Sharon Angle's Armed Insurrection

I touched on this yesterday in my post of teabagger Sharron Angle, "Meet Sharron Angle - Maddow, Olbermann & Mathews Edition," but feel this part of the story deserves it's own post.

In an interview with right-wing radio host, Lars Larson, Angle explained her views on Second Amendment "remedies," while talking about "taking out" Harry Reid (h/t Greg Sargent):

You know, our Founding Fathers, they put that Second Amendment in there for a good reason and that was for the people to protect themselves against a tyrannical government. And in fact Thomas Jefferson said it's good for a country to have a revolution every 20 years.

I hope that's not where we're going, but, you know, if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying my goodness what can we do to turn this country around? I'll tell you the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out.

Larson believed that Angle was absolutely warning of an armed insurrection against congress & in particular, Harry Reid:

"If it continues to do the things it's doing, I think she's leaving open that possibility," Larson said. "And I think the founders believed that the public should be able to do that when the government becomes out of control. It just matters what you define as going too far."

There was also a clip that obtained by Huffington Post of Angle speaking to right-wing Nevada talk show host Bill Manders saying pretty much the same thing (h/t ABC News):

Angle: I feel that the Second Amendment is the right to keep and bear arms for our citizenry. This not for someone who's in the military. This not for law enforcement. This is for us. And in fact when you read that Constitution and the founding fathers, they intended this to stop tyranny. This is for us when our government becomes tyrannical...

Manders: If we needed it at any time in history, it might be right now.

Angle: Well it's to defend ourselves. And you know, I'm hoping that we're not getting to Second Amendment remedies. I hope the vote will be the cure for the Harry Reid problems.

In their piece, "What Are Sharron Angle’s '2nd Amendment Remedies' to Harry Reid and a 'Tyrannical' Government?," ABC News also noted Angle's references to "stocking up on ammunition" in order to to “fight for liberty.”

As Jonathan Karl reported earlier this month, she told the Reno Gazette-Journal that people are quietly stocking up on ammunition in case they need to resort to insurrection or, as she put it, a “fight for liberty.”

"What is a little bit disconcerting and concerning is the inability for sporting goods stores to keep ammunition in stock," she told the newspaper. "That tells me the nation is arming. What are they arming for if it isn't that they are so distrustful of their government? They're afraid they'll have to fight for their liberty in more Second Amendment kinds of ways?” she said.

By now, pretty much every news organization picked up the story, which was all made worse by Angles refusing to answers questions about her stance:

• NYT Editorial: Far Over the Line
• Christian Science Monitor: 'Tea party' favorite Sharron Angle takes aim at Harry Reid
• Atlanta Journal Constitution: 'Second Amendment remedies'
• WaPo: Angle dodges question about armed revolution
• Las Vegas Review-Journal: What do you think the Second Amendment is for? Rabbit hunting?
• Think Progress: Angle Aide Calls Reporter An ‘Idiot’ For Pressing Her To Explain ‘Second Amendment Remedies’ Comment
• Scripps: Nev. Senate hopeful Sharron Angle talks of armed revolt
• HuffPo: Sharron Angle Floated '2nd Amendment Remedies' As 'Cure' For 'The Harry Reid ...
• TPM: Sharron Angle Flees Local TV Station Questions (VIDEO) &
• Angle: 'I Can't Believe People Are Even Asking' Me About Armed Revolution

Steve Benen of the Washington Monthly had this to say about Angle's threats of violence:

Sharron Angle is the most radical major-party candidate to seek statewide office since David Duke was the Republican nominee for governor in Louisiana in 1991. Her silent treatment may help downplay some of Angle's new problems -- such as, you know, public speculation about an armed insurrection against the United States government -- but it's a short-term solution to a long-term problem.

In a follow up post about Angle running from reporters, Benen said this:

As a rule, when politicians are seen fleeing from journalists, they're either under indictment, have been caught doing something scandalous, or cowards.

After the unsuccessful effort to get answers from Angle, the right-wing candidate's campaign lashed out at the reporter, calling him "an idiot" and another term that can't be repeated.

What a political trainwreck.

He's right. And Cable news jumped all over this story, reporting on this new level of insanity from this latest darling of the Tea Party.

Here's Chris Matthews response:

Angle’s views on the 2nd Amendment and Congress

Let me finish: Chris Matthews responds to the views of Sharron Angle, the Republican candidate for Senator from Nevada, who has referenced the second amendment as a way to remedy qualms with Congress.

Matthews also discussed this with Rachel Maddow:

The roots of today's new right

MSNCB's Chris Matthews talks with Rachel Maddow about the resurgence of anti-communist paranoia in the American right and the thinly veiled threats of violence through "Second Amendment remedies."

CNN: Angle has run-in with reporter

The Washington Post’s David Weigel joined fill-in Countdown host, Lawrence O’Donnell to discuss Angle's armed insurrection and her subsequent denial/fleeing from the press:

Sharron Angle takes questions from the press

It's no wonder third party candidate and possible spoiler Tim Fasan is getting threatening phone calls from Angle supporters telling him to get out of the race.

Around the day of the primary election last week in which Sharron Angle won the Republican U.S. Senate nomination in Nevada, Tim Fasano, a third-party Senate candidate with the right-wing Independent American Party, says he began to get phone calls from Angle supporters warning him to get out of the race, or else.

The callers were upset because they believe Fasano is going to "ensure that Harry Reid is going to be elected" by siphoning conservative votes away from Angle, Fasano tells TPM. In the third call he got last week, the person said "watch your back, we know your live, we got your address," Fasano says. That's when he decided, on the advice of police he spoke with about the incidents, to change his phone number.

"It's intimidating," he says. "I'm not scared but I'd rather be prudent."

Anonymous callers are not the only people who want him out of the race, according to Fasano. He says that when he first met Angle, herself a onetime member of the Independent American Party, at a August 2009 tea party event in Sparks, Nevada, she bluntly told him to drop his candidacy.

"It wasn't, 'Hey how you doing, nice to meet you, maybe we could talk.' It was just flat out, 'You need to get out of this race.'"

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