October 12, 2008
John McCain's Campaign of Hate (Brent Budowsky)
John McCain parades around the nation with a campaign that has become a pure, 100 percent machine of personal attacks, character assassination, expressions of anger and rage by a man who aspires to be president and inspires chants at what have become hate rallies such as: "Kill him." "Off with his head." "Terrorist.” "Arab." "Traitor.” "Messiah."
When McCain reaches a level of pure personal invective in his rallies, his ads, his vice presidential nominee’s spewing venom, lies such as "palling with terrorists,” innuendo such as "Who is Obama?” warm-up speakers talking of "Hussein,” various versions of anti-foreigner fear, he is acting in a way that inspires a sick kind of anger and hate from his supporters.
This is so abormal, demented and vile that it reaches a state of un-American campaigning that appeals to rage, taps into bigotry, exploits a xenophobic fear of foreigners, inspires people to call for the death of political opponents and violates the traditional American notions of community, diversity and melting pot. This is a McCain campaign that is a deliberate attempt to foment fear and hate towards the nominee of the other party with the lie that he is linked to terrorists and the accusation of virtual treason with the lie that Obama would lose a war to win an election in a campaign that has now gotten out of control for even this desperate candidate.
This litany of lies, falsehoods and fears pumps a poisonous lava into the American body politic. Instead of addressing the crisis of our times with serious economic leadership, and instead of calming fears with expressions of unity and ideas for change: McCain exploits fear. Questions the Americanism of his opponent. Becomes himself an anger and rage machine trying to inspire the people of a troubled nation to share his anger and join his rage. "Kill him.” "Off with his head.” "Terrorist.” "Traitor." This is what is said at the hate rallies of John McCain, and there is much hate at the rallies of John McCain.
What kind of candidate enlists his wife in a campaign of such personal vindictiveness and anger?
And now McCain is trapped by his own venom. At his rallies where so much hate is spoken, those who hate demand McCain express even more anger and rage. Republicans in many states understand that this campaigning is unworthy of and destructive to the nation and the party that once was the party of Lincoln, and urge McCain to stop it.
This is not a case of "both candidates do it." This is a case where something is happening that has not happened in decades, with a pure personal vindictiveness where an opponent’s patriotism is questioned, where innuendo comes in daily doses, where a major-party candidate is reduced to personal attacks that overwhelm everything else about his campaign.
This is different. This is dangerous. This is destructive. This will take the candidate and his party to a catastrophic defeat and will further divide a nation far too divided and embittered after eight years of George Bush and the people who ran his politics, who now run McCain's politics.
McCain sells short the good will of the American people. He now embodies the last desperate hope of a radical-right approach to politics that is built on division, rage and contempt toward political opponents in a nation that will soon say: enough. No more. This ends here and this ends now.
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Yep, you've pretty much summed it up for what it is. However, you can and should expect one or more of the following responses from our right-wing friends:
"Now we can't even criticize Obama without libruhls whining that it's dangerous."
"He's a MARXIST TERRORIST MESSIAH!"
"McCain had to do this because the mainstream media is biased and refuses to cover any of it."
"Where's his birth certificate? No, not that one, the OTHER one? And what's Obama gonna do when Rezko starts talking? I can't wait!"
"If Obama would've participated in the town halls, this wouldn't be happening. He's created this situation for himself."
"Democrats are to blame, and people are too stupid to figure it out."
"Okay, maybe both candidates weren't doing it, but what about Rev. Wright? What about that uncle of Obama's neighbor's dentist? Yeah, we're supposed to pretend Obama never knew those people."
Comment by Melissa — October 12, 2008 @ 10:25 am
No response needed. Your just a moron!
Comment by Donald Rouselle — October 12, 2008 @ 10:38 am
Let me get this straight. Only Brent can see through the hyperbole. The rest of us are just a bunch of stupid schmucks who can't evaluate the content behind a politician's comments. Only Brent and his liberal brethren are immune. What a crock. You failed to go over that race baiting ad from Obama in which he featured quotes from Rush Limbaugh. The quotes were totally out of context, the entire ad was a misrepresentation of the facts, and Rush Limbaugh started his own ad campaign to fight back against Barack's lies. Brent, admit it. You don't care if liberals lie, you're only concerned when Republicans tell the truth.
Comment by Robert Rosencrans — October 12, 2008 @ 11:03 am
Spot on post Brent.
We are getting a peak at the internal rift within the GOP. The crazed dittoheads and anti-abortion terrorists that make up the base of the GOP are causing the GOP to implode.
The GOP breakdown was predictable and is much needed.
Rosencrans, there is an ongoing coup to rid the GOP of you and your ilk (Misha, Igor, Pemberton, JFK-HRC). Do you now recognize that fact Rosie? Misha? Igor?
Comment by Jesse Templeton — October 12, 2008 @ 11:39 am
Naturally, all vicious attacks about Gov. Palin were based on facts and there was no hate involved from leftist groups, right?
It's hard to take Brent seriously…
Comment by Misha — October 12, 2008 @ 11:55 am
Obama's economic solution:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=081012151913.899p7n58&show_article=1&lst=1
Comment by Misha — October 12, 2008 @ 11:58 am
jESSE tEMPLETON,
No, we don't recognize that fact. Had it been for us, McCain would not have been a candidate and Obama would have no chance against someone like Romney or another real conservative. We have to play the deck we have, so we'll make the most of it and try to undermine Obama's tribe and his ACORN brown shirts as much as we can.
Comment by Misha — October 12, 2008 @ 12:07 pm
Did you totally miss the multiple times John McCain said Barack Obama was a decent, patriotic, family man and his supporters had nothing to fear if he is elected?
You are willfully ignorant and you have no business posting anything because you simply aren't informed enough.
Or, if could be that you're a lying, manipulative Democratic hack who cares nothing for reality and simply spins, spins, spin.
Comment by Matthew white — October 12, 2008 @ 12:12 pm
Look who else is concerned:
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Fidel-Castro-Says-Its-Miracle-Barack-Obama-Not-Assassinated/Article/200810215118725?f=rss
Comment by Igor R. — October 12, 2008 @ 12:39 pm
Yes Melissa, there IS this birth certificate issue:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/10/this_could_be_the_game_changer.html
Comment by Igor R. — October 12, 2008 @ 12:40 pm
Excellent post Brent.
One that will surely drive the wingnuts here crazy. The truth hurts doesnt it?
There is however another narrative forming. Acorn is being used as a scapegoat to explain away the failures of conservative ideology and the McCain campaign in general.
Basically, the black guy didnt win-he couldnt-he must have stolen the election! This is the reason why we need a landslide, Obama needs to win in places he has no business winning, state like GA, NC, IND, MO, perhaps a surprise state or two (Texas?). A complete repulsion of the last eight years.
They keep waiting for a miracle (Rezko, birth cert lawsuit) to rescue McCain from this nightmare they've created. Sadly, McCain is toast and he is now boxed in. He will not bring up Ayers or Wright on Wednesday and he will end up looking like a coward and piss off his base. If he dares to do so, Obama will pounce all over him.
His only remaining goal is to salvage what's left of his honor and lose with some dignity.
Comment by Theard — October 12, 2008 @ 1:04 pm
#10 LOL I knew you wouldn't let me down, Igor. Of course, the author of your own article admits the video is based solely on Berg's claims and "may be completely wrong", but when has a lack of facts ever stood in the way of your opinion before?
Once this frivolous suit is dismissed, I'm going to remind you of it every single day for at least a month.
Comment by Melissa — October 12, 2008 @ 1:07 pm
Has anyone stopped to think why, if it were all Bush's policies that got America into this economic mess, then how is it that Spain, Japan, Italy, Japan, Israel, Germany, etc. etc. etc. are all in the same economic mess? Last I checked Bush wasn't their president, nor were they governed by our economic regulations. Perhaps this is too inconvenient for the MSM to explore until after the election as it doesn't fit into the agenda, and possibley because they're just too dumb and blind to begin with. Remember, the magicians are always getting you to look in one spot, while they work their magic somewhere else. Think for yourselves, don't listen to those who would ask you to limit your investigation to just the items they want to discuss or reveal.
Comment by FrankSeville — October 12, 2008 @ 2:06 pm
Jesse Templeton: The only ilk I am aware of is posters like you only I believe it is spelled ICK
Comment by Robert Rosencrans — October 12, 2008 @ 2:27 pm
Where is Obama's signature on this letter?
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=28973#continueA
Or was he to busy going to Wall St. to express his concerns about what was going on. Where exactly on Wall St. did he go? Did he stand out in front of the NYSE, or did he go to one of the coffee shops, or did he take a double decker bus tour that just happened to drive down Wall St.
