Sarah Palin blamed by the US Secret Service over death threats against Barack Obama
Sarah Palin's attacks on Barack Obama's patriotism provoked a spike in death threats against the future president, Secret Service agents revealed during the final weeks of the campaign.
The Republican vice presidential candidate attracted criticism for accusing Mr Obama of "palling around with terrorists", citing his association with the sixties radical William Ayers.
The attacks provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling "terrorist" and "kill him" until the McCain campaign ordered her to tone down the rhetoric.
But it has now emerged that her demagogic tone may have unintentionally encouraged white supremacists to go even further.
The Secret Service warned the Obama family in mid October that they had seen a dramatic increase in the number of threats against the Democratic candidate, coinciding with Mrs Palin's attacks.
Michelle Obama, the future First Lady, was so upset that she turned to her friend and campaign adviser Valerie Jarrett and said: "Why would they try to make people hate us?"
The revelations, contained in a Newsweek history of the campaign, are likely to further damage Mrs Palin's credentials as a future presidential candidate. She is already a frontrunner, with Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, to take on Mr Obama in four years time.
Details of the spike in threats to Mr Obama come as a report last week by security and intelligence analysts Stratfor, warned that he is a high risk target for racist gunmen. It concluded: "Two plots to assassinate Obama were broken up during the campaign season, and several more remain under investigation. We would expect federal authorities to uncover many more plots to attack the president that have been hatched by white supremacist ideologues."
Irate John McCain aides, who blame Mrs Palin for losing the election, claim Mrs Palin took it upon herself to question Mr Obama's patriotism, before the line of attack had been cleared by Mr McCain.
Source
(Remember. This is the woman the conservatives adore and hope will run for office--president?-- in 2012.)
Just what this country needs. A woman who will appeal to the worst in America.
8 comments:
Republicans always appeal to the worst in America.
I was not the least bit surprised to've read this.
Sure, the nutjobs who're likely to commit violence & vandalism in the name of political & social opinion (no matter what side one is talking about) are always out there, and don't need much encouragement, but the fact that the secret service reports that the "chatter" about attacks on Obama grew louder & more serious as Palin dialed up the rhetoric, again calls into question whether she ever had the savvy & understanding of human nature to serve in the White House, and makes me gladder than ever that she will not be doing so for the next four years, at least.
"with supporters yelling "terrorist" and "kill him" "
This was investigated, and it turned out that no-one yelled "kill him". So the whole thing never happened.
Palin repeat the incendiary remark "palling around with terrorists" at every stump speech.
She's nothing more than an empty-headed demagogue. She ought to join up with Rush Limbaught. They'd make a great team.
"Palin repeat the incendiary remark "palling around with terrorists" at every stump speech."
Which is nothing "incindiary", and certainly does not inspire violence. There's simply no connection, and nothing happened, as the "kill him" stories turned out to be fake anyway.
DMarks, you're losing the forest for the trees, here...
The SECRET SERVICE are the ones saying the threat level against Obama increased, and THEY say it was likely due to Palin's rhetoric.
Sarah Palin blamed by the US Secret Service for death threats against Barack Obama - Telegraph: "The Secret Service warned the Obama family in mid October that they had seen a dramatic increase in the number of threats against the Democratic candidate, coinciding with Mrs Palin's attacks."
I'm not even so certain that the things allegedly yelled were debunked. My reading is, the secret service did not hear them, and could not locate anyone who admits to hearing them or to knowing who said them, but that does not mean they were not said. It just means they cannot be investigated any further than they have been.
dmark,
When Palin said at her rallies that Obama "palled around with terrorists" she is telling the crowd that he's a dangerous person.
Anyone who cares about the truth, of course, would have found out that William Ayers stopped his anti-war activities years ago and is not more a "terrorist" than you are.
So when Palin tells crowds that Obama is friendly with a terrorist, or dangerous (to the US) person, those in the crowd who are weak minded and uninformed would seek to resolve this problem--and we know where that leads.
She is a rabble rouser in the true sense of that phrase. Shame on her for appealing to the basest of the base.
So? Lots of people have said Bush is dangerous over the past 8 years. I've even seen him called a terrorist many times. Like with Palin, none of them were suggestion assassination.
On 11/03/2000, for example, Michael Moore did not only imply that Bush was dangerous, he came out and said of Bush: "He is friggin' dangerous." If Palin is a "rabble rouser", then Moore is too. Of course, neither is. Not at all.
"William Ayers stopped his anti-war activities years ago and is not more a "terrorist" than you are."
It is kind of Orwellian to call Ayers acts of war any sort of "anti-war" activity. But he did this, and he is proud of what he did and wish he had engaged in more terrorist acts when he was younger. I never committed any acts of terrorism. So he is much more a terrorist than I am. It makes a difference whether or not you have terrorist on your resume.
Where Palin is wrong is when she said Obama palled around with "terrorists". Only one of his pals has been identified one, which makes her use of the plural incorrect.
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