[Vision2020] Now he's a target, Rammell asserts

[Joe Campbell]

It is worth noting that the criticisms of of Rammell are coming from  
both sides, not just Democrats.

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 2, 2009, at 7:29 AM, "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:

> Courtesy of today's (September 2, 2009) Spokesman Review.
>
> ------------------------------------------------
>
> Now he’s a target, hopeful asserts
> GOP leaders trying derail race, he says
> Betsy Z. Russell / betsyr at spokesman.com
>
> BOISE – A defiant Rex Rammell, still refusing to apologize Tuesday f 
> or his
> joking remarks about buying hunting tags to shoot President Barack  
> Obama,
> accused top Idaho Republican leaders of conspiring to sabotage his  
> run for
> governor by condemning his remarks.
>
> “They’re trying to ruin my run to be the governor,” Rammell  
> said at a
> press conference across from the state Capitol.
>
> At a Republican barbecue in Twin Falls last week, during a discussion
> about wolf hunting tags, a woman in the audience shouted, “Obama tag 
> s,”
> and Rammell responded, “The Obama tags? We’d buy some of those.”
>
> Widely reported, his remark prompted a storm of criticism from GOP  
> leaders
> at home, as well as talk across the nation.
>
> Rammell is from Rexburg, the eastern Idaho town where elementary
> schoolchildren riding home on a school bus after last year’s electi 
> on
> chanted, “Assassinate Obama,” prompting statewide consternation  
> and a
> public apology from the mayor.
>
> “There’s an underlying animosity to Obama and his policies,”  
> Rammell said.
>
> “I think it comes out in these comments.”
>
> But, he said, “I meant nothing by it. … I wasn’t serious, and  
> it didn’t
> even start with me. It would’ve been rude for me to condemn the lady 
>  for
> saying it. This country needs to lighten up.”
>
> Rammell launched his own attacks against top Idaho GOP leaders and
> officeholders, accusing Gov. Butch Otter of “betraying the conservat 
> ive
> movement” and calling his appointment of popular GOP state Sen. Brad
> Little as the state’s lieutenant governor “unforgivable.”
>
> Rammell criticized Congressman Mike Simpson for “literally selling I 
> daho
> and America down the road” through votes in Congress, and he bashed  
> former
> Idaho Gov. Phil Batt, who also is a former state GOP chairman, for “ 
> idly
> standing by while the federal government was dropping wolves on our  
> big
> game herds in 1995.”
>
> He said, “I will apologize for my comments when you apologize for al 
> l the
> pain and suffering you have caused Idaho.”
>
> Norm Semanko, chairman of the Idaho Republican Party, issued a  
> statement
> calling Rammell’s criticisms of state GOP leaders “a ridiculous a 
> nd
> desperate publicity stunt.” He said, “I call upon Rex Rammell to  
> take
> responsibility for his actions and apologize for his remarks as  
> Rammell’s
> comments do not reflect the views of Idaho Republicans.”
>
> Rammell is a veterinarian and former elk rancher with a grudge against
> former Idaho Gov. Jim Risch, now a U.S. senator, for ordering his  
> escaped
> farmed elk shot to avoid possible harm to Idaho’s wild elk herds. Ri 
> sch,
> like the rest of Idaho’s congressional delegation, has strongly cond 
> emned
> Rammell’s remarks about hunting the president.
>
> “I’ll tell you the main reason that I won’t apologize, is  
> because of the
> over-the-top comments by the GOP leaders,” Rammell said. “I am  
> not sorry
> for saying the comment – I am sorry that some people took it incorre 
> ctly.”
>
> Rammell said he doesn’t intend to assassinate the president. “I  
> was just
> being polite to that lady,” he said.
>
> Two residents, who decided separately to show up, attended Rammell’s 
>  press
> conference, but he refused to take any questions from them. “I’m  
> an Idaho
> resident who’s a lifelong Republican, who finds Mr. Rammell to be an
> embarrassment,” said one, Brad Cozzens, of Eagle.
>
> “I don’t see how anyone can take a joke about licensing the  
> assassination
> of the president in any manner except highly offensive,” Cozzens sai 
> d. “I
> don’t like Obama much, and I find it highly offensive.”
>
> ------------------------------------------------
>
> Seeya round town, Moscow.
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
> "The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to  
> change
> and the Realist adjusts his sails."
>
> - Unknown
>
>
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