SECRET SERVICE

The Death-Threat Debate

By Mark Hosenball | NEWSWEEK
Published Oct 18, 2008
From the magazine issue dated Oct 27, 2008

« Return to Article

Discuss

Member Comments

  • Posted By: TUAC111 @ 02/19/2009 10:45:33 AM

    "TREASON" to government and to the President of the USA - if this evil was addressed about a white man, secret service, cia, fbi swat and any other protected force would have been all over the a black man

    Di Brown

  • Posted By: good1 @ 10/24/2008 8:34:11 PM

    Death threat? Hearsay counts when the intended is none white. I wonder what will happen if I say let's kill McCain with votes for Obama and somebody report me stating I said " let's kill McCain". Will I be investigated. Especially if I am an Arabic, democrat, that live in New York 5th Ave and know to be an ardent supporter of negotiation with Iran and believe USA is way out of line as the European, have stated.

  • Posted By: moichi @ 10/24/2008 4:59:28 PM

    Sorry, a couple of typos in my post. I didn't intend to say only blacks believe Obama, I touched my mouse pad and the words went in the wrong line. I mean't why should anyone believe Obama because he has no long-term record for us to rely upon. And, I mixed up some syntax. I intended to say that I'm not overly impressed by McCain either but at least I can evaluate him based upon his long-term record. I regret the typos.

  • Posted By: moichi @ 10/24/2008 4:53:20 PM

    Obama reminds me so much of Jimmy Carter except he has no military or national service. If Obama wins we will be in more trouble than we are because every terrorist in the world will see us as weak and start taking their shots at us. We nothing about this guy except he went to upper tier colleges and did some community volunteering. He's never ran anything in his life and hasn't faced any real or substantial challenges. A lance corporal in the Marines or a PFC in the army has had more leadership and responsibility than Obama. Sure, he's smart but what about common sense. And what about judgment? He spent 20 years of Sunday mornings listening to Wright spew sermons demonizing white people. Why should anyone who isn't black believe a word Obama says. He is, after all, a politician and we all know they will say anything, do anything, and get in bed with anyone to get elected, especially to the white house. I don't disagree that McCain has done much better. However, we do know how he thinks and what's important to him because he has many years of experience and decision making that we can examine. I certainly don't like all of his decisions. I've struggled to make up my mind about who to vote for; Pallin scares the heck out of me too. In the end, I supposed I'll make a decision to vote for McCain though because I would rather live with the devil I know than the devil I don't know. It's a sad situation when we don't have a choice between two, well qualified candidates. Whoever wins, life isn't going to get better just because they won because the president doesn't have the power to do most of the things both McCain and Obama say they will do. It is up to congress. What scares me most is to have the white house, the senate, and the house all controlled by one party. It is never good when there are no checks and balances. Hang on to you.r wallets

  • Posted By: eldejota @ 10/24/2008 1:43:55 PM

    To everybody reading this: lets inspire everyone to vote, share one of your million reason to do it in this site: http://www.amillionreasonstovote.com

  • Posted By: TruthForward @ 10/23/2008 2:05:29 PM

    Taxes:

    -Those making between $250,000 and $400,000 annually will have less than $1,500 increase in their taxes. (These people are not complaining. Joe is not one of these people.)

    -Those making more than $3 Million annually will pay only 23%.

    This will PAY FOR the tax cuts given to the middle class.
    This WILL NOT INCREASE THE DEFICIT!

    Calculate your taxcut: http://taxcut.barackobama.com/

    ...................

    McCain has a Santa Clause approach to tax cutting. He wants to make cuts, but has not identified how it will be paid for. This will never pass Congress.

    McCAIN'S TAX PLAN (or slogan) WILL WILL INCREASE THE DEFICIT!

    Get your specific McCain Tax info (if available)
    http://www.johnmccain.com/Issues/JobsforAmerica/taxes.htm
    McCain has slogans not plans.

  • Posted By: star3 @ 10/18/2008 8:33:57 PM

    Those "death threats " against Obama at the rally were bogus; the people yelling "kill him!", ect. were hired by the left in an attempt to have, yet, one more reason to blame the Republicans and to try to show that the right are radical. Its all so transparent. Nobody took any of that amature ranting serious. The next rally the left has, they will have a new ploy planned to try to make the conservatives look bad, so warch for it as entertainment, nothing more. How sad that they have to resort to such ugly tactics, it just shows they don't trust Obama to get votes on his own. Don't count on as many black votes for him as they think they will get, because many of the blacks feel exploited, so are upset with his whole campaign for using them. They know its all a lie, Obama doesn't really care about the blacks, he just wants their vote, he would allow a chimpanze to vote if he could get away with it.

