Channeling Travis Bickle

"At what point do the people tell the politicians to go to hell? At what point do they get off the couch, march down to their state legislator’s house, pull him outside, and beat him to a bloody pulp for being an idiot?

"At some point soon, it will happen. It’ll be over an innocuous issue. But the rage is building. It’s not a partisan issue. There is bipartisan angst at out of control government made worse by dumb bans like this and unintended consequences like AIG’s bonus problems."

Erick Erickson, saying there will soon be a violent revolution in America.

Bonus quote from Erickson:

Were I in Washington State, I’d be cleaning my gun right about now waiting to protect my property from the coming riots or the government aparatchicks coming to enforce nonsensical legislation.

The cause of Erickson's rage is Spokane County, Washington has banned phosphates from dishwasher detergent. Erickson claims "Washington State has turned its residents into a group of drug runners — crossing state lines to buy dish washer detergent with phosphate." Apparently, Washington residents need to get on a 12 step program to cure their collective dishwasher detergent fix. The more likely answer is people aren't going to riot over dishwasher detergent.

The body needs a certain amount of phosphate. However, overexposure can cause kidney failure, bone diseases and other complications. Most people would agree safe dishwasher detergent is a good thing. Erickson is willing to shoot someone to put potentially unsafe detergent back on the market. Erickson sounds more like Travis Bickle than a grassroots political operative. Erickson's rant is insane and should be treated as such.

"Listen, you fuckers, you screwheads. Here is a man who would not take it anymore. A man who stood up against the scum, the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit. Here is a man who stood up."

Travis Bickle, from the movie Taxi Driver. The Bickle quote doesn't strike me as different in tone from the Erickson post.

Update: Tas offers his take on Erickson's post.