Jackson Free Press

And they need to reel it in. Fast. This is ugly, and dangerous. Watch this one, as Palin encourages more.

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To boot, all the nastiness is hurting their campaign, and Palin's unfavorable rate has almost caught up with her favorable, as explained here -- Palin's approval ratings are also sliding and she has almost a 1-1 fav/unfav rating, with 46% rating her favorably and 43% rating her unfavorably. McCain needs to be a man and call a stop to this nasty talk express, before someone gets hurt. He needs to call for the best of Americans, not pander to their worst instincts in though times. And it's not even working! People are going to end up hating him for becoming a nasty old man. I have never quite anything like it. Palin is spreading pure hate, and McCain is letting/encouraging her.

DonnaLadd

Oct 9 2008

Palin likes the word "also," doesn't she? :P I usually skip YouTube comments because of all the infighting, but I decided to take a peek and one of the users posted a Palin quote that made me do a double-take. I Googled the quote and Found this article: WASHINGTON — Gov. Sarah Palin has been unleashed by her McCain camp handlers to attack their Democratic opponents, Sens. Barack Obama and Joseph Biden. Following her successful performance in last week's vice presidential debate, Palin has been handed the traditional attack-dog duties of a running mate by launching an offensive on Obama's character and readiness to be president. An aide to McCain recently told reporters that the campaign was seeking to shift the focus of the presidential race away from the economy to one of Obama's character. Since then Palin has gone from hockey mom to pit bull. But Palin's newfound political persona is a far cry from promises she made during her 2006 gubernatorial campaign to focus on issues instead of personal attacks. Here's Palin in a wide-ranging 2006 interview with Fairbanks Daily News-Miner editors: "A lot of people are apathetic about campaigns because you see a lot of the garbage that goes on in campaigns and the personal attacks and the character assassinations that are so unnecessary," she said. "They're useless; they detract from the issues." "Young people, I believe, they get turned off by that. And they think, ‘You know, I have better things to do than waste my time on this.' And that's a shame. I'd like to set a different tone there in terms of politics in this state, in terms of campaigning. And that's why too, I'm not gonna go negative. I'm not gonna go throwing mud at any other candidate. And we will, we'll stick with the issues." But Palin checked the niceties at the door on Sunday, when she accused Obama of "palling around with terrorists who would target their own country." The Web site also has a recording of the quote.

LatashaWillis

Oct 10 2008

Palin is so caught up in the attention that she's getting and so eager to be the attack dog in heels, that I seriously doubt that she has stopped long enough to think about her legacy when this is all over. She'll go down in media stories as a washed up, bitter, hockey mom.

lanier77

Oct 10 2008

Too bad. How sad. Palin is pathetic.

Walt

Oct 10 2008

Has anyone in the McCain camp ever condemned the guy who yelled out "Kill him!" when Palin spoke earlier this week? The attacks being hurled at Obama is not shocking to me. I knew all along it would happen. I'm just surprised it hasn't been happening sooner and which much more gusto.

golden eagle

Oct 10 2008

"Palin is pathetic." - Walt She's the Anti-MILF.

HardTravelin

Oct 10 2008

Read: "12 New Stomach-Turning Revelations About Sarah Palin"

DonnaLadd

Oct 10 2008

Palin may have brought this level of hatefulness to the national campaign stage, but McCain is doing nothing to stop it, and that's simply horrifying. I never thought I'd see him slide so low. Washington Post today: There were shouts of "Nobama" and "Socialist" at the mention of the Democratic presidential nominee. There were boos, middle fingers turned up and thumbs turned down as a media caravan moved through the crowd Thursday for a midday town hall gathering featuring John McCain and Sarah Palin. "It is absolutely vital that you take it to Obama, that you hit him where it hits, there's a soft spot," said James T. Harris, a local radio talk show host, who urged the Republican nominee to use Barack Obama's controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., and others against him. "We have the good Reverend Wright. We have [the Rev. Michael L.] Pfleger. We have all of these shady characters that have surrounded him," Harris bellowed. "We have corruption here in Wisconsin and voting across the nation. I am begging you, sir. I am begging you. Take it to him." The crowd of thousands roared its approval. [...] The crowds that show up for his rallies these days appear to have little appetite for the talk of bipartisan compromise that had been at the heart of his message around the Republican National Convention. During a rally outside a small airport in Mosinee, Wis., on Thursday, McCain said that "it's time we come together, Democrats and Republicans to work together. That's my record. I'll reach across the aisle." The crowd stood silent.

