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November 24, 2009
Just doin' my job!
Regular readers know that I am not a fan of WorldNetDaily or Alan Keyes, nor am I impressed with the various Birth Certificate conspiracy theories. But sometimes fantasy collides with reality, and when it does, I have to become a patient analyst. At least in terms of free speech, this is still a free country. People can rant all they want about anything they want, but when the government comes to get them, then I become alarmed. I would defend the free speech rights of Nazis or anyone else, and when I see allegations and discussion about someone being threatened with arrest and prosecution for free speech, I want to know what is going on. Please bear with me, as I'm trying to be thorough here. What set me off was a claim -- by Alan Keyes in WorldNetDaily -- that a federal visit to question the Reverend James David Manning about his statements was "an intolerable assault on the constitutional freedom of every American." Rev. Manning produces a daily video series in which he has repeatedly and consistently aired these views. Now it appears that the YouTube account through which he shared these videos with the public has been suspended on the grounds that his views are too controversial. Close on the heels of this obvious effort to limit his ability to communicate with the public, he now reports that he has been visited by federal agents who questioned him about statements he made regarding "the birth certificate issue" and his opinion that Obama is an illegal alien, not qualified to be president of the United States. As a result of this visit, Rev. Manning says that he expects to be arrested and charged with making threats against the president.Etc. Assuming the federal visit took place (which I think it did), is it an assault on the constitutional freedom of every American? Exactly what happened? Are questions like that still relevant? Perhaps not to conspiracy theorists like Keyes, but my worry is that if statements like that go unexamined, the chorus of people thinking we're living under martial law and being ruled by a foreign usurper will grow. (Which means that as an enemy of civil war in the United States, I feel an obligation to pay attention when they make claims like this one.) Manning has a number of defenders who simply say he never threatened the life of anyone but that "God will use his arrest to finally bring about the truth regarding Obama's citizenship." And Manning himself has released this long explanation of why he does not advocate the assassination of Barack Obama. It took me some time to locate the actual video in question which interested the feds, which I found referred to (but not linked) at a Freeper discussion and in various posts. I had long considered Manning to be a kook, but while searching for the video that led to the federal visit, I learned that the man (Wiki entry here) is even more of a kook than I thought. Perhaps I am sick and jaded, but I find his videos quite entertaining from a humor standpoint, and his buffoonish style reminds me of Jeremiah Wright. Here in "White folk ain't gonna take it no mo!," he carries on at great length about how white folks will and should riot, how NRA members will be coming into black neighborhoods to shoot people, and he concludes by singing a song about Barack Obama's alleged homosexuality: "Obama and Larry Sinclair, they had a steamy love affair!" I am not alone in finding him funny; Howard Stern knows talent when he sees it, and has had him on his show. And in what I was looking for -- the video which interested the federal agents -- he calls Glenn Beck a "Nazi Idiot," beseeches the Tea Bag people to go viral about the birth certificate issue, and generally condemns the futility of the Tea Party Movement for its failure to properly combat the destruction of the Constitution and the United States, which requires focusing on the real issue, which Manning sees as Obama's foreign birth. In the video, he actually says "Hang him!" and "Shoot him!" in reference to President Obama, and as I try to be thorough, my transcription of his words follows. At 4:16 comes this advice for the "Tea Bag" people: Don't you understand? White and black. They don't care!When someone says "hang him!" and "shoot him!" with reference to the president of the United States, it is the job of the Secret Service to investigate -- which they probably did, and which they certainly should. Considering his statements in the video, it is extremely misleading to say that "federal agents" "questioned him about statements he made regarding "the birth certificate issue" and his opinion that Obama is an illegal alien. I don't know whether his arrest is imminent as he claims it is, but he was really pushing the envelope, and what he said almost sounds as if it had been deliberately scripted to provoke an investigation, yet because he does not actually advocate assassination, it falls short of the standard needed to bring actual charges. I can remember back in the But they had to question him -- and they should question anyone who talks like that in order to find out exactly what they mean, and whether there was a threat to kill the president. (Legally, the Secret Service has to investigate such statements as part of their job.) As to why he would talk that way, it's pure speculation on my part, but a post in support of Manning made me think that the goal might be to deliberately trigger an arrest in order to get a foot in the door for an actual federal court trial on the Birth Certificate issue: Though he did not go into detail about the specifics of the alleged encounter (and probably with good reason), Manning did say that the agents asked him about certain statements that he made about President Obama in a video message distributed by ATLAH Ministries entitled "Tea Party Members: Go Viral On The Birth Certificate".The latter is quite interesting (although I don't think it's up to God), because if he had been charged with threatening the life of the president, his lawyers might claim in his defense that because the law makes it a crime to threaten the president of the United States, and because every element of the crime must be proven, that it is vital to his defense to explore the birth certificate issue in detail. Doubtless, some of the more radical Birth Certificate Truthers (some or whom seem already allied with Manning) could be expected to support this position wholeheartedly -- as their one hope of finally seeing the "long form" they've been demanding. Of course, the downside is that if the documents prove conclusively that Obama was born in Hawaii, then the case would continue. (Unless the "natural born citizen" argument is raised too. But for reasons I explained here, I think that the courts would reject it out of hand.) Again, this is pure speculation, but if my suspicions are correct, the whole matter reveals not an "intolerable assault on the constitutional freedom of every American," but shows the irresponsible lengths some people are willing to go for an irresponsible cause. So basically, Reverend Manning was just doing his job when he said what he said. And the Secret Service were doing theirs. And because I don't want a civil war, I'm just doing mine. MORE: Presidential treason is not new. It didn't start with Obama, or even Bush.
posted by Eric on 11.24.09 at 12:20 PM
Comments
Thank you, Eric, for doing your job. I have a pony in this show. My own grandfather was jailed for threatening the life of Woodrow Wilson. Grandpa was a life-long Republican who voted for Wilson solely on his promise to "keep us out of the war in Europe" - and he felt betrayed. I think you see what is going on here. I hope it's just bluster, but fear it is something else.
Frank · November 25, 2009 12:54 AM Here's a simple test: How loudly would the liberals have shrieked about "FASCISM!" if the Secret Service had seriously investigated every loudmouth who wished Bush would die? The Secret Service would have become the largest branch of government in order to check out all the hateful blog posts, bumper stickers, crudely-lettered signs, etc. This is deliberate intimidation, not reasonable law enforcement. The Secret Service are being politicized along with every other part of the Federal government. We are becoming a one-party state. And just for the benefit of any stool pigeons reading this: I don't want Obama assassinated or executed; that would turn him into a lefty martyr (which is why so many of his "supporters" obsessively fantasize about it). I want him jailed. Trimegistus · November 25, 2009 09:14 AM Trimegistrus, you have a good point that there is a double standard. But had Jeremiah Wright said exactly the same thing about Bush that Manning said about Obama, it would have been entirely appropriate to investigate. As to wanting Obama jailed, I heard that stuff for years about Bush and Cheney, and I predict that it will not happen. I don't want him jailed. I just want him voted out. Eric Scheie · November 25, 2009 01:47 PM Post a comment
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Call me a cynic but....
If you're railing against an illegal, repressive gov't, it helps your cause if you can say, "They're repressing me. Look at the violence inherent in the system."
Helps your fundraising too I imagine.
The worst part is that fake claims make it hard when real ones pop up, like oh... say... that Walpin dude.