If it weren't so serious, it would be laughable at how there has been absolutely no serious analysis given to Barack Obama's plans or lack thereof in most cases. Luckily, the word is finally getting out, and people are starting to question and see how the MSM has completely dropped the ball. After this next debate, over the final 3 weeks, the dissemination of this type of info, and other will expose the Obama candidacy as what it really is, a double-sided-reversible empty suit.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=28973
Comment by FrankSeville — October 12, 2008 @ 2:42 pm
One way McCain can link Obama to Ayers in a debate is with economic terrorism. At these times, we need a President who's got USA interests dear to his heart, not someone who's friends with Farrakhan, Ayers, Rev. Wright, Rezko, and other scums.
How do we know Obama's economic solutions would not be undermining our economy even further while it's so weak?
Comment by Misha — October 12, 2008 @ 2:51 pm
McCain is a sad case, except he hurts the
country with his sad act. This baloney
about putting country first, then he becomes
a one-man demolition machine, just totally
dividing the nation hour by hour. Then he
picks the idiot Palin, a know nothing of the
first order. Two bad acts. The truth is,
McCain has always had a bad act. First a
Reagan Republican. Then threatens to leave
the Republican Party. Then toys with running
with John Kerry. Then makes a deal with Bush
and becomes mini-Bush and kisses and hugs
Bush. Now pretends he barely knew Bush. A
total opportunist whose act changes with the
winds.
Comment by Brent — October 12, 2008 @ 3:01 pm
Brent, what gets me is after a week of preaching hate against 'that one', all the McCain camp flacks are saying thay are outraged by John Lewis's correct assessment of them. Can you believe that? Now they are attacking John Lewis!!!! Everytime you think thay have sunk the lowest you can think, they manage to find another rock to go under. Now John McCain doesn't know what to do. Again.
Comment by yvonne — October 12, 2008 @ 3:34 pm
Igor, please tell me that you are not counting on this man to "save" you. LOL
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1122023117263
Finding that a Pennsylvania lawyer had committed a "laundry list of unethical actions," a federal judge has imposed more than $10,000 in sanctions and ordered the lawyer to complete six hours of ethics training.
U.S. District Judge J. Curtis Joyner's 10-page opinion in Holsworth v. Berg is packed with criticism of the conduct of attorney Philip Berg of Lafayette Hill, Pa.
"Other attorneys should look to Mr. Berg's actions as a blueprint for what not to do when attempting to effectively and honorably perform the duties of the legal profession," Joyner wrote.
"This court has grown weary of Mr. Berg's continuous and brazen disrespect toward this court and his own clients. Mr. Berg's actions … are an enormous waste of judicial time and resources that this court cannot, in good conscience, allow to go unpunished," Joyner wrote.
In the suit, Berg is accused of legal malpractice by former clients who claim his failure to respond to an ERISA claim against them led to a default judgment.
But the sanctions against Berg stem from his decision to file a third-party counterclaim of fraud against a pension fund that had sued his former clients, according to court papers.
Joyner blasted Berg for filing the fraud claim, calling it an "irresponsible decision" because the claim was "utterly barren of any scintilla of legal principles."
Comment by Melissa — October 12, 2008 @ 3:51 pm
Hard to make the argument that McCain and Palin are spreading hate, when you turn on the TV and all you see are Obama's surrogates and Democrat talking heads advancing comparisons of McCain to George Wallace and questioning McCain's character, and then the next clip is McCain correcting people on how he respects Obama and thinks he's a good family man. Looks like the writer here and the other McCain Palin character assisinators are falling right into McCain's strategy to expose the real truth about Obama. Keep it up.
Comment by FrankSeville — October 12, 2008 @ 3:52 pm
"Pumps a poisonous lava"???
Comment by Barry Schwartz — October 12, 2008 @ 4:24 pm
Professional liar covering up his tracks, but people notice:
http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/7231
Comment by Igor R. — October 12, 2008 @ 4:53 pm
FrankSeville, of course Iceland is going bankrupt because of the failed policies of the Bush administration, and his clone John McCain.
Comment by Igor R. — October 12, 2008 @ 4:55 pm
Melissa, I'm not counting on anyone to "save" me and in fact I don't expect the lawsuit to be resolved before the election in a way that proves Obama is not a citizen. You're right, it's likely to be dismissed. I just find it unbelievable that Obama refuses to produce his original birth certificate or state that it's lost or SOMETHING but instead has hired a team of lawyers to delay or get out of this simple act.
I also find it amazing (well not really, but you now what I mean) that no mainstream media is not demanding that Obama should produce it.
Comment by Igor R. — October 12, 2008 @ 5:01 pm
Nightmares
America’s collective drift to the right, accompanied by the insanity and ugliness which so often permeates this movement, causes one to wonder why mankind is so incapable of remembering and learning from the past.
Observing such outright hatred, xenophobia, racism and intolerance coupled with fear, ignorance and outright destructiveness within the political discourse of what was once a democratic and civilized country, one is strongly reminded of Europe’s slide into fascism during the 30’s.
One should be aware that this path into the darkness is a process taken in incremental steps and whenever one believes it can’t get any worse it certainly will, unless action is taken to stop it. To stop it requires courage and is achieved by clearly drawing “lines in the sand”, which may not be overstepped and by coming down hard on the perpetrators. The freedom of speech is a right which carries with it a built-in duty to exercise it in a responsible and enlightened fashion.
Failure to do so inevitably leads to the destruction of all it touches, from personal relationships to entire cultures and nations. For the purpose of attaining power and political expediency, Republicans have been leading a fully unprepared American people into a very dark and forbidding place.
It is the place where nightmares are made.
Comment by GreyRaven — October 12, 2008 @ 5:03 pm
I've written much here on why I think the GOP is losing this election. Time.com has a story that really hits home all of the points and shows why McCain is not connecting with middle America.
In a rather long piece, author David Von Drehle went to Missouri and interviewed several voters:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1848469-1,00.html
Here are some of the higlights:
Obama has sucessfully tied McCain to Bush:
"I just don't want another four years of Bush, and here's McCain voting with him 90% of the time," said Ben Humphreys as he stood with his neighbors on that driveway in Troy. His wife Dawn said, "Obama seems to care more about people like me. He's more for the people."
Voters are tired of the war and the state of the economy, social issues are taking a back seat:
"Peasel said, "I think if the Republicans get it again, we'll have another world war. Honestly, this whole government scares me. I am pro-life, but that's between a woman and her God. I'm voting for Obama, and I think he has a very good chance around here because people are so sick of what's going on."
The "He's a muslim" meme is not working:
What had me scared," she explained, "was the whole thing about, Was he a Muslim?"
"A President of the United States should not be named Obama," chimed in stylist Gina Gilley.
"But he wasn't even around his father," Martin replied. And she went on: "Then my sister-in-law and my pastor helped me out. They gave me places to go online to learn the truth." Her sister-in-law is so committed to Obama that she has volunteered to knock on doors in her apartment complex. "She ran into two old guys who were for McCain, but all the rest were leaning toward Obama."
Did u get that? She went online and found the truth.
Then the author hits it out of the park:
"when the story is told, the moral might be that white and black begin to fade when the color that matters is green — the green of money we can no longer count"
Its still the economy stupid and u guys can continue blathering about Rezko, Ayers and Wright–issues voters dont care about–see what happens on Nov 4th.
Comment by Theard — October 12, 2008 @ 5:07 pm
And Melissa it will never end until he produced the certificate or fesses up that it doesn't exist:
http://texasdarlin.wordpress.com/2008/10/11/obama-born-in-kenya-new-information/
Comment by Igor R. — October 12, 2008 @ 5:23 pm
The retuglican responses are hilarious.
You nailed it Melissa
Comment by pghremodeler — October 12, 2008 @ 6:05 pm
Melissa
Your comment, #1, is so spot on its scary, excellent job.
And last I checked, Obama was born in Hawaii AFTER Hawaii was added to the union, so pushing this argument against Obama rightly comes off-to the overwhelming majority of voters-as completely nutty
Don't doubt for a single second that the right-wing knuckle-draggers attacks on Obama will get even more shrill, unhinged and amusing the closer we get to November 4.
Comment by KingCranky — October 12, 2008 @ 6:53 pm
Does anyone else think that Misha's comment about "Obama's tribe" is thinly-veiled racism?
Our is that just an idiom from her tailer park?
It was a reassuring surprise to hear McCain Friday attempting to refute some of the hatred and lies fomented by his own supporters.
Is he feeling a twinge of honor and straight talk? Did he finally get back on his lithium treatments?
Either way, it will be very important that the vicious lies about Obama be dispelled when he becomes President. The country has to pull together to face the challenges ahead of us.
McCain, putting Country First, could do a lot to further that cause. Friday was a start. Stay on your meds, John!
Comment by smilinjack — October 12, 2008 @ 6:56 pm
Excuse me, I meant Misha's trailer park.
