No, not Letterman. I suspect he's learned his lesson, at least for now.
I'm referring to Colorado State Senator Dave Schultheis. If there's an ongoing topic in this infrequent blog, it's Dave. I wrote about him in October 2006, when I was particularly on my high horse, in January 2009, and again in March 2009. Now he's opened his mouth and embarrassed himself, his district and all of Colorado again. Talk about the gift that keeps on giving! This time he's picked a more modern way to offend--via Twitter. He even has been named Keith Olbermann's Worst Person in the World for the second time this year. I wonder how many local pols, not people on the Bush/Cheney/DeLay level, can say that?
In a story that was first broken by ColoradoPols.com Tuesday afternoon, picked up by Westword Wednesday morning, and repeated by the Denver Post Wednesday afternoon, Schultheis tweeted, "Don't for a second, think Obama wants what is best for U.S. He is flying the U.S. Plane right into the ground at full speed. Let's Roll."
That's astonishing. In 27 words he compares Obama to an Islamic terrorist and himself with Todd Beamer, one of the heroes of United Flight 93 who is supposed to have said "Let's roll" as his last known words before the passengers tried to regain control of the plane, forcing the terrorists to fly the plane into the ground in Pennsylvania. The first half of that is ridiculous and offensive, but not much worse than what others on the radical right fringe have been saying. The second half, though, trying to wrap himself in the sacrosanctity of 9/11 victims, is disgusting beyond words.
It's more than that, though. Those last two words come very near to being a coded call to insurrection against the government of the United States. Insofar as they make that call they verge on criminality. They're within the protection of free speech, of course, since there's no realistic chance of an immediate uprising, so he can't really be prosecuted. Still, the element that could join in something like that is the audience he's pandering to.
Something needs to be done done about Schultheis. He has claimed he didn't really mean what he plainly meant, but no one is taking that seriously. That's just spin, damage control, trying to evade responsibility for his clear intention. Not that I think his intention was carried out with deliberation. I sometimes wonder if he ever deliberates before spouting a verbal flatulence like this, but that doesn't keep it from being intentional.
He announced about a week ago that he's not running for re-election next year, but that shouldn't shield him from the consequences of this outrage. One way to begin to do that is this page from ProgressNow Colorado that will let you tell Dave just what you think of his latest high jinks.
Oh, and who has Schultheis' blessing as his successor, since he's leaving the Senate next year? Kent Lambert, who now has the Colorado House seat Schultheis held before he moved up to the Senate. Lambert even looks vaguely like a beefier version of Schultheis. Why is Dave supporting Lambert, who has often been thought of as being like Doug Bruce, of all people? Because, Dave says, Lambert is "a man of deep faith in God, of strong, traditional moral values.” Oh, boy. Just what we need.
