The story:

This morning brought news of a poll posted to Facebook that call for members of the social networking site to answer the question, “Should Obama be killed?”

A user created the poll using a Facebook application on Sunday, and it was brought to wider attention earlier this morning. The optional responses pointed to the ongoing health care reform debate that is being widely discussed nationwide.

The site responded to the attention by disabling the application used to create the online poll. RAW STORY contacted Barry Schnitt, director of policy communications for Facebook, and he had this to say, “We’re following up [with] the developer to ensure the offending content has been removed and that they have better procedures in place going forward to monitor their user-generated content.”

We featured the original story on the Current.com homepage, and not surprisingly our community was pretty disgusted by the mere concept. Even more interesting is the results:

As of noon Monday, 90 percent of respondents had said “no.” Just over five percent said yes, 2.6 percent said maybe, and 1.9 percent said “if he cuts my health care.”

That even 5% of the respondents said “yes” is pretty surprising, and it prompted wayseeker to add:

“Could be another symptom of a cancer growing within our society perpetuated by the radical element of the conservative movement or it could be just a stupid childish prank. Let’s hope it’s the latter.”

Well, I don't know if this question was ever asked about previous presidents and how it was answered ... I suspect and hope that most of the people answering "yes" are just being idiots rather than what they seem.

What is however interesting is that facebook decided to pull this poll (no double entente intended). Surely this was a golden opportunity to acquire a few ip addresses ... though I do expect the folks who voted yes to be on someones list.

I don't know, I have argued in the past that the right and left wing demagogues are fueling an ultra-divisive frenzy ... the Pittsburgh police killing, some of the odd to say the least sign at the recent tea parties, are but a couple of examples.

However, without a similar historical poll it is impossible to establish causality. It may simply be a disturbing yet ordinary segment of the population that always feels this way.

And that is why I believe they really should have let it stand open to everyone. It's way better to be aware of these unpleasant facts than to bury one's head in the sand and hope for the best ... only to act surprised when the worse happens.

Thought?