Railing Against Pork: McCain Tells Tea Party to ‘Grab Your Pitchforks’

Earlier this month we noted the unusual metaphor by Sen Claire McCaskill (D-MO) urging people to "take up pitchforks" if tax rates were extended for the top income earners. At that time, Scott wondered what might happen if a conservative said the same thing:

I would never be one to declare the casual use of a metaphor as a literal call for a violent uprising. But it is always interesting to play the reversal game. What if Palin had said this? There would be instantaneous demands for her retraction and apology.

Well, now one such conservative has obliged. While it wasn't Sarah Palin who said it, it was her running mate Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)who used the analogy twice during a Fox appearance Thursday morning.

"I'm saying to the Tea Partiers this morning, 'grab your pitchforks let's stand up against this, it can be stopped,'" he said about halfway through the interview while talking about the pork-laden omnibus spending bill. Then, toward the very end, he repeated the analogy: "Grab the pitchforks and come to Capitol Hill, Tea Partiers."

We have reached out to McCain's office for comment but have not received a response. Today, as we did back then, we'll again note that this is a metaphor for expressing your disdain for something. But we'll sit back and see if our prediction from earlier this month comes true.

UPDATE:

McCain's office has declined to comment, only reiterating our previous point that the Senator was speaking "rhetorically."