Claire Prentice
Posted on 08/10/2008 12:59:51 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
AMERICAN law enforcement agencies fear Barack Obama will be the target of a violent attack by white supremacists at the Democratic convention in Denver this month. Ever since the Senator for Illinois emerged as the likely Democratic presidential candidate, neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan and similar groups have been making racist threats.
In an interview on Fox News, Railton Loy, Grand Wizard of the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan International, said of Obama's presidential campaign: "I'm not going to have to worry about him, because somebody else down south is going to take him out... If that man is elected president, he'll be shot sure as hell. The hate would be so deep down south."
Meanwhile, websites and blogs have been buzzing with racist posts.
"Obama will die, KKK forever," says a post by "Rodney" on a blog run by a person identified only as Strider333. "The KKK or someone WILL assassinate Obama! If we get a N***** President all you N*****'s (sic] will think you've won and that the WHITE people will have to bow to you F*** THAT."
John W Hickenlooper, the Democrat Mayor of Denver, confirmed that he was aware of threats against Obama from white supremacists and other racist groups.
He added that the Denver Police Department was working closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Secret Service. He said: "We are looking at every possibility and making sure that we have prepared for every conceivable contingency. If someone is threatening violence we will go to great lengths to deal with that."
The federal government is providing Denver – and St Paul, Minnesota, where the Republicans are staging their convention at the start of next month – with $50m (£26m) each to cover the security costs of staging the conventions.
The Denver Police Department will nearly double in size, bringing in an additional 1,500 police officers from communities throughout Colorado and beyond. National Guard specialists trained to deal with biological, chemical, nuclear and radiological weapons will also be available.
Keen to take advantage of an unprecedented level of media attention – 16,000 journalists are expected – protesters are preparing to flock to Denver in their tens of thousands.
They will include everyone from environmental to health groups and those championing the rights of unborn children to Hillary Clinton supporters, as well as more sinister groups.
Obama's decision to accept his party's nomination not at the convention's Pepsi Centre but at the 75,000-seat Invesco Field, home to the Denver Broncos, has created another headache for the Secret Service. They have had to work out plans to secure the open-air stadium, which is adjacent to a major highway. According to officials, it will almost certainly be closed during Obama's speech.
Mark Potok, an expert on the radical right at the Southern Poverty Law enter in Montgomery, Alabama, said: "People on these racist and white supremacist websites are being quite careful because they know that if they make a threat they will very likely get a visit from the Secret Service.
"The scary thing out there is the lone wolf phenomenon. There are enough crazy people in this movement that it is possible one of them will decide today is the day to kick off the Aryan revolution."
A survey by the centre, which tracks hate groups and handles legal cases against white supremacist organisations, found that the number of racist groups in America has soared in recent years, from 602 in 2000 to 844 in 2006.
It is not just the security forces who fear a racially motivated attack on the Democratic presidential candidate. An ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 59% of Americans (and 83% of African-Americans) are concerned "that someone might attempt to physically harm Barack Obama".
On Thursday, Raymond Hunter Geisel, 22, appeared in court in Miami after allegedly threatening to assassinate Obama. He was in a training class when he allegedly referred to Obama with a racial epithet before adding: "If (Obama] gets elected, I'll assassinate him myself."
According to court documents, Geisel said in an interview with a Secret Service agent, that "if he wanted to kill Senator Obama he simply would shoot him with a sniper rifle, but then he claimed that he was just joking".
A search of Geisel's car and hotel room in Miami uncovered a loaded 9mm handgun, knives, dozens of rounds of ammunition including armour-piercing types, body armour, military-style fatigues and a machete.
After the assassination of high-profile black leaders such as Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, violent attack is of clear concern to black politicians. Colin Powell, former secretary of state, has said his decision not to stand for the presidency in 1996 was largely due to his wife's fear that he might be shot.
Obama was placed under Secret Service protection in May 2007, the earliest ever for a candidate for the presidency.
Obama's Secret Service detail has recently been increased to a level which rivals that of President George Bush, far exceeding the level of protection afforded to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Whenever the Illinois senator holds an event or makes an appearance, a dozen Secret Service agents lead bomb-sniffing dogs through event venues.
The Obama campaign declined to comment on specific threats to the candidate.
They wish. I think this is just another ploy to make it impossible to vote against the Messiah without having somebody scream “Racist!” at you.
What the media thinks:
"similar groups"=everyone who disagrees with Obama
The ‘Scots’ having a bad day?
It sounds as though Denver will be a boring place for awhile.
“”Obama will die, KKK forever,” says a post by “Rodney” on a blog run by a person identified only as Strider333. “The KKK or someone WILL assassinate Obama! If we get a N***** President all you N*****’s (sic] will think you’ve won and that the WHITE people will have to bow to you F*** THAT.””
Some people forget the KKK WAS the Democrat party after the civil war.
This is their potential nominee.
The far left breaks out their bloody shirt collection. Interesting how so much of Democrat presidential campaigning takes place where the people don’t have a right to vote in the first place.
I do believe that there is a very small group that would try to kill Obama given the chance.
But I also believe that, if he loses, there is a group that will have the same reaction towards McCain.
There will always be fringe elements, and pretending that this is somehow new with Obama is absurd. It’s just a different set of nuts.
Just saying this is giving the wrong ideas to the wrong people.
If something stupid like this happens, kiss good-by to the Second Amendment.
I wish these nuts in the Klan would go to Hell.
We don’t run America like a Banana Republic.
Well said.
Oh, horse manure.
The demonstrators at the DNC in Denver will be just like the demonstrators at the DNC in Chicago in 1968—flaming leftists, who don’t think Obama is enough of a Communist.
Claire Prentice
I would hate to have to take a bullet for a flake like him, but I would, just to protect the office.
/johnny
Well gee whiz, let’s all just wring our hands over this shall we? How about all the vile things that have been said about President Bush for all these years?? Posted on the internet, screaming at him, parades in the streets with hateful rhetoric, pretty lengthy list when you think about it.
Did we all get in a tizzy? Doesn’t seem like it, matter of fact, the alphabet-soup TV networks commentators appeard excited and pleased with that sort of stuff.
They are now headquartered in Harrison Arkansas where they moved to from Mississippi at the invitation of then Governor Clinton. Harrison is a Rat stronghold.
Obama isn't receiving extra protection from the government for poops and giggles. This stuff exists and you know it, whether you're voting for him or not.
Was?
BTTT
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