Comment by smilinjack — October 12, 2008 @ 6:57 pm
Those who think that the rhetoric is out of control at McCain/Palin rallies take a look at this:
http://www.hillaryclintonforum.net/discussion/showthread.php?t=35605
Comment by Igor R. — October 12, 2008 @ 7:28 pm
GreyRaven, yeah this wistful concern for the limitations on the freedom of speech sounded SO GENUINE! The Obama goons are vandalizing cars displaying McCain/Obama stickers all over this country. The thugs intimidating people at anti-Palin rallies are. ACORN is running rampant stealing the election. Obama is back to using the Malcolm X code words "bamboozled and hoodwinked" on the stump. The report on the kind of language Obama supporters are using I posted shows you where the reality is. In fact, if Obama wins the free speech limitations will only apply to criticizing Obama. The pattern is clear.
Comment by Igor R. — October 12, 2008 @ 7:37 pm
LOL! I meant "rethuglican" but "retuglican" is a better joke.
Tug yourself a little more.
Comment by pghremodeler — October 12, 2008 @ 7:57 pm
Theard, who could not enjoy an article with wonderful quotes like this one:
"Another store clerk joined us. She offered her impression that Palin "was like a snake for some reason"
written by a guy whose most famous book is on a fire that started the labor reform movement. A guy in whose interview with Obama a typical question read something like this:
"You have a powerful belief in this idea that getting people together, of getting them to trust one another. The epiphany of your first book is "faith in other people." You understand how it sounds kind of gossamer to some people?"
I'm sure his conclusions are totally objective.
Comment by Igor R. — October 12, 2008 @ 8:08 pm
Liberals are the fascists of our time.
anyone who disagress with obama is a rascist or evil capitalist. wow, there's tolerance and good communal vibes…
this country has been seduced by the left and their welfare state approach to governance.
sad and scary that pelosi, in spite of sheer incompetance and ideaological paradox will continue to thrive.
Comment by good morning from the gulag — October 12, 2008 @ 8:31 pm
Thanks to pghremodeler and king cranky for appreciating my role-playing venture.
#24 Igor, you now believe a website called 'texasdarlin' is a good supporting source for your argument? Who's the Texas Darlin', the Alaska Bumpkin's cousin? LMAO!
As I stated in another thread, I wouldn't personally provide a "career plaintiff" like Berg a piece of toilet paper, much let alone my personal documents. Berg has no standing to bring the suit, and appeasing his whims is sending the wrong signal, especially in light of his wreckless and unethical track record.
Why don't you tell me more about this team of lawyers Obama's hired and how much it's costing him, Igor. I'd like to know more about that. I'd also like to know if you've considered the possibility they may be allowing all this to play out in court to later nail Berg with a complaint of their own (to include an award of legal fees). Just a thought….
Comment by Melissa — October 12, 2008 @ 9:08 pm
Melissa-
Did u get a chance to go see Obama in Philly? My grandmother lives in the Philly suburbs and I thought about it.
Igor, u can try to dismiss that article but I thought it was well written and the author did a thorough job. Who am I kiddin? Unless that article showered praise on the Caribou Barbie, the author is a biased hack.
I checked the candidate's schedule for tom and noticed that they are sending Ms Barbie to VA and McCain will be in North Carolina..LOL
Comment by Theard — October 12, 2008 @ 9:47 pm
#17 Brent,
I agree with you that he's been wearing opportunism on his sleeve. But, if you've noticed in the past two days, he's been cautious to remind supporters to be respectful.
There are two ways to look at this. He has either decided to tone down the rhetoric with the belief that the seeds have been planted and do not need to be actively sown. Or he is coming to terms with the odds he is facing and would like to try to recapture a little dignity before he leaves the stage. There's no way of knowing his motivation, but I would hope it's the latter and not the former.
Here's a prediction: Palin, on the other hand, is now realizing she's on a ticket to nowhere and will become the REAL opportunist. She will have no qualms publicly disagreeing with McCain and speaking for herself instead of the ticket. She will do so with the thought she is securing her own political future, possibly with the blessing of the Rovian slugs who believe she has potential for 2012 (LOL!).
Comment by Melissa — October 12, 2008 @ 10:22 pm
32 Igor..actually this is what causes moderates and independents to run for the Hills:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKUovpF9LWU
Now watch the idiot ditch the doll when he realizes that he could end up on network tv
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy2DgDWne2E
That's the reason why this election must end in a landslide. A 100 seat majority in the house combined with a 60+ seat Dem Senate.
There can be no room for spin or rationalization. It must be a bloodbath of historic proportions.
Comment by Theard — October 12, 2008 @ 10:28 pm
What is sad is that the media have turned the presidential election into a hate fest. When it ends in someone being killed will the media admit to their fault? The media have become the hate mongers. This is truly sad.
Comment by OldSarg — October 12, 2008 @ 10:34 pm
Melissa that's a good point, you may be right,
that Palin, who has the lean and hungry look,
to quote Shakespeare, starts criticizing
McCain if this goes on. She has a history of
doing in those who help her. BTW it was John
McCain who praised John Lewis during the
Republican primaries as one of the three people
he trusts the most, or would go to for advice
in a crisis, or something to that effect. Lewis
was surprised by that, because McCain never had
a history of going to Lewis for advice, but
McCain said it. Now here is the guy McCain
pretended to admire so highly, when it suited
him, and now he criticizes Lewis for speaking
the truth. What has happened at McCain and
Palin rallies is hate, in my post I quoted
phrase after phrase of hate, inspired by the
kind of campaign McCain and Palin are running.
There is something very sick about this kind
of campaign. Both candidates do NOT do it.
No candidate of a major party for president
has inspired this kind of hate at his rallies,
towards his opponent, in my political memory.
Comment by Brent — October 12, 2008 @ 11:23 pm
Hi Theard,
No, I didn't attend any of Obama's Philly events this weekend. And no, I didn't attend Palin's booing at the Flyer's game either. (LOL!)
I see you posted the Keystone Progress video from Palin's Johnstown Rally. I'm not sure if you saw Mike Morrill's other video from the Bethlehem rally….which I'm told was shown on Countdown within the past few days (I don't watch, so I wouldn't know). It's both embarrassing and scary to know I'm living amongst critters like this.
http://keystoneprogress.blogspot.com/2008/10/mccain-supporters-spew-hate-in.html
And since you've got a PA connection, here are a few other morsels for you. I'm sure you've heard how the PA GOP chair recently referred to Obama as "a terrorist's best friend." Well, now he told the NYT that voters in southeastern PA are "too sophisticated" for the sleazy McCain attacks, to which he replied, "I worry about the southeast." You can tell your grandma that you're proud of her sophistication!
http://groups.google.com/group/talk.politics.misc/browse_thread/thread/cf235f1df57ff014?pli=1
I managed to stumble upon this on Saturday afternoon before it was edited for the print edition. Fortunately, someone on Google groups copied and pasted the original before it got edited. The NYT link is included in the link provided.
Comment by Melissa — October 12, 2008 @ 11:44 pm
#40 I don't understand why it was necessary to put Obama sticker on that doll. It was clearly an Obama doll.
Comment by M16 — October 13, 2008 @ 12:16 am
Brent, can you vouch for Obama's supporters there would be no violence if Obama loses? I have my doubts…
Comment by Misha — October 13, 2008 @ 12:36 am
An addendum to my post #39:
Here's Palin, again, no holds barred in Ohio. Notice that she could care less whether her supporters are equating Obama with her chat about evil. She did nothing to correct the misconception she was presenting, instead leaving her spox to later answer for her.
“Help me, Ohio, to help put John McCain in the White House,” she said. “He understands. He understands you. We understand how important it is that this team be elected. For one thing, we know who the bad guys are, OK?”
That statement elicited scattered shouts of “Obama!” throughout the crowd.
“We know that in the war, it’s terrorists, terrorists who hate America and her allies and would seek to destroy us, and the bad guys are those who would support and sympathize with the terrorists,” she said. “They do not like America because of what we stand for. Liberty. Freedom. Equal rights. Those who sympathize and support those terrorists who would seek to destroy all that it is that we value, those are the bad guys, OK?”
Was Palin suggesting that Barack Obama and Joe Biden don’t understand the terrorist threat? Who exactly were the “bad guys” Palin was referring to? A spokesperson for the campaign would only say that the governor was describing “nations that sympathize with terrorists, period.”
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/12/palin-draws-a-line-between-good-guys-and-bad-guys/
Updated prediction: I suspect she'll become even worse over the next 3 weeks. While this is not good for McCain, Palin and her Rovian pals think this is great for them to rebuild their/her future. They know the campaign is over and will abandon McCain with their eyes set upon 2012. Stare opportunism in the face.
Comment by Melissa — October 13, 2008 @ 12:44 am
Melissa, I remember seeing several lawyers when looking at the website or when I saw the article about one of them being a former lawyer for some unsavory character. I don't want to do extra research to identify them all.
