Frank Rich on the fires stoked by McCain/Palin

one good thing

that may come out of this is it has dragged all the festering hatred and bigotry out in to the open. this should put an end to all the talk of a post racial America. maybe now people will be willing to confront the racism in this country and themselves.  

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by: Natasha Yar-Routh @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 12:24:01 PM CDT

Read my comment here...

http://www.pamshouseblend.com/...

We should have been confronting this a long time ago.

When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

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by: Fritz @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 12:51:05 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Agreed.

I have never and will never understand racism or bigotry...

"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

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by: Louise @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 13:36:44 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

America is in denial

about virtually all of the facts about itself, racism first and foremost.  We could see Obama actually stuck down, with a Palin supporter dancing on his body and crying, "We got the n****r," and very little would change.  You can already see the way the media would cover that: Wolf Blitzer, George Staphanopolous, George Will, Tom Broakaw and the rest would rush to the airwaves to assure us, "This wasn't racial.  America is just fine."  And, inevitably, "This was just an isolated incident!"--the unvarying mantra they chant whenever something happens to expose the true nature of our society.  

I don't mean to be ghoulish about this.  The last thing in the world I'd want to see is anything bad happen to Obama (or any politician, for that matter).  But McCain and Palin and their flunkies have been stoking the fires, so it seems a lot more likely than it did even a few weeks ago.  Ghoulish thoughts are hard to avoid here in God's Country.

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.  -Archbishop Desmond Tutu

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by: QScribe @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 12:57:39 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

G-d Forbid

We could see Obama actually stuck down, with a Palin supporter dancing on his body and crying, "We got the n****r," and very little would change.

I beg to disagree with this.  I think we'd find a lot of people so very shocked at something like that, that those not on the fringe would force themselves to be very introspective and confront what they'd find.

I think the lunatic fringe freakshow backing McCain and the shock that the McCain-Palin campaign is actually stoking these fires is already starting to make people realize how much bigotry is still around us.

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by: ol cranky @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 14:15:27 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

The murders of James Bird and Matt Shepard

shocked a lot of people, too.  The assassinations of MLK and Bobby Kennedy did, too.  The media voiced "concern" about what happened, and even occasional outrage.  Politicians made noble statements.  

But what, actually, changed?  These were, we were assured, "isolated incidents," and not representative of America. And that was that.  No further discussion was necessary.  The issues had been dealt with.  And little old Wyoming still doesn't have a hate crimes law protecting gays.  And hate groups, according to every report I've seen, are on the upswing.

The entire establishment in this country, from political institutions to media to religion, is designed to obstruct meaningful change, or at least to retard it as much as possible.  Even when "the people" want it and know they need it.

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.  -Archbishop Desmond Tutu

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by: QScribe @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 16:45:21 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

there is a difference now

I think we, as a country, think we're a little further down the road than we really are.  Many people are just starting to squirm and realize this due to the current nasty rhetoric and while they think some horrible outcome is a minute possibility they can push that to the back of their minds - if something reprehensible does happen a lot of people will be in absolute shock and really start thinking about whether these issues should be able to cause such division.

Unfortunately, there will always be those who insist on otherizing & vilifying those who don't agree with them (primarily the various forms of Christian Nationalists) - we need to push them back to the dark margins from whence the came.

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by: ol cranky @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 17:54:04 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Way out front it is. People who are Bigots and Racists

 are haveing to make a choice.  And it is a difficult one for them to make.  With the pictures painted of difference so clear, it leaves one question for them, Do I vote for McCain/Palin and continue more of the same policies we have had for the last 8 years due to not trusting black people, or do I vote for Obama/Biden who offers change from the last 8 years?

Sure in public some will shout their Bigotry because they are in a group of people who feel the same.  But in the privacy of their home I bet they are conflicted and this has got them thinking.  Most people don't want to be seen as a Bigot, I.E. I have Black Friends or I have Gay Friends  These people who say this are jokes.  They would say something like this if they truly had Black or Gay Friends;

I have Gay Friends and they are / great people / fun to be around / very loveing and careing They would say something positive.  

 Tough choice to make for Bigots and Racists.

If I make sense? it was quite by accident.

