Scant Coverage of Obama Assassination Plot -- Irresponsible Or Cautious?
By Nicole Belle Saturday Aug 30, 2008 12:00pm(Guest-posted by Brad Jacobson of Media Bloodhound)
Was the U.S. media admirably discreet or just plain ineffectual in covering news of the arrest of three men suspected of plotting to assassinate Barack Obama during his acceptance speech at Invesco Field?
First, consider the evidence: One of the men arrested, Nathan Johnson said the other two men, Tharin Gartrell and Shawn Robert Adolph, "had planned to kill Barack Obama...on Thursday...," which was why they were in Denver, and that "Adolph was going to shoot Obama from a high vantage point using a 22-250 rifle which had been sighted at 750 yards." According to the FBI, "Johnson was directly asked if they had come to Denver to kill Obama and he responded in the affirmative." The Denver police found in their possession two high-powered rifles with scopes, 85 rounds of ammunition, a bullet-proof vest, walkie-talkies, wigs, fake I.D.s, hotel reservations near the convention and 4.4 grams of methamphetamine, an amount, however, too small to be charged with more than simple possession. (Yet, for some reason, Colorado U.S. Attorney Troy Eid put a much greater focus on this relatively little amount of meth and their use of it than on the other apparent highly incriminating pieces of evidence obtained, including Johnson's statements). All three men have long criminal records, are suspected of having ties to white supremacist groups, and one of the men, Adolph, who was on the Weld County, Colo., sheriff department's "Most Wanted" list for burglary, larceny, aggravated motor vehicle theft and other charges, has a violent criminal history and is being held on $1 million bond for outstanding warrants.
During U.S. Attorney of Colorado Troy Eid's peculiar press conference Tuesday night, he characterized the men as "just a bunch of meth heads," framing his question-and-answer session with reporters more like an anti-drug campaign sloganeer than a chief law enforcement official: "You know, I don't know, uh, bunch of meth heads get together, I don't know what they do, I don't get inside their brain. But we take them very seriously what they do. I have to just emphasize this is a group of people, there were a number of people, that are using meth. I don't know how many of you know meth, anyone here not know about meth? This is a really terrible drug. People do all sorts of stupid things on meth." He followed that response with: "There is no credible threat right now and there was no credible threat based on the evidence that we have to Senator Obama or anybody else related to what we know about this case." Asked what the weapons could be for (not to mention the ammo, bullet-proof vest, wigs, fake I.D.s, etc.), Eid answered only, "You know, I don't know what they were for and we'll keep looking into that." Eid went on to say, "You know, they didn't, they didn't reveal a plan. I think what you can see in the affidavit was, uh, a lot of racist rantings and a lot of dislike for the idea of Senator Obama as an African-American person of color being able to pursue that office."
But Eid's statement appears to be patently false. As reported by the Associated Press:
Johnson later told a federal agent that the men talked about assassinating Obama only because he was black, according to a federal arrest affidavit. Johnson said he also heard Adolf say that he wanted to kill Obama "on the day of his inauguration" and that he would "find high ground to set up and shoot Obama," the affidavit said.
That's not merely, as Eid called it, "the racist rantings of drug abusers." Rather, coupled with the arsenal found, it shows motive, intent and a plan. And, to be clear, contrary to what Eid told the press, it was in the affidavit.
Moreover, sprinkled throughout Eid's comments downplaying the threat and the risk posed by these "meth heads," he rather tone-deafly reiterated some variation of, "Like I said we all have an open mind about this, we take this very seriously." As if stating upfront that these men are nothing more than stoned losers and failing to recognize how their high-powered arsenal, their presence in hotels being used by DNC attendees and their blatant language couldn't constitute a credible threat doesn't actually undercut his claims to "take this very seriously."
