Right wing talk jock Neal Boortz tweeted this today:

Sadly, retaliation of this sort has already happened:

Last Friday, someone going by the name "dermdoc" posted a thread on a message board for Texas A&M students and alumni with this topic: "Laid off my first Obama voting employee today."

"Our reimbursement rates are spiraling downward, taxes are projected to go up with Obamacare, so I did it," the person wrote. He later added: "I made this decision because I can."

"It is kind of interesting watching their face as you explain to them the economic consequences of the policies of the guy they voted for," wrote dermdoc.

Hotsheet reached out to the person who we believe to have been responsible for the posting, but our requests for comment went unanswered. Late Wednesday afternoon, after Hotsheet's inquiry, the thread appeared to be removed from the TexAgs.com Web site.

The posting prompted 20 pages of comments, some celebrating dermdoc's initial post and others questioning whether it was appropriate for him to have laid off an employee seemingly on the basis of his or her politics.

Dermdoc interacted repeatedly with commenters, and it is possible that his claim about laying off an Obama voter was grounded at least to some extent in bravado. He goes on to lament that his practice will suffer economically under the Obama health care plan.

"Elections have consequences," wrote dermdoc. "If you vote for someone who raises my taxes and lowers my income, you pay the cost."

One may well ask: Is this legal?

It's probably a question which has not been addressed directly by the courts.  Certainly, a government employee cannot be fired on the basis of their vote.  And federal civil rights law protect the firing of someone on the basis of gender, age, disability, race, national origin, etc.  The employment rights laws of each state would add to the list, although I don't know if any state law specifically prohibits the firing of an employee based on who they voted for.

It would make for an interesting test case.  Off the top of my head, it strikes me that firing someone based on who they voted for acts as a civil rights violation (since voting is a protected act).  Punishing someone for how they voted is a deterant to voting (or, at least, voting a certain way), and therefore, a civil rights violation.

But what's disturbing is that this kind of thing is being advocated.  Discriminating against Obama voters seems to be a new trend for the right wing. In Florida recently, a doctor posted a sign reading, “If you voted for Obama…seek urologic care elsewhere.” Yes, the Democrats hated Bush…. but the venom never got to this level of ugliness.