State Sen. David Schultheis said he didn't intend for a Twitter post accusing President Barack Obama of "flying the U.S. plane right into the ground" and ending with "let's roll" as a threat or a reference to United Flight 93, which crashed during the 2001 terrorist attacks.
"Let's roll" reportedly were the last words of Todd Beamer before he and other passengers tried to gain control of their hijacked jet. The plane crashed into a Pennsylvania field short of its intended target...
Schultheis' full tweet Tuesday was: "Don't for a second think Obama wants what is best for U.S. He is flying the U.S. plane right into the ground at full speed. Let's roll."
He said he was angry about the president's fiscal policies but didn't mean to compare him to the hijackers. The senator's reputation for strong speech gave readers the wrong idea, he said.
" 'Let's roll.' It's a comment people use all the time any more. 'Let's get going. Let's move on. Let's make major changes,' " Schultheis said. "I can see it now. But you're busy doing jillions of things during the day. You sometimes don't analyze every single word."
Let's roll isn't a comment that I hear regularly and when it is used everyone knows it's a reference to 9/11 and Flight 93. The fact that Schutheis used the phrase in a sentence about flying a plane into a ground makes the Senator's assertions in today's Post all the more incredulous. He analogized the President of the United States to a 9/11 hijacker and implored his Twitter followers to take action as the passengers of Flight 93 did. Stop lying Senator and simply apologize for what you said. A little personal responsibility would go a long way here Senator. Alternatively someone in Senate leadership could actually mete out some punishment to this cretin. At a certain point the passive acquiescence of Josh Penry and Schultheis' colleague becomes tacit support and endorsement.
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