IS THIS CRYPTO-ELIMINATIONISM?

A Republican in Arkansas says something much more inflammatory than "acted stupidly":

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Conrad Reynolds warned Wednesday that Americans need to speak out against what he described as domestic enemies.

"When I joined the military I took an oath to defend the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic," Reynolds said. "I never thought it would be domestic, but in today's world I do believe we have enemies here. It's time for people to stand up. It's time for us to speak out."

Reynolds, 49, of Conway is a retired U.S. Army colonel, having served in South Korea, Afghanistan and Iraq, among other countries....

"We need to change if we want to stop the way America is going toward socialism," Reynolds said. "We need someone to stand up to Barack Obama and his policies. We must protect our culture, our Christian identity."

Dude, you were in the Army. You took an oath to defend the Constitution with a gun. I know you said people need to "speak out," but you also said they need to "stand up." Stand up and do what? What are you implying here?

Am I reading too much into this?

Afterward, Reynolds did a variant of the Liz Cheney Two-Step, trying to have it both ways with regard to the obvious target of his remarks:

Asked about his comment regarding domestic enemies, Reynolds declined to give specific examples. He said he was referring to "those people who are trying to sidetrack what we know to be Americanism and redefining it as socialism."

Reynolds said Obama's "policies are leading us to socialism," but doesn't consider Obama to be a domestic enemy.

Yeah, that's really ... internally consistent.

Reynolds also wants to avoid the kind of trouble a fellow Arkansas Republican has gotten into recently:

After his speech, Reynolds said before an interview that he would be careful with his answers.

"I don't want to do a Kim Hendren," Reynolds said.

Reynolds was referring to state Sen. Kim Hendren, R-Gravette, who also has said he's running for the U.S. Senate. Hendren, in a speech to a Republican group, referred to a U.S. senator from New York as being Jewish and during a legislative meeting referred to a black federal judge as being the "new minority" judge.

Reynolds may not want to "do a Kim Hendren," but what does he think of Mr. Henderen himself? Let's go to Reynolds's Twitter feed:

Met Kim Hendren yestereday for a few moments........he is really a good man. His heart is in the right place.

Yeah, he sounds like a swell guy, Conrad. Just like you.

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AND BY THE WAY: What's Conrad's employment history? Let's go to his campaign site:

Upon graduation from [the University of Conway in Arkansas] in 1982, Conrad was commissioned into the U.S. Army as a Second Lieutenant. He went onto to pursue a highly successful 29-year career as an intelligence officer, retiring as a full colonel on January 1, 2009....

Conrad currently owns and operates a consulting business in Conway, Arkansas and continues contributing to our nation’s defense as an independent contractor with the Department of Defense (DOD).

So he's never earned a dime as an adult that didn't come, directly or indirectly, from the government? And he's whining about "socialism"?