Republican hopeful "jokes" about hunting and shooting the President

www.macleans.ca/world/wire/article.jsp?content=w271647019 August 27, 2009 - 20:03 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BOISE, Idaho - An Idaho Republican gubernatorial hopeful insists he was only joking when he said he'd buy a license to hunt President Barack Obama. Rex Rammell, a long-shot candidate slated to run against incumbent C.L. "Butch" Otter in the May 2010 Republican primary, made the comment at a rally Tuesday in Twin Falls where talk turned to the state's planned wolf hunt, for which hunters must purchase an $11.50 wolf tag. The hunt is due to begin on Tuesday. When an audience member shouted a question about "Obama tags," Rammell responded, "The Obama tags? We'd buy some of those." Rammell told The Associated Press Thursday he sees no reason to apologize for the comment because it was just a joke. "What I would say to all my Democrat Idahoans: Take a deep breath and relax," he said. "We're not going to go out and hunt Obama." He also told the Times-News newspaper, "I would never support him being assassinated." After Rammell's comment was published in the Times-News, he said one person sent him an email indicating he would ask the FBI for an investigation. Threatening the president can be a felony punishable by five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. "I'm probably safe," Rammell said. "I'm not the one that started the whole thing." Debbie Dujanovic Bertram, an FBI spokeswoman in Salt Lake City, said the agency couldn't comment on whether it was investigating or if it had received a complaint. "I think the Republican Party in this state and elsewhere would be well served by making it clear those types of comments are very inappropriate," Democratic Party Chairman Keith Roark said. Officials with the Idaho Republican Party in Boise didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment.