There were two attempts on Nixon - one by someone who later paralyzed Wallace.
Two on Ford - either of which would have been successful if not for gross stupidity by the would-be assasin and a heroic bystander.
Carter’s would be assassin never got close at least … unless you count that killer water rabbit.
Bush one had a plot foiled.
Two attempts on Clinton.
Two on Dubya - one that only failed because a hankerchief wrapped around the grenade ended up blocking the pin. So much for those highly killers that you put so much faith in.
And yeah, I’m old enough to remember MLK and Bobby Kennedy too. Security is tough to provide. There are those who are hate-filled enough and those who are crazy enough. Big crowds. You can’t depend on would be assassins always messing up.
I do not think that any can say with any certainty if Reagan was having, in retrospect, early Alzheimer’s during his time in office. Alzheimer’s has an often prolonged preclinical phase which is often difficult for the casual observer to distinguish from normal aging. If he was, as it seems he likely was, in middle stage Alzheimer’s by the time it was made public, then the odds that he was without any disease during the latter years of his Presidency seem small.
Yes. Yes, we have. All I can do is put my faith in the expertise and esprit de corps of the Secret Service.
I once encountered a couple of Secret Service agents in Boston; they were standing outside a building that I believe it was Carter (post his presidency) was inside. As I walked past them on the sidewalk I essayed a mildly humerous inquiry about what they were up to and got a cold hard stare for my folly. Those guys put human weakness on hold when they’re on duty.
The Republicans might find that Obama the martyr is a lot more powerful than Obama the mortal man. If Obama is assassinated he becomes untouchable; nobody will be able to say a bad word about him for decades. Then Biden and the Democrats in Congress step in and carry out Obama’s legacy in his memory.
Hatred has nothing to do with it; observation does. The Right is the side that drove around with “Where’s Lee Harvey Oswald When We Need Him” bumper stickers during the Clinton years, that implies the Democratic President might get assassinated for visiting the wrong state ( don’t recall the name of the Congressman that did that ), that preaches violence against the government, that already has people calling for Obama’s death at McCain rallies. Right wingers assassinate doctors who perform abortions; left wingers don’t reciprocate by, say driving by and emptying an Uzi into anti-abortion protectors.
It was Jesse Helms who said it. In partial defense, it was an awkward attempt at a joke about Clinton not getting many votes in North Carolina. The joke was some local sheriff was always followed around by this big guy. Helms asked him who the guy was. The sheriff said that he was a bodyguard because anyone who got as few votes as he had in the last election obviously needed a bodyguard. So then Helsm said the punchline which was “Mr. Clinton better watch out if he comes down here. He’d better have a bodyguard.”
You mean, “one President has been assassinated in this century, and there have been better-planned attacks on every other President since, but the impeccable skill and quickness of the Secret Service has saved all of them nonetheless. Obviously, they’ve learned from their mistakes.”
Nothing is 100% safe. How many assassination attempts do you think the Secret Service foiled that we didn’t hear about during the last 8 years of intense hatred of the GOP establishment?
Yeah. I think this is one reason W is still alive. Assassinated Presidents make great martyrs. An assassinated Obama would be…well, you know how big a deal Husayn ibn Ali is to the Shi’i? Like that.
Mark my words – if someone ever takes a shot at Obama (and no doubt someone will) it won’t be a racist, but a fundamentalist Christian whackjob who believes that Barack Obama is the Antichrist. I’ve been reading Revelation in depth lately, and while there’s always been coincidence before, I’ve never seen this much Synchronicity in the Bible’s Apocalyptic chapter before.
Naturally, it’s just that…synchronicity. And the “Antichrist” = “Beast” assumption is a totally false connection, despite being part of fundamentalist dogma. “Antichrist” is just another word for False Prophet (I John 2:18) whereas “The Beast” (Revelation 13:1) clearly describes some type of one world-government. What’s really chilling is Rev 13:3 – “One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast.” That’s what we call a possible self-fulfilling prophecy. :eek:
Remember, I used to be a fundamentalist Christian. I was raised under that religion, I know how these people think. It’s not just belief, or blind faith. It is REALITY to these people. And there are millions of them in this country…
But I wouldn’t be too afraid. After all, Rev 13:3 suggests that “The Beast” will survive his head wound (probably the bullet will just graze his scalp) and after that, the Tribulation of Fundie Xtians will finally begin. (Can I help Rapture some of them?)
Hatred of Bush was justified. He and his neo-cons and those who voted for them a second time earned the hatred. Yet still there were no attempts to kill him by anyone on the left.
If I perceive an increased risk of assassination of Obama (compared to Bush) it’s because (and I appreciate this is just bringing together what others have said):
1/ Lefties despise Bush but why? Very largely because of his policies of war. In other words, he annoys peaceniks. I’m not so naive as to fail to understand that there are whackjob peaceniks out there who might think that killing someone in the name of peace is a justified means to an end, but playing the percentages I think that as a rule Bush’s detractors are generally less pre-disposed to violence. Bush’s supporters (and Obama’s detractors) are probably more in favour of war. War is a form of violence to achieve an end. This is of course not to suggest that every righties is a potential assassin. I’m just saying that there may be fringes of the right which tend more towards violence.
2/ Would there not be an overlap between redneck right wing culture, racism and gun culture? An assasination is probably going to involve a gun, and it may be helped along by the feeling that Obama is “not of our kind”. ISTM there is a potential “perfect storm” here.
3/ Delusional killers become obsessed with charismatic figures.
Come on, have you been reading this thread? There have been at least two attempts on GWB’s life during his presidency that we know of. No doubt countless other little plots and schemes have been foiled.
HD, why do you say that the attempts on GWB were by people on the left?
The first attempt wasn’t really an attempt it was some guy waving a gun near the White House with no coherent actual attempt to kill GWB. As far as I can find he was a disturbed individual with complaints to do with employment and the IRS.
As to the second attempt (the grenade) I haven’t been able to find any source regarding the would-be assassin’s motives. There is one article that mentions him “muttering and cursing” in the crowd before throwing the grenade, and the other mentions him being very attention seeking at his trial, which suggests he was a nutter. I can’t find anything about him being a leftie.