This is one of the most frightening things I’ve read all week.
The caller was a female Obama volunteer who asked if Jessica would support Obama for president.
Jessica replied, “No, I don’t support him. Your guy is a socialist who voted four times in the state Senate to let little babies die in hospital closets; I think you should find something better to do with your time.” Then Jessica hung up.
The next day, a man and a woman in suits showed up at the door of her home, identifying themselves as members of the Secret Service.
The Secret Service agents stated that the Obama campaign had complained of a death threat. They had quoted Jessica as saying, “I will never support Obama, and he will wind up dead on a hospital floor.”
Jessica later wrote of the incident:
“…that girl on the phone doesn’t have the pull to send the Secret Service to my home. Someone high in the ranks of a campaign working for a man who may be the next President of the United States of America felt comfortable bringing the force of the Federal Government to bear on a private citizen on nothing but the word of a partisan volunteer.”
Scary. Read twice, print and remember. It’s going to get worse.
H/T: Anchoress
[...] Thugs and thuggery [...]
By: Remembering Trig « In Other Words on October 26, 2008
at 12:33 pm
Nah, Kev. The little smart asses are trouble, no matter what you are teaching, but, if you know what you are doing, a resource, too. A class of little goody goodies is dull,dull, dull. I had one,once, went to the kid pound, I mean,trailer park, to get some ruffians. THEN we had a fun class, and grew some real Christians in it, too. Sure took it outta me, though! I really earned my money when I taught that class. (There were actually kids from the trailer park who thought I got paid for doing it!)
By: Michael on October 21, 2008
at 10:51 pm
“Kevin, your smartassitude is always a delight, as long as I do not have o have you in my Sunday school class. :0)”
LOL. Teach the truth and you’ll get no trouble from me.
By: Kevin on October 21, 2008
at 10:25 am
Michael wrote: “I do wonder why there was a ‘phone bank calling people in Lufkin,TX. Texas is very firmly in the McCain column. A ‘phone bank here would be a waste of resources.”
Obama announced early that he intended a “50-state” strategy, to challenge and attempt to turn red states into blue states. He’s got the money to do it. That’s why he’s calling Lufkin, Tx.
The phone bank itself could be located anywhere.
By: philwynk on October 21, 2008
at 9:56 am
Well, that would mean that the goal is to spread fear, to let people know that the time is coming for us to shut up and do as we are told, and Texas would be an important place to start the intimidation.
I realize that it sounds thoroughly paranoid,but, that rather fits with a pattern of O’Bama and Biden being a bit franker about their intentions: It would not change the outcome of the election, because they are sure to steal enough votes in certain swing states anyway, and we need to understand that resistance is futile.
Or, maybe we’ll be saved by God’s intervention and their cluelessness.
By: Michael on October 20, 2008
at 9:25 pm
Yep,
Boat will be out to sea on Election Day, which means I won’t be home to go to my polling place and vote.
One reason for the Obama campaign to be working a phone bank in a state like Texas. Trolling for excuses to do what apparently happened.
By: Tigger23505 on October 20, 2008
at 7:41 am
Tigger,
I understand what you mean, but perhaps I failed to make own point as clearly. I do not know why an O’Bama phone bank was calling people in Texas. I can see them calling North Carolina, Pennsylvania, even Michigan. Texas? A waste of a good ‘phone line. This causes me to have a tiny bit of skepticism about the story, although, as I have said, I am willing to believe almost any evil tale about O’Bama. Looking forward to hearing from you when you are back among us. Have you already voted?
By: Michael on October 19, 2008
at 9:21 pm
Michael,
Thank you for the kind words. Sadly “radio silence” will be going in to effect tomorrow afternoon.
The thing about phone banks is that they don’t have to be local anymore. A phone bank could be located in Ohio, Illinois or even India. If as many of them do the the Caller ID is either blocked or cross listed as an 800 number to the front office, we have no idea where they are located.
By: Tigger23505 on October 19, 2008
at 8:28 am
I am willing to believe the BH Obama has poor flossing technique. However, I do wonder why there was a ‘phone bank calling people in Lufkin,TX. Texas is very firmly in the McCain column. A ‘phone bank here would be a waste of resources. I’d be quite interested in some real fact checking on this story. It could be true, but I do wonder, just a bit.
Tigger, it’s nice to see you are out of your “radio silence” phase for a while. Kevin, your smartassitude is always a delight, as long as I do not have o have you in my Sunday school class. :0)
By: Michael on October 18, 2008
at 9:28 pm
The Secret Service should never have been called. There was no threat. What was reported to the SS bears little resemblance to what was actually said, certainly not enough to be misheard as such.
Furthermore, there was no actual threat in what was reported. Even if Jessica had said what the Obamatrons said she did there was no threat or implication the she was going to try kill “The One”. Saying that someone wind up dead is merely an opinion of what might happen in the future. Including the fact that one does not support the person in question in no way turns it into a threat.
Bottom line is that I’m still trying to decide about Obama: Is he a fascist, or a socialist, or both?
By: Kevin on October 18, 2008
at 3:00 pm
In defense of the Secret Service in their mission to provide protection to candidates for presidential election there is an obligation on the part of the service to assess and investigate threats to a candidate.
In defense of the alleged victim, in this case it would seem that the agents were not 100 percent professional in their conduct in this case.
The facts as nearly as I can extract them from this report are:
1) In the course of a cold call by an Obama campaign volunteer statements were made by that were interpreted by the volunteer as a threat upon the candidate.
2) The campaign passed the threat complaint on to the Secret Service.
3) The Secret Service investigated the complaint to a level which gave them a name and address associated with the phone number, and further determined that an interview was appropriate.
4) From the information in the available article(s) it is unclear whether the agents displayed their credentials.
5) Identification – I am unable to find a reason why the agents would not give their names. There are good professional conduct reasons not to give out information on the source of the complaint. Revenge, and intimidation come to mind. Not to mention the civil rights of the person making the complaint.
6) It seems clear to me that during the conversation the statement “No, I don’t support him. Your guy is a socialist who voted four times in the state Senate to let little babies die in hospital closets …” was transformed by the hearer into “I will never support Obama, and he will wind up dead on a hospital floor.” The basics of this sort of transformation are easy to achieve playing “telephone” and humorously illustrated in a 1984 comedy “Johny Dangerously” in a scene where Johny receives a garbled message.
Prisoner: There’s a message through the grapevine, Johnny.
Johnny Dangerously: Yeah? What is it?
Prisoner: Johnny and the Mothers are playing “Stompin’ at the Savoy” in Vermont tonight.
Johnny Dangerously: Vermin’s going to kill my brother at the Savoy theater tonight.
Prisoner: I didn’t say that.
Johnny Dangerously: No, but I know this grapevine. (courtesy of IMDB.com)
7) Discussion of rudeness or embarassment of the interview subject are not items that move the questions forward. The questions that needed answered were:
a) Did the person make a threat?
b) Was the threat credible?
By: Tigger23505 on October 17, 2008
at 11:36 pm