Republican House Candidate: I’m Ready To Take Up Arms Against The Government

One Republican candidate for Congress in Georgia is taking the anti-government message to the next level:

A Republican congressional candidate in Georgia says in a new ad that he’s prepared to take up arms to effect change in Washington.

Former congressional aide John Stone begins the ad by firing a cannon he says is like the one his forefathers used in the Revolutionary War.

“As the only licensed firearms dealer in America running for Congress, I’m willing to do the same if we have to,” Stone says. “But it’s a whole lot easier just to vote in new House Republican leaders who will stand up to Obama and defend our Constitution.”

Here’s the ad:

I will honestly say that this is first time I’ve seen a candidate for office fire a cannon in a political ad.

FILED UNDER: 2014 Election, Congress, US Politics,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. aL-Ameda says:

    I’m sure he’s a nice enough guy, the kind of guy you’d like to have a nice cold lithium with.

    Again, the next time a few states want to secede – let them go and seal the borders.

  2. gVOR08 says:

    How do we maintain a functioning democracy when one of our major parties depends on this nonsense?

  3. James Pearce says:

    ““As the only licensed firearms dealer in America running for Congress, I’m willing to do the same if we have to,” Stone says.”

    Don’t worry, dude. You won’t have to.

    Not sure this is a good way to appeal to a district that’s been a “Democratic Hold” since 2004, anyway. The link describes Stone as “seeking a rematch after losing badly to Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.) in 2008.”

    I looked it up. Georgia voters preferred Barrow to Stone almost 2 to 1, and that was when Stone ran as a pre-Tea Party Republican. He think he’s going to do better now?

  4. Stonetools says:

    Try to imagine the reaction if any major black leader said anything like this. That is all.

  5. Woody says:

    The most amazing part is that his followers view him as a PATRIOT.

  6. al-Ameda says:

    @Stonetools:

    Try to imagine the reaction if any major black leader said anything like this. That is all.

    We know what would happen, we have a modern day example of it. In 1985 in West Philadelphia, the police aerial bombed a residence housing the members of MOVE, a Black Liberation group. In so doing they killed many people and destroyed over 60 homes. Basically an entire city block was eradicated.

  7. Matt Bernius says:

    @Stonetools:

    Try to imagine the reaction if any major black leader said anything like this. That is all.

    Another worthwhile exercise is to imagine “what if Mr. Bundy was black.”

  8. KM says:

    What other job in the world could have an potential candidate threaten the hiring institution with physical violence during the interview process and expect to be rewarded with the position? Ah Congress, only you….

  9. Dave Schuler says:

    Is the operative part of that declaration “do the same” or “if we have to”? I think that James Pearce has it right:

    Don’t worry, dude. You won’t have to.

    It’s certainly posturing and hyperbolic but most political campaigns have a lot of posturing and hyperbole.

  10. Jenos Idanian #13 says:

    Oh, lighten up, Francis.

    For those who don’t actually watch the video, his voice tone changes significantly during the following statement:

    “As the only licensed firearms dealer in America running for Congress, I’m willing to do the same if we have to,” Stone says. “But it’s a whole lot easier just to vote in new House Republican leaders who will stand up to Obama and defend our Constitution.

    What’s really odd is there’s a cut right after the cannon shot, and it looks like he isn’t even wearing the same shirt.

    It’s a lot less threatening than that video of the Paul Ryan lookalike shoving Granny off a cliff…

  11. An Interested Party says:

    Oh, lighten up, Francis.

    That, of course, would have to be shouted at many people if…

    Try to imagine the reaction if any major black leader said anything like this.

    Funny how that works…

  12. C. Clavin says:

    Welcome back Jenos.
    Interesting that you return to defend insanity.
    But welcome back just the same.