What of that evidence specifically? Eid said, "You know, as the affidavit shows, there was a search done. They searched the hotel room, they searched vehicles, and they obviously have looked for any kind of evidence that might indicate a threat or a plot or a conspiracy. And at the this time we have insufficient evidence to believe that any of those things occurred." Really?
When a reporter questioned just how serious Eid and the Feds were taking these arrests, Eid explained, "At these particular moments, to go into the issue of a legal threat...when you talk about threatening presidential candidates, there's a legal standard you got to meet. It's got to be a credible threat as defined by the law. It's what the law calls a true threat. And that means that someone has a way to carry it out. And at this time we don't have sufficient evidence that there was a true threat."
An explanation that deserved a torrent of obvious follow-ups and overall skepticism in the media. One such follow-up, for a direct and exceedingly timely comparison, should've included: How does this not constitute a "true threat," when, just last week, another man, Marc Harold Ramsey, an inmate already incarcerated at the Arapahoe County Jail in Colorado, was charged by Eid with sending a threatening letter to John McCain from behind bars? The contents of the envelope? A white powdery substance that turned out to be harmless and a letter stating, "Senator McCain, If you are reading this then you are already DEAD! Unless of course you can't or don't breathe." If convicted, Ramsey faces up to five years in federal prison and S250,000 in fines.
But by Eid's own definition of a true threat, in which, "someone has a way to carry it out," what kind of credible access to a dangerous substance did an already incarcerated inmate have? Of course the "powder-like" substance turned out to be as lethal as, what it probably was, baby powder.
In bringing this charge against Ramsey, Eid made clear to the press, "A death threat is not a legitimate form of political expression." Right. Unless you're meth-addled racists with real rifles, scopes, rounds of ammunition, disguises, fake I.D.s and bullet-proof vests and a stated plan to murder the first African-American presidential candidate giving his acceptance speech on the anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.
Then, you're just goofy "meth heads" who can't be taken seriously. Your plans somehow more "aspirational than operational," as Eid also put it.
(Incidentally, if you think Eid sounds curiously like a typical George W. Bush appointee -- somewhat unprofessional, seemingly incompetent, stonewalling, less than brilliant -- he is. Not only that, he was appointed at the height of Monica Goodling's infamously and illegally partisan vetting process. What's more, right before Eid's appointment to U.S. Attorney, he and convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff worked together at the same top Washington lobbying firm, Greenberg Traurig, where Eid, allegedly, was a less visible player in Abramoff's dealings to defraud American Indian tribes.)
Speaking with a reporter the other night who has a great deal of experience on the national security beat, I was informed of two things. First, what many might think: in such situations, the media often defers to the Secret Service in not making a 24/7 circus out of the events, which, they fear, might either encourage copycats seeking their fifteen minutes of fame or accidentally divulge information that diminishes their ability to protect a candidate. This same expert on national security reporting, however, made clear that it remains the journalist's duty in this situation to not merely parrot the authorities but to confirm if "no credible threat" is a reasonable conclusion to draw and to provide that information to the public in a responsible, sober manner.
But on television Tuesday, MSNBC barely edged out CNN for burying news of these arrests. MSNBC didn't bat an eye away from Hillary Clinton's impending speech; CNN followed suit but allowed for the swiftest of mention of the arrests at its top-of-the-hour news brief. This mimicked MSNBC and CNN's online presence of the story. At 7 p.m. (EST) Tuesday, CNN's homepage listed 14 top stories that trumped news of the arrests, including "Did Bill Clinton take a dig at Obama," "Edwards wife blasted for keeping affair secret," "Lying pastor had porn fetish, not cancer" and "Elephant warms to baby she stomped." And the headline CNN used for this link, it's 15th top story? "No evidence of 'true threat' to..." So if you weren't already aware of the story, you'd have no idea what this was referring to unless you happened to click on this already buried link. At the same time, the story didn't make the cut at all on MSNBC's homepage.
