Bipartisan Concern about the Dangers of McPalin’s Hate-Mongering
Former McCain Campaign Chair John Weaver:
John Weaver, McCain’s former top strategist, said top Republicans have a responsibility to temper this behavior.
“People need to understand, for moral reasons and the protection of our civil society, the differences with Sen. Obama are ideological, based on clear differences on policy and a lack of experience compared to Sen. McCain,” Weaver said. “And from a purely practical political vantage point, please find me a swing voter, an undecided independent, or a torn female voter that finds an angry mob mentality attractive.”
“Sen. Obama is a classic liberal with an outdated economic agenda. We should take that agenda on in a robust manner. As a party we should not and must not stand by as the small amount of haters in our society question whether he is as American as the rest of us. Shame on them and shame on us if we allow this to take hold.”
Republican advisor David Gergen:
COOPER: There’s also the question of ruling after this, and bringing the country together. It’s going to be all the more harder to do that whoever wins with all this anger out there.
GERGEN: This—I think one of the most striking things we’ve seen now in the last few day. We’ve seen it in a Palin rally. We saw it at the McCain rally today. And we saw it to a considerable degree during the rescue package legislation. There is this free floating sort of whipping around anger that could really lead to some violence. I think we’re not far from that.
COOPER: Really?
GERGEN: I think it’s so—well, I really worry when we get people—when you get the kind of rhetoric that you’re getting at these rallies now. I think it’s really imperative that the candidates try to calm people down. And that’s why I’ve argued not only because of the question of the ugliness of it.
John McCain: If your campaign does not stop equating Sen. Barack Obama with terrorism, questioning his patriotism and portraying Mr. Obama as "not one of us," I accuse you of deliberately feeding the most unhinged elements of our society the red meat of hate, and therefore of potentially instigating violence.
[snip]
Stop! Think! Your rallies are beginning to look, sound, feel and smell like lynch mobs.
John McCain, you’re walking a perilous line. If you do not stand up for all that is good in America and declare that Senator Obama is a patriot, fit for office, and denounce your hate-filled supporters when they scream out "Terrorist" or "Kill him," history will hold you responsible for all that follows.
John McCain and Sarah Palin, you are playing with fire, and you know it. You are unleashing the monster of American hatred and prejudice, to the peril of all of us. You are doing this in wartime. You are doing this as our economy collapses. You are doing this in a country with a history of assassinations.
Change the atmosphere of your campaign. Talk about the issues at hand. Make your case. But stop stirring up the lunatic fringe of haters, or risk suffering the judgment of history and the loathing of the American people – forever.
We will hold you responsible.
Retiring GOP Congressman Ray LaHood:
LaHood supports the McCain ticket, but doesn’t like what he sees at some of the McCain-Palin rallies: When Barack Obama’s name has been mentioned by Sarah Palin, there are shouts of "terrorist," and LaHood says Palin should put a stop to it.
"Look it. This doesn’t befit the office that she’s running for. And frankly, people don’t like it."
Congressman LaHood says it could backfire on the Republican ticket.
He says the names that Obama is being called, "Certainly don’t reflect the character of the man."
When the McCain campaign cast the spell of diabolical jingoism, they have no idea of the forces they are toying with. We remember Martin Luther King’s murder as a sad and tragic event. Less remembered is the fact that ground-work for King’s murder was seeded, not simply by rank white supremacy, but by people who slandered King as a communist.
This was not some notion bandied about by conspiracy theorist, but an accusation proffered by men who were the pillars of the modern Republican Party:
As late as 1964, Falwell was attacking the 1964 Civil Rights Act as "civil wrongs" legislation. He questioned "the sincerity and intentions of some civil rights leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., James Farmer, and others, who are known to have left-wing associations." Falwell charged, "It is very obvious that the Communists, as they do in all parts of the world, are taking advantage of a tense situation in our land, and are exploiting every incident to bring about violence and bloodshed."
Falwell was not alone. These men didn’t kill Martin Luther King, but they contributed to an atmosphere of nationalism, white supremacy and cheap unreflective patriotism that ultimately got a lot of people killed. Confronted with Aparthied South Africa, men like Helms and Falwell used the same "communist" defense. While Mandella wasted away in prison, they dismissed the whole thing as a communist plot.
Let me be clear–This is the ghost that McCain Campaign is summoning. This is the Ring Of Power that they want to wield. The Muslim charge, the "Hussein" thing is nothing more than today’s red-baiting, and it is what it was then–a cover for racists.
Those who press this Ayers line of attack are whipping Republicans and conservatives into a fury that is going to be very hard to calm after November. Is it really wise to send conservatives into opposition in a mood of disdain and fury for a man who may well be the next president of the United States, incidentally the first African-American president? Anger is a very bad political adviser. It can isolate us and push us to the extremes at exactly the moment when we ought to be rebuilding, rethinking, regrouping and recruiting.
But seriously, folks, I’m beginning to worry about the level of craziness on the Republican side, the over-the-top, stampede-the-crowd statements by everyone from McCain on down, the vehemence of the crowds that McCain and Palin are drawing with people shouting "Kill him" and "He’s a terrorist" and "Off with his head."
Watch the tape of the guy screaming, "He’s a terrorist!" McCain seems to shudder at that, he rolls his eyes… and I thought for a moment he’d admonish the man. But he didn’t. And now he’s selling the Ayres non-story full-time. Yes, yes, it’s all he has. True enough: he no longer has his honor. But we are on the edge of some real serious craziness here and it would be nice if McCain did the right thing and told his more bloodthirsty supporters to go home and take a cold shower.
