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| Home Front: Politix |
| "We Will Kill You" |
| 2008-06-19 |
| Steve Corbett Reporting In the thousands of emails I’ve received in the year that “Corbett” has been on the air, I have not received a single death threat - until yesterday. “We will kill you when Obama become PRESIDENT OF USA.,” the email reads. “You would see!!!” Most death threats do not result in death. But some do. What makes this threat to kill me all the more mysterious is that it appears to have been sent through Barack Obama’s official campaign website – barackobama.com – the website that sends me official announcements of Obama’s campaign comings and goings. To make matters worse, the email is signed “Michelle Michelle & Axelrod.” I took Axelrod to be David Axelrod, Obama’s Chicago-based chief strategist. Michelle Michelle was odd, but I had received an earlier email yesterday that I also read on the air. That one called me anti-American, added a four-letter flourish and advised me to shut up. That one bore the name Michelle Obama, who is Barack’s wife. Both emails came to me under the email heading of “Michelle Obama [michelle.obama@barackobama.com]. Both emails came to me under the subject line “Fight the smears against Barack Obama” and originated from barackobama.com. I had received an earlier email from the campaign that was legitimate. Also sent from barackobama.com, it alerted me to Obama’s planned campaign stops in Philadelphia. That’s why I figured that the next email that seemingly originated from the same place was legit. But how could I possibly get a death threat from the official Obama website? With all the gushing news about how savvy the Obama campaign is in their high-tech internet ability, how could anybody send an email on the official website that threatens to kill somebody? After asking this question on the air yesterday, I soon received an email of explanation – not from anybody associated with the Obama campaign, through, but from a listener who walked me through the process of sending any email from the official Obama site with any message and bearing any name – including Barack’s. It’s so simple, the email explained, and so stupid. It’s so dangerous, too. I’ve received my share of threats over the years and took one seriously enough to alert Wilkes-Barre police as well as the FBI who launched an unsuccessful criminal investigation. The idea that Obama’s website can be so easily compromised is troubling. That’s why I’m thinking about calling the cops and asking them to try to find out who threatened to kill me as soon as Obama becomes the president. I could laugh and just say that I now have yet another reason to work against Obama winning the election. But I’m not laughing. The emails I’ve been receiving daily about my unwavering support for Hillary Clinton, including a particularly nasty one yesterday from an Obama volunteer in Wilkes-Barre, have become increasingly aggressive. So have some of the calls to my show. Now somebody has gone too far. Obama needs to safeguard his website so this does not happen again to anybody. If I sent the same message I got to the same email address from which it came, Secret Service agents would soon be looking for me – as they should. I need to know who did this. I need to know if she/he or they are serious. I need the sender or senders to know something, as well. I always do my best to protect myself – especially when you threaten to kill me |
| Posted by:Beavis |
| #1 I think he shouldn't consider it a death threat against himself, instead, he should immediately report it to the United States Secret Service, as a potential death threat against Obama. This is not a joke, as forensic psychiatrists could point out that individuals who make death threats often carry them out -- but not against their named target -- against whoever is handy. And with that logic, if whoever sent that death threat is anywhere in the proximity of candidate Obama, they most definitely represent a potential threat to his, Obama's life. And protecting that life is the responsibility of the USSS. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-06-19 14:20 |