Additionally, all three major broadcast nightly news programs -- ABC World News, NBC Nightly News and CBS Evening News -- and PBS NewsHour -- failed to mention the story. There did seem to be something ironic about each newscast's obsessive and incessant Iago-like riffs on the Clinton-Obama rift (however real or conflated) while simultaneously ignoring news about a potential assassination plot against the presidential candidate whose near future was being endlessly hypothesized.
This scant coverage continued Wednesday, with The New York Times, our paper of record, burying the story at the bottom of page A18; the Washington Post printed its corresponding report on page A23. By Thursday, the story officially disappeared into the ether.
I was also assured by the same veteran national security reporter that despite the U.S. Attorney downplaying this incident, "I guarantee you the Secret Service is taking this seriously and is so far up the ass of these guys [the three men arrested] you cannot even imagine." This reporter also noted that the Secret Service operates independently as well in tandem with other federal authorities and may not agree with the U.S. Attorney's assessment.
Seeking to confirm whether the Secret Service agreed that "no credible threat" existed, I contacted them directly. Ed Donovan, assistant special agent in charge of government and public affairs at the Secret Service, told me only, "I have no further comment other than what was said at the press conference yesterday."
Not necessarily a refutation nor an affirmation of U.S. Attorney Troy Eid's assessment.
Barack Obama gave his acceptance Thursday last night. Fortunately, it went off without a hitch. But ask yourself this: Is Senator Obama safer in the coming weeks because the U.S. media did its best to ignore, downplay or disappear information about the arrests and suspected plot on his life? With the Bush administration's track record of politicizing the Justice Department as well as appointing cronies and incompetents, isn't it more incumbent on our journalists to ask the right questions and responsibly report information that encourages U.S. law enforcement officials to perform their jobs with ever greater vigilance?
With the first African-American presidential nominee now vying head-to-head for the White House, these questions need to be addressed immediately.
Cross-posted from MediaBloodhound.
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if it were mccain in the sights, he would be a martyr, and would be catapulted into office as a hero... the media in your country sucks...
Broadcasting a plot plays well for Obama - the sympathy vote - so they won't. If it was McCain they would be all over it.
Happy to see that someone is spereading this around.
I hate to keep going back to the observation that if this had been a planned attack on a repug or mcshame these three guys would have never been seen or heard of again. After all don't we have all of these camps for such people? But lucky for them their plans were for a Democrat, mainly Obama. This story makes you want to throw up. What a bunch of hypocrites the repugs are.
If somebody were STUPID enough to assassinate Obama (Or devious enough) the cities would burn. Ya think the Rodney King riot thing or the ML King riot thing were big? They'd be NOTHING in comparison. A perfect opportunity for the Bushista Government to declare Martial Law, suspend whatever's left of the Constitution, and cancel the elections...then they could get to use the prison camps KBR has built for them around the country.
There are people, I believe, who are testing the waters now.........
I saw a report the other day... can't remember the source and I can't seem to find the original article... but it flatly stated there was "no political motivation" behind this apparent attempt at assassinating a presidential candidate. Ridiculous.
All i know is that one of the suspects - who was not in possession of meth, hopped out of a 6th floor window to try and evade capture. That is some hard core shit. You are not trying to get away from a misdemeanor gun charge by hopping from the top of a hotel; you are either trying to escape out of fear of prosecution of a greater crime (assassination plot) or kill yourself.
They probably had Karl Rove's number on speed-dial on their disposable cells...
I don't think we need to make Obama into a target, though. Maybe the white supremacists don't need any incentives to plan their monstrosities, but I don't like the idea of Obama setting up a wall between himself and the people because of these crazies. Too much publicity does have the capacity of setting off some strange thinking in some psychotic people.
So if there was no Meth, it would have been WHAT exactly? Trick-Or-Treating? You know... wigs, costumes,
toysniper rifles....This story reminds us that the death of a president surpresses voter enthusiasm.