DonnaLadd

Oct 10 2008

Great post Donna. I've always worried McCain would stoop to unforseen levels deemed necessary to appeal to and appease racists for votes. The record book is filled with decent whites doing decent things until a pivotal moment of reckoning arrives, debilitating fear ensues, or a date with all consuming and defining temptation to stand out comes along. Being the president of the United States of America is many white boys greatest yet surreal dream. In contrast, it's a dream no blacks ever had before. Jessie and some others ran but they didn't expect to win in this climate. Many people of all races and sexes will do anything to win that job. McCain as well as many others like and unlike him are probably shocked the nation will strongly consider a black man for the presidency in lieu of him or them. I hate to say it, but I bet Cindy and John, and most especially Palin, don't want to go down in history having lost to Barack or someone of his hue, or live the rest of the lives knowing they lost something important to a black man or person. Otherwise, whiteness has lost some of its appeal or winning capacity. Palin lost the beauty contest to a black female and she vowed never again to lose to one of us blacks? LOL.

Walt

Oct 10 2008

Folks, go look at this video; it is very powerful.

DonnaLadd

Oct 10 2008

Wow... I got chills.

Ronni_Mott

Oct 10 2008

At CNN, David Gergen warns that the Palin-McCain hatefulness may lead to violence if they don't try to get it under control: CNN contributor David Gergen said that the negative tone of these rallies is "incendiary" and could lead to violence. "There is this free floating sort of whipping around anger that could really lead to some violence. I think we're not far from that," he told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Thursday. "I really worry when we get people -- when you get the kind of rhetoric that you're getting at these rallies now. I think it's really imperative that the candidates try to calm people down." Recently, McCain's campaign launched a string of new ads that question Obama's judgment and character. The McCain campaign calls Obama "too risky for America" in a new Web ad that focuses on his political relationship with Bill Ayers, a founding member of the radical Weather Underground. Don't Miss McCain to voters: 'Who is the real Sen. Obama?' Second debate comes amid nasty campaigning Election Center 2008 "Barack Obama and domestic terrorist Bill Ayers. Friends. They've worked together for years. But Obama tries to hide it," the announcer said in the 90-second ad. The now-defunct Weather Underground was involved in bombings in the early 1970s, including attacks on the Pentagon and the Capitol. Obama was a young child at the time of the bombings. Obama and Ayers, now a university professor, met in 1995, when both worked with a nonprofit group trying to raise funds for a school improvement project and a charitable foundation. CNN's review of project records found nothing to suggest anything inappropriate in the volunteer projects in which the two men were involved. CNN Fact Check: Is Obama 'palling around with terrorists'? Quoted in The New York Times, Obama called Ayers "somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8." At a rally Tuesday in Clearwater, Florida, Sarah Palin said Obama was being "less than truthful" about his ties to Ayers. "His own top adviser said they were 'certainly friendly.' ... I am just so fearful that this is not a man who sees America the way that you and I see America -- as the greatest source for good in this world," she said. Palin told the crowd that she sees "a pattern in how our opponent has talked about one of his most troubling associations." Watch more of Palin's comments » One member of the Palin audience in Jacksonville, Florida, Tuesday shouted out "treason." And at another rally in the state Monday, Palin's mention of the Obama-Ayers tie caused one member to yell out: "kill him" -- though it was unclear if it was targeted at Obama or Ayers.

DonnaLadd

Oct 10 2008

Republican Congressman Ray LaHood of Chicago said this of Palin's hatemongering today: LaHood supports the McCain ticket, but doesn't like what he sees at some of the McCain-Palin rallies: When Barack Obama's name has been mentioned by Sarah Palin, there are shouts of "terrorist," and LaHood says Palin should put a stop to it. "Look it. This doesn't befit the office that she's running for. And frankly, people don't like it." Congressman LaHood says it could backfire on the Republican ticket. He says the names that Obama is being called, "Certainly don't reflect the character of the man." This is what AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said this: "Sen. John McCain, Gov. Sarah Palin and the leadership of the Republican party have a fundamental moral responsibility to denounce the violent rhetoric that has pervaded recent McCain and Palin political rallies. When rally attendees shout out such attacks as "terrorist" or "kill him" about Sen. Barack Obama, when they are cheered on by crowds incited by McCain-Palin rhetoric -- it is chilling that McCain and Palin do nothing to object."

DonnaLadd

Oct 10 2008

What's horrifying is that Palin and the crowds are acting like a bunch of rabid racists with McCain smiling and egging them on. This clearly plays right to Obama who remains calm and points out that this is not the way to lead a country through a crisis. Guess who looks more presidential? The weird, tragic part is that they act like they don't know any better and can't constrain themselves. They (or at least McCain) can't honestly think they can win this way. Palin probably does, considering the groups she and the Dude "pal around with."

