# ATF Disrupts Obama Assassination plot. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 27, 2008, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atf-disrupts-obama-assassination-plot/469845 "2008-10-27T20:59:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atf-disrupts-obama-assassination-plot/469845/1 "2008-10-27T20:59:38Z")
[Link](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SKINHEAD_PLOT?SITE=NJVIN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT). Any effect on the election? EDIT: They also intended to murder a large number of people, with assassinating Obama to finish up. It’s so appalling I don’t even really know how to say it. Anyway, my feeling is things are pretty much decided. Glad to see the ATF is on their game, though. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atf-disrupts-obama-assassination-plot/469845/2 "2008-10-27T21:04:37Z")
No. Presidential candidates attract nuts. This is nothing terribly unusual. ETA: Just read the article. > [@](#): > > Federal agents have broken up a plot to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and shoot or decapitate 102 black people in a Tennessee murder spree, the ATF said Monday. Okay, that’s a little unusual. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atf-disrupts-obama-assassination-plot/469845/3 "2008-10-27T21:09:01Z")
Heeeeeeeere we go :mad: ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atf-disrupts-obama-assassination-plot/469845/4 "2008-10-27T21:11:58Z")
Better than blowing off a plot because the conspirators were just some tweakers with guns who posed “no credible threat” and who couldn’t organize a birthday party. Which they probably were, but since a number of assassins, some successful, were batshit insane police should view such ideas and plans as more than “aspirational.” ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atf-disrupts-obama-assassination-plot/469845/5 "2008-10-27T21:12:41Z")
There’s also a Pit Thread on the general “the fuck?” aspect of this. I’m not really sure i’d call it a “plot”, since their plans as far as Obama don’t seem anything more than that idea in the first place. I don’t think this alone will have any effect. Perhaps depending on what the candidates’ reaction is, if any. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atf-disrupts-obama-assassination-plot/469845/6 "2008-10-27T21:13:29Z")
I always wonder about these things. What constitutes a plot? This seems pretty far fetched that it would’ve worked. It’s like GW Bush saying since there have been no further Al-Queda attacks in the USA since 9/11 his invasion of Iraq was a good thing. They ddin’t even ROB the store, they just planned to. That’s most likely just talk. If they were gonna actually do it they would’ve just bought the guns. Which is easy enough to do, just find a sucker to take the fall and have him buy it. ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atf-disrupts-obama-assassination-plot/469845/7 "2008-10-27T21:14:18Z")
Jeezuz! I knew there was a reason that while packing to move I found a DVD of \*[Romper Stomper](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romper_stomper)\*that I had thought I had lost. A premonition! Seriously, whats up with these sick fucks? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atf-disrupts-obama-assassination-plot/469845/8 "2008-10-27T21:14:28Z")
Everyone knows people like this are out there. I don’t suppose it will affect the election at all. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atf-disrupts-obama-assassination-plot/469845/9 "2008-10-27T21:18:29Z")
It was enough of a plot to get the attention of the ATF. I’m not sure how hard (or easy) that is. But I will give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they rounded people up because someone in a position to know thought the threat was credible. Any reaction from the campaigns, yet? I haven’t seen one. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atf-disrupts-obama-assassination-plot/469845/10 "2008-10-27T21:20:37Z")
Yeah, it was an insane idea that even the plotters didn’t think would work, but what else can you say - there are batshit lunatics out there and once in a while they succeed, so I’m glad someone was on top of this. It’s not the first time somebody’s plotted to kill Obama, but that’s how it is with nutjobs. And I don’t think this will affect the election at all. ---
**Author:** ![bannerrefugee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c68b51/32.png) [@bannerrefugee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bannerrefugee)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atf-disrupts-obama-assassination-plot/469845/11 "2008-10-27T21:20:44Z")
At least they have a good sense for drama “Both individuals stated they would dress in all white tuxedos and wear top hats during the assassination attempt,” the court complaint states. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atf-disrupts-obama-assassination-plot/469845/12 "2008-10-27T21:22:35Z")
Heh, I missed that. How very John Wilkes Booth. They would’ve blended right into the crowd in that getup, I’m sure. In case anyone else was wondering: 88 is a coded reference to “Heil Hitler” (eighth letter of the alphabet, twice), 14 refers to the Aryan “Fourteen words.” I’d heard of 88 as a Neo-Nazi thing, but hadn’t heard of the fourteen words until a post here about a week ago. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atf-disrupts-obama-assassination-plot/469845/13 "2008-10-27T21:27:00Z")
Sounds (bearing in mind I haven’t yet read the linked article) kind of like that plot to blow up the Sears Tower a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atf-disrupts-obama-assassination-plot/469845/14 "2008-10-27T21:56:01Z")
I don’t see it having any significant effect on the election. It certainly won’t be the last planned attempt, but I’d be happy if it were the most credible. The Secret Service is definately going to have their work cut out for them for the forseeable future. The simple fact that Obama is black is going to result in a marked increase in plots. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atf-disrupts-obama-assassination-plot/469845/15 "2008-10-27T22:17:18Z")
I would not be surprised at all to see GOP pushing “See, if you elect obama, he will be assassinated, which would be a disaster to the country, another crisis we can not afford. Vote for the least likely to be Assassinated!” They need anything they can get. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atf-disrupts-obama-assassination-plot/469845/16 "2008-10-27T22:22:55Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Better than blowing off a plot because the conspirators were just some tweakers with guns who posed “no credible threat” and who couldn’t organize a birthday party. Sort of like a certain President did with a certain memo a few years back. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atf-disrupts-obama-assassination-plot/469845/17 "2008-10-27T23:15:00Z")
> [@Bootis](#): > > I would not be surprised at all to see GOP pushing “See, if you elect obama, he will be assassinated, which would be a disaster to the country, another crisis we can not afford. Vote for the least likely to be Assassinated!” > > They need anything they can get. It may not be official GOP policy (yet), but the Fox news boards are full of it, along with the usual “Obama is a terrorist” comments. (It seems their minds are so tiny that they cannot even figure out the “Obama palled around with terrorists” meme, and they just miss the middle bit) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atf-disrupts-obama-assassination-plot/469845/18 "2008-10-28T00:04:51Z")
Should I be depressed that, given the specifics of the plot (_definitely_ kill a hundred black people and _maybe_ kill Obama if we get lucky), the media would focus on the Obama angle? ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atf-disrupts-obama-assassination-plot/469845/19 "2008-10-28T01:35:56Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > In case anyone else was wondering: 88 is a coded reference to “Heil Hitler” (eighth letter of the alphabet, twice), 14 refers to the Aryan “Fourteen words.” These candidates better stay out of Pennsylvania, lest the Rolling Rock [“33”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_Rock) conspiracy takes shape… ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atf-disrupts-obama-assassination-plot/469845/20 "2008-10-28T02:03:22Z")
No, no effect on the election; people have been worried about the possibility for months now. > [@Cervaise](#): > > Should I be depressed that, given the specifics of the plot (_definitely_ kill a hundred black people and _maybe_ kill Obama if we get lucky), the media would focus on the Obama angle? No. Presidential candidates are more news-worthy that the general populace. (I’m sure if the plot had been to kill 88 white Obama supporters, Asians of any political affiliation, or high school students of any and all ethnicities, the media would still focus on the Obama angle.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atf-disrupts-obama-assassination-plot/469845.md?page=2)