politics & government

He must be out of his mind

Another politician goes down because he doesn’t understand the social network.  Jeff Cox, former deputy attorney general of Indiana, responded to a question by a writer for MotherJones about riot squads being readied in Wisconsin.  The guy tweeted “Use Live Ammunition”.

What a dumb thing to say.

The story, from CNN:

An Indiana deputy attorney general lost his job Wednesday after commenting online that authorities should use “live ammunition” to run off the throngs of protesters railing over union collective bargaining rights two states away in Wisconsin.

To me, America is special because we allow all viewpoints to be heard.  Granted, we aren’t discretionary enough, at times, when it comes to whose views’ to which we listen, but everyone should be free to stand up and let others know how they feel.  It is the essence of tyranny to squelch the opposition’s voice.  Mr. Cox’s statement makes him no better than Gaddafi in Libya.

The statement doesn’t even fit with the national Republican image of properly chastized budget hawks.  Does the guy even know how much ammo costs these days?  An anti-speech authoritarian can still recognize the savings associated with reusable rubber bullets, or bean bags, right?  I mean, if you’re going to go all third world tin pot dictator on a crowd of American citizens, at least save the victims the tax burden generated by spraying them down with live ammunition.

It’s obvious that this guy got his wires all kinds of crossed.

I’m not a supporter of the union position, but we are Americans, damn it, and a disagreement is no cause for a political purge.  They didn’t open fire on TEA Party groups, they let us have our say.  It’s only decent for us to do the same.  To suggest otherwise is beyond the pale.

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2 Responses to “He must be out of his mind”

  1. And over here in Oregon, we come not to photograph congressman David Wu in a plush tiger suit but to praise him:

    http://preview.tinyurl.com/4rpwulp

  2. Someone asked me the other day if I could think of a use for Twitter that actually helps peoples’ lives in any way. I said it’s very, very good for exposing morons in positions of responsibility.

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