I think if they were protecting a White President they would have been a lot

[busterbrown]

more vigilant.. I’m sorry, but thats the way I feel..Oh yea. I know that several of the agents are Black, but you know what, I’m still pissed!!

[NYC_SKP]

1. I believe the first family were not at home.

Though I still understand your point.

I think they watch out for him very well.

[busterbrown]

12. There have been numerous threats against the President probably thousands..

With that in mind.. How the hell could this have happened..

[procon]

17. What possible excuse can anyone offer in defense of those Secret Service agents

charged with safeguarding the residence of the president and his family? In past administrations how many times did an intruder make it that far, or is this the new norm? Or do we need to hope that Obama will start keeping a loaded gun under his pillow for protection?

[jwirr]

48. The number of threats against this president and his family have been much higher than any before.

I give the Secret Services a lot of credit. Since the family was not in residence they probably did not have as many on site and even then they did what was needed.

[Nye Bevan]

62. Not true.

In 2009 the Secret Service stated that the volume of threats against Obama was "comparable to that under George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_threats_against_Barack_Obama

[jwirr]

63. I remember reading the 400% that one of the posts talked about here but I do not have a link.

[jberryhill]

2. What went wrong?

Who was not protected?

[whistler162]

29. No one was not protected just a case of

failed poutrage!

[Nye Bevan]

3. The Secret Service are racists, and because of that they are purposefully lax in protecting Obama?

That's quite an accusation.

[busterbrown]

7. Sorry.....

But thats the way I feel.. I trust very few who are in that line of work.
They are a couple of steps above cops.. And Cops certainly not to be trusted.. And of course not all..but yet...

[99Forever]

4. ...

[tritsofme]

5. Threads like this make DU look ridiculous.

[busterbrown]

9. Ridiculous to who?

The elite liberal population? Fuck that.. Why can’t we be a little irrational and speak from the heart?

[whistler162]

30. You forgot to put the little

into your irrationality.

Okay death threats are up. What percentage of them has the Secret Service ignored.

Fence jumping what are the numbers compared to previous administrations?

[jberryhill]

43. English speakers for one. It's "to whom".

[LiberalElite]

45. um, what's with

"the elite liberal population" Did you wander over from Discussionist?

[uponit7771]

24. Isn't it more ridiculous to act as if the contrast doesn't exist? tia

[jberryhill]

33. Jon Hinckley - taken alive. Lynette Fromme - taken alive

Last edited Sat Sep 20, 2014, 09:55 AM - Edit history (1)

And those people SHOT at a white president. What contrast are you talking about?

There have been fence jumpers galore at the White House.

The only potential WH intruder ever killed was that crazy lady who tried to crash the gate with a car a few months back. And that was because she went on a high speed run to the Capitol after that.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

54. There was also the guy who crashed a stolen airplane on the White House lawn.

He killed himself int the process. That was when Clinton was president. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Eugene_Corder

[ileus]

37. Sometimes DU sucks...

After all the Secret Service are just higher paid town cops.

Oh and they hate black presidents.

[cwydro]

53. I agree.

They protect the president. Period.

Op is insulting the secret service now.

[flvegan]

6. That's one hefty and unfounded emotional accusation.

[busterbrown]

8. Correct!!! But how many times have you heard the other side

engage in this type of rhetoric... Well its the way i feel in my heart.. Sorry!!

[AgingAmerican]

11. The other side

...are idiots.

[ZombieHorde]

61. So is a portion of our side. nt

[jberryhill]

44. Yes, well, we certainly wouldn't want the other side to beat us at being dumb

[AgingAmerican]

10. Utterly rediculous

nonsense

[busterbrown]

13. Again...

There have been countless threats against the President over the past 6 yrs..
I’ll ask, How the hell could this have happened..

[former9thward]

14. There are countless threats against any American president.

1 in 10 of our Presidents have been killed and others have been shot at. Your post is ridiculous.

[busterbrown]

15. Or you freaking telling me that there is a comparison to be made between

the death threats of past White Presidents to our first Black President?
In my opinion you sound ridiculous as well.

[former9thward]

16. Yes, I'm saying that.

You have information that is different. Please link to it.

[busterbrown]

18. Well...400%.is a good start to my argument..

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/25/1164628/--President-Barack-Obama-Is-the-Most-Threatened-President-In-History

[former9thward]

19. Sorry, but nice try.

Totally made up. You are quoting a tweet from someone nobody heard of. Where is a statement from the SS? It is not in your link. Made up shit.

