Question to Rep. Broun (Repug - GA) at town hall meeting: Who’s going to shoot President Obama?

[jefferson_dem]

Question to Broun: Who’s going to shoot President Obama?

By Blake Aued - Athens Banner-Herald

Published February 23rd, 2011

Buzz up! At Rep. Paul Broun’s town hall meeting on Tuesday, the Athens congressman asked who had driven the farthest to be there and let the winner ask the first question.

We couldn’t hear the question in the back of the packed Oglethorpe County Commission chamber, but whatever it was, it got a big laugh. According to an outraged commenter on the article, the question was, when is someone going to shoot Obama?

I’ve asked Team Broun whether that was indeed the question and haven’t gotten an answer. The commenter accurately described the questioner and the circumstances, and no one has disputed his account.

Update: Broun’s press secretary, Jessica Morris, confirmed that the question was indeed, who is going to shoot Obama? “Obviously, the question was inappropriate, so Congressman Broun moved on,” she said.

Here was Broun’s response:

The thing is, I know there’s a lot of frustration with this president. We’re going to have an election next year. Hopefully, we’ll elect somebody that’s going to be a conservative, limited-government president that will take a smaller, who will sign a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare.

He then segued into Republicans’ budget proposal.

http://athenscms.com/blogs/2487/

[northoftheborder]

1. Athens, Georgia is what it is

[Pryderi]

2. K&R

[CottonBear]

4. The town hall meeting was not in Athens-Clarke County but in Oglethorpe Co. - a very different place

A-CC is a liberal sea of blue in Northeast Georgia. Oglethorpe County is a rural, mostly poor and working class, mostly white and very conservative county adjacent to Athens-Clarke County.

Unfortunately, Broun is my representative. He is an idiot, a fool and an embarrassment to most everyone in Athens, which is only a part of his district. The GOP redistricted all of GA and even managed to split A-CC into two state senate districts in order to dilute Democratic voting power here.

His father, Paul Broun, Sr. was a revered 30 year veteran of the State Senate and a staunch Democrat.
Paul Broun, Jr. is a freak and a joke and a truly frightening person.

edit: Broun is too much of a coward to hold a townhall in blue, progressive Athens. He only holds them in conservative, mostly white counties.

[wilt the stilt]

8. hardly progressive

my daughter is at UGA and most recently Robert E. Lee day was bigger than MLK day. Most of the kids at UGA are from suburban Atlanta and that isn't exactly a hotbed of liberalism. I reside in Gwinnett county and we have at least 15% democrats. Thy are very few minority students at UGA.

[CottonBear]

9. I beg to differ. I've lived here since 1981. Athens is the most progressive city in NEGA.

Many, but not all, of the students are non-residents who vote (if they do vote) in their hometowns. They have nothing to do with our local politics. That is not to say that we don't have many students who do vote here. Plus, we have many other private colleges and a large state technical college here.

Athens is a blue and progressive city. I know. I live, work and vote here. BTW, I'm a UGA graduate.

[TygrBright]

3. Just for the record: appropriate response to this question.

As we all know, most GOPpie elected officials tend to be a bit slow on the uptake. So, in a spirit of pure helpfulness, I post this script in the hope that someone will relay it to all of them in order that they be prepared for future/similar "questions" at their public meetings:

Elected Representative: "Excuse me, Sir? Didn't quite catch that..." (hold up hand for silence)

Asshat: "Who's going to shoot Obama?"

Elected Representative (standing stock still with stunned look on face): "Pardon me, Sir, did you just say 'Who is going to shoot Obama?' As in, the President?"

Asshat: "Fuck YEAH!" (or whatever asshats reply in this context)

Elected Representative (to mike): "Excuse me, could our local law enforcement representatives meet with this gentleman, and contact the Secret Service to relay his question?"

Hopefully this will take some of the wretched burden of "figuring out the correct response" off their already overburdened shoulders.

helpfully,
Bright

[bluestateguy]

5. As much I hate to admit it

I think John McCain would have slapped down any fool who said such a horrible thing in town hall meeting.

[lib_wit_it]

6. Maybe I don't know my history, but it seems like our country has hit a historical low when an rep

of the federal government is failing to smack down a comment (the true comment behind the question) like that.

[CottonBear]

7. We are plunging toward the bottom of the barrel as it were. n/t