Somebody is going to get hurt…
… Unless Republicans step up to the plate and put a stop to John McCain and Sarah Palin’s attempts to fire up the crowd. Normally, this responsibility would fall to John McCain, but as this seems to be his entire campaign strategy I’m not counting on him doing the right thing.
And you know what? I’d be right. As I typed this post the McCain campaign issued a statement that demonstrates his intention of doing nothing to rein in his mob. In fact, it seems he plans on inflaming the situation further.
“Barack Obama’s attacks on Americans who support John McCain reveal far more about him than they do about John McCain. It is clear that Barack Obama just doesn’t understand regular people and the issues they care about. He dismisses hardworking middle class Americans as clinging to guns and religion, while at the same time attacking average Americans at McCain rallies who are angry at Washington, Wall Street and the status quo,” reads a statement from spokesman Brian Rogers. “Even worse, he attacks anyone who dares to question his readiness to serve as their commander in chief in chief. Raising legitimate questions about record, character and judgment are a vital part of the Democratic process, and Barack Obama’s effort to silence and shame those who seek answers should make everyone wonder exactly what he is hiding.”
Talk about irresponsible.
Thankfully, other Republicans are speaking up: “John Weaver, the Senator’s former top strategist, has said McCain is making a tactical mistake by letting abusive hecklers have their voices heard during his forums. David Gergen, a longtime Washington strategist, has warned that the rhetoric from these attendees could “lead to some violence.”
Veteran Republican Congressman Ray LaHood criticized Sarah Palin in particular, saying her rhetoric did not “befit the office she’s running for.”
McCain is on dangerous ground. He’d be wise to tread carefully.
Editors Note:
Now you have some homework for this weekend.
Call Mike Castle and leave a message urging him to release a statement condemming McCain/Palin inducements to hatred and civil unrest. Wilmington Office: (302) 428-1902
Write an email to Delaware State News “Sound Off” asking your fellow Delawareans not to allow themselves to be swept up in the unAmerican hatred and divisivness that John McCain is whipping up among his supporters. soundoff@newszap.com
Write a letter to the News Journal “Letters to the Editors” asking your fellow Delawareans to be patriots by turning away from bitter animosity and calls to violence that undermine our democracy. Link to Form
Update: McCain corrects supporter at rally who claims Obama is an Arab. Says Obama is a decent person, and gets booed.
Can McCain put the genie back in the bottle? I really hope so.
Tags: 2008 Presidential, John McCain
it is typical republican strategy. Let the surrogates do the dirty work and act like you have nothing to do with it
Pandora,
I just added something I’ve been thinking aboutposting. I hope that is okay.
Former MI Gov Milliken doesn’t like it, either
And read someplace that Dick Lugar’s office is getting slammed with phone calls from constituents saying they don’t like this either.
That was from UI in the comments.
Just made the post better by giving it a mission.
This crap from McCain/Palin has to stop. NOW. If not, McCain will reap what he’s sown.
And stands down from the negative ads and he won’t be at a McCain rally this afternoon.
For what it’s worth ….Chris Matthews read something on his show today that just came in: that John McCain told people at a rally today that they should be more respectful.
And then there’s this… McCain/Palin supporters coming out of a rally Wed. in Bethlehem, PA. No need to watch after the first minute… it gets scmaltzy after that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rUAFUoz3jc
Let’s hope McCain/Palin can put the genie back in the bottle. And since they’re now going after Michelle Obama…
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/mccain_campaign_goes_after_mic.php
Forgive me if I question his sincerity.
June, that video is appalling.
Two weeks ago, I wrote a piece called National Hug a Republican Day, when our friends were in Denial. Obviously, Repubs have moved to Anger in an alarming way.
Next up Bargaining. I just hope cooler heads will prevail. It would be nice to see our Republican bloggers step up now.
Put what genie back into what bottle? This is their strategy! It’s only getting worse. Now they have ad from a 31 year old woman claiming she survived an abortion and is blaming Obama for it. These are the tactics of Karl Rove, anyone thinking they are going to let up are politcally ignorant.
The attack on Acorn is not only unfounded but filled with lies to cover the republican purging of millions of voters. Many have been trying to get the corporate media to cover these stories and they refused. Corporate media claims to “hate” these attack ads…but the take all those millions of dollars to run them, and then to discuss them as if they are newsworthy.