DonnaLadd

Oct 10 2008

Well, here's a good sign if it holds considering how erratic McCain is acting: Two and a half hours after his campaign criticized Obama for calling out the divisive of the McCain-Palin rallies, McCain finally started telling them to be "respectful," according to MSNBC: From NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy McCain just called on his supporters to be respectful at his town hall. "We want to fight, and I want to fight, but we will be respectful," McCain said to boos at first. "I want everyone to be respectful," he then said and people began to clap. In response to a later question he added, "You can be respectful and point out facts," as he called on his supporters to point out facts to their neighbors but be respectful. Maybe he's starting to realize what he and Palin are causing. Or, maybe he heard about the polls, and how he's now trailing with every age group and gender. And that three more toss-up states just shifted toward Obama today. Guess why? Economy + hatemongering = losing/terrible legacy. Now, let's see if you told the pitbull to cut. it. out. Wonder if he's realized what a stupid mistake she was, yet?

DonnaLadd

Oct 10 2008

This is interesting: McCain Walks It Back: Obama Is Decent, Nothing To Be Scared Of John McCain sought to walk back some of the hostility that he and his crowds have projected towards Barack Obama in recent days, saying he wanted to run a respectful campaign and urging his supporters to think of Obama as a decent person. After an attendee at his town hall said he was concerned about bringing up a child under a president who "cohorts with domestic terrorists such as [Bill] Ayers," McCain didn't take the bait. Rather, he sought to calm the questioner's obviously emotional tone. "[Senator Obama] is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared about as President of the United States," he said, before adding: "If I didn't think I would be one heck of a better president I wouldn't be running." McCain was subsequently booed. I saw the footage of this on CBS News. They've created a monster.

LatashaWillis

Oct 10 2008

Yeah, and on that same page you linked, they're linking to a piece about McCain now trying to link Michelle Obama to Ayers. Do those people ever stop? These are the kinds of ugly games that reveal the ugliness underside of our country. I do believe that it is all being revealed for a reason, though: They are the same games that Ronald Reagan, George Bush I, Haley Barbour, etc., have played with the southern strategy. They did it with more subtlety than putting a cheerleader who knows little about the world out in front of an angry crowd to openly whip up racism, though. This beats about anything I've ever seen, aside from footage of white demagogues whipping up angry mobs in the 1960s, or nasty dictators in other countries. This is so un-American it's not even funny. But it does make it hard for people to argue that "all that's in the past." It shows the word yet to be done -- that Obama will help inspire us all to do.

DonnaLadd

Oct 10 2008

Oh, and if Palin doesn't stop her nastiness, it just means that McCain is leaving it to surrogates. And that may be worse. Can't wait until the Wednesday debate. "Say it to my face," indeed. That scared little man cannot look Barack Obama in the eye and defend these actions–or diss his wife. I just can't wait.

DonnaLadd

Oct 10 2008

Georgia congressman and civil rights legend John Lewis: McCain-Palin "sowing the seeds of hatred and division." From the The Washington Post: Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, a Civil Rights-era leader, condemned GOP campaign tactics as "sowing the seeds of hatred and division," drawing an immediate and angry response from Sen. John McCain. Although McCain and his Republican running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, have toned down their rhetoric against Sen. Barack Obama in the past day, Lewis warned of "another destructive period in American history" if the negative attacks from both the candidates and their surrogates don't cease. "As one who was a victim of violence and hate during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, I am deeply disturbed by the negative tone of the McCain-Palin campaign," Lewis said in a statement. "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." Later: McCain hit back hard with this statement: "Congressman John Lewis' comments represent a character attack against Governor Sarah Palin and me that is shocking and beyond the pale. The notion that legitimate criticism of Senator Obama's record and positions could be compared to Governor George Wallace, his segregationist policies and the violence he provoked is unacceptable and has no place in this campaign. 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 that are so clearly designed to shut down debate 24 days before the election. Our country must return to the important debate about the path forward for America." That last paragraph reminds me of a bully whose victim finally stands up to him and then wants to whine and complain about it. Lewis is definitely right in what he said. If anyone needs to be apologizing and repudiating comments, it needs to be the McCain-Palin campaign. They started it by choosing to run a negative campaign against Obama. They may not have intended for people to scream and yell "Kill him!", but no doubt the negative attacks have egged their supporters on.

golden eagle

Oct 11 2008