He might apologize to avoid being fired.

But this kind of "Republican" thought bubbling out to the world is being fueled by the usual suspects (Limbaugh, Hannity)and from ones you wouldn't generally expect - like Dick Cheney.

They WILL NOT aplogize - or stop!

Why would he apologize? He's obviously interviewing for a lateral move to Fox News and he didn't offend Limbaugh in the slightest.

What about D Magazine's editors? Do they just accept and print anything submitted? I think they should be held to account right along with Feherty.

Wondering what I'd do in an elevator with David Feherty....

Apparently the GOP needs to be reminded yet again that assassination is not an appropriate form of political expression in this country. The Dems need to nip this shit in the bud. Do it now.

Of course CBS will not fire him. They've been bending over backwards to prove how loyal they are to Republicans ever since Rather's 60 minute debacle.

If this was said by a network employee about Bush or Cheney a few years ago they would have been fired immediately. Let's see how it plays out but I doubt that will happen.

KG is spot-on. What was the editor thinking?

On the actual substance of the offense, we are seeing more and more of this sort of thing from the right--secede from the union, kill Pelosi, revolt against taxes, and on and on. It's as if they think of nationhood as a zero sum game that they either win or refuse to play anymore. That the media abets them in this is hard to believe.

As was pointed out on another blog, Nancy Pelosi has Secret Service agents. They might want to have a talk with Mr. Feherty.

I don't care if this was 'just a joke' (which is always the defense in these cases). In these times when the far right is calling for secession, a revolution, an uprising, taking up arms, etc., this is tantamount to waving a red cape in front of an already snorting bull.

Which is what Feherty is full of--bull.

VoteVets is correct--it is the chickenhawks who never fought for their countries who are the loudest to clamor that they and only they can speak for the troops.

Until the troops speak against them. Disgusting.

P.S. I bet Feherty gets a slap on the wrist suspension and a cooling period as CBS hopes this just blows over.

Okay, who do we contact to complain about this? Does anyone have an email address for the appropriate person at CBS?

I am absolutely fed up with this kind of talk, but it's not going to stop until the employers of these people are bombarded with angry feedback. Let's start the ball rolling!

"I'm guessing Feherty will issue some kind of statement this weekend, explaining that his column was a poor attempt at humor"

I think this will happen.

"and he's sorry if his insult against the troops and congressional leaders caused offense."

I doubt that will happen. The only apology he'll give is to be sorry that there are so many lefty humor-impaired bloggers out there.

"One wonders if CBS will find that sufficient."

Of course. No punishment will be forthcoming.

It is my understanding that the overseas US radio for the military is all right wing radio, this should stop, we are going to have problems if the Limbaugh hate talk programs are what our military is getting day after day.

"If this was said by a network employee about Bush or Cheney a few years ago they would have been fired immediately."

That's the least that would have happened. Not only would handcuffs and a lengthy interrogation by the Secret Service have been part of the proceedings, Fox News, Rush, and Drudge would have spent four solid weeks saying "Traitor Dems Plan to Assassinate President."

But since it's a GOP sympathizer talking about Dem politicians, he'll be lionized by the same people.

The violence in the hearts of these right-wing thugs is stunning & troubling. I have no idea what "D" magazine is -- "Dallas"?? -- but doesn't it have an editor? The publisher should can her/him, & the FBI & Secret Service should place calls on the editor & Feherty -- & on CBS Sports if they don't fire this guy.

The Constant Weader at www.RealityChex.com

For the Northern Ireland born Feherty, it is appropriate that he wrote "Somewhere in Northern Ireland a Village is Missing an Idiot" - Auto-biography, Mr Feherty?

I know its sexist of me to observe this but there is a creepy, sexual, aspect to the right's obsession with Pelosi. I just don't remember, and correct me if I'm wrong, if the left focused this much spite and drooling images of violence on, say, Hastert?

And the idea is grotesque from a conventional, conservative, point of view. You were alone in the elevator with two of America's worst enemies and a woman who was an elected official and you'd shoot the woman first? Because you are so angry and afraid of the woman? Its unmanly, and its highly aggressively sexual. As is the image of strangling the two men.