Recently I noticed two stories that could have a negative impact on the Obama campaign:
Possible Obama Assassination Plot Investigated By Colorado Police (August 25, 2008 08:20 PM)
Bad enough, right? The accompanying pictures of the two suspects are what you'd expect to see in the "S" section of the dictionary, under the definition of "scumbag."
But that's not all. The second story is even worse, if that's possible. It went like this:
Dark Clouds: Obama Assassination Threats Weigh On Voters (August 25, 2008 11:35 PM)
It's a story about previous focus group testing of the campaign's themes and issues with a panel of voters that included a dozen Republican and Democratic Latino voters. The testers were probing for evidence of black-brown conflict. But here's what stopped me cold:
The death of a president supresses voter enthusiasm. And it cuts both ways: The Gallup Poll recently polled on the likelihood of electing a black, woman, and an old president. Verdict? Old presidential candidates are about as desirable as atheists and gay people.
I'm just saying.
Contrast this with the raids we heard about yesterday. What's wrong with this picture?
Here we have guys with guns and a whole lot more and at least one says he planned to kill Obama. Yesterday we hear about cops raiding homes where apparently innocent people were living, and as yet we haven't heard of these people doing anything wrong.
I'm sure these guys posed no more threat than a rag tag team of misfits packing around box cutters and knives and the like.What could possibly happen?
I can't really bitch about it. Too many right-wing whack jobs will think they can succeed where others failed and keep trying. So in a way, its actually a good thing.
Start with Dick Cheney.
He'll just claim executive privilege, but all roads lead to Cheney.
Ara Rubyan @ 11:
But they're all at risk aren't they? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Presidential_assassin...
pissed off patricia @ 12:
Yes but those were'nt just any kids:they were Hippies.
Hippies that may have staged protests.
candideinnc @ 9:
White supremacists, oil execs, military industrialists, corporate titans, christian fundamentalists, CIA black ops ... it will be a miracle if Obama survives to the election let alone the inauguration.
These guys were the 3 Stooge's .... but for WHO ?????
pinkobait @ 16:
Flower Power! Peace! Free Love! Oh my! Makes me just quake in my boots. Mind you, pink knee high Twiggy style boots at that. I should be hearing a knock on my door any second now....
Noah @ 17:
Would be assassins ripped on Meth...Hunter S. Thompson would be right in his element. *sigh*
Got this from constituent on last night's C&L open thread.
It's a McCain commercial which includes an image for about 1 second which shows Obama at a speech where supporters in the background were holding up letters spelling CHANGE. Except there is a shadow which blocks the "E" and most of the "C" so it reads HANG.
Watch the full ad at the bottom of the post. The shadow is more than convenient - it disappears immediately after the subliminal message is finished.
One of the reasons this is page A9 news is the continued war of aggression and occupation of Iraq, it has so desensitized an already leashed and muzzled mainstream media that they would only get serious about it if they were to carry out the actual shooting.
I guess the assasignation of a presidential candidate no longer falls under an act of terrorism any longer. I guess everything changed on 9/11/07
fiver @ 22:
into the mind of the
The construction of this is a peek behind the curtains of the right. No question this mentality is perhaps even a majority of Bush/McSame supporters.
Throw in a beautiful woman holding a hunting rifle in Alaska to sweeten the deal.
fiver @ 22:
Wow, I saw that commercial on TV this morning (along with that Ayers AD that FoxNews said it wasn't going to air but has) and I was wondering why there was this weird shadowing in the Upper Left corner of the screen ... now I know.
If the white supremacists plan was inoperable, and therefore nothing to worry about, then what about the 7 goofballs in Miami who were paraded around as terrorists?
Once again, this is a case of right wing would be terrorists being portrayed as good ol boys caught up in some harmless fun that got out of hand.
And what about these jack-boots in MN and their illegal preemptive raids on suspected protesters? Where is the media outcry on this? Talk about your Gestapo police tactics - this one was pulled straight out of the SS playbook.