[busterbrown]

20. Man, You’re giving yourself away..

Seem to be fighting this issue a little too much. You know the old
“Thou Protests Too Much”

The always-sharp Bob Johnson asked about sources, because the article I quoted above does no citing. Here are sources going back as far as 2009:
Report: Unprecedented Number Of Death Threats Against Obama -- And Secret Service Overwhelmed via TPM

The Boston Globe reports that a new internal Congressional Research Service report and government sources say there are an unprecedented number of death threats against President Obama -- and that the Secret Service is insufficiently funded and staffed to deal with them.
Barack Obama faces 30 death threats a day, stretching US Secret Service via The Telegraph:
Since Mr Obama took office, the rate of threats against the president has increased 400 per cent from the 3,000 a year or so under President George W. Bush, according to Ronald Kessler, author of In the President's Secret Service.
Death threats quadrupled over Bush–and, boy, was Bush a hated man. So the next time some right-winger says, "Oh, this isn't so different from all the threats Bush faced," you have my personal permission to tell her or him to eat Seamus dogshit for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a midnight snick-snack too.
UPDATE 2
Here's a quote from a Christian Science Monitor article from two days ago that disputes the notion that Obama gets more death threats than Bush did, posted by Bob Johnson in the comments:

While the Secret Service saw a spike in death threats in 2008 and again in 2012, the total number of daily threats against Obama is for the most part similar to those against his predecessor, George W. Bush, and has occasionally dipped significantly lower, according to reports from the Secret Service.
The article doesn't actually link to the report in question, but since we're a facts-based community here on dKos, I did also find this on Wikipedia:
The number of reported threats rose from 2,400 in 1965 to 12,800 in 1969.[11] According to some reports, President George W. Bush received about 3,000 threats a year, while his successor Barack Obama received about four times that many. This figure has been disputed by Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, who says that Obama receives about as many threats as the previous two Presidents.
One can only surmise that the frequency of death threats to the president are, unlike America itself, completely race-neutral!
Wait, what?

I'm suspicious of the claim that Clinton, Bush, and Obama each got the same number of death threats. Porque (if you're Latino; 'pourquoi' if you're French), you ask? Look, I'm sure when Clinton and Bush were respectively re-elected, no one said, "Fucking Nigger Won Again". I'm sure had Twitter been around in their days, the tweet map of hate speech might have looked a tad bit different. Who really knows the real reason AK-47s are flying off of store shelves like hotcakes. Or why or even whether it's actually true that self-reported or poll-detectable racist attitudes towards blacks have increased since Obama's election in 2008. I just, I don't know. How do you get a 755% growth in extremist groups driven by a Fear of a Black President but see no reflected rise in death threats? Sure, causation and correlation are different things, and you could theoretically have an increase in expressed racism, a rise in hate speech, and a rise in race-fueled hate groups, and yet see no concomittant rise in the number or f

[JustAnotherGen]

28. You are wasting your time

In the "New" Democratic Party - race doesn't exist. None of these problems exist. Republicans aren't bigots who hate black people. Republicans never ginned up that hatred since Obama won the nomination.

All is good.

There have never been racially charged images or accusations made against Obama.

This is the "New" Democratic Party.

We have to accept it? I don't know - but a Hispanic man murdered a young black kid in Florida two years ago and got away with it. And one got awful close to the White House. Both are useful tools for the Republicans and their policy of hate.

We have to accept it? I ask you this - What happens to a dream deferred?

You and me? We know. But don't waste your time. There is money to be made. Now go throw an elbow and knock someone else out of their American Dream. . A dream deferred . . .

[7962]

35. Guns "flew off the shelves" when clinton was Pres too, they thought he was banning them

[sabrina 1]

21. That is true of any president. Reagan was SHOT. How on earth did anyone get that

close to him? Were the SS lax in their duty because he was White? JFK? Lincoln?

There are thousands of plots against every US President. Teddy Roosevelt and FDR were shot at. It's part of the job description.

Seriously, these charges of racism every time the president is criticized for his policies, or something like this that happens to every president, WORSE has happened, are racist in themselves imo. It is singling him out BECAUSE he is African American rather than giving him the respect we give all presidents and simply be thankful that nothing happened to the POTUS, not the Black POTUS. He is the President of the US.

