Congressional Candidate Appears to Have One Harsh Message for the NRA & Its Supporters

A Congressional candidate running for the nomination to unseat House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) ignited an Internet firestorm when he appeared to go on a tirade against conservatives and the National Rifle Association Saturday night.

Mike Dickinson rejected support — on a Twitter account appearing to belong to him — from anyone who supports the NRA, is pro-life or participates in "Obama hating."

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/VoteMike2014/status/452623476869066752"]

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Immediately following the string of tweets, Dickinson received immediate backlash online, with individuals turning to Twitter to offer their thoughts.

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/ua55oak/status/452834749657001984"]

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/Mikespeegle/status/452837738556178432"]

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Despite the overwhelming reaction to the tweets, the self-described "liberal Democrat" did not appear to issue any apologies. In fact, on Sunday morning he appeared to respond to some criticism by continuing to mock the intelligence of those questioning him.

"I went to engineering school and I support the NRA," one person tweeted him.

"Went or graduated? RW has large college dropout rate," a tweet on the Dickinson account replied.

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Follow Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) on Twitter