Louisiana congressman on radicalized Islam: 'Kill them all'

Ken Stickney | The (Lafayette, La.) Daily Advertiser

Rep. Clay Higgins' fiery Facebook post on America's "war with Islamic horror" has attracted widespread attention and some criticism.

"Not a single radicalized Islamic suspect should be granted any measure of quarter," Higgins, the Louisiana Republican and freshman congressman, posted Saturday after an attack on unarmed people in London. "Their intended entry to the American homeland should be summarily denied. Every conceivable measure should be engaged to hunt them down. Hunt them, identity them, and kill them. Kill them all. For the sake of all that is good and righteous. Kill them all."

The Facebook post, made on Higgins' campaign FB page but not on his congressional page, garnered hundreds of comments over the weekend, including criticism from the "political left," according to Higgins' campaign adviser, Chris Comeaux.

"The leftist media is reading (Higgins' statement) at their convenience," Comeaux said Monday morning. "He is not talking about all of Islam."

Comeaux said Higgins specifically says "anyone identified as an Islamic terrorist" should be "hunted down and killed."

"He is trying to be truthful," Comeaux said.

Comeaux said the remarks have spread on "progressive blogs" and "comments have shifted to trolls, people who have never heard of Clay Higgins."

He said he has answered questions from websites such as Jezebel and the Huffington Post and "a few place I've never heard from."

Comeaux said he has "seen this happen to conservatives before," where liberal sites follow conservatives and write critical comments on them. He said "the left can mobilize hundreds of people from all over the country," creating the idea that "there is outrage toward that individual or his comments.

"They just latch on to something then try to run with it," he said.

Higgins' congressional spokesman, Andrew David, said Higgins operates both a congressional Facebook page and a campaign one. He said Higgins' successful 2016 campaign never took down its website.

David said Higgins operates the dual sites because of ethics regulations.

Pearson Cross, a University of Louisiana at Lafayette political scientist, said operating an ongoing campaign website is probably common among congressmen, who, because they face re-election every two years, must raise campaign funds nonstop to be successful.

He said Higgins' comments on the campaign website were probably targeted to Higgins supporters, those pre-disposed to follow him.

Nonetheless, Cross said, "voters can't discern" the difference between Higgins the sitting congressman and Higgins the candidate.