[busterbrown]

22. But...This tells a different story.

Part of an Blog from the Daily Kos:

The always-sharp Bob Johnson asked about sources, because the article I quoted above does no citing. Here are sources going back as far as 2009:
Report: Unprecedented Number Of Death Threats Against Obama -- And Secret Service Overwhelmed via TPM

The Boston Globe reports that a new internal Congressional Research Service report and government sources say there are an unprecedented number of death threats against President Obama -- and that the Secret Service is insufficiently funded and staffed to deal with them.
Barack Obama faces 30 death threats a day, stretching US Secret Service via The Telegraph:
Since Mr Obama took office, the rate of threats against the president has increased 400 per cent from the 3,000 a year or so under President George W. Bush, according to Ronald Kessler, author of In the President's Secret Service.
Death threats quadrupled over Bush–and, boy, was Bush a hated man. So the next time some right-winger says, "Oh, this isn't so different from all the threats Bush faced," you have my personal permission to tell her or him to eat Seamus dogshit for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a midnight snick-snack too.
UPDATE 2
Here's a quote from a Christian Science Monitor article from two days ago that disputes the notion that Obama gets more death threats than Bush did, posted by Bob Johnson in the comments:

While the Secret Service saw a spike in death threats in 2008 and again in 2012, the total number of daily threats against Obama is for the most part similar to those against his predecessor, George W. Bush, and has occasionally dipped significantly lower, according to reports from the Secret Service.
The article doesn't actually link to the report in question, but since we're a facts-based community here on dKos, I did also find this on Wikipedia:
The number of reported threats rose from 2,400 in 1965 to 12,800 in 1969.[11] According to some reports, President George W. Bush received about 3,000 threats a year, while his successor Barack Obama received about four times that many. This figure has been disputed by Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, who says that Obama receives about as many threats as the previous two Presidents.
One can only surmise that the frequency of death threats to the president are, unlike America itself, completely race-neutral!
Wait, what?

I'm suspicious of the claim that Clinton, Bush, and Obama each got the same number of death threats. Porque (if you're Latino; 'pourquoi' if you're French), you ask? Look, I'm sure when Clinton and Bush were respectively re-elected, no one said, "Fucking Nigger Won Again". I'm sure had Twitter been around in their days, the tweet map of hate speech might have looked a tad bit different. Who really knows the real reason AK-47s are flying off of store shelves like hotcakes. Or why or even whether it's actually true that self-reported or poll-detectable racist attitudes towards blacks have increased since Obama's election in 2008. I just, I don't know. How do you get a 755% growth in extremist groups driven by a Fear of a Black President but see no reflected rise in death threats? Sure, causation and correlation are different things, and you could theoretically have an increase in expressed racism, a rise in hate speech, and a rise in race-fueled hate groups, and yet see no concomittant rise in the number or f

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

56. If Obama has gotten more death threats than any other president,

and if the Secret Service is indeed racist and lax about protecting him, you'd think somebody would have gotten to him by now. But they haven't. So that makes me suspect that the Secret Service is actually doing an especially good job.

[Ms. Toad]

59. That's the point I was about to make -

A dramatic increase in threats, without a dramatic increase in close calls, supports a conclusion that the Secret Service is doing a better job than it has with previous white presidents (who were the who were the subject of quite a few close calls), more than the wild allegations the OP is making.

[WillowTree]

68. And lest we forget Squeaky Fromme and Sarah Jane Moore.

Two assassination attempts within a matter of days.

Oh.......and, if I recall correctly, Gerald Ford was white.

[onenote]

38. if the Secret Service wasn't vigilant, how is it that none of the threats

against the President have been successfully acted upon?

Your post is ridiculous.

[Skip Intro]

23. It's clearly all about race.

[DustyJoe]

25. Fences

So Mr Gonzoles jumped the fence.
He got caught.

His defense

Amnesty por favor ? I thought this was the border fence.

The Sep 11th fence jumper was immediately caught.

Gonzoles was reported to have jumped the fence and sprinted across the lawn. They could or should have shot him mid run I guess. They evacuated the place abd caught him.

Just can't see the racist aspect in this. Maybe time for a much more secure fence.

For all the people blaming the racist Secret Service Security that guards the president might need to know ..

Special agents of the U.S. Secret Service protect the president and his family. But responsibility for securing the White House itself falls to a branch of the service known as the Uniformed Division, consisting of 1,300-plus sworn police officers and technicians.

So who dropped the ball ? 1,300 cops did.

[whistler162]

26. Try typing in Bush Fence Jumpers

http://fencejumpers.blogspot.com/ out of date but still interesting.

[cali]

27. I don't buy that. It just doesn't make any sense.

[KinMd]

31. There's many more agents INSIDE,

and alot of doors to go through to get to the President. Maybe the sharp shooters on the roof should just kill anyone who jumps the fence

[jberryhill]

34. Yeah, what every family and workplace needs - twitchy fingered snipers on the roof

[SQUEE]

40. SO twitchy that they have never shot the dozens

of people that daily get up on the fence?

or the other more extreme's that climb it and make it to the grass?

or even the on that landed a plane on the lawn?