We are entering a turbulent period in our country. Validating a bogus accusation that your political rival is a terrorist in our current environment is the most irresponsible thing I’ve seen a campaign do in many a year. They know they are very likely going to lose this election. And McCain certainly knows that the main reason he is losing is because of the dramatic failures of fellow failed Republican George W. Bush. But even knowing that his candidacy was always very likely doomed is not stopping him from releasing this poison into the bloodstream of the body politic, a poison which will be with us for a long time to come. I guess that’s what McCain means when he says that Americans should fight for a cause greater than themselves. That cause, evidently, is him.
McCain and Palin have decided to stoke this rage, to foment it, to encourage paranoid notions that somehow Obama is a "secret" terrorist or Islamist or foreigner. These are base emotions in both sense of the word.
But they are also very very dangerous. This is a moment of maximal physical danger for the young Democratic nominee. And McCain is playing with fire. If he really wants to put country first, he will attack Obama on his policies – not on these inflammatory, personal, creepy grounds. This is getting close to the atmosphere stoked by the Israeli far right before the assassination of Rabin.
For God’s sake, McCain, stop it. For once in this campaign, put your country first.
Sen. John McCain, Gov. Sarah Palin and the leadership of the Republican party have a fundamental moral responsibility to denounce the violent rhetoric that has pervaded recent McCain and Palin political rallies. When rally attendees shout out such attacks as "terrorist" or "kill him" about Sen. Barack Obama, when they are cheered on by crowds incited by McCain-Palin rhetoric — it is chilling that McCain and Palin do nothing to object.
The crisis isn’t the only scary thing going on. Something very ugly is taking shape on the political scene: as McCain’s chances fade, the crowds at his rallies are, by all accounts, increasingly gripped by insane rage. It’s not just a mob phenomenon — it’s visible in the right-wing media, and to some extent in the speeches of McCain and Palin.
[snip]
What happens when Obama is elected? It will be even worse than it was in the Clinton years. For sure there will be crazy accusations, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some violence.
To my knowledge neither McCain nor Palin has uttered a single syllable of protest as their crowds indulged their fear and loathing of Obama. It’s hard to overstate how reckless and lacking in leadership this is — and how dangerous this is, too.
[snip]
But neither McCain nor Palin has taken a single step to do anything like that. Surely that’s the big story here.
Digg is open, ladies and gents.
Somehow, I don’t think RednecksforObama.org is going to be the tool to take care of this.
And they will pretend to be so saddened when something horrible does happen.
But not too sad to admonish us…remember Wellstone’s funeral…for grieving too loudly.
Thanks ew.
digg
This reckless rage reminds me also of what the John Birch Society, et.al., whipped-up against John Kennedy, especially in north Texas and Dallas in particular in 1963.
Sullivan: “…put your country first.”
Those words define the entire problem that is and has been facing all of us. There are those of us ordinary citizens who believe in that, who abide by our laws, pay taxes, and generally believe in our leaders (or try to).
Then there are those who have run this country for the last eight years to benefit themselves only, with no thought of the havoc they were creating. Laws do not apply to them, or must be bent to suit special circumstances. Regulations are a hindrance to their freedoms. For them it has been PARTY first — the country itself does not matter.
There is a moral line, obviously, between exciting the crowds and inciting violence or insurrection. I don’t think what we are seeing is much different than what Hitler or others have done to seize power in the past. I get the feeling that they will be gleefully happy if violence occurs in the near future.
Personally, I never thought that I would see activities such as this in our United States in my lifetime…
Agree with your points.
Although I’m of the view that ‘neoFeudalists’ who support the GOP as a party are probably a bizarre mix of ‘investors,’ some of them foreign, who want US regulations destroyed so that they can loot and pillage more easily. The GOP has been their vehicle to get much of what they want. The irony of watching McCain-Palin supporters foment hatred on behalf of keeping such a corrupt, exploitive GOP-enabled structure in place is a bit mind-boggling.
As a digression, ‘neoFeudalists‘ actually put me in mind of the behavior of wasps out to invade a beehive. Bear with me:
Bees make honey, one of the most energy-rich forms of food.
Bees do not eat meat; they only eat plant-based nutrients.
Bees have to defend their hives against all kinds of predators, but one of the biggest dangers to a beehive is invasion by wasps.
Wasps can not make honey.
Wasps are carnivorous; they eat carnage. But they also love honey for its energy density.
Because wasps can’t make honey; the only way they can obtain it is to invade a beehive, kill all the bees, and eat up all the honey.
In other words, they kill what feeds them.
Then they go find another hive.
The ‘GOP investors’ seem to be a lot like wasps.
And us worker bees…?
Doesn’t matter to them that they’ve killed our ‘hive’. They’ll just go in search of the next ‘opportunity’.
They have to; they can’t make their own food.
They’re predators.
Their roles in the ecosystem seem to be ‘destroyer, pillager, thief’.
Basically, watching those McCain-Palin supporters hollering about what a big danger Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Dodd, and the Dems are seems like watching bunch of little worker bees yelling, “We want wasps to rule us! Let the wasps keep invading our livlihoods! We want the Wasps to eat all our honey!!”
Evidently, I have a rather odd view of it all.
But the part that I think I **do** get is the social behavior; when wasps or bees get in a humming frenzy, they buzz, buzz, buzz and they will kill every single ‘opponent’ until they literally drop dead themselves.
So wise leaders do not incite a hive.
Agree that Frank Schaeffer is worth reading in entirety; he nails the dangers of the fire that Palin is lighting, and McCain is failing to douse. More strong evidence that neither is fit to lead.
