside its almost more disturbing that such statements from GOP notables is becoming common enough that I'm not ridiculously alarmed by people alluding to the assasination of the President.

[raptor3x]

This doesn't really seem to have any sort of malevolence behind it, I don't see the big deal.

[Knife]

The chick from Kansas saying they're looking for the Last White Hope in the GOPers is worse.

[SCRawl]

This doesn't really seem to have any sort of malevolence behind it, I don't see the big deal.

It's kind of a big deal that he thinks that the notion of hunting and killing the president is a joking matter.

[Edi]

Request to a mod to correct the state name in the title, please.

Fixed

[General Zod]

I'm not terribly surprised given it's Idaho. Having had the misfortune to live there I can safely say the majority of the state is an un-educated redneck shithole with a rather high concentration of Aryan Nation members. Anyone betting if an official had said this about Bush while he was in office the Secret Service would be breathing down his neck?

[Patrick Degan]

Oh, I'm certain that Mr. Rammell and his running buddies have found themselves on the Secret Service's "keep eye on" list.

[Kodiak]

Can people honestly forget that there are folks alive today who lived during a time when black men were hunted? I mean, seriously, do people honestly believe that America is so "post-racial" that we can forget the past? This guy is an idiot, and his comment conjures images of lynch mobs in a very unsettling way.

[General Zod]

Can people honestly forget that there are folks alive today who lived during a time when black men were hunted? I mean, seriously, do people honestly believe that America is so "post-racial" that we can forget the past? This guy is an idiot, and his comment conjures images of lynch mobs in a very unsettling way.

You'd be surprised at how often some idiot mouth-breather thinks that racism is a "thing of the past" when it's clearly very much still a problem. It's just not quite as out in the open as it used to be.

[Anguirus]

This doesn't really seem to have any sort of malevolence behind it, I don't see the big deal.

It's kind of a big deal that he thinks that the notion of hunting and killing the president is a joking matter.

More to the point, imagine how this very man would howl--HOWL--if a similar statement was made about a white Republican president by a Democrat.

If anything, the media is underplaying this stuff. If a politician had made a joke about shooting the president during the Bush administration they would probably have excoriated him. But all these lovable Southern boys making "slips of the tongue" about the president just sort of get perfunctory raised eyebrows.

[Eleas]

You'd be surprised at how often some idiot mouth-breather thinks that racism is a "thing of the past" when it's clearly very much still a problem. It's just not quite as out in the open as it used to be.

That is also the reason why these recent "slips of tongue" are so dangerous. If you build up a rhetorical climate in which it's no big deal to express your desire for someone to kill your political rival (particularly given the Republican reverence for violence and obedience), then you're in fact inciting violence, even if you're doing it in such a way that you could shift the blame afterwards.

[Darth Wong]

Can people honestly forget that there are folks alive today who lived during a time when black men were hunted? I mean, seriously, do people honestly believe that America is so "post-racial" that we can forget the past? This guy is an idiot, and his comment conjures images of lynch mobs in a very unsettling way.

I routinely get into arguments with smug white people who declare that white racism is a thing of the past. I've gotten into many such arguments even here, with jackasses who say things like "don't blame me for things that my ancestors did", as if he completely gets off the hook for things like the fact that people with anglo-saxon sounding surnames still have a huge advantage in getting job interviews compared to people with ethnic-sounding surnames even today.

We've already gotten to a point where whites cry as loudly about racism as non-whites, if not more. Just look at the grilling that Sotomayor withstood because of the perception that she's not going to be fair to whites, as if whites are seriously under threat. Just look at the ridiculous way that whole New England firefighter case was described in the media and by her detractors.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Idaho vs Iowa aside its almost more disturbing that such statements from GOP notables is becoming common enough that I'm not ridiculously alarmed by people alluding to the assasination of the President.

I wonder if we were to arrest all of the Fox news, wingnutters, and GOP canidates who have threatened the POTUS in the last six months under the existing laws, who many of the remaining would immidately cry that it was oppression, and discrimination....

[Haruko]

I really don't get these jokes. Can't they at least be clever? Or at least feel like actual jokes to anyone who doesn't think it's funny only because he would love for what is said in the joke to actually happen? This reminds me of the "joke" Huckabee made about Obama ducking if he was shot at, or something along those lines. For one thing, I was expecting there to be a punch line; but there being no punch line, all I was left to think was: isn't that what ANYONE would do if somebody opened fire?

[Lonestar]

Fortunately, (in this instance, at least), the GOP are attacking the dude who made the comment.

AP

BOISE, Idaho — The list of Idaho Republicans condemning a GOP gubernatorial candidate's comments about buying a license to hunt President Barack Obama grew Friday, as party leaders worried the incident would reflect badly on the state.

