PA newspaper apologizes for ad that calls for the president’s assassination

Jun 1, 2009

WARREN, Pa. (AP) — Wanted: an assassination? It’s hardly a suitable subject for a classified ad. And now, a northwestern Pennsylvania newspaper is apologizing for an ad that calls for the assassination of President Barack Obama.

The publisher for the Warren Times Observer says the ad appeared last Thursday. It read: “May Obama follow in the steps of Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy!” The four presidents were all shot to death while in office. The publisher says the ad department didn’t catch the reference.

The newspaper says it has turned the information over to police and that the Secret Service is also investigating the person who placed the ad. A note in Friday’s edition of the paper apologizes for what it calls ‘the oversight.”