    • Posted By: Doc Howl @ 10/23/2008 1:35:44 PM

      Absolutely. You should put more tinfoil in your hat, too, in case the liberals try to influence YOU with their mind-beams.

      LOL.

  • Posted By: pezled @ 10/21/2008 7:19:15 AM

    It's pretty amusing to hear Dems putting down McCain for being a philanderer. These are the same Dems that gave us Kennedy and Clinton, the two most famous philanderers ever to be president???? Somebody pass me a cigar.......

    • Posted By: Doc Howl @ 10/23/2008 1:34:16 PM

      Clinton bothered you, but McCain doesn't? Interesting.

  • Posted By: paulte @ 10/21/2008 1:55:37 PM

    Things may be getting a little out of hand at the Palin rallies because of people's frustration with the Obama campaign. Where exactly are these tons of money going to Obama coming from? And the media is a virtual cheering section for Obama. The Palin rallies are virtually all white. It is the laager mentality similar to what existed in South Africa. When the laager feels it is under attack by outside forces like Obama and his supporters, it will strike back. Obama may win but a significant portion of the nation (mostly white) will never support him.

    • Posted By: Doc Howl @ 10/23/2008 1:33:38 PM

      What a sack of trash.

    • Posted By: dbartlett @ 10/21/2008 3:01:02 PM

      What a bunch of racist garbage.

  • Posted By: trojanguy @ 10/21/2008 7:57:29 PM

    Why is is that liberals, who preach tolerance for their views, are the most intolerant group in America when someone expresses a view or opinion they don't like?? They use communist and facistic tactics to suppress any information that they don't want others to hear. When radio station WGN in Chicago has hosted guests who have written critically about Obama, the radio station is flooded by callers, in an orchestrated efffort to prevent that interview from being aired. There a dozens of other examples that can be cited. Yet ask them about ACORN and suddenly you're a racist who is trying to prevent people for voting for the chosen socialist candidate, Obama! Are these the people we want running this country? I for one don't...they're crazed and dangerous. THEY MUST BE STOPPED BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE. Don't let them steal our Democracy with their lies and dishonesty!!

    • Posted By: Doc Howl @ 10/23/2008 1:32:54 PM

      "Freedom of speech" means BOTH sides. A conservative has the right to speak his mind. A liberal has the right to offer a rebuttal. Freedom of speech does not include freedom from feeling all butt-hurt because someone loudly disagrees.

      Quit whining.

  • Posted By: krohn2 @ 10/22/2008 4:52:33 PM

    FactCheck.Org is owned by the Annenberg group of Chicago! Talk about a conflict of interest! And Obama has been telling people on the trail to check out the site to verify his opponents claims. Funny, every time that he endorsed something, it turns out to be a part of his spin machine! Like he raised objections in the primaries when Indiana required photo I.D. to vote. He Protested that It took away people's right to vote! I
    knew then and there that he was up to no good! America, wake up from the MASS HYPNOSIS!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWTs1YyhFRg&feature=related

  • Posted By: TruthForward @ 10/22/2008 9:24:12 AM

    RoboHate.

    The McCain/Palin campaign is now combining our analog (or digital, cell) telephones with computers, and has produced RoboHate calls against his opponent, to enliven hatred wherever possible.

    Hate is not good for the country. And McCain/Palin uses hatred too often. However, McCain/Palin stumbles grossly on unity.


    This country needs unity in difficult times. Yes We Can. Obama/Biden is right for this country right now.

  • Posted By: perm3800a @ 10/22/2008 9:09:35 AM

    God, I wish we had a viable third candidate! I am so tired of the Obama campaign. They get away with everything. They knowingly lie about McCain rallies, they knowingly fund Acorn despite significant irregularities, any criticism is claimed to be 'racist' (today, the word 'socialist' was deemed a code word for black!) This should have been the most satisfying election of my generation - women and minorities as significant candidates! - and instead has been nothing but slime and ugliness. From primary to general, this campaign season has made me embarassed to have these people representing democracy in action.

