TPMDC

Angle: ‘I Was Speaking Broadly’ About Second Amendment Remedies

Eric Kleefeld June 29, 2010, 10:16 PM

Nevada Republican Senate nominee Sharron Angle just sat down for an interview with Jon Ralston, one of the top political reporters in the state, on the NBC station in Reno. And a big question that Ralston had for her was just what she meant by people having “Second Amendment remedies.”

Ralston played back the audio, with accompanying on-screen text, from an interview that Angle gave with a conservative talk radio host back in January. “You know, our Founding Fathers, they put that Second Amendment in there for a good reason, and that was for the people to protect themselves against a tyrannical government. And in fact Thomas Jefferson said, it’s good for a country to have a revolution every 20 years,” Angle said. “I hope that’s not where we’re going, but, you know, if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying, my goodness, what can we do to turn this country around? I’ll tell you, the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out.”

“A lot of people think that’s pretty outrageous rhetoric,” Ralston said, referring to the language about “take Harry Reid out,” and asked Angle whether she thought President Obama was a tyrant comparable to King George III.

“Well, I was speaking broadly, as you saw, about the Constitution, and that was the context of that rhetoric,” Angle responded. “I admit that was a little strong to say ‘take him out,’ but you know what I meant. I meant take him out of office, and taking him out of office is a little different. I changed my rhetoric, to ‘defeat Harry Reid.’”

Ralston continued to ask Angle whether she had gone too far.

“You know what, Jon,” Angle responded, “I think it’s interesting that we’re nitpicking on all the little topics that Harry is putting out there.”

“Harry Reid didn’t put this out there,” an excited Ralston said. “You put it out there.”

Angle then appeared to switch topics, responding that she thought Reid should instead come and debate her on the main issues. “Why did we put all that money into a stimulus,” Angle said, among other economic issues.