Newsmax commits sedition, calls for military coup....

[WeDidIt]

It was snagged by TPM before Newsmax editors realized what had been done and pulled it, but the article lives on:

Full Text Of Newsmax Column Suggesting Military Coup Against Obama

Here is the full text of John L. Perry's column on Newsmax which suggests that a military coup to "resolve the Obama problem" is becoming more possible and is not "unrealistic." Perry also writes that a coup, while not "ideal," may be preferable to "Obama's radical ideal" -- and would "restore and defend the Constitution." Newsmax has since removed the column from its website.


Obama Risks a Domestic Military Intervention

By: John L. Perry

There is a remote, although gaining, possibility America's military will intervene as a last resort to resolve the "Obama problem." Don't dismiss it as unrealistic.

America isn't the Third World. If a military coup does occur here it will be civilized. That it has never happened doesn't mean it wont. Describing what may be afoot is not to advocate it. So, view the following through military eyes:

# Officers swear to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic." Unlike enlisted personnel, they do not swear to "obey the orders of the president of the United States."

# Top military officers can see the Constitution they are sworn to defend being trampled as American institutions and enterprises are nationalized.

<snip>

Read the rest of this ugly blatantly seditious piece of crap at Talking Points Memo

And hopefully, the FBI and Secret Service will be paying the offices of Newsmax in general, and John L. Perry specifically, a visit in the near future for clarification as to what is being said here.

Edited to add: They published and pulled this article September 30, 2009 which I recall vaguely. This is the first time I've seen the full text of the article.

[blondeatlast]

1. Hard to get past "the Obama problem." Damn, they can't even come up with new racist

phrases (remeber the "Negro problem"?)

[JuniperLea]

6. There was a rock band by that name in the 90's...

I had to go see them... name curiosity...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stew_(musician)

[GA_ArmyVet]

18. The guy who wrote the article is an idiot

I am a commissioned officer and in my oath, I had to swear to obey the Officers appointed over me..The Commander in chief the only civilian who can command soldiers, by law. POTUS holds a unique role in that he/she is the Commander of all forces. Yes we have to obey his orders, even the ones we might not agree with, just as we did with every other president. The only exception is if the order is an illegal order, and examples of those are clearly outlined.

The author of the article obviously is living in some fantasy world where the military will bow to his wishes and right whatever perceived wrong he thinks is occurring.

Bottom Line: We obey the Commander, in the absence of a legal ruling that his commands are illegal then we obey them. Further, we don't need a coup, we have a system to remove someone who violates that office, it is called impeachment which our elected representative can call for if they believe there is reason.

Again, all I can say is What an Idiot.

Edited to correct typos caused by my pissed off rant.

[Maru Kitteh]

39. or "The Jewish Problem."

[MidwestTransplant]

2. This is new or a couple months old?

[WeDidIt]

4. The publishing and deleting of it happened in September

I've never seen the text of it until now.

[Newsjock]

3. Hardly "breaking"

It's from September 2009. Here are a few of the many DU threads:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6662584
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6662848
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8676824

[WeDidIt]

7. My bad

Subject line corrected.

I recall the thing in September, but had never seen the text of the article.

[dmr]

36. I'm glad you posted it, because I didn't know this.

I was probably on a politics break at the time.

Thanks for posting it.

[Historic NY]

5. Its time to charge them.

[kelly1mm]

26. With what? Sedition is not a crime. nt

[nemo137]

31. Actually, the Smith Act is still on the books.

I think the last conviction resulting from it was sometime in the 1950's, but if you wanted, you could charge someone with sedition.

[Puregonzo1188]

45. But the relevant parts here were declared Unconstitutional. Are you seriously

advocating for resurrecting the Smith Act, one of the most Anti-Civil Libertarian laws in the history of the United States? This law was used largely to destroy the left in this country, as the only people ever convicted under it were members of the Communist and Socialist Workers Party. All the Nazis got off.

Would you also like to bring back the Alien and Sedition Act, or the Espionage and Sedition Act?

Come on, DUers should know better than this.

[nemo137]

47. No, it's a shit law, for sure

But some sections of it were upheld as recently as 1961, meaning that it's inaccurate to claim that you can't charge someone with sedition. It's best to let sleeping dogs lie, in this case, but it's still lurking out there.

[malaise]

8. What's the Obama problem?

A black man won the election fair and square??

[WeDidIt]

10. You've got it. n/t

[indepat]

16. And he has ratified a goodly number of his predecessor's RW policies and actions and got a

Republican health care passed which assures future mass profitability of the ravenous and unneeded insurance companies, so what the f*ck is the problem, what the f*ck is the beef? :grr:

[nebenaube]

9. So... what was nationalized?

The prison system? Health care? AIG? Goldman Sachs?

[Fleshdancer]

11. Let me get this straight....

First they want to send our soldiers overseas and force them to fight in unnecessary wars, ignore PTSD, extend deployments, treat wounded soldiers in piss poor hospital conditions, slash veteran's benefits, and then expect this military to stage and execute a military coup because losing the White House makes them pouty?

FU Newsmax.

[Octafish]

12. ''Intervention.'' Like the ''intervention'' in Dallas?

