Boston ‘Cowering Liberals’ Tweet From Arkansas Rep Sparks Outrage, Apologies

The Boston “cowering liberals” tweet from Arkansas State Representative Nate Bell, a Republican, has sparked outrage and apologies from House Speaker Davy Carter, also a Republican.

The tweet was made at 8:25 am, and stated the following: “I wonder how many Boston liberals spent the night cowering in their homes wishing they had an AR-15 with a hi-capacity magazine?”

Carter released a statement, reported by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, apologizing for the remarks.

“On behalf of the Arkansas House of Representatives and the state of Arkansas, I want to extend my deepest apologies to the people of the City of Boston and the state of Massachusetts for the inappropriate and insensitive comment made this morning by an Arkansas House member.”

Carter continued: “I can assure the people of Boston and the people of Massachusetts that Arkansans have them in their thoughts and prayers during this tragic time.”

The newspaper noted that the message had been re-tweeted 900 times by noon.

At the time of this posting, Bell had responded via Facebook with the following message:

“I would like to apologize to the people of Boston & Massachusetts for the poor timing of my tweet earlier this morning. As a staunch and unwavering supporter of the individual right to self defense, I expressed my point of view without thinking of its effect on those still in time of crisis.”

Bell continued: “In hindsight, given the ongoing tragedy that is still unfolding, I regret the poor choice of timing. Please know that my thoughts and prayers were with the people of Boston overnight and will continue as they recover from this tragedy.”

The Boston “cowering liberals” response has been understandably hostile:

“Go f*** yourself, buddy! Come visit us in Boston and we’ll kick your ass for ya!” said Facebook commenter Malik Haddadi.

Martin Burns added: “Hey, Nate – how ’bout you come up to Boston, and say that to our faces? Bear in mind: we gave birth to America, and we didn’t do it by cowering. We fight when it matters — deeds, not words.”

And Juliet Bowler: “In the past few days, I have seen friends running *towards* danger, amazing heroics the likes of which someone like you could not possibly fathom. People refusing to live in fear, loving and supporting their hometown, refusing to give in to the fear that people like this attempt to force on us – terrorize us. Funny how an ELECTED official of the United States of America, too stupid, jingoistic and brain-washed by this false attack on the Second Amendment – something that is decidedly NOT occurring – actually used this moment in time when a city comes together to find the people who attacked us and rejects the fear those people tried to perpetrate, you picked that moment to slander, insult and yes, terrorize us, too. You sir, are a coward, an embarrassment and a large part of the problem. Congratulations using this moment for political gain. You, sir, are anathema to what it means to be a proud American.”

We’re not sure what “political gain” Bowler might be referring to as Bell’s party has outright rejected the remark and the outraged Facebook comments have already scaled into the thousands.

As for the Boston “cowering liberals” remark, here’s just one example of the “cowering” that the city is doing:

At 1:54 pm, Bell had not removed the original tweet.

(Apparently, no one has shown him the delete button Twitter provides. Of course, by now the screenshots are out there, so there’s little point.)

For more positive takes than the Boston “cowering liberals” comment, here’s how the world has responded as well as our own Tayla Holman’s first-person account.

Do you think Rep. Nate Bell should resign for his Boston “cowering liberals” comment?