The lunacy of inciting nuts
John McCain’s a frustrated man. In his heart, he knows that he’s not only the right choice for president — he’s the only reasonable choice. Yet, here he stands trailing in the polls, losing to someone who, in his opinion, wouldn’t be qualified to serve as a White House groundskeeper in a McCain administration. His contempt for Barack Obama runs as deep as the lines on his face – and he can’t hide it, even on the rare occasions he tries
His disdain for the man he referred to as “that one” was apparent almost from the beginning of the second debate, notwithstanding his attempts (unlike the first debate) to actually look at him once in awhile. He couldn’t stand being in the same room with the man. And so very quickly he fled, abandoning the “town hall” crowd almost immediately after the debate, leaving Obama alone to shake hands and chat amicably with the prospective voters in front of the television cameras.
To find himself trailing Obama in the polls is more than a disappointment to McCain: it is, as I’ve said before, an affront to his sense of honor. And there can be no more potent emotional brew than the mixture of righteous rage and unquenchable ambition.
So make no mistake: John McCain will do anything, short of overt prosecutable criminality, to win — and I mean anything.
Given all this, it’s hardly surprising that the McCain/Palin campaign has decided to play dirty. But, playing dirty is one thing: inciting dangerous people to potential violence is quite another. And this is a line in the sand the McCain campaign has been crossing with shocking regularity in recent days.
Much of this, of course, involves Bill Ayers. McCain and Palin have repeatedly attacked Obama’s patriotism in recent days based upon his very fleeting contacts with this former 60s radical. The attacks themselves, with their McCarthy-style guilt by association, are disgusting enough. But what’s even more troubling is the incendiary way they’ve been offered, which has, in turn, led to some truly frightening responses from certain McCain/Palin partisans.
This has included the use of threatening language directed towards Obama himself:
As ABC News reports:
As the rhetoric at Palin’s rallies has ratcheted up, so too has the language of supporters in the crowds coming to see her. At rallies in Florida, supporters were heard yelling “treason” and “traitor” when Obama’s name was mentioned.
At a rally on Monday in Clearwater, one man shouted “Kill him,” according to the Washington Post, after Palin mentioned Obama’s association with 1960s radical Bill Ayers. It was not clear who made the comment or if the man was referring to Ayers or to Obama, but the Secret Service says it will investigate.
According to Dana Milbank of the Washington Post, these pro-McCain thugs have also been turning on the press (especially African American representatives):
“At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African-American sound man . . . and told him, “Sit down, boy.”
Yet, not only have McCain and Palin continued to use the same (or worse) incendiary language on the campaign trail, they’ve entirely failed to condemn the excesses of their supporters.
To which I have to ask: Are these people nuts?
Even when viewed solely from the perspective of their own selfish political interests, this is pure lunacy. Surely, they must understand that dangerous people, including some with serious mental illnesses, often circle around the fringes of political movements. And it’s hardly unpredictable that this would become especially true when, for the first time in history, a black man is running for president as the nominee of a major party.
Forget for the moment the ultimate nightmare scenario — the one involving Obama himself that has haunted people from the very beginning of this campaign, long before McCain and Palin began deliberately fanning the flames of racial and cultural hatred. Without a doubt, direct violence against Obama is the most frightening possibility. But there are many other ways — not involving the person of Obama — in which one of these McCain enabled human bombs might explode.
What would happen, for example, if a small group of McCain supporters, sent into a fit of rage, let’s say, by McCain’s questioning of Obama’s “otherness,” physically attacked an African American or Arab American who happened to be walking by? Or what if a drunk at one of the campaign’s rallies, infuriated by Palin’s accusations against the press, threw a bottle at a television cameraman, hitting him on the head and killing or severely injuring him?
Do they seriously think either McCain or Palin could survive politically after such an incident, given the repeated warnings they’ve received?
Already, McCain may have missed one bullet in Louisiana, where a man was arrested for threatening to “empty his shotgun” if he didn’t get quicker action on receiving his voter registration card in order to “keep the nigger out of office.”
Whether they know it or not, McCain and Palin are playing with a bomb set to explode on a hair trigger. And if that happens, both their political aspirations and what little is left of their personal reputations are nearly certain to be among the casualties.
October 10th, 2008 at 3:17 am
The lunatics, hatemongers and wackos are coming out of the woodwork. I had campaign stickers ripped off of my bumper. My next door neighbor, who is African-American and his wife, who is Hispanic; and I had our Obama yard signs stolen. My husband is Chinese. No one else in the neighborhood had their signs stolen. The woman, who lives across the street, is a Far-Right Conservative Republican. She had a large gathering last Sat. night of the Party faithful. That is when my bumper stickers were ripped off of my car. I suspect one of her friends took our signs. The Republicans are getting desperate and very agitated. They have had 8 years of total dominance. The base of the Far-Right tends to be rigid, angry people, for whom tolerance is a foreign word. Palin is their Banner Babe. She enjoys promoting hatred and aggression. Her own “Who’s Your Mommy?” behavior is aggression personified. Too many fools in this country identify aggression with leadership. Then, there are the racists, of course. McCain and Palin are playing to this bunch of Sickos full tilt. We must all write letters to the editor, criticizing what McCain and Palin are doing. It is despicable, disgusting, indefensible and, as Steve says, very, very dangerous.
