Paper Apologizes For Publishing 'Assassinate Obama' Ad

WARREN, Pa. — A northwestern Pennsylvania newspaper is apologizing for running a classified advertisement calling for the assassination of President Barack Obama.

Warren Times Observer Publisher John Elchert says the ad appeared Thursday. It read, "May Obama follow in the steps of Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy!" The four presidents were all assassinated.

Elchert tells The Associated Press that the newspaper's advertising staff didn't make the historical connection.

He says the newspaper turned information over to police and that the Secret Service is investigating the person who placed the ad.

A note in Friday's paper says the newspaper "apologizes for the oversight."

Comments

[ranch111]

People in PA sure are clingy.

[tippydog11]

no excuse period...w­onder who is behind this?

[Thaigold]

A crime has been commited here, and all persons of honor and personal integrity demand arrests. Anyone with a 6th grade education would see this ad as inflammatory and an appeal to the knuckle dragging fellow travers of the Un-American cretin that placed the ad.
Eckert needs to clean house in the editorial department or go to jail himself.

[LeCanadien]

Lock them up. Throw away key.

[backekuchen]

On first reading it sounds like "good wishes" for a successful presidency. Easy to see how it got by. It's only on reflection that you get the "real" idea.

[DaretoHOPE]

I suppose, if you consider that Garfield had a succesful presidency.

*sarcasim*

[bonkin]

So why wasn't the Secret Service notified? A written threat against the President of the United States is not protected under the right to free speach? I guess the nuckle dragging Republicans in western Penn. couldn't figure that out. Keep the hate up, start a race war, be careful what you wish for. The rest of the country is well over the era of Rednecks Rule.

[You]

Did you read the article?

[RepugsOut08]

Who did this paper hire to edit their ads? People from Leno's "Jay Walking" segments? Jeesh!

[DaretoHOPE]

LOL, good one.

[HyperInfluential]

Uh, nobody. It's not a huge newspaper like you must be remembering from movies. They probably have fewer than 25 people on staff, and none of them are tasked with examining the classified ads for coded messages.

[barksalot]

Speaking of poor journalism why no mention in any liberal rag about the voter intimidation case agains't black panther party members being throw out by the Obama justice dept. You would think they of all people would be sensitive to a case where these 3 men dressed as storm troopers stood in front of a polling place in Phllly and harrassed voters as they entered. I guess its payback time by Halder and Obama.

[solarian]

everyone at the paper should be arrested tratiors

[Beaucat]

Anyone who went to school back in the days when American History was a required subject would have picked up on this ad. I wouldn't be surprised if someone in the newspaper's advertising department actually did spot the Lincoln-Ga­rfield-McK­inley-Kenn­edy connection and let the ad run anyway. Newspapers can't afford to turn away advertising these days. It's easier to take the money and claim that somebody was asleep at the switch.

[babyboomerorig]

What??? There's no excuse for this kind of behavior..­..NONE!!

[HyperInfluential]

You make a very, very serious accusation when you say that the newspaper got the connection and ran the ad anyway. I, for one, haven't read anything that suggests anyone has evidence to support that extremely serious accusation. Remember, anyone who deliberately participated in this threat against the president's life is going to jail for a long time. This was a crime; you can't threaten the president. Are you SURE the newspaper would be in on something like that? POSITIVE it couldn't be a mistake? Think hard, because people's lives hang in the balance.

[joeyfoto]

Terrible story. The newspaper seems guilty of felonious copyediting. The worrisome part of this story is the morons out there who goad these monsters with hate on a daily basis. The sad clown, with a golden microphone for an imaginary friend, has no idea what would happen to America, if one of these marionettes did actually harm our president. There is a fringe of the lunatic fringe that is actually dangerous.

The loons, who bait such foul creatures with daily injections of hate, have no right to call themselves "patriots" when they are, in fact, hazards to the health of all Americans. The out-of-work politicians Bennett, Rove, Cheney, Tancredo, Gingrich are a toxic for the Republican Party; the potion masters Hannity, Beck, Limbaugh, Liddy, Coulter, are a national disgrace.

[mychagall]

Hopefully we could add Palin as an out-of-work politician that is "hazards to the health of all Americans".

[hawkseye]

Oversight?

[ChicagoBob]

How could a person advance from primary school without being able to make this connection?

[barra]

Don't get your conspiracy theories in a bunch!! So it slipped passed some minimum wager in the classifieds dept., it happens. Now you want the paper shut down? Most of the geniuses calling for that wouldn't have made the connection themselves if they hadn't been told. Heck, they probably wouldn't even know that the four names represented Presidents!! Now that they have been "enlightened", they assume that the newspaper was complicit and supported the ad.!!!!...­. and they're screaming for blood!!...­.Stick to the comics!!..­.....PATHE­TIC!!!

[mychagall]

barra,

It figures that you don't understand what took place! Just another ignorant comment!

[whatameye]

"...So it slipped past some minimum wager in the classifieds dept., it happens...­"

No, the editor who approves hat's finally printed is not some minimum wager. Also, when you see at the least Lincoln & Kennedy references, that should be a red flag. This isn't some high school newspaper.

Stop being such a dismissive tool.

[frontstreet]

A loyal Fox-viewing, teabagging dittohead, no doubt.