Comment by Igor R. — October 13, 2008 @ 12:46 am
Theard, the article was well written, but I don't know what to believe from an MSM article. I only see positive things about Obama from similar articles. The guy is a professional book writer in addition to being an experienced correspondent, so of course he writes well. Being a liberal though, I'd expect him to add a pro-Obama spin to a story like this.
Comment by Igor R. — October 13, 2008 @ 12:51 am
No. 46 - You sound a lot like one of those who might be victim of the Bradley effect. Just the mere mention of bad guys and terrorists has you obviously subliminally connecting those terms to Obama. Most reasonable people can decipher the intent of Palins words even without her detailed explanation. Most it seems other than you for example. I hope your embedded prejudices don't betray you on election day.
Comment by FrankSeville — October 13, 2008 @ 1:55 am
#47 Of course you don't want to do research. There's only one attorney of record for Obama, but the sensationalized version you've provided sounds so much more Law and Order-ish. (rolling my eyes)
Comment by Melissa — October 13, 2008 @ 2:09 am
If you go to the Metro Section of the Washington Post you'll see the chairman
of the Virginia Republican Party compare
Barack to Bin Laden. This is the kind of
sick hate-filled campaigning that McCain
now stands for. Show me a swing state, I'll
show you a slander. Now, even the supercilious
neocon Bill Kristol, who was recently talking
about Jeremiah Wright, is appalled by what
the McCain campaign has become. John is so
radically out of touch with America, he just
can't get it, that people want to talk about
their futures, not their fears or hates. So
while McCain tries to sooth his image on
the stump, for a few minutes, his republican
chairman in Virginia compares Barack to Bin
Laden. This is a decadent Republican party
on the brink of losing a historic landslide
and all McCain can do, is send out low lifes
like his republican chairman in virginia.
Comment by Brent — October 13, 2008 @ 7:41 am
Brent: Barack ran an ad campaign that stated that McCain appeared "erratic." Was that fair? As far as comparing Obama to Bin Ladin, people are still entitled to their opinion. That is, unless you're taking over and telling us that we can only have the opinions you have. Is that what you're saying? If so, Heil Budowsky!
http://www.nysun.com/opinion/obamas-dirty-fight/84798/
When Mr. Obama declared Mr. McCain would frighten electors by pointing out "he doesn't look like all those other presidents on those dollar bills," Mr. McCain called him out, accusing the Illinois senator of dealing the race card "from the bottom of the deck." Mr. Obama sputtered, at first claiming he wasn't referring to race, then admitted he was indeed using the same trick he had so successfully played against the Clintons.
Deprived of preemptive accusations of racism, the Obama camp has continued to cry foul against Mr. McCain for suggesting its candidate is not ready to lead, would not make a good commander in chief, is preparing to withdraw from Iraq too quickly, was slow off the mark to condemn Russia for invading Georgia, and many other legitimate concerns.
When Mr. McCain compared him to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, to suggest Mr. Obama makes a better celebrity than chief executive, the Obama apologists once more cried "race" because — this from the New Yorker's Hendrik Hertzberg — "… it cannot have escaped the ad makers' notice that [Spears and Hilton] also symbolize white, blond sexual availability." Perhaps if you have a dirty mind, anything can seem racist, or sexist, or sexual. But sometimes, as Sigmund Freud might have said, a fountain pen is just a fountain pen.
Despite railing against knocking copy, Mr. Obama has not hesitated to indulge in negative campaigning of his own. By jumping on Mr. McCain's admission he wasn't sure how many homes he owns, the suggestion being that the McCains are so filthy rich they cannot possibly understand the concerns of ordinary Americans — the very charge that is so often leveled against Mr. Obama — he has opened the door to a hurricane of low, dirty, unfair ads from the Swiftboaters of 2008.
Since when is class warfare warranted in America, the land of opportunity? Since when has wealth, or a wife's wealth, become the benchmark by which candidates are to be judged? What sort of envious, angry, carping, inverted snobbery inspires such thoughts? Did the number of homes Franklin Roosevelt or John Kennedy have mean they did not care for the common man?
By his action, Mr. Obama has invited scrutiny into why the convicted felon, Tony Rezko, helped him pick his home, and why Mrs. Rezko bought the next door plot and cheaply sold him a strip to enhance his property's value. And he has drawn attention to his own multi-millionaire status, and his wife's $316,962 salary for ushering the poor and needy away from the University of Chicago Medical Center. Not to mention the $101,083 she received from TreeHouse Foods Inc., a subsidiary of that bastion of workers' rights, Wal-Mart, which lifted her pay in 2006 to $374,701. And why Mr. Obama lobbied for a $1 million earmark for the Center while his wife was drawing a hefty salary there. And on and on.
Rule one in waging a gentlemanly campaign: keep off the candidate's wife. Rule two: don't hurl rocks if you live in a conservatory. If Mr. Obama wanted to fight by the Marquess of Queensberry's rules, he sure has a strange way of showing it.
nwapshott@nysun.com
Comment by Robert Rosencrans — October 13, 2008 @ 9:20 am
There appears to be a growing bitterness on the part of the Obamunists. Will they turn to guns or religion as prophesied by the green Messiah? Or will they become bigots and move to Pennsylvania? Consult your Magic 8 ball or oracle for an answer.
Comment by Robert Rosencrans — October 13, 2008 @ 9:32 am
Robert Rosencrans,
I know you know this but I'll say it anyway. Obama and his camp have "turned the page on the economy" and any other issues for that matter because they seem to know that if they get dragged into talking about real issues, instead of just complaining about how everyone's bad for attacking them, they'll likely lose their edge in the polls. The only thing that they want to do, and seemingly CAN do for that matter is hem an holler about how mean and bad everyone is for questioning ANYTHING about their candidate.
As an independent voter, it appears to me as though there is little substance to the candidate, or when he does say anything of substance, it's just typical retreaded Democrat ideas. "Change" and "Middle Class Rescue" and "End the War" are the only things he can say, it seems, but if you look behind the words, all you see is a sinister smiling Harry Ried and Nancy Pelosi and a weakened US, and a more bloated government.
On the flip side, while I can understand from watching the equally vapid TV media, why McCain feels he must continue to press this strategy, Obama's camp seems so inept that they can't even point out McCain's inconsistencies between his rhetoric on spending and the new programs he's proposing.
In the meantime you have Brent here who is like a little kid who keeps screaming and ranting and telling us he's going to hold his breath if we don't listen to him, he'll hold his breath til he passes out. Oh, if only we were alls so lucky! It's pretty comical to read his posts and follow up rants. He appears like a vinyl LP that has a scratch and keeps getting stuck playing the same lines over and over, he's like old technology that sounds bad and has been replaced by newer and better technology, and belongs in the garage sale pile.
While I'm not optimistic about it, I still hope that this weeks debate will prove to be substantial and that we'll get something from these candidates more than their stump speeches. The American People deserve more from these candidates, instead of the type of discussion we're getting from them and from those here.
I know McCain has said spending freeze, and Biden has said it's patriotic to pay taxes, but what one of these guys should really do is stand up and disregard what the other guy is saying and instead say, here it is. I'm going to take the current budget and cut this, this, this, this, and reduce this, this, this, this, and modify this, this, and this. The projected revenues are this, and we'll adjust downward because of the economic conditions, and my first budget will be a real surplus (not like the fake mythylogical Clinton Surplus) that goes toward paying the debt. They should say, that whether it gets me elected or not, this is what our government needs, and once we can actually demonstrate that we can spend WITHIN our means, then and ONLY THEN, can we discuss new taxes that will go only towards paying down the debt. Then and only then, should Americans EVER consider allowing the government to take new tax revenue from us.
Leadership, not the pandering that we're getting from both candidates, is the only thing that is acceptable and what should be DEMANDED from these candidats, and for anyone here to be willing to settle for less shows you that their interest is only in partisan power and not in their Country. Shame on Brent and anyone else who will allow themselves to be taken by anything less.
Comment by Nick — October 13, 2008 @ 10:23 am
McCain simply has NOTHING, NO ISSUE, to run on. The nutty neocons like the hate filled attacks, in fact they demand it. Huh Rosie?
My theory is McCain is simply trying to hold on to his base, the bigots and simpletons. He is at 41% in most all polls. The Goldwater-type conservatives (not the 'neocons') are leaving the campaign, and Barck is corting and winning them.
Why else would McCain stoop so low? He can't be that stupid; can he?
Comment by Lester — October 13, 2008 @ 10:25 am
Lester,
Your comment reveals you to be a bigot and a simpleton, and therefore by default you must be voting for McCain.
Comment by Nick — October 13, 2008 @ 10:48 am
Melissa-
Thanks for the links. Your prediction that Palin may begin to distance herself from McCain is an interesting one.
With three weeks to go and if McCain flails as expected in this last debate, it will be interesting to see how Palin and other neocons react. They must be careful, since McCain has a terrible temper and is vindictive. I've always maintained that part of his maverickness against Bush (and the brief flirtation with Kerry) was a result of being pissed at the Bushies 2000 campaign tactics. The same ones he is employing vs Obama.
