Sarah Palin blamed by the US Secret Service over death threats against Barack Obama

[jefferson_dem]

Sarah Palin blamed by the US Secret Service over death threats against Barack Obama
Sarah Palin's attacks on Barack Obama's patriotism provoked a spike in death threats against the future president, Secret Service agents revealed during the final weeks of the campaign.

by Tim Shipman in Washington

Last Updated: 4:04PM GMT 08 Nov 2008

Sarah Palin's attacks on Barack Obama's patriotism provoked a spike in death threats against the future president, Secret Service agents revealed during the final weeks of the campaign.

Palin's tone may have unintentionally encouraged white supremacists Photo: Reuters

The Republican vice presidential candidate attracted criticism for accusing Mr Obama of "palling around with terrorists", citing his association with the sixties radical William Ayers.

The attacks provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling "terrorist" and "kill him" until the McCain campaign ordered her to tone down the rhetoric.

But it has now emerged that her demagogic tone may have unintentionally encouraged white supremacists to go even further.

The Secret Service warned the Obama family in mid October that they had seen a dramatic increase in the number of threats against the Democratic candidate, coinciding with Mrs Palin's attacks.

Michelle Obama, the future First Lady, was so upset that she turned to her friend and campaign adviser Valerie Jarrett and said: "Why would they try to make people hate us?"

The revelations, contained in a Newsweek history of the campaign, are likely to further damage Mrs Palin's credentials as a future presidential candidate. She is already a frontrunner, with Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, to take on Mr Obama in four years time.

Details of the spike in threats to Mr Obama come as a report last week by security and intelligence analysts Stratfor, warned that he is a high risk target for racist gunmen. It concluded: "Two plots to assassinate Obama were broken up during the campaign season, and several more remain under investigation. We would expect federal authorities to uncover many more plots to attack the president that have been hatched by white supremacist ideologues."

Irate John McCain aides, who blame Mrs Palin for losing the election, claim Mrs Palin took it upon herself to question Mr Obama's patriotism, before the line of attack had been cleared by Mr McCain.

That claim is part of a campaign of targeted leaks designed to torpedo her ambitions, with claims that she did not know that Africa was a continent rather than a country.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/sarahpalin/3405336/Sarah-Palin-blamed-by-the-US-Secret-Service-for-death-threats-against-Barack-Obama.html

[patrice]

1. "leaks designed to torpedo her ambitions" and to position Romney and,

perhaps, Huckabee for the 2012 ticket.

[galaxy21]

3. Hey, I'm not complaining

[Goldom]

2. "unintentional" my ass. nt

[liberal renegade]

4. my thoughts exactly

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. ditto

[Window]

5. I will never forgive Palin for casting 'asparagus' on Obama's patriotism.

[EastTennesseeDem]

7. I know this may sound terrible, but if something happens to Barack

I'll be praying something happens to that evil woman too. Fuck her.

[rdublue]

8. I've said all along if something happens to Obama it's Palin and McCain's faults

[CakeGrrl]

9. I'm glad this is getting some press

This evil crap (and it WAS intentional; she should not get off the hook for that) needs to be the thing that sinks her if she gets it in her head to make another run at national office.

I'd like to think this puts her on notice, and failing to get this through her narcissistic head, someone close to her had better have gotten the message.

[political_Dem]

10. She has already said that she wasn't negative when she made those remarks.

Sarah was only "telling the truth".

With statements like that, she needs to be put out of power because she can only amount to no good if she ever gets nominated for President. I certainly hope that the Alaskan people are doing something about that.

[galaxy21]

11. You'd think the republicans would realize its in everyone's best interests that nothing happens to

Barack.

If anything happens to him now, and it looks like Palin's rhetoric possibly encouraged/provoked an assailant, the republicans would be finished as a party.

[political_Dem]

13. They're too busy trying to assassinate Obama's character to care about the repercussions.

One thing that stands out is that they're mobilizing for 2010 and 2012. It is of extreme importance that we are ready for them ahead of time. We must not rest on our laurels.

[Clio the Leo]

12. WHO do I need to send campaign contributions to......

... in order to make sure that vile woman never wins another election. EVER.

Seriously, just point me in the right direction.

[Sebastian Doyle]

14. Well, you have Secret Service agents surrounding all 4 candidates, they're gonna compare notes

And these people guarding Barack, Joe, Gramps, and Barbie ain't dumb. They know when the threats and rhetoric escalated. They saw it and heard it first hand.

I hope they prosecute the crazy beeyotch.

[riderinthestorm]

17. Nope, during the campaign the Secret Service didn't see or hear anything

according to reports that were issued by the SS at the time.

:(

[Laura PourMeADrink]

15. sometimes it feels so good to get vindicated by the facts. I

remember being poo-poo'd for suggesting her actions were inciting the crazies in a very
dangerous way and that the SS must be shitting bricks.

[uppityperson]

16. k&r, this needs to be publicized a lot and McCain need to speak up against this sort of crap.

[RoadRage]

18. How Christian of her....

Seroiusly - this is what is so despicable to me about the religious right. Do or Say whatever. Lie.. try to get someone killed. It's fine.. totally OK, as long as it's done in God's name.

Fucking Psychopath.

[Doityourself]

19. Awww..shucks be gracious...she didn't mean it! n/t

[Hellataz]

20. The hate that Palin inciting is nowhere near from over

you can see it in all the anti-Obama sites, the people swearing that Obama is NOT their president, the booing at McCain concession speech, that revolt against Obama page that has over 1 million people advertised on the drudge site. All of them are using the violent, irresponsible false rhetoric that Palin yelled out to her crowds, as a way to invalidate his presidency, in their eyes. It not a stretch to see one if not more of these whack jobs taking matters into their own hands and acting on all this hate that Palin stirred up.

I'm glad to see the SS have identified Palin of one of the main sources of the threats, I've been saying she was since the campaign began.

[AspenRose]

21. No sh*t, sherlock

In other news, water is wet and the sun rises in the east.

It's nice to see them ADMITTING what we've known all along, though.