U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo said former elk rancher Rex Rammell's comment at a Twin Falls GOP merits an apology, U.S. Sen. Jim Risch disavowed him from the Republican Party, and Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter called Rammell's comment "reckless and inflammatory."

Rammell is among those running in the 2010 Idaho GOP primary against incumbent Otter.

On Tuesday, a GOP rally attendee shouted a question about "Obama tags" during discussion of Idaho's upcoming wolf hunt, where hunters must purchase $11.50 wolf tags.

Rammell responded, "The Obama tags? We'd buy some of those."

In a statement Friday, Crapo said, "Rex Rammell's comments are in very poor taste and should not have been said. Remarks like these should not even be made jokingly. He should apologize for those remarks and for the perception they may have created."

Otter said Friday afternoon that there was no place for Rammell's comments in Idaho, which he said damages confidence in the political process and those who serve the public.

"As governor, as an Idaho Republican and as a citizen of our state, I reject and condemn this kind of rhetoric," he said.

Rammell, a longshot GOP candidate who as an independent garnered just 5.4 percent of the vote in his unsuccessful 2008 U.S. Senate run against Risch, has refused to apologize and said he doesn't advocate assassinating Obama.

"Anyone who understands the law knows I was just joking, because Idaho has no jurisdiction to issue hunting tags in Washington D.C.," he said.

Rammell isn't the first Rexburg resident who has drawn attention for making an anti-Obama comment.

Last November, second- and third-grade students on a school bus there chanted "Assassinate Obama" after his election, prompting the mayor of this eastern Idaho town to publicly apologize.

U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson also criticized Rammell's comments, which he said weren't a true reflection of Idaho residents' hearts.

"It is absolutely irresponsible to say such inflammatory things, especially for someone who seeks to be a leader in Idaho," Simpson said. "I know our great state is filled with people who do not share Rex Rammell's views and we should not let isolated situations dictate how our state is perceived."

Risch has tangled with Rammell before, in 2006.

That summer, more than 100 elk from Rammell's ranch near Rexburg escaped into the wilds, prompting Risch, then Idaho's governor, to order an emergency hunt to prevent the spread of disease or interbreeding with wild elk herds near Yellowstone National Park.

Rammell's political run two years later against Risch for U.S. Senate — a race Rammell contested as an independent — was seen largely as an attempt to settle a personal grudge.

On Friday, Risch disowned Rammell as a GOP colleague.

"Everyone needs to remember the last time Rex Rammell ran for public office, he said, 'I'm not really a Republican.' He then filed as an independent," Risch said in a telephone interview from Lewiston, Idaho. "I agree with him. He's not a Republican. We all have our disagreements with the president, sometimes deep disagreements. But the man is the president of the United States and deserves to be treated as such."

[Pick]

It only costs $12 for the legal right to kill a wolf? Christ.

[SCRawl]

It only costs $12 for the legal right to kill a wolf? Christ.

According to this article, the wolf hunt is intended to reduce the wolf population, to help out the local elk and deer herds. The hunters are effectively paying to perform a public service, with that service being the desired reduction in wolf population. Please keep in mind that I'm not saying whether or not that reduction is a good thing.

[Anguirus]

"Anyone who understands the law knows I was just joking, because Idaho has no jurisdiction to issue hunting tags in Washington D.C.," he said.

What a smug little shit.

[General Zod]

"Anyone who understands the law knows I was just joking, because Idaho has no jurisdiction to issue hunting tags in Washington D.C.," he said.

What a smug little shit.

The sheer ignorance at why people are upset with him is kind of hilarious, really.

[ThomasP]

Last November, second- and third-grade students on a school bus there chanted "Assassinate Obama" after his election, prompting the mayor of this eastern Idaho town to publicly apologize.

Yep, racism is a thing of the past!

[The Yosemite Bear]

Reminds me of that town in Loisiana bitching about how they were being "Misunderstood", especially after John "Cougar" Melencamp got on the band wagon....

[Aaron]

I routinely get into arguments with smug white people who declare that white racism is a thing of the past. I've gotten into many such arguments even here, with jackasses who say things like "don't blame me for things that my ancestors did", as if he completely gets off the hook for things like the fact that people with anglo-saxon sounding surnames still have a huge advantage in getting job interviews compared to people with ethnic-sounding surnames even today.

I followed that argument (Ryan Thunder IIRC) but I'm still unsure of what your point actually is, we all know that racism is still present and the study you posted in that thread makes it clear that whites get preferential treatment in interviews but I have no idea what you actually expect us to do about it.

This is a request for clarification BTW, I'm not trying to argue anything here.