Aspiring UK Labour Leader: Hey, Wouldn't It Be Cool to Go Back and Assassinate Thatcher?

I can't figure out which is dumber, the idiotic comments made by a man who is campaigning to lead a major party or the fact his desires nearly came to fruition 26 years ago and he apparently seems to forget it. As appalling at this "joke" was, it's even more disturbing is those listening to this garbage cheered him on.

Labour leadership candidate John McDonnell said yesterday he would 'assassinate' Margaret Thatcher if he could go back to the 1980s.

The left-wing MP made the outrageous claim at a hustings as he tried to win over union activists - who hold a third of the votes for the party leadership.

Mr McDonnell said he had once been asked in a warm-up question on the BBC's Any Questions what he would do if he found himself in an Ashes To Ashes situation – a reference to the time-travelling TV series where a policewoman finds herself transported back to the 1980s.

To applause from the audience in Southport, Merseyside, he said that he would have liked to go back to that era and ‘assassinate Thatcher’.

The MP for Hayes and Harlington in West London - who served as Ken Livingstone’s deputy at the Greater London Council - insisted his comments were ‘a joke and it went down as a joke’.

But remarks have been condemned.

Lord Tebbit, who was Trade and Industry Secretary when the IRA tried to blow up the entire Cabinet in 1984 during the Conservative Party conference in Brighton, said he was appalled by the remarks.

‘I think it is rather in poor taste. After all it was his party’s friends who did try to kill her. His comments would make him absolutely ideal for the leadership of the Labour party,' he said.

Lord Tebbit’s wife Margaret was crippled by the blast, which also narrowly missed Lady Thatcher her husband Dennis and killed five people.

Says here he received a standing ovation. The Sun's headline is a bit more blunt.

What is it with these leftists and their assassination fetishes?

McDonnell, it appears, has quite an affinity for assassins.

According to its website, the Labour party stands for “social justice”, “strong community and strong values”, “reward for hard work”, “decency” and “rights matched by responsibilities”.

Meanwhile, just this afternoon, the Labour party leadership hopeful John McDonnell has said that he would like to visit the 1980s and “assassinate Thatcher”.

This was the same McDonnell who once said of Bobby Sands: “It’s about time we started honouring those people involved in the armed struggle. It was the bombs and bullets and sacrifice made by the likes of Bobby Sands that brought Britain to the negotiating table. The peace we have now is due to the action of the IRA.”

Ed West notices a subtle difference in the tone of the left and right. I notice the same thing in this country.

That’s the difference between the centre-Right and the Left. We view our opponents as misguided, foolish or economically illiterate; socialists view their opponents as evil obstacles to progress – no wonder that in just half a century, socialism managed to kill more people than all the world’s religions combined, a record it will hang onto for some time.

Thanks to Ace and Instapundit for the links.

Also linked at Hot Air. Thanks!