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Sarcasm or threat: Did Rex Rammell cross the line?

Statesman staff - Idaho Statesman

Published: 08/28/09


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At a GOP rally Tuesday in Twin Falls, someone shouted "Obama tags."

Rex Rammell said: "The Obama tags? We'd buy some of those," the Twin Falls Times-News reported.

Rammell, a former elk rancher and Senate candidate who is challenging Gov. Butch Otter in 2010, said he was being sarcastic.

The reaction: "He and his party should tone down the violent rhetoric," said Idaho Democratic Chairman Jim Hansen. "It distresses me that the governor and the Republican leaders of the state immediately ... didn't say, 'This doesn't reflect our party.' " Jonathan Parker, executive director of Idaho's GOP, did just that Thursday night: "The Idaho Republican Party does not condone Rex Rammell's comments, whether in jest or not."

Threatening the president is a felony punishable by five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The FBI wouldn't comment; an Idaho Secret Service official hadn't heard of the incident. "I'm probably safe," Rammell told the AP. "I'm not the one that started the whole thing. What I would say to all my Democrat Idahoans, 'Take a deep breath and relax. We're not going to go out and hunt Obama.' "

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