What would a pissed off McCain who realized that he was gamed by Palin and Rove handlers do?
Could become a Zell Miller type for Dems?
Comment by Theard — October 13, 2008 @ 11:03 am
OK Melissa, I got it from this article:
http://countusout.wordpress.com/2008/10/02/just-in/
that said "one of the lawyers". I didn't go beyond that.
Comment by Igor R. — October 13, 2008 @ 12:06 pm
I hear Barack's fundraising in Sept and so
far in October will HUGE. Mega-numbers.
McCain's negative attacks have driven up
McCain's negatives for himself, and driven
up Barack's fundraising numbers through the
roof to even higher levels. I saw one poll
today that shows Barack ahead in N. Dakota.
I dont quite believe it, but it's possible.
I predict by Sunday McCain will pull out of
Pennsylvania and that will make a big splash.
Remember where you heard it: after pulling out
of Michigan, McCain will pull out of Pa.
Comment by Brent — October 13, 2008 @ 12:18 pm
As if we all didn't realize it already, but over the weekend it's been confirmed. The Democrat Party, The MSM, and Fidel Castro are allies in a common cause and indistinguishable one from the other. Congratulations.
Comment by FrankSeville — October 13, 2008 @ 12:27 pm
Question for all..
No matter who wins the election, at what date in 2009 do we hold the conditions of the country the responsibility of the administration?
January 09?
June 09?
December 09?
other?
Comment by Jon Pemberton — October 13, 2008 @ 12:53 pm
Budowsky's campaign of hate. Which of these people was you?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQalRPQ8stI
Comment by FrankSeville — October 13, 2008 @ 1:06 pm
Brent-
I saw that ND poll as well and it appears to be an outlier. Here is the latest Gallup
Obama 51
McCain 41
This Harwood from the NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/us/politics/13caucus.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
"Since Gallup began presidential polling in 1936, only one candidate has overcome a deficit that large, and this late, to win the White House: Ronald Reagan, who trailed President Jimmy Carter 47 percent to 39 percent in a survey completed on Oct. 26, 1980.
Yet Mr. Carter, like Mr. McCain today, represented the party holding the White House in bad times. After Mr. Reagan successfully presented himself as an alternative to Mr. Carter in their lone debate, held on the late date of Oct. 28, he surged ahead. After two debates, Mr. Obama holds a lead that is approaching Mr. Reagan’s eventual margin of victory"
Comment by Theard — October 13, 2008 @ 1:06 pm
Brent,
I thought we were waiting on the BIG STORY ready to break on McCain's health. Wasn't that your last prediction. Hmmmmm…….still waiting.
Issues, Brent, issues. Stop spreading hate and divisivness and partisanship. START deploring it as your bio says you do.
Hold BOTH candidates to a higher standard. Otherwise, all you're doing is allowing the lower expectations to lower the quality of our government and weaken the US. Or is that your goal?
Comment by Nick — October 13, 2008 @ 1:10 pm
I have to say, listening to some of these
angry hate cases at McCain's rallies say
"I am so afraid" of Obama. Honestly, give
me a break. What cowards, what absolutely
cowards to be afraid, or say they are afraid.
This tells us what the McCain campaign has
descended to, to inspire this pathetic "I am
afraid, I am afraid" but it also tells us
something about these right wing cowards who
show up at these rallies. What wimps. It
does look like we are on the latest new
McCain, version six, or seven, or whatever.
Maybe with his polls down, he will cool the
hate down. Then again, maybe not. Either
way, some of these right wing cases are just
plain cowards. "I am so afraid" of Obama.
Give me a break.
Comment by Brent — October 13, 2008 @ 3:18 pm
ea, your right Brent. Remember the Patriot Act? I do. And it is the cowards that caused such a disgusting legislation passed. This time however, the GOP has overplayed the hand. Continue to stand tall against the opposition Brent. I have NEVER seen any campaign so devoid of issues.
Comment by Lester — October 13, 2008 @ 3:43 pm
Breathe, Brent, BREATHE! You're turning blue!
Call me a coward, but I'm afraid of BOTH of these candidates, and the mentality they promote as displayed by you and others here.
-I'm afraid because both of these candidates can't tell us specifically what they'll cut as far as spending goes.
-I'm afraid that they can't pledge and show how they'll present a balanced if not a surplus budget on the day they are inaugurated.
-I'm afraid that both of them tell us how Washington has to change, yet both of them continue in rhetoric and practice all the actions that they decry need changing.
-I'm afraid that Obama says he's going to cut taxes on 95% of Americans when in REALITY, he's going RAISE taxes on ALL AMERICANS by his own admission.
-I'm afraid that McCain says that we need to cut spending, yet he's voted for and is continuing to espouse spending program after spending program that will just continue to bloat the government.
-I'm afraid that Obama doesn't have the character and principle to take a him or me stand and instead helps to legitimize a William Ayers by serving on 2 different boards with him and is either too naive or too ignorant and actually has a political event in his honor at Ayers' house, and he's stated he'd do the same with foreign terror leaders like Ahmadinejad.
-I'm afraid that McCain doesn't seem to have the character or the principle to say the hell with all this political double talk and slick packaging, I'm going to tell you straight here are the basic 5 to 10 specific items that need to be done to repair our government, here's how I plan to accomplish them, and I don't care if these are liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican ideas, I'm going to get them done from day one of my presidency.
You bet I'm scared. I'm scared that people like you have hijacked the national discussion to the point where I can see an ignorant grandmother call Obama an Arab 22 times in one hour on CNN, and probably 200 times in one day, instead of an analysis, that can help people make an educated decision, of how are candidates are going to fix our corrupt government. I'm afraid that instead of serving their TRUE role in our society of exposing corrupt and compromised politicians, they instead focus on pundits like you or comments like that old lady because they either want to pander more to what gets them ratings or they're interested in promoting their own agenda be it left or right.
I'm afraid. You bet! It's a shame that you aren't.
Comment by Nick — October 13, 2008 @ 3:53 pm
Yeah… you're afraid, cause all conservatives are booger eating knuckle dragging cowards. Fear is the strongest emotion you animals have coursing through you. Any jackass that you percieve to be in charge can frighten you with anything like "oceans no longer protect us" or "we have to fight them there, so we don't have to fight them here". Total nonsense, but you clowns fell for it.
Comment by Aftermath — October 13, 2008 @ 4:38 pm
Nick,
That was THE BEST post I have ever read on this site!
Congrats….
Comment by Jon Pemberton — October 13, 2008 @ 5:00 pm
Brent, of COURSE they should not be afraid of Obama. They should find their inner strength and imagine with delight how they will be looking into their executioners' eyes while being shot by the Obama goons.
Comment by Igor R. — October 13, 2008 @ 5:11 pm
#49 WTH do you mean I was "subliminally connecting those terms to Obama"?? Did you overlook this line in the article: "That statement elicited scattered shouts of 'Obama!' throughout the crowd." How very perceptive and intuitive of me to read and then comprehend what I read, Frank!
Sometimes I almost feel guilty engaging in arguments with people like you….
Comment by Melissa — October 13, 2008 @ 7:09 pm
#71 Melissa, wouldn't that be "guilt by association"???
Comment by Igor R. — October 13, 2008 @ 7:59 pm
No. 71 - What I mean is that you apparently can't read what you wrote. You wrote that she said:
"We know that in the war, it’s terrorists, terrorists who hate America and her allies and would seek to destroy us, and the bad guys are those who would support and sympathize with the terrorists,” she said. “They do not like America because of what we stand for. Liberty. Freedom. Equal rights. Those who sympathize and support those terrorists who would seek to destroy all that it is that we value, those are the bad guys, OK?
And in the next sentence you ask who the bad guys were and implying that it was Obama and Biden she was referring to. It seems pretty clear from her comment what she meant:
"Those who sympathize and support those terrorists who would seek to destroy all that it is that we value, those are the bad guys, OK?"
So unless you subconsciously in your own mind equate Obama and Biden somehow as "those who sympathize and support those terrorists who would seek to destroy all that it is that we value", there is no way to come to that conclusion based on what Palin said. She is emphasizing the campaign's point that the US needs to defeat those it battles in Iraq and Afganistan and defining who it is that needs to be defeated. Your inherent prejudices are what's drawing you to conclude somehow that it's Obama, not Palin's rhetoric. You're just too blinded by your fervor to impose your views of Palin and McCain onto everyone else to see that it's your prejudice, not hers that's in play here.
As Palin asked after she clearly defined who she was speaking about as if to emphasize that you no one should misunderstand her, she asked and I'll ask, OK?
Comment by FrankSeville — October 13, 2008 @ 8:28 pm
Melissa its Monday night football so this will be brief. One word to remember..Projection.
Nuff said..
Comment by Theard — October 13, 2008 @ 8:44 pm
#73 Frank, this has to be one of the lamest straw man arguments I've ever encountered. First, stop attributing words from the article to me. Secondly, the article made it quite clear what she said and the responses those words elicited from her audience.
#74 Enjoy the game, Theard!
Comment by Melissa — October 13, 2008 @ 11:16 pm
Brent
You highlight the few extreme nut-cases at McCain rallies as if they represent the views of the ordinary voter.
I would bet you 10 to 1 that those crazies are are actually 'plants' from your ACORN thugs.
It does not matter one way or another. The best man wins this time.
Vote McCain / Palin
We the deserve fairness.
An observation:
I saw a self-employed plumber tonight on the tube talking with Obama who was saying that he doesn't want to punish this plumbers success with new taxes, but!!!!, he think's he is right to increase the plumbers taxes to give the poor people a chance at success too. Isn't that d-r-e-a-m-y???
Obama gets it. The only thing money buys is votes. He sells hopes for votes. What the poor people don't get is:
(a) they will never see the benefits of those taxes
b) you cant buy success with hope. It takes long hours of hard work, focus, courage, and commitment, sacrificing the immediate pleasures, going without the material things, and avoiding all indulgences like cigarettes, dope, alcohol, and helping others with your hands not your wallets.
Brent, this blog has taken a severe turn to a centrifuge of negativity. You set the tone… Can you get some sun and fresh air? It is okay if you don't want to bother. Every negative thing you say is just a new vote for McCain.
I love it !!! : )
Comment by JFK-HRC — October 13, 2008 @ 11:18 pm
No. 75 - No straw man here. And no words attributed to you except those that you brought to bear by posting them. In your very first sentence of that post, you falsely indicate that Palin in unconcerned about an audience member equating her chat about evil with Obama, when in fact, the words from the article you posted prove exactly the opposite. Apparently in your zeal to demonize Palin, you either didn't read it, or you simply can't comprehend the article that you posted.
Go back and look at it. Palin said something, the crowd responded in a way that was not what she was intending to commuicate, and then Palin responded to them in a way that was very specific in her language to clarify who it was she was calling the bad guys. And yet, you question her intent. It's clear and black and white on the screen, and she went the extra mile to make it clear.
Unfortunately, you're trying to turn it into black and white in Palin's heart, but in doing so, you're betraying that it's you that are seeing it that way, not Palin. And in the end, you are the member of the audience that is so bigoted, that you immediately assume that her comments should apply to Obama, because subconciously, that's apparently who you identify as the target, and your hatred toward Palin is so intense that you are blinded as to that being the only possible explanation.
Most people who read your post here, and who heard it at the rally, clearly saw the target of her comments as the terrorists we're fighting in the war, and the bad guys who are supporting them and helping them like the Iranians, Syrians, tribal people in the Afgan/Pakistan border regions, etc. By using that article and posting it here as an example, you prove that contrary to the clear intent, you saw Barack Obama and Joe Biden as the target. Seems to reveal a lot about you, not Sarah Palin.
Comment by FrankSeville — October 14, 2008 @ 12:17 am
#64 wonders about the big medical story on McCain; to bad he missed it!
A Bipolar McCain becomes symptomatic!
Suspends/unsuspends campaign
Cancels/uncancels debate
Flies to DC to save the world/
Decides to sit on hands and tongue and not save the world.
Shows constant anger under the surface; lets anger out in editors interview.
McCain's mania surge seems to be subsiding slightly. But it's too late to shake the "erratic" label now, methinks.
I hope his depressive phase won't be too severe, though I think not winning will be pretty depressing for him.
Comment by smilinjack — October 14, 2008 @ 1:30 am
I agree with Brent, it's inappropriate to shout "Off with his head” to a candidate with Hussein as his middle name.
Comment by Metamucil — October 14, 2008 @ 2:38 am
New vote for grampa???? You must have fell and bumped your head. Normal people aren't voting for the PTSD old man. Please!!!
Comment by Aftermath — October 14, 2008 @ 4:59 am
JFK_HRC why dont you change your penname,
which itself is a lie, LOL? You can call
yourself Nixon_Bush! Even better, give your
real name and stand by your words! Did anyone
see the angry, snarling Joe Scarborough this
morning? His face was red, his veins were
popping, he was almost breathless with anger
today. What is it about McCain that inspires
such anger and rage? Actually, it is much
more than McCain. It is the end of the era
of Bush Republicans. They cant handle the
truth. They are being left behind by an
America that does not want what they try to
sell. These afficiandos of the right are
like dummies in Madame Tussaud's wax museum.
Relics of an age gone by. Anger management
problems of the past.
Comment by Brent — October 14, 2008 @ 6:58 am
I really shouldn't do this but here is one of the most hateful, demeaning statements I've ever observed.
Barack's comment to a group of elites who apparently weren't that biiter:
So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.
Comment by Robert Rosencrans — October 14, 2008 @ 8:37 am
Brent
You gotta remember, the doctor told you to stop watching the TV while looking in the mirror! It's obviously causing you confusion and you keep getting the images mixed up. That was you you were looking at with all that rage, hate and anger, not Joe. Better have the doc up your meds again.
Comment by Nick — October 14, 2008 @ 10:31 am
Brent,
it's not McCain that inspires such anger, it's Obama and his brown shirt thugs from ACORN, Nation of Islam and Trinity Church. This group is grabbing power away with the help of a national media and it's something that's unprecedented in the history of our country. I don't know where it would lead, everyone is very scared of them but I know American people would not trade their First and Second Amendment rights along with other liberties without struggle, armed struggle if it comes to that.
Comment by Misha — October 14, 2008 @ 10:34 am
Timothy McVeigh (#84 above, aka 'Misha') sounds as though he's threatening violence. Someone needs to keep an eye on this bigoted kook.
Comment by James L. Murphy — October 14, 2008 @ 2:45 pm
Hey Murphy, is that your law?
Comment by Igor R. — October 14, 2008 @ 3:31 pm
Frank,
I don't have all day to read your blather. You're free to spin it like a pottery wheel if it makes you happy.
Comment by Melissa — October 14, 2008 @ 4:22 pm
No. 87 - You see, that's the problem with you. Fact = Spin and Spin = Fact. You might instead try looking at Fact for Fact and remove the Spin. You'd be better served and you would serve others better.
Comment by FrankSeville — October 14, 2008 @ 5:19 pm
Roger Simon seems to be observing what I predicted in #39:
"The real problem for McCain is that Palin is running a separate — and scary — campaign that does not seem to be under anybody’s control."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14555.html
But I disagree insofar that I believe it's under someone's control– just not McCain's control.
Comment by Melissa — October 14, 2008 @ 5:53 pm
#88 Eighty-eight, what a fitting number for you, Frank.
Comment by Melissa — October 14, 2008 @ 5:57 pm
#89 Melissa, you mean Our Lord (in whom I don't happen to believe) is controlling her directly???
Comment by Igor R. — October 14, 2008 @ 9:08 pm
The crowd reaction at the McCain/Palin rallies really disturb me. Its frightening to see grown adults acting so immature. I'm glad that the youth of this nation is becoming so involved with politics (I'm 19, btw). I think our generation is proving that we are far more tolerant than our elders, and I'm proud to be amongst the new wave of voters.
Comment by Rich — October 14, 2008 @ 9:21 pm
#91 Igor, how did what I wrote possibly bring you to ask if that's what I meant? You can be so weird.
Comment by Melissa — October 14, 2008 @ 10:26 pm
Brent
Why can you not believe that a person can grow up admiring JFK, be confident as an adult in HRC's ability as perfect leader, and still have a functional brain to recognize that McCain is the ideal choice for President of this great Land.
What better example of a bi-partisan is there that makes his own group crazy mad at times. That means he is not falling on the sword for the republicans, he is truly trying to practice what he preaches. The guy has not a phony bone in his body. It would be a once-in-a-life-time opportunity to have Mccain lead this country through and out of the war, through and out of the economic curruption and into the light of fair and responsible government. He will make both sides of government work together, he will bring the world together.
Obama is so far to the left, and his mommy Pelosi will be wagging that finger at him like he's a child, just like she did over the $700 Billions 3-weeks ago.
Like I have said before… Obama has years to go to prove himself, and really shake the old pals, and gain a little credibility.
Someday, I may join you in rolling up my own sleeves in Washington and help you…
But right now McCain is the only person qualified to do this monumental task.
I know you Brent, and on Nov 4th while standing in that voting booth, you will be thinking about JFK-HRC and be saying to yourself "I'm voting for McCain"
You will pull the lever for Sen McCain !!!!!
Night-night!
Comment by JFK-HRC — October 14, 2008 @ 11:02 pm
Rich,
Absolutely, the newer generations should be, and thankfully seem to be more tolerant than ones preceeding them. Racism will die out generationally and has come a long way toward approaching that in just a couple of generations.