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by: HappyCat @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 16:10:27 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Rich's column is a must read

Over the past week, since these kind of racist wackos have been feeling empowered enough by the McCain campaign rhetoric to make their ugly voices more clearly heard, and since their vitriol has been making the news channels here, the number of McCain/Palin campaign signs displayed in my community have noticeably diminished.  Since many of those signs were set back on private property behind farm fences, it looks to me like it's the people who were displaying them who are taking them down.  

Perhaps they are just wary of publicly identifying themselves with the vitriolic McCain supporters.  Maybe some of them are truly disgusted that McCain's campaign has fanned these flames.  Hopefully it'll translate into withdrawal of their votes from McCain on 11/04.

i grew up in Pennsylvania near the Ohio border in the 60's & 70's.  Sadly, what's seen in these videos doesn't surprise me.  It sickens me, but it unfortunately doesn't surprise.

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by: Amphikalein @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 13:10:10 PM CDT

For 23 days Democrats need to shut up and SMIRK

Don't get rambling about what McCain/Palin says that offends us, they'll soon be out of sight out of mind.
Obama has taken a fairly friendly and using some humor in his latest stump speeches, follow his lead. The utter horror that once was our Economy is taking all the wind out of McCain's strategies which change on the hour in DESPERATION.
SMIRKING irritates,,,think of the Masters, Bill Kristol, Karl Rove, and Dumbya. We all recall them after 2004 grinding their heels on us when we felt wretched, well it's PAYBACK TIME. Bring out the faces on the Left the Reich Wing just loathes, Barbra Streisand, Whoopi, Wanda Sykes, Al Sharpton, and just have them wax poetic how they look forward to the new Democratic MAJORITY after Jan 09...and SMIRK!

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 13:10:26 PM CDT

Still...

I would agree that we need to concentrate on winning elections at the moment.  However, we need to resist the temptation to close the door and sigh in relief after Nov 4th.  This ugliness needs to be displayed and shamed as not now and not ever acceptable in this country.

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by: Zorya @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 14:11:21 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

"fairly friendly TONE", left out a word above

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 13:12:30 PM CDT

McCain lost a great opportunity

to try and put out this fire instead of fan it. He would have gotten so much more respect to try and unite people, instead he allowed his campaign to take on a divisive entity. Maybe those bigots will remain faithful, but the rest of America has been turned off by his negativity. He has lost more votes than he has gained by campaigning this way.  

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by: juicyjuice @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 13:22:10 PM CDT

The GOP would probably be ahead now if...

Imagine what would have happened if Sarah Palin had taken the stage at the Republican convention and said something like this...

"You know, someone wrote a speech for me to read tonight. But, after hearing what other people have said about our opponents in this election, I'm not going to use it. In fact, I'm going to promise a different kind of campaign. I'm going to start by firing Karl Rove right here and now. American's want to hear about positive change, not snide comments, vitriol and character attacks. Enough of that! I look forward to talking to Americans on the campaign trail. And when we win in November, I promise that I will have friends on the other side of the aisle who will be willing to work with us to get things done."

Then, she should have played pacifier instead of attack dog.

That would have been "mavericky" -- don't you think?


When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

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by: Fritz @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 13:44:54 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

That may have very well

put the Repubs ahead and kept them there. Today they would be enjoying a double digit lead in the polls I am sure. But Palin isn't capable of that, mostly because that's not how she thinks....and I use that term loosely. She has not the capacity of such thoughts, nor the capacity of such feelings. I don't believe she is above racism. I truely believe she is a part of the problem of racism in America, I think she enjoys her ability to incite this hate. McCain, I don't know...he just wants to win...but Palin?
And boy am I glad you aren't a Repub campaign strategist! Because what you said would have changed the tone of this campaign 180 degrees!

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by: juicyjuice @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 13:59:53 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Dunno

That analysis kind of forgets to ask the question of exactly to what degree Palin's abrupt and fierce popularity among the right is because of her nastiness toward anything liberal. It kinda seems like the function she's played in the campaign is to bring the Limbaugh listeners that never fully trusted McCain back into the fold (even if she's gradually driven off everyone else); would that trick have been possible if she didn't sound so much like Limbaugh all the time?

