This is serious, folks. I cannot repeat or stress this enough. This is serious:
The right-wing hate speech polluting the debate over health care is generating more and more threats against President Obama, some truly frightening.
CNN anchor Rick Sanchez reports that when President Obama visited Phoenix, Ariz. on August 17, local minister Steven Anderson of the Faithful World Baptist Church, who strongly expresses hatred for Obama in many of his sermons, told his congregation that he wished him dead. In a disturbing twist, it was discovered that Chris Broughton, the man who brought an AR 15 assault rifle to the Phoenix rally where Obama spoke, had attended Anderson’s sermon. In a later interview, Broughton said he concurred with his pastor’s wish to see Obama “die and go to hell.” As many as twelve men were seen walking around the Phoenix Convention Center with guns on that day.
President Obama faces 30 death threats a day, a 400 percent increase from former President Bush, according to Ronald Kessler, a veteran investigative journalist and conservative who recently authored a book about the Secret Service.
Kessler notes that funding cutbacks have already left the first African-American president in U.S. history particularly vulnerable. The book, which alleges that the cash-strapped Secret Service is endangering the president by cutting corners, has sent shockwaves through Washington. “There’s no question his life is in danger.” “Tomorrow, Obama could be assassinated … simply because the Secret Service was not doing what it used to do, ” said Kessler.“We have half the number of agents we need, but requests for more agents have fallen on deaf ears at headquarters,” a Secret Service agent told Kessler. “There’s a tremendous feeling within the Secret Service that they are risking an assassination,” Kessler told Canadian TV.
There is a petition at the Credo site that I am going to fill out and send as soon as I publish this post. Here is the text:
“As racist attacks increase and protestors continue to bring guns to presidential events, it is strikingly clear that President Obama is vulnerable to harm. Threats against the president have grown 400 percent, while funding for the agents that must confront and investigate threats against him has significantly decreased. I urge you to do everything in your power to ensure that the FBI and Secret Service expand and fully fund efforts to protect the President of the United States.”
This should not be a Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal issue. The only relevant issue is that this is our president and threats against his life have skyrocketed from previous presidencies while at the same time there is less money to hire the Secret Service agents he needs to protect him. I wish I could do more. At least I can do this much.
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