What sort of people are attracted to the Tea Party Movement? Booman has already shown that a plurality of them are prone to the belief that Obama has raised their taxes when he hasn’t. But what else do such people believe about Obama?
Well we know for a fact that at least one of them in Massachusetts, Gregory Girard, was so convinced that Obama was forming a Gestapo like “National Security Force” that he expected armed conflict with Federal authorities. In response he did collected the following items ….
grenade type explosive devices — including tear gas and explosive pepper ball canisters … 20 weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition … [and] a large collection of military camouflage clothing, knives, several pairs of handcuffs, bulletproof vests and helmets, night vision goggles, a large supply of medicine, and six months’ worth of food supplies …
… which led to his arrest on weapons charges after a concerned friend of his wife informed the ATF of his weapons stash, and his wife expressed concern for her safety to local police:
On Monday, Girard’s wife, a psychiatrist, contacted town police to express concern about her husband’s increasing paranoia and apparent stockpiling of weapons, prosecutor Honor Segal said yesterday in court.
Kristine Girard told police that, while her husband hadn’t threatened her, she was afraid to return home after an argument.
She said her husband had recently told her, “Don’t talk to people, shoot them instead,” and “It’s fine to shoot people in the head because traitors deserve it,” Segal said, reading from a police report. The ATF received its tip from a friend of Girard’s wife.
But Steven D, you say (playing Devil’s advocate) what’s that got to do with the Tea Party Movement?
Well, I’m glad you asked that question, because apparently (as TPM has documented) he was an avid supporter of Sarah Palin and all things Tea Party-ish:
A “Greg Girard,” listing his location as Manchester, Mass., has a personal page on the “Patriots of America” online network, a popular site affiliated with the Tea Party movement. The phone number listed on the page is the same as the number listed on the website of Girard’s consulting firm, which appears to have been run out of his home.
Girard’s apparent apocalyptic anxiety about a coming effort by federal thugs to crack down on personal liberties surfaced frequently on his Tea Party page. His writings may shed light on the mindset that allegedly led him to assemble his arsenal.
For instance, just last week, after another Tea Partier wrote a post railing against gun registries, Girard responded by invoking a potential “murderous rampage” by “state and Federal gangsta’s (sic),” trying to take his weapons.
You should go read the entire TPM article on Mr. Girard just to get an idea of how delusional and angry and potentially dangerous he had become. Is he possibly suffering from a psychotic paranoid condition? Maybe, but who has been laying the groundwork for that paranoia? The likes of Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, Freedom Works, et al., who have promoted these lies and slanders as the truth to their audiences and stirred up a wave of primarily white male resentment toward our first non-white President.
The real truth is that the Tea Party movement attracts a lot of people who believe the same things Mr. Giraud does. Do all of them stockpile tear gas, explosive devices, guns galore and other assorted military gear? I doubt it, but I also doubt that Mr. Girard is the only person who identifies with the Tea Partiers who has also armed himself (or herself) to the teeth in preparation for an armed conflict with the mythical Socialist/Fascist paramilitary forces they believe President Obama is assembling to forcibly take away their “freedoms” (i.e., their guns). And these individuals are the real “ticking time bombs” in our society just waiting to go off:
“There was a great potential of danger with the amount of fire power he had,” [Police Chief Glenn] McKiel said, adding that Girard had assault rifles and military grade weapons along with the largest collection of ammunition he has ever seen including armor piercing bullets. “We don’t think he was preparing to attack the community he was preparing for domestic and political turmoil.”
I think the community of Manchester just dodged a bullet, literally speaking. Let’s just hope the other deluded nuts out there are caught in time before another American community becomes the scene of a tragedy. Because anyone who doubts their existence obviously doesn’t remember Oklahoma City and Tim McVeigh.
