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Colorado Dem under fire for retweet of call to ‘anally probe’ Wisconsin gov

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Greg Campbell Contributor
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The Colorado Democrat who warned that armed women might be prone to “pop a round at somebody” is in the crosshairs again, this time thanks to his Twitter account.

In reaction to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signing a bill requiring that abortion doctors show their patients ultrasound images of their fetuses in order for them to make an “informed choice” about the procedure, Colorado state Rep. Joe Salazar retweeted, without comment, a message posted by comedian Sarah Silverman.

“I’d very much like to anally probe @GovWalker each time he needs to make an ‘informed decision,’” she tweeted, adding a link to a CNN story about the Wisconsin bill.

Republicans were quick to pounce on the lawmaker, with the Colorado Republican Committee posting a news release on its website with the headline, “Democrat Rep. Joe Salazar calls for rape of Republican governor.”

“It’s fine to disagree with Gov. Walker, but it’s not okay for Joe Salazar to call for the governor to be raped,” Colorado Republican Committee spokesman Owen Loftus said in the statement. “Rep. Salazar’s tweet is demeaning and offensive to victims everywhere.”

The statement includes a screen shot of Salazar’s Twitter feed which shows that the offending tweet originated with Silverman.

“Where is Democrat Speaker Mark Ferrandino?” Loftus continued in the statement. “Does he think it’s acceptable for House Democrats, under his leadership, to advocate for the rape of those with whom they disagree? It is time for Speaker Ferrandino to step up and remind his Democratic colleagues that it is never okay to advocate for or joke about rape.”

Salazar is a favored whipping boy for gun rights advocates because of comments he made during debate over a bill that would have banned concealed weapons on college campuses. He called concealed handguns unnecessary because campuses have police call boxes and suggested women carry whistles instead of pistols.

“Because you just don’t know who you’re going to be shooting at,” he said during debate on the bill in February. “And you don’t know if you feel like you’re gonna be raped, or if you feel like someone’s been following you around or if you feel like you’re in trouble when you may actually not be, that you pop out that gun and you pop … pop a round at somebody.”

The bill died, but the ridicule aimed at Salazar has lived on. Conservative commentator Dana Loesch singled him out during her speech at a Second Amendment rally in Denver as recently as June 29.

While Salazar apologized for the “pop a round” comments, he tweeted that Republicans are overreaching and dishonest with their most recent criticism calling the outrage over his retweet “manufacture[d].”

He also called out Republican Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg for retweeting the state GOP’s message saying he “calls for rape of GOP gov.”

Salazar tweeted for Sonnenberg to “get your facts straight” and told him the state GOP is “taking you down a bad path.”

In an email to The Daily Caller News Foundation, Loftus said, “At the very least, [Salazar] needs to explain why it’s okay to ‘very much like to anally probe’ a sitting governor.”

“However, I think most people would expect an apology,” he wrote.

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