In Phila. a flyer has gone out by republicans telling voters that “if you have a traffic ticket you can be arrested”, they also say, “we will have people in the parking lots looking at tags and running them through the DMV”. These negative ads are to put such fear in the american people, hoping when they actually get in the booth…they will pull the lever for the new nazi’s, Palin and McCain.
“Write a letter to the News Journal “Letters to the Editors” asking your fellow Delawareans to be patriots by turning away from bitter animosity and calls to violence that undermine our democracy.”
ONLY IF YOU SHUT DOWN THIS SITE.
😉
“Write a letter to the News Journal “Letters to the Editors” asking your fellow Delawareans to be patriots by turning away from bitter animosity and calls to violence that undermine our democracy. ONLY IF YOU SHUT DOWN THIS SITE.”
I agree with Jock-itche Alberton. Loud public calls for violence against polititial candidates are OK, (unless this web-site is shut down – in that case loud public calls for violence are GOOD).
Public violence is WAY better than, say, the exchange of ideas. Go Jockitch!!!
wooohoooo
KILL HIM!
That’s the spirit! Second nature for a wop, eh?
Are you honestly worried that white conservative Chstistians are going to riot in the streets?
it’s not riot Tom…it’s lynch my friend. Where have you been the past 150 years?
Ohhh…..the lynch card…..
Can I play the nursing home card? I know that’s how you feel about McCain!
Oh? you do?
McCains age has nothing to do with how awful he is. Keating 5 says a lot about him and low and behold, 20 years later…here we are again.
I look at how he has run his campaign, how he bowed to the right after disowning Falwell in 2000. such a joke. His gambling habits, his Navy careers and his Academy years.
I know how it works with his dad being an Admiral.
I lost respect for him with the way he left his first wife.
The guy is a bigger fraud than you make Obama out to be.
His whole life is on earmarks which is less than a percent of the budget. What a putz.
I don’t think that Christians are going to get anywhere near any riots. It’s the white conservatives who are questionable.
Yes, cassie baby, we’re gearing up for The Rapture.
We know who riots.
Burn down their own homes.
Burn down the businesses that supply their own communities.
Shoot each other.
Blame every one else …. live in denial….
We know…
Wow Paul! Thanks for some overt racism! I guess you are squarely in the McCain camp.
I’m going to guess you don’t know a whole lot of black people… and the common denominator is poor people with no opportunity, as I doubt you will find a lot of middle class people doing that and I can bet you would find a lot of examples of poor and oppressed people of all races doing it throughout history.
Kudos to you, Pandora, for pointing out that McCain asked his supporters to be more respectful of Obama. I’m glad he did it. It’s a shame Obama didn’t have the grace to do the same for Hillary during the primaries.
“it’s not riot Tom…it’s lynch my friend. Where have you been the past 150 years?”
Really? Really? Reeeeeeeeeally?
You are seriously worried about white lynch mobs? Where have you been the last 50 years?
Yes DOM
Pandora did point out that McSame attempted to tone it down., However neither you nor her mentioned that when he made his statement the crowd booed and heckled him
Yeah, I don’t trust them. Be wary if you see gatherings of minivans and strollers at the mall. This thing could get ugly quick!
Yes, it’s all very funny until someone gets hurt. Like the head of the Democratic Party in Arkansas, or the Unitarian Church in Tennessee.
As those cases show, it’s not riots they might stir up. It’s the one guy who’s already got a couple of screws loose who hears this and decides it’s his patriotic duty to kill a terrorist running for president.
And if it happens, the gun-lovers and hate-talkers will be the first ones to disavow any responsibility.
TT – Kind of like the Obama crowds booed when he said anything remotely positive about Hillary? The irony of Obama supporters being worried about angry supporters is not lost on me.
There are pretty shitty people on both sides of this political fight. Check out DWA for the most recent nugget that was launched my way by a particularly worthless, likely drunk, Obama supporter. It’s a pack mentality that has simply gone too far. We see it on this very site every single day.
I just have to pity you at this point Dominique. If you really think that there is no difference, you’ve gone into the land of fantasy inhabited by people like Dana who would proudly vote for Bush again.