On the upside, haven’t Howard Dean, the Dems, BlueAmerica, and Obama been building some fantastic new hives? That’s the really cool upside.
And even the meanest, sleaziest remarks of the GOP, Palin, and McCain can’t undo it.
That part is VERY cool ;-))
Make no mistake, if Obama loses and there is any hint of Republican voter suppression/fraud, I fear we will witness riots like we haven’t seen in decades.
But if Obama is asassinated because of the Republican ticket’s behavior, the financial meltdown will seem tame compared to what our society will experience.
Updated with Frank Schaeffer–definitely click through to read the whole thing.
Wow. Schaeffer nails it.
Palin is playing with fire, all right, but I think McCain is more caught up by the whole thing and doesn’t have a clue about where to go or what to say or how to react.
For years the GOP radio talkers have whipped up the fear and hatred, and the GOP leaders in DC were able to use that fear by directing it in ways that were helpful to their cause. Today, there’s no leadership providing direction — just stoking the fires.
Instead of the GOP leaders using the crowds, the crowds are driving the leaders. They shout, and McCain reacts; they scream, and Palin cheers; they raise their anger to a fevered pitch . . . and no one does a damn thing about it.
Don’t forget that McCain was prepared to “wink” at the misogyny directed at Hillary Clinton, when he was asked how “to beat the Bitch” and he didn’t dispute the term. I don’t think that he is at heart a racist in the way George Allen Jr. is, despite the Confederate flag, the MLK holiday, or “that One”, – but in the end, is there really any difference between being an avowed racist/misogynist, or just going alone with them when it comes to holding the Presidency?
They aren’t pulling back, they’re ramping up the hate. He’s threatening to prosecute Chris Dodd and Barney Frank for … something …
McStain.
Ever seen a weak man whose soul has been eaten out and replaced by something dark? The man is promising witchhunting and purges, and working the crowd up to the point where they will forget any law but their own. I no longer see Senator McCain; in that video, I see Hitler.
With the combination of Frank and today’s Connecticut ruling, looks like McCain will try to prosecute them for sodomy.
Geezus…
Dodd and Frank really pantsed him with the negotiations. He’s bugged that everyone told him to buzz off while he was posing as the Economic Cavalry.
Those folks are really angry and rightfully so, but boy are they willfully ignorant about who is screwing them over.
Since SarahP reads the NYT regularly, we should remind her and the McCain campaign of this article on the relationship between Obama and Ayers.
Wonder if we’ll see any evidence of McBush trying to tone things down? Probably not, fox news is ignoring this completely and the red blogs are all discussing the ACORN busts.
Still, the ugly shouldn’t shock us. We were discussing how ugly it was going to get early in the year at FDL and we were right on target.
And it’s going to get worse. The evidence that some of the acorn group were fudging registrations is overwhelming and will be used to justify the kind of “fraud prevention” measures that GOP is so fond of. Whomever loses this election will have NO confidence that the results weren’t fudged somehow. If Obama loses, the cities might explode. If McBush loses, the wingnuts start buying ammo and shooting heretics, traitors and baby killers.
I dunno how to stop it. Normally, my action would be to get all four of ‘em on the same stage to denounce it. But I think McBush is willing to put up with it as it’s his only chance of winning.
Boxturtle (So much for McBush’s “honor”)
The inchoate urge for violence among these dead enders didn’t worry me until I saw the simultaneous rollout of the ACORN stuff.
Palin had Bristol holding the baby on stage at the “Kill him” rally. Sick, violent cultists holding their own children hostage.
Not that it will do any good, but I did send this fax to McCain’s Washington office this morning. Anyone know if my referencing 18 USC 245 is legit?
The only partial solace is that there now is a very strong record in the press of even people on McCain’s side warning him what could happen if he doesn’t change his ways. He truly will be blamed if some idiot gets too worked up now.
My thanks for sending your fax. Perhaps a copy should be CC’d to the editor of The Paper of Record too. Just in case your premonitions bear out.
Jim, I think it’s worth posting your letter…
October 10, 2008
Senator John McCain
United States Senate
241 Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
VIA FAX (202) 228-2862
Dear Senator McCain,
I am distressed at the tone you and Governor Palin have taken in campaign appearances over the last few days. Increasingly, your campaign rallies have turned into call and response sessions in which you and the Governor pose questions to the crowds and stand idly by as the responses you receive have grown ever more violent. Calls of “terrorist”, “traitor”, “Muslim” and, especially, “Kill him” have no place in American politics, yet you and the Governor have taken no steps to discourage this behavior.
I would remind you of Section 245 of Title 18 of the United States Code. Both voting and campaigning for office are Federally protected activities. To wit:
(b)Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, by force or threat of force willfully injures, intimidates or interferes with, or attempts to injure, intimidate or interfere with–
(1)any person because he is or has been, or in order to intimidate such person or any other person or any class of persons from–
(A) voting or qualifying to vote, qualifying or campaigning as a candidate for elective office, or qualifying or acting as a poll watcher, or any legally authorized election official, in any primary, special, or general election; …..
shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned…
The crowds at your rallies appear to be headed toward the crimes described above, with you and the Governor inciting them to such actions.
You have been campaigning under the slogan of “Country First”. I hardly see how inciting violence can be an aspect of putting country first. Please consider this issue very carefully. I urge you to change the way your rallies are run to discourage such “participation” by the crowds. Further, I strongly urge you to clarify to your supporters that you could never condone violence or the level of rage that we have seen lately at your rallies.