Its like some sick civilian sex fantasy about violence in small spaces.

aimai

Sorry, misremembered the actual quote--its Harry Reid not another Al Quaeda operative or, say, Saddam Hussein. That makes it even more creepy,to me, since Harry Reid and Pelosi are both rather publicly elderly and frail. Really, mr. F? you get off on the notion of a soldier strangling the elderly Mr. Reid? Creepy. And coming from a place in the right wing mentality when really anything goes in dehumanizing the democrats.

aimai

Aimai, I don't think Nancy Pelosi is "elderly" or "frail" at age 69. Harry Reid is just 70. Reid has a soft-spoken low-key demeanor that could be mistaken as age related, but Pelosi sure seems lively to me (I'm 66). You must be a youngster if you think 69 and 70 are "elderly."

Three observations:

(1) Feherty is a self admitted recovering alcoholic. He may have gone off the wagon (a la Mel Gibson) when he wrote that piece, hit the "send" button, then never looked at it again.

(2) The PGA tour is far and away the most right wing of all professional sports. Years ago several members of a victorious American team in the Ryder Cup (I think Paul Azinger and Payne Stewart were two of them) - refused to meet with Clinton in the White House because they so abhorred his politics. Even Tom Watson, a Stanford grad (Tiger Woods attended 2 years there decades later) and one of the few "liberals" on the pro tour back in the 70's when he was young, has ossified into an old Republican fogey. So Feherty lives and breathes in the echo chamber of right wing pro golfers (Limbaugh is a god to them).

(3) And having said that, most European golfers are unfailingly objective and rational- hence, their being dumbfounded at how America went off the deep edge with Bush and the Iraq War, and some of them were publicly pilloried for speaking out against the war. For some reason, the Atlantic Ocean is the divide between sanity, rational thought, and objectivity when it comes to American politics. And Feherty has spent way too much time on this side of the divide. Or else he was just drunk.

I think the paranoid authoritarian fantasists mostly conflate into their objects of confusion and hate an inhuman perfection unsullied by age or any known human weakness .
So , Yes ! An elderly and frail woman would appear to a jonah goldberg , david feherty or an authoritarian golf analyst as a merciless , doctrinaire , thus a cruel efficient fighting machine . Shivering in fear from little old ladies
Brave sir jonah feherty turned their tail and ran ...

I live in Dallas and D Magazine is a local rag that has had numerous Bush covers recently, articles about why Bush moving to Dallas will spark a new real estate boom, and why everyone in Dallas loves him. Feherty also lives here and has been making the rounds on talk radio, NPR included, promoting safer bicycle rules of the road since he was hit by a truck and was almost killed a year or so ago. Anyway, I have no idea why he went off the deep end about Pelosi and Reed but if the contents of my inbox with Pelosi hate email is any indication, there's a lot of rightwing animosity toward her that I simply cannot fathom. Generally it's all about her taking over the government with Obama as the dear leader of the next communist revolution. Madame Pelosi is the kingmaker in their bizarro world.

In a recent issue of Sports Illustrated previewing the Players Championsip, they polled 72 PGA players on various issues, golf- and non-golf. One question was "Barack Obama and Sarah Palin run for President in 2012. Who gets your vote?". Obama won 53-26; 21% were undecided.

I view writing about political assassination in an elevator as about equal to say yelling fire in a crowded theater! -Kevo

I think that on the technical merits, it was a pretty good joke. The alarming part is not so much the joke, as that a right-wing culture has developed where it would be normative to publish such a joke in a magazine. It comes too close to the tacit affirmation of an erroneous world view. In reality only Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi would survive.

One other note from that survey: when asked, "which couple would you and your significant other most want to have dinner with", the Obamas tied for first with Jack and Barbara Nicklaus, at 33%. The Palins got 7%.

Before the Right goes crazy in defending Feherty (who is often very funny, actually, saying "the Left can't take a joke", it should be pointed out that in the same article he advocates the "death penalty for pro-lifers", among others.

Curious, no, that just a couple of weeks ago the Department of Homeland Security's recent report was vehemently criticized merely for noting that some veterans may become recruiting targets for right-wing extremist movements. This piece comes doesn't exactly do much to counter that assessment.

I hope the same conservatives who were outraged by the DHS will push back against the sentiment expressed in Feherty's piece as being precisely the sort of thing that so insulted them formerly--not because I found the DHS report outrageous but because I would like to see some small proof that at least some these folks are not completely deaf to how this sort of rhetoric sounds to those not on their side of the issues, and learn to moderate their remarks and/or police those who can't.

