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[metta 0]

Secret Service visits Lufkin woman after 'death threat' allegation from an Obama campaign volunteer

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By JESSICA SAVAGE

The Lufkin Daily News

Monday, October 06, 2008

A Lufkin woman received a surprise visit from the Secret Service last week because of a "death threat" comment she reportedly made about Sen. Barack Obama to a campaign volunteer asking for her support of the presidential candidate.

Two federal agents arrived at Jessica Hughes' home Thursday to ask her if she said, "I will never support Obama and he will wind up dead on a hospital floor."

Jessica Savage/The Lufkin Daily News

(ENLARGE)

Jessica and Micah Hughes say two Secret Service agents showed up on their doorstep Thursday after a campaign volunteer for Sen. Barack Obama accused her of making a 'death threat' during a phone conversation a day earlier.

Hughes said her words were deliberately twisted by a volunteer who was apparently unhappy Hughes was rude during a phone conversation the two had. The Lufkin mother, a Republican, said she received a call on her cell phone Wednesday from a woman with the Obama Volunteers of Texarkana.

"She asked if I was an Obama supporter, to which I replied, 'No, I don't support him. Your guy is a socialist who voted four times in the state Senate to let little babies die in hospital closets; I think you should find something better to do with your time.' (And then) I hung up."

(Hughes is referring to a "born alive" Illinois bill that did not pass in the Illinois state Senate in 2005 and had previously been opposed by Obama because he said it undermined Roe v. Wade, according to FactCheck.org, a non-partisan organization. A federal version of the bill, which Obama said he would have supported, passed by unanimous consent and was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2002.)

Obama Campaign Communications for Texas director Josh Taylor declined to comment Monday, refusing to answer any questions and referring the matter to the Secret Service, which he said is conducting an investigation. A message left with a Secret Service agent in Houston was not immediately returned.

Hughes said she was surprised to see two Secret Service agents at her door, and upset to learn that the conversation she had with the volunteer apparently had not been recorded.

"I find it hard to believe that (campaign volunteers) don't tape these calls. They call people unsolicited and they aren't monitoring the calls or recording them? I think that is absolutely ridiculous," she said.

"I mean, how often must this happen — that someone is rude to a volunteer that they don't want to talk to?"

Hughes said she wants to file a countercomplaint against the volunteer.

"She has made a charge that will follow me the rest of my life," she said.

"I find that repugnant and violating — that some person got her undies in a bundle because she didn't like what I had to say."

Edited October 14, 2008 by metta

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Support McCain or else Allah wins.

[rocks 494]

i don't buy her excuses.

[Peikko 1,575]

Can we all play pin the blame tail on the Obama donkey?

Talk about scraping the barrell - these one off incidents tell us nothing. All we have is a 'he said/she said' from which we can deduce nothing sensible whatsoever. I suppose this is supposed to portray the 'character' of both Obama and his supporters? Right...

Oh, and I would be as interested if this was a vice versa situation.

Edited October 14, 2008 by Madame Cleo

[SteveLaura 0]

It doesn't ring true to me. The Secret Service intervene after her 5 second speech? Methinks she possibly said a tad more. After finding out that the conversation wasn't taped, she can, of course, now say anything she likes.

[KiKi 0]

Yawn

[Peikko 1,575]

It may be true, I don't really care one way or another in terms of whether this has any political importance - the people on the phones canvassing are just people - some of whom may well be nutters ON BOTH SIDES.

Edited October 14, 2008 by Madame Cleo

[HAL 9000 96]

Death threats- real or not, are taken seriously. Its the same thing as crying "bomb" in an airport. Get over it.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

It may be true, I don't really care one way or another in terms of whether this has any political importance - the people on the phones canvassing are just people - some of whom may well be nutters ON BOTH SIDES.

Pretty much. You can't control what people do in your name - but you can ensure that you distance yourself from those people and their tactics.

[Niels Bohr 72]

"She asked if I was an Obama supporter, to which I replied, 'No, I don't support him. Your guy is a socialist who voted four times in the state Senate to let little babies die in hospital closets; I think you should find something better to do with your time.'

Where's the proof, lady? ROFL.

[alienlovechild 75]

It doesn't ring true to me. The Secret Service intervene after her 5 second speech? Methinks she possibly said a tad more. After finding out that the conversation wasn't taped, she can, of course, now say anything she likes.

Oh, so you people don't believe someone's else story. Notice Mrs. Hughes assumed the call was taped to provide exculpatory evidence for the Obama campaign and people called in the event of trouble.

Hughes said she was surprised to see two Secret Service agents at her door, and upset to learn that the conversation she had with the volunteer apparently had not been recorded.

The Obama campaigner may have heard incorrectly but Mrs. Hughes is going pay by ending up on the Secret Service watch list. How you like to be on this this list civil libertarians?

"The Office of Protective Research conducts background checks on individuals who have made threats against the President or other people protected by the Secret Service. It keeps tabs on more than 50,000 individuals who are viewed as potential threats to the President. Some 400 people on the “watch list” are placed under surveillance when the President is in their vicinity."

http://www.answers.com/topic/u-s-secret-service

[HAL 9000 96]

Answered your own question, genius. Make a threat, make a perceived threat- get investigated. Simple as that. Get over it and move on to another topic.

[alienlovechild 75]

Answered your own question, genius. Make a threat, make a perceived threat- get investigated. Simple as that. Get over it and move on to another topic.

Sounds fair enough. If Obama wins a lot more people than usual will be accused of making "perceived threats" in addition to the real threats.

Edited October 14, 2008 by alienlovechild

[Niels Bohr 72]

Why would somebody have a nerve of saying untrue things, and then be ignorant about it. Geesh. She's denying a vote for OBAMA based on ILLOGICAL AND IRRATIONAL VIEWS! Something is wrong with that family. I'm like, COME ON WOMAN! Have you learned the foundation for making decisions based on true accounts.

Can't believe that in this day in age, there are still voters believing things or making up things to defend their status without having a grasp on the reality.

[HAL 9000 96]

Answered your own question, genius. Make a threat, make a perceived threat- get investigated. Simple as that. Get over it and move on to another topic.

Sounds fair enough. If Obama wins a lot more people than usual will be accused of making "perceived threats" in addition to the real threats.

We can leave that to the criteria of the Secret Service when they investigate, not to what one message board poster decides what is perceived.