# What's with this disturbing trend (Obama assassination) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 3, 2008, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-disturbing-trend-obama-assassination/470879 "2008-11-03T16:35:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-disturbing-trend-obama-assassination/470879/21 "2008-11-03T20:43:29Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > You seriously think left-wing whack jobs are somehow incapable of violence?? Where do you get that impression from exactly? I’m saying the threat of left-wing violence is a drop in the bucket compared to organized, armed groups like [Aryan Nations](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_Nations) and similar splinter groups. These guys organize themselves in paramilitary fashion, arm themselves with heavy weaponry, and form clandestine networks for the purpose of eventually starting a race war in the US. Sure there are left-wing whackjobs out there, but in terms of armament and organization they are nowhere nearly as dangerous as the right-wingers. And when I say right-wingers I’m not talking about Joe the Plumber, I’m talking about Adolf the Idaho Neo-Nazi, just so we’re clear on that. These guys aren’t within the pale of normal Republicans though they probably both voted for McCain. ---
**Author:** ![Sinaijon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Sinaijon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinaijon)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-disturbing-trend-obama-assassination/470879/22 "2008-11-03T20:53:25Z")
> [@Cosmic Relief](#): > > Yeah, but there was never any serious menace from Bush-haters except maybe a risk of a sit-in or somebody mailing patchouli-drenched letters to the White House. You seem to be differentiating between assination by US wackos and general assassinations, which is a distinction not made by the OP. In any case: > **[CNN.com - Bush grenade attacker gets life - Jan 11, 2006](https://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/01/11/georgia.grenade/index.html)** ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-disturbing-trend-obama-assassination/470879/23 "2008-11-03T21:07:41Z")
> [@Sinaijon](#): > > You seem to be differentiating between assination by US wackos and general assassinations, which is a distinction not made by the OP. Right, and I was responding to a post other than the OP, so there you go. But to answer the OP specifically, why do Republican types keep saying that Obama will be assassinated in short order? Because they know perfectly well what kind of groups live on their fringe. ---
**Author:** ![sidle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@sidle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidle)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-disturbing-trend-obama-assassination/470879/24 "2008-11-03T21:12:52Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > I’m an Obama fan very worried about assasination. I think the McCain campaign has been playing with fire, by trying to come as close as possible to inciting extreme fear and hatred without actually doing it. Peripherally to the campaign have been various people spreading rumors that Obama is Muslim or foreign born or associated with terrorists or even socialist. A recent poll in Texas found that 23% of people believed he was Muslim. The campaign has had people doing introductions at the mike using the middle name Hussain, and chants of “Yes McCain, No Hussein”. I don’t think McCain or any of the principles associated with him want to see an assasination, but I do think they are exercising very poor restraint and judgement in more or less encouraging this kind of thing to happen. I’ve heard a lot of echoing of this sentiment, but I’m not sure I agree. It seems to me as though McCain was/is simply refusing to dignify that crap with a response unless absolutely necessary. Why should he give any attention or voice to obvious freakshow hatemongering zealots? (FTR I’m an Obama supporter.) ---
**Author:** ![sidle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@sidle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidle)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-disturbing-trend-obama-assassination/470879/25 "2008-11-03T21:14:18Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > It’s not that they’re incapable, it’s that they’ve fallen out of the habit since the 1970s. Lately, all the violent whackos are RW. (And don’t give me any crap about eco-radical monkeywrenchers or a few smashed windows at the WTO convention; not the same league as Timothy McVeigh.) I agree. You still have left whackos, e.g. Sheehan, but they’re not violent. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-disturbing-trend-obama-assassination/470879/26 "2008-11-03T21:18:19Z")
> [@sidle](#): > > I’ve heard a lot of echoing of this sentiment, but I’m not sure I agree. > It seems to me as though McCain was/is simply refusing to dignify that crap with a response unless absolutely necessary. Why should he give any attention or voice to obvious freakshow hatemongering zealots? > > (FTR I’m an Obama supporter.) 1. Because he, Palin and their campaign have obviously been playing up the “Obama’s a terrorist/not really an american” angle 2. Because his supporters have been saying some awful crap about Obama to his face (and to be fair to McCain, he has stood up on some occasions. Palin, not so much - or at all, really). ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-disturbing-trend-obama-assassination/470879/27 "2008-11-03T21:20:03Z")