There is your mind and there is the real world and there is very little overlap right now.
Thank you for this post! I’ll go do this! BTW, David Gergen (Reagan speechwriter) and Cristopher Buckley (son of William F.) have spoken out as well. Cristopher Buckley also endorsed Obama.
I realize party loyalty is strong but where are the so-called principled conservatives on this? What about Colin Powell, Susan Collins, Arlen Specter, et al.?
First, TT, please read my post. I did mention the boos.
Second, TT and Dom, are you effing serious? Booing when Obama’s name was mentioned existed at Hillary rallies as well. It’s never nice, but hardly comparable to what’s going on at the Palin/McCain events. (Yes, the order of those names is deliberate and accurate)
We are NOT discussing booing, and what’s more, you both KNOW it. Perhaps talking to a therapist will help you guys come to terms with your loss. The world does not revolve around Hillary… well, obviously your world does.
So sad.
I don’t think that the people booing Hillary at the Obama Rallies were calling her a terroist or talking about violence and death If you want to continue supporting a thug like McCain and his ilk then go ahead
Every one of thee adds that are causing this mess ends with the quote “I’m John McCain and I support this Ad”
Pandora – My world does not revolve around Hillary any more than your world revolves around Obama.
This isn’t about Hillary or Obama or even McCain. It’s about vicious supporters and, while McCain certainly has his share, nothing trumps Obama supporters in that arena.
I understand that you’re focusing on the couple of idiots who yell “kill him”, but just because someone says something stupid like that doesn’t mean they’re going to actually do it. These are the same idiots who yell insults and threats to players during sporting events. They’re obnoxious and rude, but they’re harmless.
Can we be realistic, please? You are a reasonable person, don’t you see that every week there’s some new issue that causes righteous indignation among Obama supporters? This is simply this week’s issue. The Obama campaign burns up the media’s blackberries with these little bits of information, they run the stories and you guys gobble it up.
Obama is surrounded by Secret Service. Everything will be just fine. Try to relax.
I am being realistic, Dom. And history backs up my concerns. You’re deliberately playing down the seriousness of these “words”.
You see, Dom, it probably won’t be the people yelling this crap that do anything. It will be the person sitting at home listening and hearing a call to arms.
McCain has a responsibility to put a stop to this.
“You’re deliberately playing down the seriousness of these “words”.”
Obama said JUST WORDS!! JUST WORDS!!!
Oh….that’s right…..he plagiarized those words.
I thought your position was that McCain was a feeble old man. How can he do anything? It must take all his energy to not soil his Depends undergarment and not eat a shoe for breakfast.
Dom is, as usual, creating history to justify her own unsupportable positions.
While Obama supporters certainly did boo at Hillary at some of his rallies, he stopped his prepared remarks to ask them to have some respect. That doesn’t cover, however, those instances where Hillary went to non-partisan events and proceeded to bash Obama inappropriately (there was an event in Pittsburgh that comes to mind) — she was booed not because of Obama supporters, but because she was out of line at that event.
Not that I’d expect you would understand the differences there. Much like trying to minimize the very material differences between Obama supporters booing and McCain supporters yelling “Kill him!”.
And it is good that McCain is trying to walk this back. He should and he should keep it up. And get his powermad VP sidekick to do the same. There is behavior that shouldn’t be tolerated and large groups of white people tolerating one of their own yelling Kill him when Obama is invoked or calling a sound man an Uppity Negro.
What I’ll never understand why it is that reasonable people shouldn’t be concerned that this kind of behavior is being tolerated — again.
Awww, look at Cassandra making it about race again. How original. It must be exhausting to carry that chip around all day.
Too bad you can’t read yourself, Dom — we all know you are humiliated and answer-free when all you have is bullshit about chips on shoulders.
Unfortunately for you, the boulder you’ve been carrying around has absolutely crushed you in a way that it is becoming embarrassing to witness. It’s a free country though, and like McCain supporters everywhere, you are free to look like an ass at every opportunity.
Sorry, Dom, but I’m with Cassandra on this one – all the way. You’re being deliberately obtuse in equating the Dem primary with what’s going on now. Emphasis on the word “deliberately”.