Because of multiple economic and other social stresses, our nation teeters at the edge of a potential breakdown of social order. Rapid and responsible action on your part can possibly prevent an outbreak of violence that could spread rapidly and widely. On the other hand, continued fanning of intolerance only will hasten any breakdown. I urge you to truly put our country first by bringing these practices to an end.
Sincerely,
Jim White
Karen Tumulty seems more concerned about the violence targeted toward the media–rather than that targeted toward Obama.
Just as the Secret Service and Troy Eid were more concerned about letters to McCain from a prisoner than a bunch of armed skinheads in Denver who were allegedly planning to shoot Obama.
I think you misphrased this. Has there been actual violence against members of the media?
As important as this topic is, I want to note a word quoted above from David Gergan: “There is also the question of ruling after this…” You would think the word would have been: governing. What a givaway of how a Republican advisor of Gergan’s stature and experience thinks. Faced with economic inequality not seen since the great depression, and a torch-and-pithchfork mentality among the populace, governing will be hard enough, but RULING. The gloves will have to come off.
Even the unhinged agree that they have gone off the reservation with this race bating and terrorism charges.
McCain and Bush and Pailin should be ostracized. They should be seen as losers for all time.
I like the part where Ed Rollins muses about McCain bringing down the Party (5:03 in the video).
GOP
Rot in HellR.I.P.The mainstream media are ‘ratifying’ and encouraging the behavior. Yesterday on Tweety his guests would not condemn the McPalin conduct therefore ratifying the conduct. This is the only way the MSM can keep issues in front of the public to draw eyeballs. As far as McSame is concerned I suspect he wants some violence to come to the other fellow. It is the only way he has a chance of winning this election.
The level of irresponsibility by McCain-Palin’s omission of action against the hate makes them guilty NO MATTER what may happen.
We need responsible leadership with a patriotic spirit to bring the country together for rebuilding our country. Not silent endorsements of hate.
McCain-Palin had their chance the last few days and muffed it. They are shameful.
The National Holocaust Museum needs to issue a statement against the hate. The Josephson Institute Center for Youth Ethics needs to also issue a statement against the hate language as part of their CharacterCounts program. October 19-25 is their national Character Counts Week.
And on September 27th the Senate passed this bipartisan supported resolution:
http://www.govtrack.us/congres…..=sr110-694
McCain-Palin have not lived up to the standards in this Senate resolution. By their lack of effort to confront hate and to rally for it, they are a poor example to children, educators, community leaders, families and the world.
Wow! Is all I can say. This bit was bang-on astute:
It occurs to me, tho, that the decision taken to bring Palin on board was solely for this purpose.
Do we know anything more about why he called one of his rabid crowds his fellow prisoners???
And here is a link to the Character Counts website for more endorsements on Character from the White House to State governments…
http://charactercounts.org/pro…..s-2008.php
I would set the pulp news aside and look to the character and drive Barack Obama has contributed to the campaign. The newspaper sits on the stack of recycle by the door. The radio still works fine, in fact a glimpse of the stultifying ’50s is playing this moment:
“As I sat down one evening,
‘Twas in a small cafe,
A forty year old waitress
To me these words did say:
I see that you’re a logger,
And not a common bum,
For no one but a logger
Stirs coffee with his thumb.”
The wail continues, the plaintive of a forest working person, the grumblings of the Republican party leadership seems less important knowing more than half of the folks who write, sing, and avidly listen to logger lore folksong country music are planning to help Barack Obama with his election by voting for him.
lyric site reference. The Frozen Logger, by James Stevens.
There are apparently laws against ‘inciting a riot’, but they’re double-edged swords for the citizenry who wield them against others.
Numerous examples of how far it goes on this one page alone, e.g.:
Once again McCain has boxed himself into a corner with his irresponsible behaviors.
Just as he did with his Black Monday campaign suspension, his Ike-inspired convention delay, and even his selection of Palin, he has put his chips down in such a way that he’s damned if he goes for broke and damned if he withdraws. The way he plays it, there’s no in-between, it’s all or nothing.
Now the stakes are even higher with this “criminal incitement,” such that all those voters who are being egged on are now egging him and Palin on to play even dirtier, and they’ll be exceedingly let down and even angrier if he backs down. Plus, it would inevitably be seen as a retreat, never mind an admission that the sentiments are wrong and even potentially criminal.
His only alternative is to persist in this deadly game, where blood could conceivably be on his hands.
The news that “some McCain campaign officials” are concerned about this hostility is of course good news for the reality-based world, and – for at least those reasons noted above – not so good for McCain.
If we note how poorly McCain’s recent risky crap shoots have played out for him, I’d say that this latest, lowest nosedive into the sewer will provide the last nail in his coffin. Ultimately a good result as long as there is no residual effect from the mental mobs.
Predictably, this is now affecting down-ticket races, and even some in the McCain campaign are “concerned.”
However, I’ll wager a bet that the “concerns” expressed in the campaign were not internally generated, but passed on first from the Secret Service. Those guys have to talk to each other, no matter which side of the election they’re protecting, and they have got to see where these events have been leading in terms of the job they’re expected to do. Pulling from the gambling metaphor again, I’d wager big time that an official with the Secret Service sat down and had a little talk with, oh, say Steve Schmidt. Discreetly, of course, giving them the opportunity to play the recovery as if it was their own recognition of the problem. But 10-1 odds, this little shift came from the Secret Service.