October 10th, 2008 at 5:07 am
sounds like the preparation of suicide bombers?
why go to Afghanistan, when you can have it here…
October 10th, 2008 at 9:00 am
These are the same folk who were so dangerous during the Clinton years. When Ross Perot first started organizing he gathered folk from across the political spectrum, and through that group got to meet many of these people.
If Al Gore had actually been able to hold the office he was elected to there would have been a lot more events from the Oklahoma style bombings, to the anthrax attacks, to the recent case where the guy just went into the church and started shooting people.
GWB and the rest of the Gang Of Pirates provided an outlet where these folks thought that their wishes were coming true by way of the GOP and Palin would be the final culmination of that in their minds.
To be thwarted by an Obama win would be everything you said about McCain, but without even McCain’s social restraint. I think that if Obama takes office there will be a big uptick in terrorist violence, at least some much like the anthrax attacks, where there will be fake Muslim screeds that show no knowledge of Muslim thought.
Getting Obama in is the great challenge of the moment, but it will be just the beginning of a long and bumpy challenge after that.
October 10th, 2008 at 9:40 am
apropos “bumper”
do you know something like ‘1/20/2009′ Bush leaves’?
or do you know that? Counting the hours….
Days Left Until George Bush Leaves Office
October 10th, 2008 at 11:18 am
I’m sorry that your privacy and your freedom of speech were so loutishly violated, Larkrise. Their lack of imagination and cognitive dissonance about American Might and Power have the KoolAid drinkers off balance and frightened. Freedem proposes that fear spawns hatred, and may lead to racial violence.
There may indeed be some domestic suicide bombers in the making: plenty of people are suffering from depression AND anxiety. As Again points out, these people are desperate. They must be overwhelmed at the polls. And We must not allow Their fears to infect Us.
But don’t forget: the loudest voices often come from the smallest minorities.
The Majority of the American people do not want violence in their streets. They truly long for Unity, and civilizing prosperity.
Thanks Again, for the countdown calendar. You are the Freshmaker!
October 10th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Did you see the perfect response by Joe Biden yesterday? He did not repeat the incindiary inferences of the McSame Failin’ rallies. Instead, he took off his jacket, saying “In my neighborhood, when you have something to say to a man, you look him in the eye and you say it to him.” He immediately re-framed the whole discussion to “John McCain is a coward.” Loved it:
http://www.positivelybarack.com/2008/10/09/joe-biden-in-my-neighborhood/
October 10th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
::So make no mistake: John McCain will do anything, short of overt prosecutable criminality, to win ::
Honestly, I think McCain and Palin are too far beyond redemption to stop there - or anywhere NEAR there. I think they’re hoping some of those nutjobs will try and make good on their threats - b/c it’s the Only Way a McCain-Palin Ticket Can Win. Well, they ARE Republicans - and after eights years of Bush, that makes them inherently the traitors they claim Barack Obama (and we, to their twisted minds!) are.
Like Lakerise and juliinjax, I’ve also had lawn signs ripped from my yard and bumper stickers torn from my car (w/some keying thrown in for good measure) - repeatedly. I was also repeatedly called a “traitor” by Bush Nazis during the 2004 campaign and after - which only made me realize that the ONLY traitors in America…Are The Right Wing. All 51 million who voted for Bush of them…and They ALL Must Be Held Accountable For Their Treason.
Selah.
October 11th, 2008 at 1:25 am
DRDarkeNY, Absolutely true! “The ONLY traitors in America…Are The Right Wing.” Look at the mess their hideous, rigid idiotology has caused. WE have not seen the worst of the economic fallout from their toxic, greed-driven laissez-faire capitalism. Trickle-down economics was always a farce. It results in a flood of money for the wealthy and a drought for the rest of us. The Right Wing is only for the wealthy and the fringe fanatics. But, they sell snake-oil very well. The sheeple have drunk their fill; and now they are poisoned. Only fools will be bamboozled three times in a row. The 51 million who voted for thugs and thieves will be held accountable in the end. It will be the end of their financial solvency.
October 12th, 2008 at 1:38 am
just found that:
Has Sarah Palin Put a Target on Obama? by Thurston Clarke
Robert F. Kennedy’s biographer says the GOP’s rhetoric is eerily reminiscent of the vile words that preceded RFK’s assassination.