Jackson Free Press

Since Gov. Sarah Palin started scaremongering against Barack Obama last weekend, John McCain's rallies are turning into surreal displays of bigotry. Today in Minnesota, finally, he tried to tamp down the hate some—before contining his attempt to associate Obama with Bill Ayers in the same gathering. Following is a video of his exchanges with angry supporters, including a disraught woman who tells McCain she is scared of Obama because he is an "Arab."

Mc

Previous Commentsshow

It's about time somebody in the McCain camp said something about this. At the same time, McCain really has no one to blame but himself. After all, he chose to go down this right. There is even some talk that conservatives may even turn on McCain for defending Obama. It's one thing to attack Obama on the issues. It's another thing to boo McCain for saying that Obama is a decent man.

golden eagle

Oct 10 2008

Over on folo (which has emerged as a great southern voice against Palin-McCain hatemongering), Lotus slams the McCain campaign for "inciting domestic terrorism" (we southerners have the history to know it when we see it): You know what McCain and Palin have been up to this week, don't you. Until some intervenor(s) slapped John McCain upside the head hard enough to make his ears ring, he, Palin, their ad-makers, and their henchman Fox News have been inciting domestic terrorism. [...] The Haties were there, seething, before McCain-Palin called out to them. But having just received a strong message of solidarity from the leaders of a major political party, they now feel new validation. I very much fear that the McVeigh/Rudolph-style terrorists with whom they'll sympathize will try hard to cost America deeply. They may succeed, and if they do and live to be tried, McCain and Palin should be their co-defendants. She also links to a must-read Dana Blankenhorn post about the "haties": We needed a new Cold War immediately upon winning the first, one the Project for a New American Century was quick to imagine and the events of 9-11 galvanized into action. Meanwhile we had Oklahoma City and the Atlanta bombings. Few called these events (and others) by their right name, the name the Italians used in the 1970s to distinguish it from the "red terror" of the left. It was, and is, "black terror." Black terror is the great threat of our time. Everything the Bush Administration has done can be seen through that prism, the need for a Cold War, the need to see the world as black-and-white, as us vs. the evil-doers, and a deep-seated suspicion of democracy, with its messy compromises and the possibility of rejection.[...] Losing power will not kill the ideology. It will drive it underground, and make it far more dangerous.[...] Any political force that becomes an insurgency can do enormous damage, and force draconian responses. The Bush Administration, in creating our new extra-Constitutional laws and procedures, acted against a handful, maybe less than a handful. It's very possible that the Obama Administration will find itself facing a far more substantial threat in "black" terror, one requiring the use of all the Bush-era authories, and more, to really confront. You need to know that. The Haties will not go as quietly as the Weather Underground did. There are millions of them. They are embedded deep inside our government, and in our history. They are a distraction from the real work of our time. They are the alligators in the swamp. But we have to fight them. That is what democracy requires of us. Those who refuse to accept our system, and its results, cannot be tolerated.

DonnaLadd

Oct 11 2008

The good news is that America has a chance to stand up together, united in bipartisanship, against this hate, and I believe it will. It is time to turn the corner on a very dark era. As much as Sarah Palin drives good people crazy, I do believe that the purpose behind her, from forces greater than all of us, is to show us what hate really looks like. Through Palin, the deal with the devil that the recent Republican Party has made since Nixon and especially Reagan is being brought to the surface in a very ugly way. Not even Republicans can ignore it or pretend it's not there. And that's good. We need two parties (and more) in this country, but one of them cannot be what the Republican Party became by crawling in bed with bigotry and hate. The message will be clear after this election to the Republican Party, just as it was to Mississippi since the 1960s: reject the haters. Expel the darkness. Become something new and better. Turn the corner. There are many good people in the Republican Party whose party has been taken away. It is time for them to reject this dark side and then start remaking their party into something to be proud of again. Right now, it's in ugly pieces behing angrily hurled not toward Democrats, but toward everything that is good about America. Let's make this right, people. The universe is giving us the chance to transcend partisanship and do what is right for each other and the country. Now is our time.

DonnaLadd

Oct 11 2008

That's painful to watch. I for one am scared of all the ignorant, uneducated voters out there! "He's an Arab" - SERIOUSLY?! I need to go lie down.

andi

Oct 11 2008

I'm not sure if it's so much of people being uneducated as they are finding an excuse not to vote for Obama. The story has been out there long enough for people to know that Obama is not a Muslim. They may not come out loud to say it, but his detractors are looking at Obama's race as the reason why not to vote for him. They just cloak it under other reasons.

golden eagle

Oct 11 2008

Proof of the very strong undercurrent of disdain among McCain's conservative base. Say what you want about his questionable decisions the past few months, this man is charged with the seemingly impossible task of effectively mobilizing rural white conservatives without I don't think they realized what they were getting into when they started the whole "Who is the real Barack Obama campaign." Well, I hope they didn't

bryan doyle

Oct 12 2008

THIS IS SERIOUS...They have a history of overthrowing democratically elected governments. Sadly , it seems that they MAY be intentionally creating the atmosphere for anti-government violence if Obama wins because Republican leaders are saying if Obama wins it will be due to voting fraud through organizations like ACORN. This is treasonous to the extent that they are delegititimizing our democratic process. Do they really love America more than Bill Ayers?

FreeClif

Oct 12 2008

This is an example of the effort to delegitimize our democracy in case they lose: http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081009/NEWS03/810090281/1002/LOCAL

FreeClif

Oct 13 2008

OK, now that Palin-McCain see that whipping up hate is actually going to hurt them in the polls, they're trying a different tactic this week. Now, Palin is painting Obama as a radical abortion man. I'm so sick of these two that I can't stand it. Would Election Day get here already?

DonnaLadd

Oct 13 2008

A terrorist who wants to kill babies and (if they live) will teach them about sex while they are only three years old. He doesn't sound like the decent, family man McCain referred to on Friday.

FreeClif

Oct 13 2008

Should we call for the predator drones? GOP Leader compares Obama to Osama: .

FreeClif

Oct 13 2008

I don't think most people care about Ayers. Right now more people are worried about their money and investments and the value of their homes. If McCain keeps running with the Ayers angle then he is a loser for sure.

Jeff Lucas

Oct 13 2008

This is truly unbelievable. And McCain's supporters get mad if you call him "old." His supporters are killing him. And his running mate is the reason why. (Not to mention some truly disgusting campaign staffers.) He should drop her from the ticket and fire the staff as a real game-changer. He might not win, but at least he'd still have his dignity. As it is, he's going to go down in the history as the man who brought out the worst instincts in certain Americans to try to beat the country's first African American president.

DonnaLadd

Oct 13 2008

Unless he is crazy, McCain will not bring up the Ayers terrorist charges during the debate to Obama's face because it can be debunked in a way that will make him look utterly silly. Obama would be waiting for it like Reggie Jackson used to savor high hanging curveballs in October (and the crowd goes wingnuts).

FreeClif

Oct 13 2008