  • Posted By: polentama @ 10/21/2008 10:03:31 PM

    Good Grief, is the Secret Service daft? Are these the people that will be responsible for Obama's safety?
    I saw and heard that Palin rally, and a very loud and pronounced voice yelled "Kill him" and many others in the crowd yelled "terrorist", and Ms. Palin did nothing. The Secret Service should have been all over those people in the crowd. And all over Palin to never let that happen again! "Tell him" is absolute nonsense.

  • Posted By: dbartlett @ 10/21/2008 2:59:54 PM

    It seems that all the Republican party knows how to do over the last 20 years is to try to divide the country. There is never any talk of national unity. It's always "us against them" or "patriotic Americans versus non-patriotic Americans" or "real Americans versus socialists or communists". The American people are fed up with this tactic of divide and conquer. We want someone to unify us. The only thing the Bush administration has unified America about is the desire for them to be out of office. Why must Republicans in general and the far right in particular be so negative? Could it be that they know that Americans will not vote for them based on their plans and ideas, so maybe they can scare people into voting for them.
    In answer to paulte, all of the money going to Obama is coming from regular Americans looking for positive change. Also what was the comment about Palin's rallies being virtually all white about? Sounds like some more divisive racist nonsense.

  • Posted By: aix1825 @ 10/21/2008 2:59:35 PM

    The integrity of the candidates - that's the critical issue in this election.

    More than 3 million Americans across all walks of life have made contributions to Obama and Biden to help wage their campaign, and to beat the sleaze machine of McCain/Palin/Rove & the Fox News Channel. I am proud to be one of those contributors!

    We want, and desperately need integrity back in our politics, and in our economy as well, and yes, we've been digging deep into our pockets to help Obama achieve this goal!

    In just 14 days we will have the great democratic privilege to put an end to this sickening era. The politics of ploys, stunts, slime, sleazy robocalls, and culture wars is on the ballot! The politics of Bush/Cheney, McCain/Palin, Karl Rove/Steve Schmidt, and Rupert Murdoch???s Fox News (Propaganda) Central, will be defeated.

    Remember - we need a massive turnout of citizens, and a landslide victory, because we know the Republicans will again try to steal this election at the polling stations, just like in 2000 and 2004.

    People, let???s find the strength and courage to vote Obama/Biden into office, and to return honesty, decency, and integrity to American politics.

    And starting Nov. 5th, let us together begin the hard work of repairing the immense damage these thieves and scoundrels from the Republican Party have done to our economy, our country, and our people.

  • Posted By: Jim Johnson @ 10/18/2008 1:06:35 PM

    Obama's view of the future of America - Socialism which is the next step to Communism!! He admitted to Joe the Plumber than he wanted to spread the wealth! He said that he wanted to make everyone equal! Is America ready for Socialism? The Iranian president, Ahmadinejad, said today that he is glad to see the end to capitalism in America!! Are you glad?????
    ====================================================================================================


    Under socialism a ruling class of intellectuals, bureaucrats and social planners decide what people want or what is good for society and then use the coercive power of the State to regulate, tax, and redistribute the wealth of those who work for a living. In other words, socialism is a form of legalized theft.

    The morality of socialism can be summed-up in two words: envy and self-sacrifice. Envy is the desire to not only possess another's wealth but also the desire to see another's wealth lowered to the level of one's own. Socialism's teaching on self-sacrifice was nicely summarized by two of its greatest defenders, Hermann Goering and Bennito Mussolini. The highest principle of Nazism (National Socialism), said Goering, is: "Common good comes before private good." Fascism, said
    Mussolini, is "a life in which the individual, through the sacrifice of his own private interests??realizes that completely spiritual existence in which his value as a man lies."

    Socialism is the social system which institutionalizes envy and self-sacrifice: It is the social system which uses compulsion and the organized violence of the State to expropriate wealth from the producer class for its redistribution to the parasitical class.

    Despite the intellectuals' psychotic hatred of capitalism, it is the only moral and just social system.

    Capitalism is the only moral system because it requires human beings to deal with one another as traders--that is, as free moral agents trading and selling goods and services on the basis of mutual consent.

    Capitalism is the only just system because the sole criterion that determines the value of thing exchanged is the free, voluntary, universal judgement of the consumer. Coercion and fraud are anathema to the free-market system.

    It is both moral and just because the degree to which man rises or falls in society is determined by the degree to which he uses his mind. Capitalism is the only social system that rewards merit, ability and achievement, regardless of one's birth or station in life.