I suspect there will be quite a few murders in November when people start voting in KKK controlled counties.
Interesting #5. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I sometimes go to Mark Crispin Miller's blog and if he is only 10% right (which I doubt) then the obvious path to martial law would be to assasinate Obama and then come in and save the country from chaos. It will never happen of course but it doesn't hurt to have this idea in the back of your mind, especially if your name is Barack Obama.
Maybe the neocons are planning a false flag attack on the RNC. They can blame it on the protesters, declare martial law and start rounding up dissenters. Maybe that is the real reason Bush and Cheney will not be there...
fiver @ 22:
That is definitely Deliberate.
Having grown up when two Kennedys and MLKing were assassinated, I found myself squeamish when I heard the news of Obama's plans to speak in that stadium. I don't advocate any loss of civil liberties, but anyone who harms any of the candidates harms us all -- in a very profound way.
I'm glad to hear that the Secret Service is 'up their asses', and that Eid isn't running the show here.
I'm also, frankly, glad to know nothing about these people. Nothing. I don't want to know anything other than that they have attorneys to defend them and are given a fair trial.
Methamphetamine is nothing to mess with - it's hideous. I've seen a couple of brain scans of before/after meth, and it literally destroys brain cells, even from a single usage. It's said to give such a powerful high that people can't give it up, which makes sense if it's so powerful that it's damaging neurons. It's vile, and IMHO this nation really needs some far more articulate attorneys who can help people understand **why** -- from a toxicology, pharmacology, and social perspective -- it is incredibly dangerous stuff.
I am slightly acquainted with a young woman who took a job with a public defender organization in my region, and about 90% of her case load was meth. After feeling that there was no point in her work -- she began seeing the same people cycling in again, and again, she moved on to other uses for her law degree. I've also talked with nursing staff in a local hospital who've seen meth addicts in ER with teeth hideously, disgustingly rotting from meth use - any drug that literally rots your teeth is probably not good for your general health.
Meth is nasty, evil stuff. But what this nation needs are more articulate public attorneys who can help explain WHY it is so dangerous. Eid isn't even in the ballpark on something that's actually extremely socially disruptive and toxic. And when meth houses are located, they are **extremely** toxic to clean up. The materials used to cook meth can leak into groundwater, which then acts as a pollutant in the water supply in rural areas where people rely on wells. In addition, if kids live with meth addicts, the kids are exposed, and that's beyond irresponsible.
Glad the Secret Service is on the case, and I hope they do a hell of a lot more professional job than Eid seems to be doing.
As for those men who think their route to 'notoriety' or 'fame' or whatever it is that drives them -- I don't want to know anything about them.
Where did they come from and what was their connection to each other? Where did they sight in a rifle at 750 yards. Special ammo? What vantage point did they plan to shoot from? That all takes prior knowledge and not just a little planning. They could just be Stooges...like... Oswald, Sirhan Sirhan, and James Earl Ray.
Maybe, as with glorifying violence on TV and in video games, it is better to keep it low. The more it's out there, the more chance some other crazies will get ideas of their own.
The story was reported on network cable news, and in print media. I don't think it's in anyone's best interest for the media to paint a target on Obama's back. Publicity is what all the crazy copycats want. Take it away from them.
BAC
I agree with other posters that this could have been such a salacious, juicy story for Fox News had it been McCain in the crosshairs. I would bet if it were McCain we'd know every last personal secret of these guys being broadcast 24/7 by the “fair and balanced” network.
But I have to say, that the FBI is most assuredly looking into the backgrounds of these guys and all of their associates and life history. It's their job to dig deep and find the bottom of such rabbit holes. We are not yet so divided in this country that the FBI has become an arm of the Republican Party. Look at how Senator Ted Stevens was exposed by the FBI sting operation in Anchorage.