All that and not one "sniper" killed anyone... not so twitchy is it?

[jberryhill]

41. your reply seems to be in the wrong place

There are clearly those here who believe there should be a "shoot anything that moves" policy instead.

Or perhaps landmines should be installed.

[magical thyme]

32. You do realize the President had already left the building.

They get thousands of threats against the President. He's still with us. They're doing a good job.

[etherealtruth]

36. There is an increible amount of racism directed toward our president

... it plays out in overt and subtle ways.

Looking at the history of White House intruders ... this doesn't really seem to be an example of that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_intruders
(the list goes farther back in time)
August 4, 1980 - Michael John Strickland (DC001017A, Agency Case 337-267) jumped the White House fence on SW corner of ellipse, made it past the interior perimeter road but not within 100 yards of who appeared to be President Jimmy Carter on the south lawn before being arrested by uniformed secret service and/or park police. He was released on personal recognizance that day and eventually received a 1 year sentence for "Unlawful Entry" with all but 1 day suspended and 1 year probation.

March 3, 1984 – David Mahonski

January 20, 1985 – Robert Latta

March 15, 1985 – Chester Ramsey

August 21, 1986 (1:15 am) – Rosita Bourbon

November 21, 1987 – Mike Davis[6]

December 5, 1988 – Patrick Jude Laughlin

1991 – Gustav Leijohhufvud

September 12, 1994 – Frank Eugene Corder


October 29, 1994 – Francisco Martin Duran[7]
May 24, 1995 – Leland William Modjeski

October 4, 1996 – Leah Persons[citation needed]

February 8, 2001 – Robert W. Pickett[8]

October 4, 2005 – Shawn A. Cox[9]

April 9, 2006 – Brian Lee Patterson (third time)

October 13, 2006 – Alexis Janicki[10]

March 16, 2007 – Catalino Lucas Diaz[11]

June 9, 2009 – Pam Morgan[12]

November 24, 2009 – Carlos Allen; Michaele and Tareq Salahi[13][14] (see 2009 White House gatecrash incident)

June 9, 2013 - Joseph Clifford Reel, who was sentenced to 3 years in prison[15]

August 7, 2014 - An unknown toddler squeezed though the fence, and was returned to his parents.[16]

September 11, 2014 - A man wearing a Pikachu hat scaled the fence and entered the North Lawn.[17]

September 19, 2014 - Omar J. Gonzalez, jumped the fence from the Pennsylvania Avenue side of the White House. He is the first person to have made it into the White House (by rushing, not considering 2009 White House gatecrash incident) by having gone "through the North Portico doors." He was arrested and "taken to George Washington University Hospital after complaining of chest pains."[18]

[ksoze]

39. Insulting to those who do serve in the Secret Service

to assume they are protecting the man and not the office holder. Get a grip

[MineralMan]

42. How ridiculous!

Truly.

[alarimer]

46. Oh, FFS.

Not everything is racist.

[Takket]

49. OP is absurd

[aikoaiko]

50. So is the accusation LIHOP or MIHOP?

[NuclearDem]

51. I don't know, but in 50 years or so

On DU12, someone will head off to a conference on the issue...

[Iggo]

52. LOL.

LIHOP, I guess.

Those racist bastards!

[cwydro]

55. This may be the dumbest OP I've ever seen.

And that would be going some....

[busterbrown]

67. Maybe so...

But i just wonder if these higher paid COPS would agree with you..I think they would.. Now if these guys were having a few drinks with you... I just wonder if they let their feelings loose about our Pres, what they really felt about him, Would you be surprised if they repeated Fox News talking points about him.. I say they would and you are in a strange world if you think they wouldn’t..

Anyway I would say that at least 80% of these guys role with right wing talking points.. And you say that they are good to go.. Wake Up!!!

[840high]

57. Oh Jesus H....

[cilla4progress]

58. I agree.

Racism is very insidious.

[LostInAnomie]

60. Ugh... Nope.

DU just keeps getting worse and worse everyday.

[kiranon]

64. Secret Service failed and it doesn't matter who was

in the White House. No unauthorized person should be able to get to the doors and inside of the White House. Whoever was in charge that day should be gone.

[etherealtruth]

66. I would think they will be

Every breech at the White House is a tremendous breech of security.

I am wondering if "they" are less staffed when the POTUS is not present (ie the agents are with the POTUS) .... in any case, this was a serious eff up

[Iggo]

65. Oh, come on!