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by: mcc @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 15:01:22 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

And frankly

She doesn't have the leadership skills to foment that kind of change in the GOP. With her limited talent and intellect, all she can do is go along with business-as-usual politics.

I guess in my imagining, I also imagined the alternate Palin to have qualities she obviously doesn't possess.

When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

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by: Fritz @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 16:52:53 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Democrats could praise McCain with damn faint praise

Like saying, McCain as the most Independant and Maver-icky Republican really was the only chance Republicans had for their ticket, after Cheney/Bush f*cked up everything they touched in 8 years. Romney, Huckleberry, drag queen Rudy would have LOST MUCH WORSE to Obama/Biden.

then add...Sarah who?

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 14:00:57 PM CDT

McCain is already damned to go down in history

as the man who reignited racial tensions and re-normalized bigotry in what was supposed to be "post-racial America"

As you said, the Republicans have effed up everything they've touched in the past 8 years and [further] destablized much of the world - even this country.

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by: ol cranky @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 14:19:03 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Don't be so sure...

that these racial tensions are a bad thing. Just because something is hidden doesn't mean it will go away, and sometimes letting it fester means letting it grow.

Europe learned this lesson in 1939-45, having let Germany and Italy fester for a decade under fascist rule - and that lesson came with a price-tag of 80 million dead. But without World War II many things Europeans now take for granted - the European Union, the Convention on Human Rights, the United Nations - would never have happened.

Don't let racism fester. Don't hide it. Deal with it.

____________________________________
Cuius testiculos habes, habeas cardia et cerebellum.

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by: tavdy79 @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 15:31:40 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

It's funny so far damn little anger has been leveled from the Right at Cheney/Bush

Reading the Reich Wing Nuts, they say almost nothing about Bush, maybe they excused him for so long, and they'd have to eat SO MUCH CROW, plus some of us Leftist meanies would dredge up their praising and pardoning Bush on TIVO and play it back to them...."they is ascared".

Cheney Bush will go through pardoning their croneys and co-conspiritors from Nov-Jan the final nails that pierce to the very heart of the RNC. Just when they are feeling just about as bad as Nixon catching a copter two steps ahead of criminal charges.

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 14:49:18 PM CDT

To me the telling moment was

When John Lewis, a civil rights hero who has long been close to McCain, after the week of Obama=Terrorist rhetoric from McCain/Palin and borderline-violent reactions from their crowds, called out what McCain was doing for what it is, and that it's something we've seen before:

What I am seeing reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history. Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse... George Wallace never threw a bomb, he never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights... As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all. They are playing a very dangerous game...

The telling thing here though isn't that Lewis said this, but McCain's response:

I am saddened that John Lewis, a man I've always admired, would make such a brazen and baseless attack on my character and the character of the thousands of hardworking Americans who come to our events to cheer for the kind of reform that will put America on the right track... I call on Senator Obama to immediately and personally repudiate these outrageous and divisive comments...

By the end of the week, the storyline was that McCain was trying to dial back and stop the hateful, racially-tinged response that his newest tactics were garnering, and some McCain-admiring journalists even said that this was an honorable action by McCain, or that the "old McCain" was back. But any idea that McCain started putting the brakes on these tactics for any reason except that they weren't working is destroyed by his response to Lewis' comments-- which was not to apologize, not to acknowledge anything the least bit wrong with the behavior McCain was supposedly trying to dial back, but rather to demand an apology, not merely from the person calling out his behavior but, for some reason, Sen. Obama, who is not even connected to Rep. Lewis in any particular way except that both are Democrats and black.

McCain sees something shameful as having happened this week, and as he sees it the shame lies solely with people like Rep. John Lewis and Sen. Barack Obama. That says a lot about how he sees racial division in America, I think.

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by: mcc @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 14:52:22 PM CDT

this morning the putrid talking repig

Countered John Lewis with....DRUM ROLL....McCain was a POW during the desegregation fights.

It's best to say NOTHING about McCain's campaign we don't need to, just let them go down in their OWN eratic flames of desperation, and nastiness.

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 14:58:54 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Just wondering

Would a presidential pardon have any power if Bush, Cheney Rumsfeld, Pearle, Wolfowitz, Gonzalez and the head of Blackhawk, and Halliburton CEO were sent to the Hague as war criminals?