Make that Gustav. Big difference to those of us on the Gulf Coast.
oops; my bad. thanks for the correction.
and while i’m here, ran across this piece saying the secret service is looking into the threats:
http://radaronline.com/exclusi…..-obama.php
we’ll see….
Lieberman signed that Character Counts resolution. I suggest we flood his office for remaining a supporter McCain and thus endorsing the lack of action against the hate.
Lieberman supports acts of hate if he does not make a public statement. How can he as a leader in the Jewish community remain silent?
Because he likes this stuff and was happy when Rabin was murdered?
I hear you. But put in the context of the Holocaust…Shame on him for not making a public statement by now.
It’s a joke that he signed that Character Counts resolution if he does not come forward and say something about the need for accountability…
(my bold)
Yes.
Hey, it’s not lost on me that these resolutions are a dime a dozen and are not taken seriously…Nonetheless, it is important to use their own stands on issues (as presented in this resolution) to make the bigger point that EW is making in this post.
The convenient cries of “Terrorist!” on cue from the mob, just when McCain wants it, clearly enunciated so that they can be picked up on microphones or speakers, indicates some level of co-ordination with the McCain campaign. The media no doubt knows this, but it makes for good TV so they will cover it as spontaneous cries from the crowd, simultaneously getting the McCain message that Obama is a terrorist out in the media, and at the same time refusing to hold him responsible for the ravings of the mob.
The crowds could have agents provocateurs installed amongst them. But at some point the decent folk at the rally might smell a rat among the throng and call them down on it.
The motorcycle rally last summer, I guess, was the watershed moment and high watermark of the GOP campaign.
Nice try but you don’t really believe that do you?
Now let me get this correct. People who were sitting in a park listening to a concert in the Twin Cities during the GOP Convention got arrested and teargassed (including families with children) and yet people yelling, “Terrorist, kill him!” at a GOP sponsored campaign rally got nothing for attempting to incite?
Wow. Let’s talk about THAT. Any reporters in the Twin Cities who want to take that on?
I’ve never for a moment doubted that the the Republican base has a vast assortment of pro-violence crazies and ideologues prone to violence. Prior to the 1960s, the Democratic base had many, too – though even then, it was inaccurate to suggest they represented the Left.
Further, as an ideologue, I’d fully expect Palin to play to the haters without any cognition of the terror she could unleash by doing so. However, she will be restrained, if McCain decrees it.
So the top question is whether McCain can temper his ambition and keep all that fire directed solely at Ayers and Rezko, without playing the race card. My only confidence rests on the capacity of the Secret Service to keep the Obamas safe in any case. So far, McCain continues to remain out of touch to a scary degree, leading no one at all to any rational perspectives.
He’ll certainly take the gloves off for the final debate and then we’ll see how far he plans to go in his moves of desperation. I take no comfort in the fact that his wife ramped up the hateful rhetoric recently. But Obama, at least, has demonstrated courage by tackling the personal attacks head on without losing his cool.
It would be nice to think McCain has some real country-first integrity left in him still. But it has been too silent and your warnings are spot-on, Marcy.
How low will McCain go? In the next two weeks, we’ll certainly find out.
I am also trying to grasp something else about this. Isn’t yelling, “Kill him!” at an open, public rally kind of like shouting, “Fire!” in a movie theatre? But the Secret Service says they did not hear it yelled?
http://www.canada.com/ottawaci…..fe69f75532
Interesting…
They very well didn’t hear it.
How many times have you been at a football game and you couldn’t hear the people one bleacher section over?
It happens.
That’s why I’m glad they’re acting to address it now: see lllphd’s comment.
I posted on Violence, The Brain and The Path to Peace on Oxdown. For anyone interested the link is here http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/591 .
Some PALINdromes for low comic relief:
God dam Mcain, a maniac mad dog!
Harass selfless Sarah
(some liberties taken with spelling).
In the above clip David Gergen says “there is a race factor”. You bet your ass there is a race factor. But this factor is far less of an issue than it was years ago. As we make phone calls and knock on doors in southern Ohio it is still disturbing how much racism is alive in this part of the country but I repeat far less than in the past.
On Thursday I drove from Athens Ohio over to Dayton to attend the Obama rally with my 81 year old mother. (we were able to be right down in front) How do I say this without sounding corny the whole scene was so incredibly moving. After having grown up in the Dayton/Yellow Springs area in the 50’s and having been exposed to and gotten involved with the civil rights movement in the early to mid 60’s totally influenced by Notre Dame Catholic nuns (took us to see Martin Luther King in 1964, darn radicals) the scene yesterday in Dayton brought tears to my eyes. I clearly remember protesting with a few of these Catholic Nuns against police brutality during the race riots in Dayton in the late 60’s.
So much of Obama’s race is a testimony that walls of injustice have been torn down even though there is a long way to go. I talked with lots of people who were attending and many more were saying how far we have come as a nation.
Let’s be real 40 years ago the situation in Dayton Ohio did not look like this. Slow but steady progress
Pictures of the Dayton Event
http://projects.daytondailynew…..8obamaybs/
After having lunch with my mother headed down to Portsmouth Ohio to see the makeup of the crowd and to talk with folks at this event. Portsmouth is a very white Ohio River town . Folks a shift has been and continues to be taking place in this part of Ohio.
The crowd was 99% white, and the majority of folks that I talked with were there in complete support of Obama. The light bulbs are being turned on in peoples heads. It was a shame that the Obama team was close to an hour and a half late. The gates in Portsmouth opened up at 5;30, Obama was supposed to speak at 7:30 and the team did not get on the stage until close to 9. People in the crowd were tired (many having been there since 5:30) and it was just too bad that Senator Sherrod Brown and Governor Strickland did not acknowledge how long people had waited and thanked them before going into their too late in the evening and far too lengthy schticks. ( earlier I had watched many people get disgusted and leave, this was not the crowd to start losing especially because many of them have probably just come on board).
