The “overthrow the government” soundbite was too much for the newspaper that had earlier endorsed Stephen Broden over Eddie Bernice Johnson in the 30th. Today it pulled back.
Mark Davis counters this morning with a measured (and, you can feel it, sadddened) defense of Broden that I think is well worth reading. His bottom line:
There is a long list of things that are arguably true but will get you eaten alive on the campaign trail. I’m guessing Pastor Broden has learned this. Are we as certain that his opponent has learned the depth of her malfeasance in this scholarship scandal — or the degree to which her ideas, and those of her party, have banished the 30th District from the growth and progress enjoyed by virtually every other part of North Texas?
As to the comment itself, Broden has impeccable antecedents for his philosophical position, even if it makes for a disaster on the campaign trail:
What country ever existed a century and a half without a rebellion? And what country can preserve it’s liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
That, of course, was Thomas Jefferson in 1787.
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