So rest assured every move these guys (and all of their contacts) make will be watched day and night by the FBI until the Bureau is satisfied that they pose no further threat! The FBI does not mess around and if these guys were looking for trouble, they’ve really got it now!
candideinnc @ 9:
This. I would like to think that my government still works well enough that what the reporter said was true: that the Secret Service is actually taking this very seriously. I know things have gotten bad and the ship isn't so tightly run these days, but I'd like to think Secret Service knows what they're doing.
And I'm not sure telling everyone allll about these guys is a good idea. They were neutralized. We don't need to know all their names by heart, we don't need Nancy Grace doing shows about their secret lives, etc. True crime is an entertainment genre, and if you make these punks famous, inevitably some crazy out there is going to want to be more famous by getting the job done.
Maybe it's naive of me to trust that Secret Service is doing their job, but man, after the last eight years, that's all I've got left!
Ara Rubyan @ 11:
Spot on. Here in France we keep hearing (from our own controlled MSM), that American voters greatly FEAR the kind of chaos experienced in the 60s after the assassination of MLK if "something happens" to Obama.
And I KNOW this is the neocon/repig spin on things because I've been getting the same line from family-related Evangelicals back in the States: Seems the word coming down from their Dobson-type preachers and sanctioned in their churches is "Watch out, if prez Obama is assassinated (and subliminal messis that most probably he WILL BE assassinated), then all hell will break loose in the streets of America -- hence the clear "warning" that one should avoid at all costs an Obama win, out of "concern" for the American nation, law and order, blahblahblahblahblah....typical manipulation of the sheeple.
As I recall, wasn't John Hinckley Jr. rather famous for his "rantings."
BAC @ 36:
I agree. Move along people nothing to see here.
bethy @ 38:
It is not the Secret Service that it is in question ...
What are the police busy doing in St. Paul?
Police raid headquarters of RNC protesters
ST. PAUL, Minnesota (CNN) -- Police raided a rental hall used by a group organizing protests at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Friday.
The RNC Welcoming Committee, which describes itself as "anarchist/anti-authoritarian," accused St. Paul police of trying to disrupt their protest planned for Monday, the day the GOP convention is set to begin.
Although no one was arrested, the group said police temporarily detained and photographed at least 50 people who were inside the building.
St. Paul Police spokesman Tom Walsh said they were executing a search warrant.
"The cause for the search warrant is not public at this time," Walsh said.
As many as 30 police officers entered with guns drawn, according to witnesses in the building.
. . . .
Oddie Miller, a 19-year-old from Fort Collins, Colorado, said it was "just a space to get food, free Internet, community organization."
"There were no bombs or anything in there," Miller said.
Jimmy Carl Black @ 19:
Clue: his initials are D C. Go figure.
Earl @ 41:
I somewhat agree with you guys. I feel this is an ongoing investigation, and we don't want these losers buddies crawling back under the rocks they live under.
I don't think the Secret Service will take it lightly, and I don't see how it matters that much that we know about it. That said, Eid being a bush appointee scares me, as do most all Bush appointees - It's not their fault, it's just we've had so many issues with Bushies, you can't really trust the whole lot of them anymore...
MSM and repugs: what if this was a group of young liberal "pot-heads" , with rifles and ammo, stating they were there to kill McCain?
same treatment?
wow similar to oliver stone's JFK movie
@28 tballou said: "And what about these jack-boots in MN and their illegal preemptive raids on suspected protesters? Where is the media outcry on this? Talk about your Gestapo police tactics - this one was pulled straight out of the SS playbook."
Then we the people need to be ready to pull some White Rose politics. Secretly get together with a few friends you trust with your life, and plan the American Resistance. Don't bother buying a gun, gun sales are traced. And most modern civilian-accessible weapons are fairly worthless in a occupation-resistance role (kinda suspicious, isn't it?)
Instead hit up your local sporting good store and buy (with cash) some compound bows, traps, and so on. A thin-head steel tip arrow will cut right through most body armor, and a bear trap chained to a steel pinion will pin down most vehicles.