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 14:53:16 PM CDT

Poisoning the well

Given how poorly McCain is doing in the polls, it is becoming a near certainty that he will lose the election next month.  With only one slim, appalling chance for victory (more on this later) what do you do if you're a Republican strategist like Karl Rove?  

You look ahead four years and begin planning for 2012. But what can you do now?  
Everything you can to assure that the country is ungovernable.  Reach deep into the ugliest recesses of the American psyche to roil people's fears.  Cast as many doubts as possible on Barack Obama through appeals to racism, religious bigotry, guilt by association.  Encourage violence to divide the country even further.

The economy is in the tank.  Our national debt and the budget deficit have grown inconceivably large under the Republicans.   If it didn't print the money, our government would be financially bankrupt.  This puts tremendous pressure and limits on the next president, making it extremely difficult to pursue any progressive policies.  If, at the same time, you can entrench an angry fearful opposition that makes the Clinton-haters look like grandma baking cookies for the church social, then you pile on the difficulties for the incoming administration.

The desired result?  Four years of a stagnant or worsening economy.  Financial fears compounded by insecurity at home and abroad.  Political and public opposition that will stop at nothing to assure the failure of any progressive agenda the new president attempts.  Because Republicans' only hope is Obama's failure.

Which leads to McCain's only remaining path to the White House.

There have already been attempts. The half-assed meth addicts who showed up at the Denver convention being the most widely reported.  And you know the scenario has passed, however fleetingly, across the minds of some of the more twisted Republica operatives: the slight chance that some sick nutjob, roused by the hateful words and lies coming from the McCain/Palin camp, somehow manages to slip past the Secret Service protections and assassinate Obama.  

Chaos would ensue.  In the absence of a clear Democratic nominee so close to Election Day (Who would it be? Biden?  Clinton?) it is likely that McCain would take the presidency.   With the country in complete turmoil, what better opportunity to further limit civil liberties and consolidate power in the executive branch.

I won't rest easy until after this election is over.  Then I wish Obama all the best as we work together to begin restoring our country.  

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by: Smartypants @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 14:54:38 PM CDT

Biden

would take the nomination with Hillary as his veep (imo). And I'd support that ticket in a heartbeat.

"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

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by: Louise @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 15:40:26 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

my g-d louise

if I didn't know better, I'd think we were twins

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by: ol cranky @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 16:08:54 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

:)

But as a Gemini, I already AM a "twin"... and can talk enough for 2 people! ;)

"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

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by: Louise @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 20:25:49 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Can you guys lay off the gas before driving Obama through Dealy Plaza..

You need to get him elected first.

I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me. Hunter S.

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by: txwhtboy @ Mon Oct 13, 2008 at 05:27:32 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Progress

Yes, there is always a fear of something serious happening--an assasination, but you don't stop progress because of stuff like that.  Funny thing--what if something happened to Obama?  That means Biden would be president and Pelosi vice-president.  Conservatives hate Pelosi more than anyone, so that would seriously hurt them ultimately.

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by: Johnnywhynot @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 15:48:18 PM CDT

Pelosi?

She would not necessarily be VP.  That would depend on whether Biden chose her or not.  When Agnew resigned in Oct 1973 Nixon nominated Gerald Ford, the Minority Leader of the House, who was subsequently confirmed by a large majority in both the House and the Senate.

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by: Zorya @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 17:28:08 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

my guess is that Biden would choose Hillary

but I really hate thinking about this since things have gotten so disturbing it's not as hypothetical as it should be

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by: ol cranky @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 17:49:03 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

God forbid this eventuality would befall us

First off this country would BURN for two weeks after such a murder.

Second Michelle Obama would be the VP I would select, and you racist f*cktards may recall Coretta King not only held her family together, she became an revered ICON for another 30 years.

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 19:46:44 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Millions of people

would rally around her and the girls forever...  

I wish I thought there was a God so I could pray to keep him safe and well.

It was hearing here on the Blend last February about how the Dallas secret service blew off protecting him properly that finally pushed me to register Democrat.

"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

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by: Louise @ Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 20:31:08 PM CDT

[ Parent ]