I'm always amazed at the irony (hypocrisy) that the 'right' presents. All I hear from my Fox-watching 'friends' is how radical Obama is. It's such an easy counter to their 'argument' to show all of the silly, non-sensical, RADICAL shit that conservatives say and do.

Secession, revolt, uprising, etc. all over a guy who's trying to solve America's problems, though in a way that they may not agree with but nothing "radical" especially compared to the violent-tinged non-sense that Rush, Fox, GOP 'leaders spew regularly.

At least he didn't say they'd rape her first.

The next right wing controversy: Why were Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Osama bin Laden sharing an elevator?

He should have put John Kerry and John Murtha in the elevator if he wanted to pick two Congressmen that have consistently maligned our troops.

We keep wondering what color the sky is in their world. I'm starting to think that they aren't even lucid enough to know.

Anybody know if this idiot actually has visited the troops and if so WHY? I seriously doubt it and this would be par (pun intended) for the course for the Repugs truth doctrine.

what exactly did pelosi do that made the war go bad? withhold funding??

Feherty also writes a monthly column for Golf Magazine. You may want to contact them; I did.

I live in Dallas and D Magazine is a local rag that has had numerous Bush covers recently, articles about why Bush moving to Dallas will spark a new real estate boom

Now *that* is funny! I can just imagine wingnuts from all over the country moving to Dallas to be close to their beloved GWB.

If anything soldiers would be more apt to want to harm those who were getting their buddies killed just to make their friends richer(looking at you Bush and Cheney). Those so willing to sacrifice soldier's lives just to gain power to get unrelated legislation passed with their new political capital. Waging an unnecessary war on a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 and were not an imminent threat while profiteering on every dead soldier's head they so willingly sacrificed.

Feherty took the time to show us what an ignorant ego maniac fool thinks while hitting a ball around on private play grounds. He no longer yells, "Four" but now yells "Fool" so everyone knows who's coming.

At least Feherty wasn't suggesting that soldiers would attack their commander-in-chief. It takes a Jesse Helms to do that, when he said that President Clinton "better not show up around here [Fort Bragg] without a bodyguard."

So, in WingnutWorld:
-the left hates soldiers (by not wanting to send them off to war);
-soldiers want to kill Democratic leaders, and
-it's a smear of our vets to issue warnings about some right-wing extremists with military backgrounds.

Since the views of the soldiers, like those of the country they come from and are defending, probably run the gamut from total Bush-loathing to total support for Bush and the war--maybe David Feherty ought to ask himself why he attracted the ones who talk like Timothy McVeigh.

CBS Sports and the PGA have reacted. See this.

SRS

Funny how Republican "humor" seems to alwasys involbe someone being shot, strangled, or suffering from some other violent act.

I guess I should preface this by saying I don't support GWB in the slightest, but really, you folks need to lighten up. There is a big difference between advocating assasination of political leaders and making a humorous (to some) comment indicating how high the frustrations must be for some of the troops about political maneuvering...anybody ever hear of hyperbole as a means of making a point? Or did none of you actually read the article, or any of his other comments, about how he hides in his house to avoid his neighbors? Geez, if people take everything so f-ing literally they should watch the Brady Bunch and avoid anything that requires more than a single digit IQ to understand.

Truth hurts doesn't it. My God all you people out there want everything to be bland and with no feeling, fire anyone who says anything. I can hardly wait for all you new Muslims to say "what happened" we were so nice to them.

He's some kind of alien -- Brit or something. Irish?

Deport his ass ASAP.

"An elderly and frail woman"

oooo, FRP, I see you know no ACTUAL elderly and frail women. I suggest you volunteer a bit at a rest home.

"I think that on the technical merits, it was a pretty good joke."

I don't. Once "the soldier" used up his ammo on a WOMAN, OBL would go all berserk on him, and as he was obviously a homicidal maniac, Harry Reid would probably jump on his ass, too.

Better to shoot OBL and Harry and strangle Nancy, I would think.

Or maybe part of the "joke" is that the soldier is incompetent, too?

GIVE HIM A RAISE,in pay and promote him!

I only wish Keith Olberman was in the elevator and the soldier had more ammo

We all know there is a federal law against threatening the President or VP.

I do not know if there is a similar law regarding threats against Congressional leaders.

Does anyone know?

If not, why not?