This was great moment at the Portsmouth Ohio rally
Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEJBPQOt6eY
Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…..re=related
We’ve come along way folks
Thanks for the shout-out to CND (Congretation of Notre Dame) nuns – your experience with the Dayton CNDs reminds me of my aunt, who has been with the order for over 60 years and taught for 50 or so in Chicago inner-city schools and can’t wait to vote for Barack Obama from her retirement residence in New York with all the other CNDs!
Just read Christy’s “Archie Bunker divide”. Christy hitting a nail on the head. (my step father (union,WWII vet is the original Archie) This divide has been slowly but surely being filled in for the last 40-50 years. In parts of Ohio and around our nation this divide is being filled in even more by the state of the economy. Folks realizing that to the uber rich WE are all peasants to be taken advantage of economically and cannon fodder for their fucking illegal and immoral wars.
The game as Jessie Jackson has shared so many times when he has come to Appalachia is that some folks are fooled into thinking that someday you will be one of them…but you will not.
During the 60’s Bobby Kennedy came to Appalachia a great deal and addressed the issues of inequity, and so has Jessie Jackson and he continues to do so.
Take a look into the belly of the beast.
Free Republic is now chatting about insurrection and going “Odinga” if they lose.
McCain’s lost his mind and his soul….Sarah Palin is fulfilling her role in her own mind.
Troubled times.
-G
Krugman weighs in as well on his blog:
“….What it came down to was that a significant fraction of the American population, backed by a lot of money and political influence, simply does not consider government by liberals (even very moderate liberals) legitimate. Ronald Reagan was supposed to have settled that once and for all.”
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.c…..al-crisis/
Violence flows smoothly from this. It is terrifying.
Forgot to mention that many of the people I was talking with at the rally and a couple of older gents in a bar in the historic Oregon District in Dayton Ohio were all ripping on Sarah Palin. How she was hurting women in politics, women in general. And how she has really hurt the McCain campaign as well as going negative…backfiring. People have had enough of this horse crap.
Folks are really seeing through the Palin hype.
Here’s one of my bookmarks, from Tomasky at the Guardian with a video clip of a [white] AFL-CIO union leader, Rich Trumka, speaking directly about race and ‘blue-collar’ voting and it’ll warm your heart, http://www.guardian.co.uk/comm…..radeunions
If this doesn’t clarify what the REAL issues are in this campaign, nothing ever will.
And FWIW, the Guardian’s Gary Younge (black man, Brit accent) is doing some interesting reporting. I think it took a non-Yank to do the kind of work that Younge presents, and it’s probably also taken the development of the hand-held video camera to get the kind of intimate, personal conversations he’s able to develop — including a very interesting one on the topic of race here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl…..ctions2008
That video clip makes me cry (sorry).We have come a long way Archie. And we have a long way to go.
Thanks for the link and it was such a moving and heartfelt speech that I believe the nation needs to hear. We need national coverage of this speech! Thanks again from the bottom of my heart!
OT:
Tick tock…. waiting for that report… any minute now
Those family values
The meeting started at 11AM PT?
an Anchorage Daily News update:
Now that’s just tacky.
Any bets they were paid?
well that could go one of two ways… angering people into voting for the release, or scaring them into not voting for the release…
I hate mixed metaphors. Why weren’t they dressed as kangaroos?
Oh, come on, lighten up
stop bein so elitist
freepers and wimgnuts don’t do nuance …
ROTFLMAO
I thikn it possible they won’t vote to release the whole thing–or all of it.
At least two of the Republicans went in with big reservations about releasing the report in toto, one because she hadn’t absorbed it, another wanted to limit it to issues specific to Monegan (that is, to leave off the workers comp issue and the Bitney firing).
They need at least 4 of 10 Republicans to vote with the Dems to release this.
EW-I was hoping the Palin report would ‘appear’ on line just as the meeting was beginning….rather like the trick the NYTimes pulled a few weeks ago…
Updated with Krugman (h/t Ishmael) and Ray LaHood.
an ADN reader comments: “I can see the legislative office building from my house so I already know what is in the report.”
heh
I read/look at Red State dot org daily to see what the other side is talking about. They seem to be gearing up to declare voter fraud and ACORN gave Obama the win. They seem to be setting the tone to say “them damn liberals stole the election so it’s patritoic to be violent.”
I think McCain campaign is talking about ACORN, too. The McCaininites who attended the rally in Strongsville, OH had learned about ACORN that day for the first time and were outraged about it.
red state dot com says “There was a conference call today on this topic (ACORN).”
I wonder who was on this “conference call.” Was it the McCain campaign or the RNC? (It’s weird to plainly state “psst, I got the new talking points, will report them to you soon.” How smart does one have to be to pass along talking points? I wouldn’t admit it so blatantly were it my web site.)
from the ADN blog:
Goodness what like minded folk we are all here.
Leen and Ishmael speak of studying with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur — and yep, I too am part of that old clan, but a generation older than you, Notre Dame Country Day School in the late 40’s when it was on the Julieann Campus, and then two additional years when we moved to Holy Angels. I’ve posted before on this — but Nancy Pelosi is also a product (or victim if you like) of 16 years of SND education.
