Dept. of Imaginary Controversy

Politicos Josh Kraushaar goes after Marco Rubio:

Twitter hasn’t always been a politician’s best friend – see Republican Rep. Pete Hoekstra’s comparison of House Republican floor rebellions to the uprising in Iran or Newt Gingrich calling Sonia Sotomayor a “racist.” Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio is the latest to make his own curious comparison drawn from the Iranian demonstrations – that the protesters would have more success if they had a constitutional right to bear arms. “I have a feeling the situation in Iran would be a little different if they had a 2nd amendment like ours,” Rubio tweeted on Sunday. Not sure if Rubio was advocating an armed uprising from the otherwise peaceful protesters, but his follow-up tweet was a bit more dovish: “Hoping police and military in Iran will refuse to attack unarmed civilians if ordered to do so.”

I follow Rubio’s Twitter feed — it’s dreadfully boring, as any politician’s should be. This statement is not only boring, it’s about the least controversial thing someone running in a Republican primary could possibly say. Rubio was not advocating an armed uprising, he was lamenting the fact that there couldn’t be one because the population is…unarmed. Ed Morrissey mocks, “wouldn’t it be just awful if an armed citizenry overthrew a tyranny by force and established democracy and liberty?” I’d love to read the Kraushaar story lamenting that development. Update: Chris Matthews hit this too: ” Then again it wouldn’t really be a non-violent protest, would it Mr. Rubio, if the non-violent protestors were walking around with guns!” Because there’s no principle more sacred to Republican primary voters than non-violence in the face of oppression.

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