  13. C. Clavin says:

    Let’s review; John Stone and Jenos are upset because a Obama has:
    Gotten rid of OBL, Ghaddafi, and Al Awlaki.
    Saved the economy from a death spiral without nationalizing either the banking or auto industries.
    Gotten Syria to rid themselves of chemical weapons.
    Gotten Iran to rid themselves of weapons grade plutonium.
    Gotten private sector insurance for over 8 million people.
    Had 50 months straight of private sector job growth.
    Shrunk Government spending.
    Shrunk Government employment.
    Made our country freer.
    So sure…I can see why Stone , Jenos , and Doug hate Obama.

  14. Jenos Idanian #13 says:

    @C. Clavin: Oh, Cliffy. I almost missed you.

    In the world with the blue skies, Obama waffled for 16 hours before getting off the pot about Bin Laden, and with Awlaki established the precedent that the president can order the assassination of an American citizen who was never even indicted.

    Obama nationalized 2/3 of the auto industry to save his supporters in the unions and boned over those who foolishly thought that the Letter of the Law would protect them, and enabled Government Motors to cover up fatal defects for years until weaseling out of responsibility. He also bullied the banking industry to the point where “nationalizing” would have been redundant — they were already doing his bidding.

    Obama got Syria to “get rid” of its chemical weapons largely beause Assad was afraid they’d get captured by the rebels and used against him.

    Iran still has its nuke program going full-tilt.

    The “eight million” figure is vaporware, brought to you by the same people who promised “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor — period” and “if you like your coverage, you can keep your coverage — period.” It counts people who lost their coverage thanks to ObamaCare (and, in many cases, ended up with shittier policies for a lot more money) and those who haven’t actually paid for their coverage.

    Obama had 50 straight months of anemic private sector growth, far less than enough to meet the demands, and saw the actual workplace participation numbers drop to 70s levels (absolute, not percentage).

    Obama “shrunk” government spending almost entirely through the sequester, which he despises and blames for all kinds of woes even though he was the one who proposed and backed it.

    Obama, like you, laments the “shrunk government employment” every chance he gets, even though — again — it’s largely because of the sequester he hates and he created.

    And “made our country freer?” Just what kind of effed-up standards are you using?

  15. grumpy realist says:

    @Jenos Idanian #13: Dude, you don’t know much about bankruptcy law, do you?

    The fact is: if all the parties in a bankruptcy come to an agreement (or are forced to an agreement) by a bankruptcy judge, then it’s legitimate.

    I don’t know why you clowns keep nattering on about the auto bailout. What the hell did you want done? The entire bloody system to go down? Read my lips: No. One. Private. Was. Offering. Sufficient. Money. To. Solve. The. Problem. The government HAD to step in.

    I think you would have preferred for the US to turn into some type of Mad Max scenario!

  16. al-Ameda says:

    @Jenos Idanian #13:

    Obama nationalized 2/3 of the auto industry to save his supporters in the unions and boned over those who foolishly thought that the Letter of the Law would protect them, and enabled Government Motors to cover up fatal defects for years until weaseling out of responsibility. He also bullied the banking industry to the point where “nationalizing” would have been redundant — they were already doing his bidding.

    What a disingenuous interpretation.

    You do realize that at the time that bankruptcy was thought to be imminent and inevitable, the capital markets had dried up, there was a credit crunch of huge proportion. These two companies effectively had no access to an infusion of private capital that was necessary to avoid the intervention that Obama took.

    Now, I realize that many conservatives wanted the bankruptcy and the concomitant loss of approximately 1 million jobs in the auto industry because they wanted to break the UAW. However, ask yourself this: At a time when the economy was shedding jobs at a rate of over 700,000 per month, was standing by and watching America’s flagship manufacturing industry go down the bankruptcy rabbit-hole really an advisable “strategy” ?

    You know as well as I do that had Obama let the Auto Industry go down bankruptcy road, that Obama would have rightfully been roundly criticized for doing nothing to prevent the loss of those jobs, while at the same time he was proving major financial institutions with the capital resources necessary to survive the financial catastrophe that was unfolding in real time.