A local Maine town official has attracted a lot of attention from his neighbors, the Secret Service and the FBI. David Marsters (image, top) retired as a police officer and now lives in the small town of Sabattus, Maine, where the population is about 5000. Last week, Marsters shared on his Facebook page an article from a right wing website, United Liberty, which advocated for the impeachment of President Barack Obama. On his Facebook post, Marsters reportedly wrote, “Shoot the Nigger.”
His neighbors and local law enforcement complained, and the feds showed up at his door.
He denies any wrongdoing, and says he didn’t threaten the president. “I didn’t say I was going to do it,” he told the Portland Press Herald. He also claimed his comments were taken out of context, although it’s unclear how that’s possible.
“I think it’s a lot of hogwash,” Marsters said in a telephone interview with the Herald. “I did not threaten the president. … I might have used the wrong words. … I didn’t say I was going to do it.”
“What I really meant to say is, ‘When are we going to get rid of this (expletive),'” he said. “I should have said, ‘I hope the bastard dies.'”
The Herald also notes some of Marsters other Facebook comments:
“Maybe Seal Team 6 should look him up.”
“He is not a legal president.”
Image, right: Original Facebook post Marsters then shared. You can see a copy of Marsters’ Facebook post with the racial slur here.
Town officials are not pleased.
“In three words, this statement incites violence to the level of murder, advocates for the assassination of a United States president, and uses what is likely the most deplorable racial slur in American history — all in one short sentence; all forming such a hateful statement and sentiment,” Town Manager Andrew Gilmore said in a statement, the Herald reports.
Marsters, 68, is running for town selectman, and reportedly on a platform that includes forcing the head of every household to own a gun. He currently “serves on the town’s charter commission, the budget committee, the ordinance review committee and a public works citizen advisory committee,” the Herald notes.
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Image, top, via Google+. Hat-tip: New York Magazine and Talking Points Memo