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NH State Rep. Resigns After Suggesting The Mentally Ill Should Be Sent To Siberia

» 23 comments

We won’t have Martin Harty to kick around anymore. The 91 year old member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives has resigned his seat after making comments suggesting the best way to treat someone with mental illness would be to give them a one-way ticket to Siberia. The Republican expressed some regret in his letter of resignation–that he was “just getting the hang of it some,” an apparent reference to the difficulty of knowing how to do that politics stuff.

Harty had previously–and publicly–said he was pretty much confused by his job, writing in a letter to the Foster’s Daily Democrat:

“So far I really don’t know what I’m doing . The few votes I’ve made so far I really didn’t know what I was voting for or against. Just looked at the people around me and went along with them.”

And then there was Harty’s fairly lousy efforts at spin control, as the UK’s Daily Mail described:

Speaking about the incident later he said: ‘I was kidding with her and it kind of got away from me. ‘It was a girl that wanted money for the crazy people, a good percentage of the homeless people are mentally disturbed.
‘I said we’ve got to do something about them, and I don’t know how to do it.’I said maybe they can rent a spot in Siberia off of Russia. She called me an Adolf Hitler and hung up on me. I never mentioned Hitler, it was her idea to use that name.’

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  • BadGenome

    He should have just said, “And by mentally ill, I mean the Tea Party.” Bam. Instant absolution. And bonus: he’d be a Good Republican and therefore a Very Serious Candidate for 2012.

  • Atticus Draco

    BadGenome said:
    She called me an Adolf Hitler and hung up on me. I never mentioned Hitler, it was her idea to use that name.’

    LOL,,, UHMMM,, SHE WAS A democrat!

  • Atticus Draco

    BadGenome said:
    He should have just said, “And by mentally ill, I mean the Tea Party.” Bam. Instant absolution. And bonus: he’d be a Good Republican and therefore a Very Serious Candidate for 2012.

    lol,, yeah,, TRUE

    He could have blasted the Qur’an too!
    “WHAT?!? He aint crazy! He’s a leftist,, he can say that! There’s nuthing wrong with that”

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/John-Merritt/100000196301299 John Merritt

    Old Neanderthals like him should just pass on. If he only knew that his mother and father were troubled before his conception, post birth and during his teenage years. Would they have been qualified as mental defectives. Don’t know back then no one spoke of their problems for fear of being labeled, but if his advice had been followed and his belief’s today were prevalent then; he might be freezing his tail today instead of creating laws that have placed this country in DIRE STRAITS. Martin you didn’t learn a darn thing did ya?

  • Atticus Draco

    John Merritt said:
    Martin you didn’t learn a darn thing did ya?

    At least he didnt run and hide when it was his time to vote,,
    he was confused as hell,, but he didnt run
    HE DIDNT VOTE NOT PRESENT!

    AND GET THIS,, HE WAS F’in HONEST ABOUT IT!!
    lol

  • BlueBunny

    THIS IS WHAT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY HIRE TO DO A JOB! HE HAS NO CLUE WHAT HE IS VOTING ON JUST GOES ALONG WITH THE OTHERS! YOUR RIGHT HE SHOULD BE A GOP CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT 2012!

  • BlueBunny

    Atticus Draco said:
    his time to vote,,

    NO HE DIDN’T HE JUST WENT ALONG WITH THE OTHERS! THIS IS WHAT THE REPUBLICA/TEAPUBLICS WANT! IGNORANT BLIND FOLLOWERS! YOU FOLLOWERS HERE PROVE IT EVERYDAY!

  • Liberal Tormentor

    Blue Bonnett, if you are going to comment on the intellect of others, at least learn when to use YOUR and when to use YOU’RE.

  • ndanielson

    So he comes up with a great way to get rid of liberals, what’s the problem? Siberia spreads the wealth, and there are no nuclear power plants there, and no Fox news. A liberal paradise, with a nanny government, and everyone equally impoverished. Pass the potatoes, BlueBonnet.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/John-Merritt/100000196301299 John Merritt

    Martin should know better than anyone, vitriol and hate is considered a ‘hate crime’. To incite one against another is deplorable. It reminds me of a guy…..what was his name………..oh yeah, HITLER. He preached the same thing about isolating and eliminating certain people from the general world populace.