The challenge for your generation and those to follow will be to refrain from allowing other -ism's to fill it's void, such as elitism, anti-religiousism, fascism, etc.
At the same time, tolerance of other races and cultures doesn't need to result in an acceptance of lower standards in the name of tolerance. Our nation should maintain high standards in all regards and should show intolerance only of those who are willing to meet those high standards. Unfortunately, a key aspect of our society, the media, has lowered their standards to the lowest common denominator, and has allowed our democratic process to suffer because of it, and has dragged our entire society with it. Instead of fully vetting our candidates, they instead participate in lynch mob mentalities on both sides, but rarely present a thorough, much less unbiased relating of the facts. It's a shame. If they did their jobs, I suspect neither of these candidates would have ever made it to the national ballot, or at least if they had, they'd at least have outlined some specific plans and proposals that don't collapse on themselves at even the most cursory review.
I hope for you and for my children, an intolerance of that pursuit of salacious mediocrity develops just as the increased level of positive tolerance you cite. That's the true Change That We Need.
Comment by Nick — October 14, 2008 @ 11:36 pm
My last post should have read:
"show intolerance only of those who are NOT willing to meet those high standards"
But I should also add that our society should positively encourage and support those who show a desire to reach those elevated standards, not mockingly and negatively condemn those who fall short.
Comment by Nick — October 14, 2008 @ 11:41 pm
Rich, -92 may be they are afraid their freedom is being stolen while they are busy working and raising families, while ACORN bandits are stealing elections? Who's that Obama? Does anyone really know what he is?
Comment by Metamucil — October 15, 2008 @ 4:10 am
The Bill Ayers issue is killing McCain, why
he keeps raising it is beyond me. It makes
McCain look fossilized, out of touch, unwilling
to discuss the economy. I hope he raises it
during the debate. I dont believe the CBS
poll that Barack is ahead by 14, but there is
definitely the chance of a landslide. McCain
just looks ridiculous raising issues like Ayers
and not the economy. This is a case of
Republican hate imploding on itself and turning
away white working class voters and political
independents en masse. People want to hear
about the economy. When McCain plays the Ayers
card, they recoil against him, the more he
does it, the more they recoil.
Comment by Brent — October 15, 2008 @ 6:45 am
#97 Stop spreading disinformation. Elections don't get stolen via bad voter registrations unless the same so-called thieves also show up at voting stations and provide false IDs.
This entire ACORN story is yet another excuse seized by LOSING Republicans to pre-explain why McCain and Republicans en masse are going to be used as human mops on November 4. It might sooth the collective Republican psyche to rationalize, but nobody else buys your stretched version of reality.
Comment by Melissa — October 15, 2008 @ 8:54 am
Brent-
I agree with your assessment. The McCain camp has run one of the most dysfunctional campaigns in recent history. The public is clearly fed up with this Ayers issue yet they continue to bring it up. The MSM is starting to look into the Caribou Barbie's ties to AIP. CNN ran a story and so did ABC. When you throw stones from glass houses….
The Politico is reporting that they're contemplating bringing out Wright..lol..doesnt that negate the "he is a Muslim" meme?..LOL {shaking his head}
I am quite sure Obama is well prepared for Ayers tonite, the trap has been set and Senator Honorable is walking
"After several weeks in which the McCain campaign sought to tie Mr. Obama to William Ayers, a former member of the Weather Underground, 64 percent of those polled said that they either read or heard about the subject. But a majority of those surveyed said they were not bothered by Mr. Obama’s background or past associations. Several people said in follow-up interviews that they felt Mr. McCain’s attacks on Mr. Obama were too rooted in the past, or too unconnected to the nation’s major problems"
Yep–keep it up gents, dont talk about the economy and issues that voters care about, and there will surely be a landslide.
Comment by Theard — October 15, 2008 @ 9:54 am
No. 99 - You really are a spinster! You can rationalize everything away.
According to your logic, ACORN is falsely registering all these extra people not so they can vote in the election but apparently really so they can participate in the local county fair. Following your logic, the people that are going to Home Depot and actually buying paint aren't really going to use that paint to paint anything, they just got snookered into buying the paint by the Home Depot paint department service guy. Or perhaps it was the plumbing department service guy that bought the paint, just so the paint service guy could meet his quota of paint sales.
And you want people to believe Palin is the unintelligent one! What a riot!
Comment by FrankSeville — October 15, 2008 @ 12:14 pm
If you didn't think the MSM had abandoned any vestiges of journalism, and wasn't taking their marching orders lock step from the liberal cause, then even an e-mail from the Obama Campaign to the media directing them as to what talking points they should discuss won't convince you. The path you are allowing yourselves to be led down is literally the path that Cuba went down, that Venezuela went down, that Germany went down, and the the USSR went down. You'll wake up one day, and if you have any ability to actually think left, you'll wonder how and why you got where you are, but more than likely, you won't know any better. Wake up America!
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2008 09:37:27 -0500
From: Sean Smith [s***mith@barackobama.com]
To: Sean Smith [s***mith@barackobama.com]
* This is John McCain's last chance to turn this race around and somehow convince the American people that his erratic response to this economic crisis doesn't disqualify him from being President.
* Just this weekend the weekend, John McCain vowed to "whip Obama's you-know-what" at the debate, and he's indicated that he'll be bringing up Bill Ayers to try to distract voters.
* So we know that Senator McCain will come ready to attack Barack Obama and bring his dishonorable campaign tactics to the debate stage.
Obama continues to lead on the economic crisis with a rescue plan for Main Street.
* Over the course of the campaign, Barack Obama has laid out a set of policies that will grow our middle class and strengthen our economy.
* But he knows we face an immediate economic emergency that requires urgent action - on top of the plans he's already laid out - to help workers and families and communities struggling right now.
* That's why Barack Obama is introducing a comprehensive four-part Rescue Plan for the Middle Class - to immediately to stabilize our financial system, provide relief to families and communities, and help struggling homeowners.
* This is a plan that can and should be implemented immediately.
* Obama has shown steady leadership during this crisis and offered concrete solutions to move the country forward - and his Rescue Plan for the Middle Class builds on the plans to strengthen the economy and rebuild the middle class that he's laid out over the course of this campaign.
* Already in this campaign, he's unveiled plans to give 95 percent of workers and their families a tax cut, eliminate income taxes for seniors making under $50,000, bring down the cost of health care for families and businesses; and create millions of new jobs by investing in the renewable energy sources.
* John McCain has been erratic and unsteady since this crisis began - staggering from position to position and trying to change the subject away from the economy by launching false character attacks.
END
Comment by FrankSeville — October 15, 2008 @ 12:25 pm
Frank #101;
Every four years you repubs bring up ACORN right on time. In 2004 Bush did it, now in 2008 McCain does it. ACORN has submitted to the proper folks the names of the canvassers that did teh bad registrations but you keep bumping your head into a wall hoping that linking ACORN to Obama is a winner. Wrong, it's the economy stupid.
Comment by Mike Coleman — October 15, 2008 @ 12:50 pm
#101
I think you've been sniffing a little too much paint at Home Depot, Frank.
Here's a good explanation of how the only spinning being done is by nuts like you, not ACORN:
"That's not because ACORN hasn't submitted hundreds or even thousands of fraudulent registration forms in several crucial swing states. They have — though it's worth noting again that in many states, they're required by law to submit any forms their canvassers collect.
But to reiterate the main point: according to experts, fraudulent registration forms almost never lead to fraudulent voting. If ACORN submits a form with the name Mickey Mouse, Mickey is unlikely to show up to vote on election day.
In other words, there's a crucial distinction between voter registration fraud and voter fraud — and there's essentially no evidence whatsoever of the latter."
[Source: TPM] [Take note of the quotation marks and the source, Frank]
Seriously, put the lid back on the paint can. And while you're at it, stop seeking my attention like a starved puppy.
Comment by Melissa — October 15, 2008 @ 1:19 pm
No. 103 - Me thinks thou doth protest too much. It's not a matter of linking ACORN to Obama. It's a matter of you liberals justifying away their actions, and Obama's campaign not decrying, but rather even supporting ACORN's efforts. ACORN's illegal activities are treasoness. They are a direct assualt on the very fabric of our democracy and the one person one vote backbone of it. Had this been some evangelical movement that was extreme right wing in nature, you would be warming up the gallows.
That the Presidential Candidate of one of the major tickets isn't coming forth and lambasting, villifying, and condemning ACORN's activities speaks more to his tacit approval and support than any precieved right wing attempt to connect him to it. You do realize that he's running for the head of the arm of our goverment that is in charge of enforcing the law? Kinda like charging the fox to guard the henhouse.
I applaud get out the vote efforts, and especially for the disenfranchised and less fortunate. However, that shouldn't be, and can't be a license for voter fraud and corruption. However, apparently your party's leader seems to only feel that way when it's something that is detrimental to his campaign. Just think what he'll do to you when something that is right and good for you turns out to be bad for him. Good luck to you.
