Blogger Calls For 'Targeting, Eliminating' AZ Sheriff
CHICAGO (CBS) - A Chicago blogger is calling for "targeting and eliminating" the Sheriff in Pima County, Arizona.
CBS 2's Mike Parker reports that within days of the terrible shooting tragedy in Tucson, the local sheriff blamed it, in part, on what he suggested is the toxic level of political debate in the nation.
"The anger, the hatred, the bigotry going on in this country is getting to be outrageous," he declared.
Is a Chicago man responsible for still more of that?
Blogger and conservative political activist Warner Todd Huston has written on his Facebook page, "we need to target Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dipnik for elimination. Yes, I said target and elimination, and I'm not sorry."
Is he trying to fan the flames? He told CBS 2, "I obviously did that to tweak the left."
Huston, who writes an internet column called the Publius Forum has also written, "without being armed, you can't be a real citizen."
Fellow conservative and well known Chicago activist disagrees with the Sheriff too, but says Huston's words are inflammatory. "everybody ought to be prudent in their discussion, especially in the wake of a tragedy like this."
Is Huston worried someone might act violently based on his posting? "I don't think that anything I say is going to cause that, necessarily. They would have done it anyway and used some other excuse to do it."
Huston got more than 20 responses to his Facebook posting, all but one supporting him. One of his supporters asked, "can I say 'cross hairs' here?"
Huston insists he simply wanted to make a point about free speech, something he feels is in danger.