    Martin forgets that the Great Depression was not called that because of a slumping economy. People were generally depressed. Mental health issues were rampant in that day, perhaps even his parents and certain loved ones. His advice being taken then would have excluded many from appropriate prosperity, peace and contribution to this great country. My mother is his age and if she heard him say that, being all 4’11″ would have ripped him a new one.

    The Shriver’s and Kennedy’s were great advocates for those ‘less thans’. This country needs less of this type of talk, more compassion and understanding. Based on his theory, medicine would know little about mental health issues including Alzheimer’s and others. His physician and pharmaceutical friends might be working in other fields and medicine today would be reduced to voodoo magic if we did not study, treat and cure causations.

    Atticus Draco, you sound like you might have the same Martin disease. I read ALOT of your posts and you have more than one oar out of the water. You know what the boat does with only one oar in? It goes in circles and essentially nowhere. I hope there is still more time for you.

  • nutsofast
  • PC Kryptonite

    It’s clear the man was over his head in the job, I don’t understand how he ever got elected without being able to articulate a coherent political philosophy and worldview. The electorate dropped the ball on this guy but who knows maybe the guys in the first stages of old-age dementia or Alzheimer’s, I mean the guy is 91 years old.

    I see the Liberals making a lot of hay with this guy, it’s a pity their memory doesn’t extend to all the stupid incoherent and insensitive things liberal Democrats have said. But double standards aren’t really a concern I guess.

  • Nachi

    Add this fine man to GOP presidential hopefuls for 2012. He’s in the groove.

  • murphy0071

    One should have compassion for Martin Hicks. His failure to understand or even be appropriate around the issue of mental illness is regrettable. Like most Republicans, most of whom are mentally ill and should be diagnosed for what they are sociopaths, narcissists, manic-depressives, etc. They indeed make up a motley crew of fools who are all about hate and doing whatever they can to help corporations and the wealthy while throwing the rest of Americans in the shit can right here in America. Although, most of them likely agree with Hicks, they are smart enough to keep their mouths shut most of the time. The rest of the time they are a bunch of blow hards with the intellect of peas.

  • Liberal Tormentor

    Murphy says:
    Like most Republicans, most of whom are mentally ill and should be diagnosed for what they are sociopaths, narcissists, manic-depressives, etc.

    20% of American’s consider themselves loony libs. Coincidentally (or NOT in this case) reports show that 20% of American’s are mentally ill. Just something to think about.

  • Montecore

    There should be an age limit on these jobs!

  • ClearThinker

    That is the Tbag and Repuke answer to health care!

  • Extremists Are Ruining America

    Atticus Draco said:
    At least he didnt run and hide when it was his time to vote,,he was confused as hell,, but he didnt runHE DIDNT VOTE NOT PRESENT! AND GET THIS,, HE WAS F’in HONEST ABOUT IT!!lol

    No, but this is the calibre you get when you blindly vote the party line.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jay-Adler/1420650301 Jay Adler

    This is nothing to be concerned with, if anything it is senility gone wild. Besides which there are 50 million Americans suffering from mental illness so the idea of shipping them off to Greenland is a little far fetched. Many are the CEO’s and millionaires that savant qualities impart on people with the illness. There is no Stigma in this politician’s remarks, it is just that if all of us are lucky enough to succeed to his ripe old age, there is the potential to utter ridulous remarks that must by design be excused.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Joseph-Glackin/100000892011713 Joseph Glackin

    Someone should break it to the old coot that, up north of him, they used to put the old people on an ice floe when the spring thaw came and said goodbye.

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  • Davo

    Joseph Glackin said:
    Someone should break it to the old coot that, up north of him, they used to put the old people on an ice floe when the spring thaw came and said goodbye.

    He’s pretty bad. But can you imagine the DEMOCRAT the voters considered WORSE that he beat in the election? OMG!

    John Merritt said:
    Martin forgets that the Great Depression was not called that because of a slumping economy. People were generally depressed.

    Now, THAT’S either the most uninformed, or the most creative excuse to avoid noticing the results of FDR’s Democrat economic policy I ever saw. Congrats, John Merritt, for reaching a new ‘high’ in LOWS.

  • my dogs gone

    Martin has the integrity to resign when he realizes his limits.
    He sets a good example for Republicans.

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