Comment by FrankSeville — October 15, 2008 @ 1:43 pm
No. 104 - Wow! That sounds a lot like the guns don't kill people, people kill people argument. I guess having an AK-47 or hundreds of them, unless you actually use it to kill someone shouldn't really be a concern. Thanks for clearing that up!
Comment by FrankSeville — October 15, 2008 @ 1:48 pm
The ACORN issue has been debated, explained here on multiple threads ad nauseum and like the Ayers issue, the public does not care. Don’t worry, the upcoming Obama landslide will quiet all talk of ACORN. He'll win in the reddest states and will send the wingnut punditocracy into a tailspin. For the last time, submitting inaccurate voter registration forms is NOT voter fraud. ACORN does not register voters, they submit forms, both good and bad as they are legally required to do in many states. In turn, the state county officials process and check the registration.
Who am I kiddin’? I can explain this until I am blue in the face but you wingnuts will continue with your narrative regarding ACORN. Nov 4th can’t get here fast enough….
Comment by Theard — October 15, 2008 @ 2:17 pm
I have my doubts about Acorn and wont defend
some of their practices. Yet Melissa is also
right, bad registrations dont mean bad voting,
it doesn't work that way. Far more important,
Acorn is another Republican distraction that
is only self-defeating for them. People dont
care about Acorn, or Ayers, or any of this
pittypatter. People care about the one thing
McCain is imcompetent to talk about, the
economy, the Republican recession. Republican
policies are crashing markets and driving
the economy into the ground and this is what
drives the election. All this other stuff is
Republican delusion leading to Republican
disaster as Republicans are only able to talk
to other Republicans about who and what they
hate. Upon such stuff, Democratic landslides
are made of.
Comment by Brent — October 15, 2008 @ 2:36 pm
No. 107 - Most of the world didn't care about a movement in Germany in the late 1930's led by a man named Adolf Hitler either. (and no, that's not a comparison with Obama but with ACORN). Look where that got the world. Popularity and public interest (unless of course you're talking about presidential candidates - lol) is no guage for what's important. Apathy has always been the precursor to most world crises. As your post proves and gives voice to, most liberals are guided only by the principle of getting Obama elected and grabbing power at all costs, not at protecting our Constitution.
Comment by FrankSeville — October 15, 2008 @ 2:52 pm
No. 108 - Are you talking about those Republican policies that crashed the Asian markets and the German Markets, and the Spanish Markets, and the Italian Markets, and etc. etc. etc.! It must've been ACORN's voter registration anomalies that provided Bush and his republican cronies the ability formulate the financial policy in all those countries! Darn them! If only the MSM would have alerted us to their policy effects. CNN International obviously had their hand on the pulse of what was happening there, my TIVO must've just malfunctioned and not recorded it. What a joke. Obama, the radical tax and spend liberal is now John Meynard Keynes.
Comment by FrankSeville — October 15, 2008 @ 3:03 pm
No. 108 - Where exactly does the "bad voting" come from then? Please enlighten us? Just remember, it's not bad mortgages that predetory lenders got people to sign up for that lead to financial crises, it's just the non-payment by those who signed up for them, that causes the crises! Or is it?!
Comment by FrankSeville — October 15, 2008 @ 3:12 pm
Ah the revisionist links to Hitler, I wondered how long it would take you to bring it up. I remain amused at all the projection coming from your side.
No worries, November 4th will come soon and you can continue the stages of grief.
Comment by Theard — October 15, 2008 @ 3:28 pm
LOL!!
"The Republican National Committee is halting presidential ads in Wisconsin and Maine, turning its attention primarily to usually Republican states where GOP nominee John McCain shows signs of faltering.
The party's independent ad operation is doubling its budget to about $10 million and focusing on crucial states such as Colorado, Missouri, Indiana and Virginia where Democrat Barack Obama has established a foothold, according a Republican strategist familiar with presidential ad placements."
Comment by Theard — October 15, 2008 @ 4:00 pm
PROBLEM: Frank can't comprehend outside the realm of metaphors, similes, and other comparisons.
EVIDENCE: In the past few hours, Frank's been seemingly unable to understand any posts in this thread, instead making the following comparisons:
1. Voter registration fraud to purchasing paint at Home Depot
2.The ACORN story to a gun cliche.
3. ACORN to Hitler
4. Voter registration fraud to bad lending practices
5. Obama to John Maynard Keyes
SOLUTION: Discuss the current political outlook with Frank in comparative language he can understand.
Below is a link to a simple graph, Frank. Think of the little blue line as a Porsche and the little red line as…I dunno…something like a dilapidated 1978 Pacer. Okay, now think of the lines as though they're in a race to the top of your screen. See if you can figure out which one is headed in the right direction.
http://www.pollster.com/polls/us/08-us-pres-ge-mvo.php
Comment by Melissa — October 15, 2008 @ 4:03 pm
#93, Melissa, can't you get a joke once in a while? I know you meant some shadowy conservative/republican/otherwise maliciously inclined shadowy groups.
Comment by Igor R. — October 15, 2008 @ 6:39 pm
#115 Ooooh, impressive, Igor is a mind-reader. Now if only you could use your psychic ability to track down that elusive birth certificate….
Comment by Melissa — October 15, 2008 @ 7:18 pm
Frank and Igor have similar, if not identical, problems; too much AM raio and Fixed News. No wonder these neocons are so factually challenged.
McCain sells short the intelligence of the American people. McCain thinks we're all as stupid and historically challenged as Misha, Iogr, Pemberton, JFK-HRC, Rosie and the other crazed and moronic dittoheads that post here.
You are so spot on Brent. Check out the neocon lunatics posting here, they are on the threshold of utter and complete meltdown. The GOP will have to dump these freaks if they plan on winninng another election.
Comment by Lester — October 15, 2008 @ 7:23 pm
No. 117 - Talk about historically challenged. Don't you think before the chimp sent us to war, he would've gotten some bi-partisan support before sending us into such a crazy situation!? I guess not.
http://www.bercasio.com/movies/dems-...
Comment by FrankSeville — October 15, 2008 @ 7:46 pm
The link from the last post got cut off. Here you go:
http://www.bercasio.com/movies/dems-wmd-before-iraq.wmv
Comment by FrankSeville — October 15, 2008 @ 7:49 pm
Frank, to try and equate Chimpy with Obama is crazy. Just relax. The Chimp did not achieve Congress' authority with support from Obama. Remember?
Trust me, I don't think Obama is any "messiah", but I will wholeheartedly support him, just as I'll wholehearted support his removal from office if certain accoplishments are not achieved.
See Frank, Obama is not yet "just another politician" as you seem to alude. If you feel that way perhaps you haven't read the details much of late. But don't YET equate Obama with the Chimp; that is just crazy.
The short order is to rid the executive branch of the GOP, perhaps with a fillibuster proof Senate. Next order of business is removing the extremist, hate filled, neocon facists from the GOP. You may know some of these freaks; Rosie, Igor, Misha, etc.
They (neocons)must be outed and placed in the political sunlight so we can all get a good understaanding of where this mess originated. Something similar has begun (2006)within the dem party to rid it of the corporatistas (Clintons), but still has a ways to go (Liebermann, Reid, etc). But to sit back and just say "both candidates are the same" is a big contributor to the nations demise, and is as tired as the lunatic neocon dittohead-speak. Give it up Frank, as the times MAY be changing.
You can sit on your ass or you can try and affect change, Frank.
Comment by Lester — October 15, 2008 @ 8:12 pm
Another big night for Barack Obama, he
clobbered McCain in another debate. Its
the grand slam for Barack and Biden, four
debate, four big wins. Obama is the 1940's
crooner, cool in a crisis, calm in a storm,
a serious man for serious times, presidential
to the core. The cutaway shots made McCain
look like Lon Chaney in the old horror movies,
he face was tight, his eyeballs went way up
in their sockets. And how about pundits?
Tell me they are not dumber than a tomato.
Before the polls they lined up about how
McCain was so good. Then the polls showed
Barack clobbered him by more than 20 points.
McCain's time was 2000 before Bush, now we
get McCain 2008 running like Bush. McCain
is going to take a lot of Republicans down
with him.
Comment by Brent — October 16, 2008 @ 5:11 am
Ironic that this article spawned a rash of hate-filled right wing responses.
It's tragic that this country is so fractured. But as long as we are handing out blame, let me say that it individuals like Karl Rove who have managed the political tenor of the last ten years. It was guys like him who made it "OK to hate your political opponents".
I don't see an easy answer to this situation. Ignorance and bigotry are something that survive generations, like cockroaches.
Thanks to McCain and Palin, we can expect the wounds of this election to fester for 20 years.
Shame on them.
Comment by Jim — October 31, 2008 @ 12:07 am