Was there any obvious presence of University of Dayton students at the Obama Rally yesterday? When they show up, I’ll be convinced things have really changed. Likewise, I am told one can find a smattering of Obama signs in neighborhoods in Kettering — again an indication of change, and intent to be a little bold about political orientations.
My district here in Minnesota is pretty dull — it is at least 75% for Obama. McCain is going to Lakeville — east of St. Paul — this afternoon and I will listen to it on the radio. The choice, I suspect, is to give Michelle Backmann a boost — that is the more liberal end of her District, and am told that internal DFL polls have her in trouble.
Me too! In college. Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.
Nancy Pelosi was a year of ahead of us.
Sorry… 5 years. I think I’m losing my mind… waiting for Alaska to tell us if they’re for transparency and the rule of law.
“Nancy Pelosi was a year of ahead of us.”
No, I am two years older than Nancy. My SND education was 49-53.
much stranger that so many of the leading voices here have similar roots
the only time I ever remember associating with Nuns was when I had my tonsils taken out at a Catholic hospital
I was about three, I think
other than that, I’ve never even spoken to a Nun, to the best of my knowledge
so how did I get here …
(wink)
“other than that, I’ve never even spoken to a Nun, to the best of my knowledge
so how did I get here …
(wink)”
The cultural distance between an SND school and what the AP Reporter threw in yesterday as a reference, “Free Thinking Antioch College” is vast. And it is all within about 18 miles in and around Dayton.
But one reason I believe Obama will take Ohio this year is because so many in those parts got some of that SND education way back when, and they know when to get very serious.
Sara do you mean Julienne in Dayton Ohio? At the Dayton Rally a nun from Univ of Dayton spoke, she was incredible. I did meet some students from Univ Of Dayton. You would think they would offer extra credit to students who go.
I have quite a few siblings in the Kettering/Bellbrook/Centerville area. More than a smattering of Obama signs. The earth is moving under our feet.
You are right about whether some of us are recovering from those upbringings or flourishing because of them. The core principles focused on social justice have effected my whole life.
“Sara do you mean Julienne in Dayton Ohio?”
Yes, Notre Dame Country Day School — much like the Summit in Cincy — was at Julienne. The plan had been to build a new Country Day on the glen down the hill from Julienne, so they moved us, and then never built the school. Then so many nuns left, and the all girls school was no longer a winner, so they sold Julienne to evangelical Christians sometime in the 80’s, and merged with the boy’s High School. I attended High School in Kettering in the mid 1950’s — Fairmont. Last class before the move to the new campus. Both Bush’s have done campaign events at “old Julienne” in the courtyard. Sad use of my old school.
I went there also 66-70. Was just recently walking on the grounds (the woods are still there), my father was in a hospital nearby (he grew up in the neighborhood). No longer a Christian day school, but there is talk of taking the building down. Very sad.
and you thought I dubbed her “Princess Pandora” for fun ???
this DITZ has NO CLUE how she comes off to NORMAL people
princess pandora was choosen by Goddess to destroy the repuglican party
princess pandora is still a little confused about the mission, and the Goddess, but she’s marching along like she had a fookin script, or somethin
I couldn’t have written it any better
and I’m a pretty imaginative guy …
Check out the Palin event in Wilmington Ohio. A real sample of the diversity of Ohio and our nation (cough)
http://projects.daytondailynew…..8palinybs/
Thanks so much EW. I am actually concerned about people’s physical safety at this point. Way too many people will ACT on the hatred they’re stoking.
300 mailin ballots went out in NY with Osama substituted for Obama. County claims it was a typo – Just on MSNBC
HOLY CRAP!
right now on think progress
man, I can’t believe we didn’t see that comming, that is such an obvious tactic
I am betting if a person strikes out the misspelled name and writes it in correctly they void the vote
I am also guessing if they vote “osama” they void the vote as well since that person is not running
they are shameless
how much you willing to lose on that bet ???
national case law in election-ballot disputes recognizes VOTER INTENT as the primary guidance for determining the validity of a ballot
correcting a misspelled name, or voting for a misspelled name would count as valid intent in Cali
surprisingly, this only applies to the names printed on the ballot, not to write-in candidates
write in candidates must register the various misspellings of their names for the misspelled write-in votes to be counted
OMG
Look for these Republican hate groups to go off after McLiar rallies on their own and hunt for Obama supporters to physically attack..it’s a facists morning in Amerika.
Nancy graduated from college in ’62.
TPM links to an Ohio paper in which a voter says “If I crossed out the name and wrote in the right spelling my ballot would be invalid.”
Many if not most voters will do that as opposed to requesting new ballots – at taxpayer expense. !!!
Sorry to go OT, but wasn’t today the day a certain judge expects several Chinese citizens to arrive at his court, fresh from Cuba?
Yes, the 17 Uighurs (unless the story has changed since earlier in the week). In theory, the Uighur community in Washington were ready to take people into their homes today.
Release of Uighurs stayed by Appeals coourt.
Thanks eCAHN, I hadn’t heard …
Kicked the can down the road …?
Apparently. I’ll see if I can find where I saw it & link if I do.
Apparently the appeals court also said the Uighurs should be released, but govt appealed, so the release was stayed pending appeal. Not quite what I remember reading this morning. So not kicking can down the road, but rather further interference in legal system by W.
http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/f…..by-friday/
“Further interference in the legal system by W …”
Who could have imagined?
About time for that to change?
Thanks eCAHN, much appreciated.
DW
In theory, and under the ‘law’, the judge should not be disappointed.
Everything hinges on that, um … truth.