As far as explosives go...did you know that the chemical precursors to some pretty easily fabricated materials can be found in a six-pock of soda? All it takes to extract is a bit of knowledge...
definition of TERRORISM
they are trying to terrorize and intimidate the country into NOT voting in a Black man as president. They should be sent to Guantanamo!!
Earl @ 49:
Nuge? What are you doing here?
The very subject makes me think of one thing: Whose choice for VP seems more responsible then when you consider the danger of either candidate not living out their first term? You can protect Obama from danger with increased security. You can't "protect" McCain from old-age.
I know that when me and my friends get drunk or stoned, we like go cross-country and carry out an assasination plot just for kicks,
but usually we end up at the strip bar.
wingsnow @ 27:
There is no oil in Colorado, is there? That's your answer.
For all the good people in your country, maybe it just deserves to fail for all the crooked people in it.
Well really, whats the crime here? Every patriotic American is supposed to carry heavy weaponry to prove they love their country. And wigs aren't illegal, my granny wears a wig. And so they stated outright that they intended to assassinate Obama, don't you have free speech in America?
Nothing to see here, move along people, move along.
So if a group of ELF go to St. Paul, have high powered weapons, meth; a known combat drug, wigs, bullet proof vests, fake ID and hotel reservations near the convention and said that they "hated " McCain how much coverage would it get? The Republicans would go apeshit, Limpdick Trannity and the rest would talk about the librul terrorists ad nausea.
Like the Kennedys, and MLK, what law enforcement organization can Obama really trust not to have right wing operatives?
They're just methheads. You know, like Timothy McVeigh. No danger there.
The Secret Service managed this situation beautifully. It's a 100% certainty the Agency gives maximum priority to the security of the presidential candidates; especially Obama. 99.99% of Secret Service work takes place behind the scenes and out of public awareness. Undue publicity for those meth-head kooks in Denver could give encouragement to other potential wackjob imbeciles. The agency acknowledged the threat, downplayed it appropriately, avoided media sensationalism, and continued to do their job magnificently. There were 85,000 packed into Invesco Stadium. It must have been a daunting monumental security challenge. But the proceedings completed without a glitch. Bravo, to the Secret Service.
when they go for Obama we get South Park justice
when they go for McCain we get Homeland Security
the fucking reichwingneocons are fascists
obama will find little to no protection from these
bastards or others who will/might attempt an
assissanation of him. bush/cheney are the
worst criminals in this country and as we
have discovered, there is no law that
they do not hold themselves above.
BAC @ 36:
I could not possibly disagree more.
The media can only "put a target" on someone's back if they are otherwise unknown in the the public arena. And more importantly, a person does not need to kill a public figure to get publicity.
Do you really think anybody capable of such an act is sitting at home right now, waiting for news reports of failed assassination attempts for inspiration!?!
It's blatantly obvious, just another example of the white republican christian minority consensus of tacit condoning of racist overtures. This over the top de-escalation of the facts, implies a media and justice system embedded in this racist resistance to the Democrats choice for president.
I have a good friend, that spent several years working as an informant for the FBI, who infiltrated the Aryan Nations, one of the most dangerous white supremacy groups of our time. This plot is perfectly consistent with these hate group's past efforts and methods.
It's not unusual for the authorities to bury these kinds of stories. They buried the Aryan Nations' attempts to assassinate Morris Dees, founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, and buried the AN's plot to bomb the Earle Cabell Federal Building in Texas that was intended to make Oklahoma City look small in comparison.
If you want to learn more about who these groups are and what they are capable of, I suggest that you read "Into The Devil's Den" - a dual memoir written by Dave Hall (my friend) and Tym Burkey, Dave's FBI contact.
These groups not only spew hate, they do it in Gods name.