What John McCain said happened to JFK.

[dixiegrrrrl]

13. Who owns Newsmax?

[Chulanowa]

14. "If a military coup does occur here it will be civilized."

...There's no such thing as a civilized military coup. A military's purpose is to kill people, kill lots of them, and make sure "the enemy" has no ability to fight back. By fucking definition a military coup is a slaughterfest. Always has been, always will be.

[katzenjammers]

27. Not to defend a coup, but you are wrong...there have been many nonviolent revolutions

by military forces. Just google "peaceful coup".

[Chulanowa]

30. I tried "Peaceful military coup"

And all I got were citations of this newsmax article, and one mention of a military coup in Bolivia.

Key word is "military"

[troubledamerican]

32. No, YOU are wrong. In a constitutional republic, public officials are NEVER removed by military

There are constitutional processes for removal of elected officials -- impeachment and THE BALLOT.

[lumberjack_jeff]

43. A military coup is violent, regardless of how much blood is spilled.

It's the difference between the military working for the citizens, or the citizens living at the suffrage of the military.

[onethatcares]

15. what the hell parts of the Constitution is President Obama trampling on?

for gauds sake, the last guy and his puppet * rode rough shod over the entire country, its' founding documents and its' legal system from the appointment on.
I can't see where President Obama has usurped any of the principles of the Constitution.

Can you enlighten me?

[Bigmack]

22. Damned if I know...

but it's the new meme from the Right. I've asked the two rightwingers I can still stand to speak to, and they can't name any specifics. Hell, I can give them the renewal of the Patriot Act, continuation of wiretaps, Gitmo, and some others, but they apparently think just PWB (President While Black) is a sufficient assault on the Constitution.

[onethatcares]

24. my thoughts exactly

I thought I was losing my mind there for a minute. Not that that's unusual, but I can't figure it out except for Presidenting while Black.

Pleased to meet ya. :hi:

[Scurrilous]

17. K & R

:thumbsup:

[branders seine]

19. Not every mention of the word coup

constitutes open advocacy of sedition.

I would NEVER defend Newsmax for a single instant, but in that article I do not see the call for sedition advertised in the misleading title of this thread.

This place is ignorantly intolerant of free, legal and open discussions of sedition, race, sex/gender, immigration and any number of issues. I had a thread locked because sedition was one item in a list of (mostly ridiculous) options for responding to current conditions. Discussing the possibility of sedition is NOT the same as advocating sedition.

It's maddening really in a site that pretends to represent Democratic ideals.

[katzenjammers]

28. Thank you, I was beginning to wonder if I was some kind of lonely, insane Democrat.

There is a really intense culture of 'shoot the messenger' here, as I'm rapidly learning, and the list of verboten words seems to grow every day. Except for Carlin's 7 words you can't say on TV...those are perfectly acceptable, it appears.

[branders seine]

29. LOL

[demtenjeep]

20. time to stomp them down

I hate all repuklicans

[Rex]

21. The establishment Repukes are shatting all over themselves right now.

Obama has either taken their agenda away and made it his own or just ramrods his ideas down their through with a smile. Baggers need to be watched carefully as they have a tendency to commit sedition, WHILE preaching how liberals want to take their 'freedoms' away!

Sadly, we now have an entire sub-culture of people in society that like to stay in constant freefall. Very volatile, very dangerous imo.

[Union Yes]

23. John Perry fails at making any 'constitutional' arguement whatsoever.

His 'constitutional' arguement has zero legs to stand on.

Perry and Newmax = batshit :crazy: :crazy: :crazy:

K&R heckuva find.

Thank you for posting this. Very important for DU'ers to see this.

:patriot:

[ThoughtCriminal]

25. The military will rise up and overthrow unconstitutional socialism!

Oh sure... like the V.A.
:eyes:

[MrScorpio]

33. What a fucking idiot

Officers do swear to uphold the Constitution, and the Constitution CLEARLY states that the PRESIDENT is the COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE ARMED FORCES.

As long as the President remains in office, any attempt to depose him or her and take over the government would be SEDITION and a VIOLATION OF THE CONSTITUTION!

The way assholes like think makes one's head spin.

[bridgit]

34. These mentally composted people are dreaming their Nazi thoughts out loud

[tuckessee]

35. Plenty of DU'ers called for a military coup when Bush 2 was Pretzledent.

Where were the howls of "sedition" then?

[G_j]

37. Not True

I recall calls for noncooperation in the war (Iraq mostly) support of conscientious objectors etc.
That is NOT a military coup. :argh: :mad:

[Wednesdays]

40. Links, please.

Put up, or shut up.

On edit: also, make sure it meets your "plenty of" benchmark.

[WeDidIt]

42. Bullshit

Post the links or you're full of it.

[lumberjack_jeff]

44. I would also like to see some links. n/t

[leveymg]

46. I believe we were relieved at signs that the Joint Chiefs had "pushed back" the Bush-Cheney Iran

war plans. Not exactly the same thing as cheering for a coup, or even sedition.

See, http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/8/154911/3350

[Initech]

38. Newsmax should just spell their name with three K's and get it over with.

[NJmaverick]

41. K & R!