Former Illinois Rep. Walsh tweets after Dallas shooting: 'Watch out Obama'

[Charlie Brown]

Source: Chigago Tribune

Former Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh declared “This is now war” and called for President Obama to “watch out” in a Twitter post reacting to a Dallas shooting that killed five police officers and injured seven.

“This is now war. Watch out Obama. Watch out black lives matter punks. Real America is coming after you,” he wrote in the post, which has since been deleted.

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-joe-walsh-twitter-dallas-tweet-20160708-story.html

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This is the dumbest thing I've seen a public personality do ever.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

1. What an asshole.

Secret Service need to investigate and make his life miserable for a while.

[skepticscott]

3. Investigate hell

Arrest the asshole and prosecute him for threatening the president. "I was only kidding" doesn't get you off the hook for that.

[Craig234]

11. He wasn't specific enough

Last edited Fri Jul 8, 2016, 12:18 PM - Edit history (1)

'Watch out Obama' could mean 'watch out for the political fight coming your war' or 'watch out for the trouble in the country this will result in' or many things that keep it from being a clear violation of a law. Had he said something more specific about violence...

Of course he's an idiot for saying it and meant it as a threat.

At least he's no longer in power.

[Maru Kitteh]

14. But it's enough to make his life a little inconvenient for a few days/weeks

I hope they do go after him, at least a little.

[Igel]

25. In other words, use the government to punish speech that's not incitement,

that's not a direct threat, that isn't a crime.

Because we the government don't like him the people.

What you're calling for is public officials to engage in harassment to punish dispreferred speech. I know, why not just declare him mentally unfit and forcibly confine him in a psychiatric institution until we're sure he's with the Program. "Psychopathological mechanisms" and all that.

[Maru Kitteh]

26. He made a not-very-veiled threat on the President and others. It should be investigated.

All kinds of people come unhinged. Best to make certain he does not pose a credible threat by taking a closer look.

[red dog 1]

22. + 1

[Javaman]

2. walsh has always been a right wing asshole.

I truly hope the secret service makes his life miserable.

[Zambero]

7. Indeed

I recall watching a video of a town hall meeting where he shouted down and insulted constituents. Quite appropriately, it got wide distribution and he lost his next re-election contest.

[AlbertCat]

4. This is the dumbest thing I've seen a public personality do ever.

Well, race problems make many people, some with intelligence, say the stupidest things.

But Joe Walsh IS an idiot. Plus.... he thinks he's being all tough, but he's not gonna participate in his "war". He expects others to do it.


I'm sick of the "us and them" of the current zeitgeist.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

33. Most town meetings end up with people learning something

about their candidate. In Illinois, it was pretty much known that a Walsh town meeting painfully showed just what an ignorant, arrogant Teahadist he was.

In a lot of ways (including mannerisms) he reminds me of Scott Brown, that self-absorbed moron from Massachusetts.

[Zambero]

5. Two things are needed here

1. Visitation by the Secret Service
2. Suspension of any Congressional retiree pension that Walsh might be receiving. With his words he has violated the oath of office taken to uphold the laws of this country. This would presumably still be in effect after leaving office, and would not include sanctions under the first amendment to encourage an armed insurrection.

[AlbertCat]

6. encourage an armed insurrection.

Sedition

[Craig234]

12. I disagree

His action was terrible and should be condemned.

But pensions should not be attacked for it and things like it.

Do that, and the next time a Democrat speaks out, the Republicans will abuse the precedent to attack them for speaking out.

It's an overreaction and a bad idea regarding free speech which has to include free asinine, offensive, ridiculous speech.

[Zambero]

17. Threatening the President?

That may well be grounds for prosecution in and of itself. The pension forfeiture would be secondary.

[Craig234]

19. His language wasn't clear enough

to be a legal threat against the president. It's interpretable to be a threat of political opposition, or a warning that there will be violence in society and so on. People like that often know how to do 'dog whistle' threats.

[Zambero]

20. The power of the tweet

Say or imply as much as possible in as few words as possible. To say "look out", or "watch out" directly to someone who is a nemesis does not constitute concern for their well-being. Rather it invites, wishes, and predicts harm, with intent for others to follow up on the threat. I hope that the Secret Service proceeds and does its job properly.

[Maru Kitteh]

27. +1

[Igel]

32. It's not just tweets.

A lot of people like to imply, insinuate, hint at things. Then they have the boast they they spoke truth to power while preserving plausible deniability.

If it's wrong when their cretins do it, it's wrong when ours do it. And arguments about intent fall flat if you believe, assume, attribute, but don't really have evidence of intent.

[Craig234]

34. Of course it's not concern for Obama's well-being

But it's also not a crime, like saying he was going organize people to assassinate.

[SoCalNative]

28. I'd say his full tweet

was far more incendiary than just "Watch out." It sure sounds like a threat to me:

"This is now war. Watch out Obama. Watch out black lives matter punks. Real America is coming after you," he wrote in the tweet, which has since been deleted.

It if walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck...

[red dog 1]

29. + 1

The Secret Service should take action...This ass-clown has gone over the line here.

[C_U_L8R]

8. Was his white hood on or off?

There's a very good reason this kkklown is out of a job. I'm surprised the GOP hasn't muzzled him.

[mysuzuki2]

9. This is a very clear threat.

He should receive some very close attention from federal law enforcement.

[RBInMaine]

10. Just call him CRAZY JOEY. He's a right wing nutcase.

[Thinkingabout]

13. Joe Walsh never impressed me on the positive side, looks like he has not gotten better with age.

Wanna bet he is a Trump supporter?

[vkkv]

15. Seems awfully inciteful to me.. nt

[rockfordfile]

21. It's a threat by a idiot republican

The build up of all this is because of people like that.

[PatSeg]

16. Walsh must be off his meds

Or maybe he tweets while drinking. He is a serious nut job.

[hamsterjill]

18. Quite disgusting.

What a jerk who obviously wants to reclaim some of the attention that he must be missing.

Normal people will see this for what it is - blatant racism. Any others are too far gone to try to convince anyway. Best, in my opinion, to just let the jerk rot from his own hatred growing inside of him.

[tclambert]

23. "This is the dumbest thing I've seen a public personality do ever." Never say that!

I stopped saying things like that, especially, "That's the dumbest thing anyone could do." It seemed like every time I did, within 24 hours some idiot would set the bar a little bit lower and I'd throw my hands up and say, "I stand corrected."

Robert Heinlein got it right: "Never underestimate the power of human stupidity."

[Angry Dragon]

24. He has a sign on his forehead stating: I am an idiot

[Igel]

30. Indeed. But you can't fix stupid. n/t

[red dog 1]

31. John Legend said it best,

"Joe Walsh needs to be arrested for threatening our President.STFU"

(John Legend has nearly 8 million Twitter followers)

[Delphinus]

35. He is clearly

a menace to society and should be in jail.

[jcgoldie]

36. Oh noes not "Real America"!

What an idiot.

[kimbutgar]

37. Is he drawing attention to himself to become Don the con's vp?