We shall see …
Oh, hell: an appeals court has at least delayed release to next week:
This video about Sara is pretty scary
http://wonkette.com/403434/sar…..a-and-iran
This is truly frightening. We’re getting a big “Obama ‘08″ painted on our barn this weekend and a friend said half-jokingly “I hope your barn doesn’t get burned down or anythying.”
I laughed it off at first, but I’m starting to wonder if I shouldn’t be concerned about it.
Creepy to think about. Insurance in place, no trespassing signs, dogs, cameras ready to go.
Updated with John Sweeney, and will add David Frum–thanks manonfyre.
Late arriving here, will go back to read comments, but truly, we must also call out the hate porn pimps, led by Limbaugh and Hannity, and hold them accountable, too.
Winky-the-Heather Palin is very dangerous spouting her racist illusions at the rallies…I hope more leaders and media punidts come forth to denounce it.
I do believe that putting Osama on the NY ballots was a calculated move.
I am one of those who thought that we should not question McCain’s military record, that it was both beneath us to use swift-boat tactics and counter-productive politically. I still believe that, but I have to say that, given the lengths McCain has gone to, and what he has been willing to stoop to, to win this political campaign, I wouldn’t guess what he would have been willing to do to save his life.
McCain reacts to criticism by apologizing… eh, not so much.
This is pouring gasoline on ugly.
Agree. McCain just doubled down.
Yep. But why? GOTV for downticket races by maximizing redneck turnout generally? Sow discontent to make governing much much harder for BO? Lotsa possible reasons I guess. Can’t help wondering about the timing of the MA Supremes same sex marriage ruling, too.
The flames, they are being fanned big time. This does not seem random.
Maybe the reason Mc’s so extremely angry at BO is that if Mc were ahead, he would not now have to be executing on “Plan B: Foment Hatred” which even he can see is odious, practically treasonous.
You know, the mobs wouldn’t be necessary if BO had agreed to more townhall debates. /s
The biggest why is that McCain thinks it would be dishonorable to retreat now–works just like Iraq and is about as smart.
The why WRT McCain’s advisors who are pushing it (there are reports of disagreement on the lynch mobs)? Some, I think, want to delegitimize Obama going forward, soem are just trying to help down-ticket. I’m sure Sarah’s cementing her place as the leader of the wingnut brigade.
I’d bet $$ to donuts that, should Obama win, she’ll be awarded a nice FOX time slot in tradition of Hannity et’al. And maybe FOX evening news resident “energy expert” adviser.
This is all freaking me out.
the McCain/Palin Rabin Strategy:
Some butthead on Tweety’s show saying “so what” and “are we hurting his feelings?” and laughing. appalling. these people will stop at nothing.
Palin and McCain are really running with the They’re Going to Kill YOur Babies plan.
those who do not remember their past are doomed to repeat it
their past
those of us who DO remember our past bought popcorn stock a long time ago …
this is gonna be fun to watch
don’t join the freeper mobs, they tend to be a bit canabalistic
Anyone else wondering how Joe Lieberman, John’s great and good friend, feels about all this race-baiting and rabble-rousing? When the Nazis used such divisive tactics in the late 30s and 40s, it was calamitous. If there is a spark of class left in Lieberman, he will denounce the road his friend has chosen to take. I am not holding my breath.
Well, seeing as how Lieberman’s big reason for supporting McCain is that Obama might not bomb Iran, I suspect he doesn’t much give a damn.
Another nail hit on the head by ew
emptywheel @129
I know that she’ll be somewhere on TV. Maybe CBN Pat Robertson’s Network…no, not visible enough. You are probably correct about a spot on Fox.
They better have some good writers, though. She couldn’t possibly be more empty-headed. That’s why I disagree with the person above who felt that John McCain doesn’t know what’s going on in the campaign and that she’s the one responsible for this mess.
This was a calculated strategy from the get go. If the Republicans were behind by October, I expected this. Just couldn’t imagine how blatant it would be. God, it’s hard to imagine they could have less class than I would have given them credit for, but they honestly do.
jI just had the misfortune to see Gergen describe it to Colbert. He is not what one might consider, “sincere”? He only cares about his brand. He made a wild statement about stopping McSame or Palin, but he is speaking as though he is the voice of moderation rather than a paid political hack for the GOP. If everything someone says is a lie…… His statements to Cooper are clearly political damage control rather than any sentiment that he finds it repugnant. Perhaps he has no emotions. Most of the sociopaths are able to ignore the reaction most people have to hatred, insult, pain directed toward them with word or deed. I don’t see many “pundits” or politicians that share what many of us consider human feelings, or human behavior.
Kos has it right. It is time to break them. They are a society of criminals bent on control of our government for their own enrichment and to harm their enemies. Since their enemy is democracy and republican government and it’s core principles, breaking them is required. We do not have a justice department that would prosecute their own for any reason, up to and including treason, war crimes, high crimes, war profiteering…. . They have become a joke. I have regained some respect from David Iglesias now that he is actively pursuing those responsible for his sacking, even if he didn’t say anything when it crossed the criminal line prior to his being fired. But he was a republican US attorney that didn’t speak out about crimes until he was fired? Is this an indication of what the republican mentality is all about? How does anyone justify voting for a republican in this election? Our nation is half savage it appears. Half sheep, half terrorist.
We have allowed law and order to be broken and it is beyond repair due to the built in corruption. It has to be re invented, this system of justice.
John McCain and Sarah Palin, you are playing with fire, and you know it.
I disagree a little with Frank Shaeffer. McCain knows he’s playing with fire. Palin is too ignorant, of history and everything else, to understand.