You can find out more information at: www.intothedevilsden.com
fiver @ 22:
"No comment" from the producers of this is unacceptable. Why is that shadow effect being used at all? Are we supposed to be looking through a keyhole or something? It's not there for the other shots in the ad. I'm sure it was deliberate, but if not, it shows incredibly poor judgment and/or incompetence. (After eight years, that's such a familiar refrain.)
Gregg @ 61:
I think it has more to do with the suspects, then their target.
When we have individuals "of color", unarmed, unorganized and otherwise unmotivated to commit any conspiratorial act, requesting "boots and uniforms" from an undercover federal agent, they are a "terrorist cell".
But an armed group of "meth-heads" with walkie-talkies, bullet-proof vests and drugs, making specific remarks objecting to the very right of the prospective nominee of a major political party to run for office based on the color of his skin, within miles of where that individual is to give a speech that is to be seen around the world, they're just a couple of druggies talkin' crazy....
The contrast is absolutely fascinating in how they've put the spin on this compared to the nut jobs who were arrested for "Islamofascist terror plots". Here they are trying to totally diminish the dangers posed from racists and theocratic psychos. Yet a Muslim smoking pot with some cartoon terror plot will rally all of Homeland security, raise the color of the alert status, shut down the airports, and consume the media with stories about fear for our lives. Total propaganda being used to color each story.
The whole issue has been dropped. I wonder if the Republican Justice Department is in anyway biased?
http://democurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2008/08/obama-death-threat-in-denvern...
The whole issue has been dropped. I wonder if the Republican Justice Department is in anyway biased?
http://democurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2008/08/obama-death-threat-in-denvern...
....in their possession two high-powered rifles with scopes, 85 rounds of ammunition, a bullet-proof vest, walkie-talkies, wigs, fake I.D.s, hotel reservations near the convention....
All three men have long criminal records, are suspected of having ties to white supremacist groups.....
Let's see..........nope. No viable threat here; just a trio of potheads having a little fun!
Geez.........
It's not such a shock to learn about the plot to kill Barack Obama by two neo-Nazis. These crazy bums have drawn their inspiration from the current caustic political atmosphere created by the Republicans.
The McCain and Palin attack ads are working. The vitriolic ads are designed to incite hate and spur ferocious acts against Barack Obama by the screw heads of the party.
The use of Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright as prime material for attack ads are sufficient reasons to label McCain and Palin as racist enablers. They can't wiggle their way out of this charge, try as they may.
McCain and Palin and the right wing talking heads, the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Riley and all the lesser clones should bear supreme responsibility if any harm should come to Obama as a result of their blatant use of racism and bigotry to advance political goals. Fox News provides the conduit for sounding out the hate messages. These people are playing with fire. This is not the way it should be.
As for Rush Limbaugh the lead villain, the man is an ill-conceived, ill-bred, irredeemable racist with unrepentant disdain for noble human aspirations.
Rush is the main flag bearer of the dark and evil force that runs counter to the great American ideals of fairness, equal opportunity and justice for all.
It's not surprising that Rush has amassed great fortune as the pioneer of hate radio because there's a big market for that sort of thing.
Rush followers are poorly educated, ill informed and self loathing freaks who find comfort in the words that shield them from personal responsibilities. They seek to shift their inferiority complex to groups like blacks and other under represent minorities.
No matter how rich Rush Limbaugh has become, he is still a filthy pig. It’s only a matter of time before his foot print is erased from the political landscape as good begins to engulf and destroy evil.
Wordtodawise
I live in Arkansas, so by definition there are more meth-heads here than Kentucky and Alabama put together. Meth-heads DO NOT organize themselves, prepare themselves with equipment, and drive long distances to enact a plot.
They are too busy crawling around on the shag carpeting of their trailers looking for crumbs to cook up for the next high.
What I want to know is: Are these dregs being held indefinitely, like Padilla was? Where are they and what are the conditions for their release?
Methheads determined to strike in U.S.