I pointed out that this was incorrect. We don't live in Nazi Germany — or anything near it, and if we did, folks like Broughton showing up with loaded weapons to oppose such rallies would likely be imprisoned, tortured, and executed.
So, see, Chris, it's a dumb comparison. Simplistic. Moronic. Asinine.
Stephen Lemons
Buggin' out: Christopher "AR-15" Broughton (left), and his spiritual adviser, Obama-hatin' Tempe pastor Steven Anderson.
Related Content
More About
(Sigh.) But of course Broughton isn't the only one peddling this poppycock, and that's why it's disturbing when a delusional young man such as Broughton, with a clear hatred for the president, shows up with a loaded AR-15 to the site where the president is speaking.
For the record, Broughton insisted that he wasn't threatening the president, and that he wouldn't be pulling the trigger. But he did offer up the shibboleth that Obama's guilty of countless murders.
"A lot of people want to call a murderer [by] a different name," he said. "That's fine if they want to call killing another human being something else. But killing a human being, an innocent human being, is murder."
Not that Obama's performed any abortions himself, of course. He just supports a woman's right to choose. And on planet Earth, in America, year 2009, abortions performed in the early stages of pregnancy are legal. Ask the U.S. Supreme Court, bubbee. Just wanting Obama to be guilty of murder doesn't make it so.
Broughton mentioned that things like slavery have been deemed legal in our nation's past, though they were still morally wrong. True, but those who were enslaved were living human beings, not masses of cells that might one day turn into human beings that can survive outside the womb.
I mean, we can disagree on abortion, but once again, this is another false analogy.
For the gals reading out there, keep in mind that, according to the New York-based Guttmacher Institute, which advocates for sexual and reproductive health, that "nearly half of pregnancies among American women are unintended, and four in 10 of these are terminated by abortion."
So, imagine a world governed by the theology of American Taliban-types like Broughton and Anderson. Simply put, there would be a whole lot of women's heads on the chopping block if now-legal abortions were to be treated as murders. Ditto for the doctors involved, as well as the nurses, the people who manage the hospitals, etc.
Anderson emerged from the church with his family, and I cut short the confab with Chris to parlez with the pastor. He spoke to me while holding one of his kids in his arms, and though I still think he's a certifiable loon, he's an affable one, and far less defensive than Broughton. I complimented him on what I found to be an apolitical sermon.
"Most of my sermons are," he squawked. "I preach 156 sermons a year."
I asked him about an ex-Secret Service agent talking on CNN's Rick Sanchez show about how Anderson was walking a thin line with the law, and that he might be perceived as exhorting others to violence. Another analyst on the same show claimed the U.S. Secret Service had already visited Anderson. Anderson said that was not the case. At least not yet.
"Anyone who listens to that whole sermon will hear that I very clearly said, 'Hey, we shouldn't take the law into our own hands; we're not a vigilante [group],'" he claimed, adding, "'This is what justice is, but it's not our job to wrestle against flesh and blood. It's a spiritual battle.' And I made that very, very clear . . . That's why they haven't knocked on my door"
Anderson claimed he wasn't backpedaling a bit on his freaky fatwa, but that's exactly the way it sounded to me.
"I even said, clearly to many people, 'I hope he dies of natural causes, 'cause then he won't be a martyr, ya know? And what good is that?'" explained Anderson. "Stop and think about it: If someone were to kill Obama, okay, then we have [Vice President Joe] Biden, and whatever. It's not going to be any different.
"I'm not out saying, 'Let's kill him,'" continued the preacher. "I'm out saying, this is what the Bible teaches, that he is worthy of death for what he has done. God is the judge. Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord."
Shucks, I feel so much better about it all now, Pastor. Thanks for setting me straight on that one.
When we parted ways, I kiddingly told Broughton and Anderson, "Now, you two try not to kill anyone, okay?"
Broughton stopped short, annoyed, as if taking me seriously. Anderson got the snark, and shot back something about having to pray for me. I think that pretty much tells you where these two guys are psychologically.
Anderson intrigues me, despite my disgust with his imam-like, anti-Obama curses. I have a feeling we haven't heard the last of this wacky pastor. Broughton is cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, in my opinion. But Anderson — he may be crazy like a fox.