> [@Cosmic Relief](#): > > But to answer the OP specifically, why do Republican types keep saying that Obama will be assassinated in short order? Because they know perfectly well what kind of groups live on their fringe. And because they are hoping for it to happen. The leadership will cry crocodile tears and make a few speeches about bipartisanship, and dance with joy in private. ---
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-disturbing-trend-obama-assassination/470879/28 "2008-11-03T21:21:34Z")
My mom is an Obama supporter, but she’s terrified that he’s going to be assassinated. I didn’t get it until I realized that she was an adult when MLK and RFK were killed. It doesn’t feel all that distant to her. I suspect a lot of folks who remember the turmoil and assassinations of civil rights leaders in the 1960s feel the same way. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-disturbing-trend-obama-assassination/470879/29 "2008-11-03T21:23:42Z")
Why would ‘the leadership’ do so? Wouldn’t that just mean that Biden would be president…and the Dems STILL control the house and senate?? How would that (or the sympathy and backlash this would engender) help ‘the leadership’ exactly?? I disagree with the others about left wing vs right wing whack jobs, but I don’t want to derail the thread with a digression into who’s nut jobs are worse. I think the Secret Service is more than up to the challenge of even the supposed hard core right-wing gun toten’, bible thumpin’, snake handlin’ neo-Nazi tyupes… -XT ---
**Author:** ![Sinaijon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Sinaijon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinaijon)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-disturbing-trend-obama-assassination/470879/30 "2008-11-03T21:30:26Z")
> [@Cosmic Relief](#): > > why do Republican types keep saying that Obama will be assassinated in short order?. Sigh. Maybe because there has been an attempt on every modern day president? > **[List of United States presidential assassination attempts and plots](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Presidential_assassination_attempts)** > > Assassination attempts and plots on the president of the United States have been numerous, ranging from the early 19th century to the present day. This article lists assassinations and assassination attempts on incumbent and former presidents and presidents-elect, but not on those who had not yet been elected president. > Four sitting U.S. presidents have been killed: Abraham Lincoln (1865), James A. Garfield (1881), William McKinley (1901), and John F. Kennedy (1963). Ronald Reagan (1981) is t... ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-disturbing-trend-obama-assassination/470879/31 "2008-11-03T21:35:43Z")
> [@Cosmic Relief](#): > > I’m saying the threat of left-wing violence is a drop in the bucket compared to organized, armed groups like [Aryan Nations](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_Nations) and similar splinter groups. These guys organize themselves in paramilitary fashion, arm themselves with heavy weaponry, and form clandestine networks for the purpose of eventually starting a race war in the US. Sure there are left-wing whackjobs out there, but in terms of armament and organization they are nowhere nearly as dangerous as the right-wingers. And when I say right-wingers I’m not talking about Joe the Plumber, I’m talking about Adolf the Idaho Neo-Nazi, just so we’re clear on that. These guys aren’t within the pale of normal Republicans though they probably both voted for McCain. From the ‘forked’ thread: - Tom Metzger - Director, White Aryan Resistance; former Grand Dragon of Ku Klux Klan. “The corporations are running things now, so it’s not going to make much difference who’s in there, but McCain would be much worse. He’s a warmonger. He’s a scary, scary person–more dangerous than Bush.” Rocky Suhayda - Chairman, American Nazi Party. “White people are faced with either a negro or a total nutter who happens to have a pale face. Personally I’d prefer the negro. National Socialists are not mindless haters. Here, I see a white man, who is almost dead, who declares he wants to fight endless wars around the globe to make the world safe for Judeo-capitalist exploitation, who supports the invasion of America by illegals–basically a continuation of the last eight years of Emperor Bush. Then, we have a black man, who loves his own kind, belongs to a Black-Nationalist religion, is married to a black women–when usually negroes who have ‘made it’ immediately land a white spouse as a kind of prize–that’s the kind of negro that I can respect.” \* Not Aryan Nation but still, dayum! Still, I see him on an open stage with tens and even hundreds of thousands of people all around him. . . so easy to take a potshot. Yeah, I worry a little. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-disturbing-trend-obama-assassination/470879/32 "2008-11-03T22:06:34Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > Why would ‘the leadership’ do so? Wouldn’t that just mean that Biden would be president…and the Dems STILL control the house and senate?? How would that (or the sympathy and backlash this would engender) help ‘the leadership’ exactly?? It’s Obama’s popularity that they resent so much. We have had our share of snide swipes re “the Messiah” and Obamaniacs on this board from the conservatives. He has a real referential power and that scares the GOP to hell, and they wish they had it. Now you all (Reps)know how most of us felt about your obeisance to Reagan-a man with dementia. :rolleyes: Obama is more than pretty speeches and one liners. And thank God for that. I actually agree with **Der Trihs** on this one–the GOP leadership would clutch a few Kleenex and privately rejoice. Obama stands for real change and a different way in Washington (I sincerely hope). Biden, while a good guy, is more of the same old politics. The GOP knows how to fight Biden–and win. They are (painfully) obviously unaware of how to fight Obama. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2008, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-disturbing-trend-obama-assassination/470879/33 "2008-11-04T00:50:07Z")
[**Of course** he’ll be assassinated, but it won’t keep him down.](http://bible.cc/revelation/13-3.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2008, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-disturbing-trend-obama-assassination/470879/34 "2008-11-04T00:55:36Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > Why would ‘the leadership’ do so? Because as **eleanorigby** says, they apparently can’t handle him. And because it’s the leadership and Republican public figures in general who will bother to **hide** their joy. I expect that there will be open celebration from the rank and file. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2008, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-disturbing-trend-obama-assassination/470879/35 "2008-11-04T01:43:55Z")
> [@tagos](#): > > Any one can be killed if the killer doesn’t care about getting caught or killed. Well, you certainly sound optimistic about it. I need you to clarify something for me, though: are you saying that almost every attempt at Presidential assassination has failed because the would-be assassins simply didn’t want it badly enough? The efficaciousness of the Secret Service had nothing to do with it? Nobody except Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy have had sincere enough political opponents? Actually, you have a point: Jackson, Roosevelt, the other Roosevelt, Truman, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and the other Bush have really never done anything very controversial. > [@Burton](#): > > I haven’t heard any one express such a concern except here. When I worked for the DNC, I talked to a couple of Democrats who were voting for McCain because they were afraid that Obama would be assassinated if elected. The mind boggles. Anyway, some of us find Sen. Obama to be an inspirational figure and a good example for the nation and its children, and wish you all would stop talking about him like he were a dead man walking. First off, if so many people really wanted him dead for being a successful black man, he would be under a constant barrage of gunfire; he’s been a successful black man for most of his adult life. Secondly, the Secret Service operates with ruthless efficiency and nearly unfathomable skill (they’ve already foiled at least one attempt), not to mention that any modern President would receive extremely quick and high-quality medical attention immediately after sustaining any serious injury. Remember that Reagan was successfully _tore the fuck up_ and lived to tell the tale thanks to prompt medical attention, and that was 20 years ago. Thirdly, for every person who would give his life to kill Barack Obama, there are ten of us who would give our lives to save him. Remember that Carter was saved by a bystander assailing the gunman. I think some comedian said that “every n\_\_\_\_ in Compton would die for that motherfucker”–that’s not far from the truth. I’m not from Compton, but I know I would. > [@CurtC](#): > > Except the people who intensely dislike Bush are sane. I wouldn’t jump to that conclusion. There are always going to be nutters who happen to intensely hate the President for all kinds of weird reasons, whether or not he happens to deserve it. Since it’s so popular to claim a hatred of Bush now even among those who actually support his policies, it wouldn’t surprise me if there were a massive contingent of thoroughly unbalanced people who have gotten it into their heads that they have a duty to rid the world of GWB. > [@sidle](#): > > It seems to me as though McCain was/is simply refusing to dignify that crap with a response unless absolutely necessary. Why should he give any attention or voice to obvious freakshow hatemongering zealots? Oh, come on. He’s done everything in his power to get people to hate and fear Barack Obama. The hatred and the fear are the intended direct effects of his campaign tactics. McCain complains about the media, but you know, he really has his cake and eats it too. His campaign pushes all the right buttons to get their base to board the hate train en masse–then, when they get out of control, he gets to defend Obama from the angry mob. Centrists think he’s a humble and fair-minded guy and the right-wingers get pissed off at him but vote for him anyway because they’re still afraid of the Negro. Oops, I mean “Muslim”. That seems to be the idea, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2008, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-disturbing-trend-obama-assassination/470879/36 "2008-11-04T01:52:30Z")