    Yes, there are winners and losers in capitalism. The winners are those who are honest, industrious, thoughtful, prudent, frugal, responsible, disciplined, and efficient. The losers are those who are shiftless, lazy, imprudent, extravagant, negligent, impractical, and inefficient. [What about the role of luck­being in the right place at the right time or the wrong place at the wrong time? R. R. Pope}

    • Posted By: 3kds2dg @ 10/18/2008 10:51:28 PM

      Yes read Obama's books. Don't just take sentences out of context. I am really scared of the delusional right. Obama "08

      • Posted By: feedup @ 10/21/2008 2:59:20 PM

        Yes capitalism is the one true moral way--capitalists were behind the highly lucrative slave trade, capitallists are the folks who ship jobs to developing nations so they can avoid taxes, pay worker $3 a day to make Nikes that they sell for $100 or more, and capitalists are the good moral foks who run a company into the ground leaving workers without a pension or a job, all while the capitalists have golden parachutes and luxury junkets. Capitalists had to be forced to accept legislation to end child labor, observe the human rights of workers, and to pay a fare wage for a hard day's work. Deliver us all from these moral capitalists.

  • Posted By: aix1825 @ 10/21/2008 2:59:02 PM

    The integrity of the candidates - that's the critical issue in this election.

    More than 3 million Americans across all walks of life have made contributions to Obama and Biden to help wage their campaign, and to beat the sleaze machine of McCain/Palin/Rove & the Fox News Channel. I am proud to be one of those contributors!

    We want, and desperately need integrity back in our politics, and in our economy as well, and yes, we've been digging deep into our pockets to help Obama achieve this goal!

    In just 14 days we will have the great democratic privilege to put an end to this sickening era. The politics of ploys, stunts, slime, sleazy robocalls, and culture wars is on the ballot! The politics of Bush/Cheney, McCain/Palin, Karl Rove/Steve Schmidt, and Rupert Murdoch???s Fox News (Propaganda) Central, will be defeated.

    Remember - we need a massive turnout of citizens, and a landslide victory, because we know the Republicans will again try to steal this election at the polling stations, just like in 2000 and 2004.

    People, let???s find the strength and courage to vote Obama/Biden into office, and to return honesty, decency, and integrity to American politics.

    And starting Nov. 5th, let us together begin the hard work of repairing the immense damage these thieves and scoundrels from the Republican Party have done to our economy, our country, and our people.

  • Posted By: Nins @ 10/21/2008 11:29:48 AM

    After 9/11, the US government started rounding up Muslims without cause and without due process of law, like we did to the Japanese Americans in WWII. The Bush administration called it's main internment camp Guantanamo Bay. While there are certainly many guilty terrorists held in Guantanamo, there are also many innocent American citizens who have been held illegally for years without even being charged with any crime. They have been tortured by our government. Some of them have died.

    Recently the Supreme Court ruled against the Bush administration in the matter of Guantanamo Bay. The Supreme Court Justices were NOT on the side of the terrorists. They were on the side of the Geneva Convention, that says you can not torture POWs, and on the side of US laws that state you can not imprison a person without charging them with a crime and bringing them to trial. I'm sure that like most Americans, the Justices who voted against the illegal, immoral doings at Guantanamo didn't feel sympathy for the terrorists. They felt sympathy for the laws of AMERICA, the land of the FREE, where even rat finks get a fair trial.

    Meanwhile, back in Iraq, the Bush administration is busy trying to build a smokescreen to hide the CRIMES they have committed. Those pesky weapons of mass destruction. Just think, the National Debt went up over 6 trillion dollars under Bush. More than 2 TRILLION of it went directly into the pockets of Halliburton, a corporation owned by the Cheney family. Halliburton is now a DUBAI corporation and therefore is not subject to US taxes. All that money they took out of the US Treasury is going into the coffers of a MUSLIM country.

    Did you hear about how the US government is being charged millions for Halliburton deliveries of sand into Iraq from Kuwait? Sand. Like there is a shortage of sand in Iraq? Another contractor shipped sand from Idaho to Iraq at our expense. Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz discusses these and other excesses of our current government's out of control spending in Iraq.

    Your grandchildren will be working like slaves to pay off this debt, so that the Bushes and Cheneys can live the high life in Dubai.

    Yeah, they're patriots, Bush&Co. They wear flag pins. And hide the money they stole from America in Dubai.

    And they want me to believe that Obama is a socialist. Right.

    In case you think McCain is any different than Bush, watch this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdJUCU1UH2w

Reply

Report Abuse

Enter comments if any for reporting abuse