[QUOTE=Der Trihs] Because as eleanorigby says, they apparently can’t handle him. And because it’s the leadership and Republican public figures in general who will bother to hide their joy. I expect that there will be open celebration from the rank and file. [/QUOTE] Well, I think this is pure out of the ass conjecture on your part, but I see where you are coming from on this. I’m not sure if I agree or not…I doubt there would be OPEN celebration from anyone not on the lunatic fringe for the assassination of a US president…just like I doubt there would have been OPEN rejoicing in the streets from the left had Bush gotten himself whacked. Only those on the fringe would ever celebrate the death of a President…IMHO of course. [QUOTE=eleanorigby] Now you all (Reps)know how most of us felt about your obeisance to Reagan-a man with dementia. [/QUOTE] I’m not a Republican…nor do I play one on TV (nor do I VOTE for Republican’s). -XT ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2008, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-disturbing-trend-obama-assassination/470879/37 "2008-11-04T01:58:01Z")
> [@Sinaijon](#): > > Sigh. Maybe because there has been an attempt on every modern day president? Sigh right back at you. How many modern-day Presidents have been assassinated? > [@Biggirl](#): > > Still, I see him on an open stage with tens and even hundreds of thousands of people all around him. . . so easy to take a potshot. What you don’t see is that the Secret Service has mapped out every single vantage point with a sight line to where he’ll be standing, and they have highly trained killers watching every single one to bust a cap in whoever’s stupid enough to occupy one of them. It’s not the 1960s. Really, if it were that easy to take a potshot, Bush would have a head like Swiss cheese by now. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2008, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-disturbing-trend-obama-assassination/470879/38 "2008-11-04T02:14:00Z")
> [@burundi](#): > > My mom is an Obama supporter, but she’s terrified that he’s going to be assassinated. I didn’t get it until I realized that she was an adult when MLK and RFK were killed. It doesn’t feel all that distant to her. I suspect a lot of folks who remember the turmoil and assassinations of civil rights leaders in the 1960s feel the same way. I remember all three of the civil rights assassinations; I have to pull over if _Abraham, Martin and John_ comes on the radio when I’m driving. This is not some only-the-good-die-young drivel, as suggested elsewhere; people get murdered for changing the balance of power. Obama supporters over 40 have been worrying about assassination since Iowa. > [@Der Trihs](#): > > And because they are hoping for it to happen. The leadership will cry crocodile tears and make a few speeches about bipartisanship, and dance with joy in private. And thank you for demonstrating that the politics of hatred are truly bipartisan. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2008, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-disturbing-trend-obama-assassination/470879/39 "2008-11-04T02:25:27Z")
> [@](#): > > When I worked for the DNC, I talked to a couple of Democrats who were voting for McCain because they were afraid that Obama would be assassinated if elected. The mind boggles. OK, that’s just absurd. Yes, there is some risk (hopefully very small) that Obama will be assassinated. But there’s exactly one person who’s in a position to decide whether that risk is worthwhile, and he made his decision long ago. If Barack Obama thinks it’s worth the risk of assassination for him to become President, then who are we to second-guess him? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2008, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-disturbing-trend-obama-assassination/470879/40 "2008-11-04T02:36:42Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > Now you all (Reps)know how most of us felt about your obeisance to Reagan-a man with dementia. :rolleyes: This is a false statement - Reagan did not have dementia during his term of office. As to the OP, didn’t Obama mention one of the death threats he supposedly received during the debates? (It was one that the Secret Service found no credible evidence had occurred, IIRC.). That’s a bad idea - it gives the nutjobs ideas. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-disturbing-trend-obama-assassination/470879.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-disturbing-trend-obama-assassination/470879.md?page=3)