Okay, am I the only one who sees that the emperor has no clothes? It is shameful that John McCain has allowed Sarah Palin to whip up racial hatred and fear amongst the Reactionary Right. One of my own fears regarding the nomination of Barak Obama has been the possibility of his meeting an untimely end due to just such fervor. It only takes one Booth or Oswald. John McCain has gradually lost my regard over the last year, but his choice of Palin for a running mate absolutely horrifies me and his failure to rein her in is shameful. I am offended that McCain believed that he would receive my vote simply because Palin is a woman.
Palin, although worth more than a million dollars, purports to be “of the people,” referring to herself as a “hockey mom” and “Joe Six Pack.” The election of the President of the United States is supposed to be the election of the best of us, not Joe Six Pack next door. Certainly the last eight years has demonstrated that ANYONE with enough money can be elected regardless of ability, but can we not aspire to better?
If this concerns you, read the rest on my View From My Broom.
18 comments:
It is shameful that John McCain has allowed Sarah Palin to whip up racial hatred and fear amongst the Reactionary Right.
Specific example please.
VW
The fear incited by Palin’s vitriol has been well documented in all forms of media both domestically and internationally. I believe that McCain has been embarrassed by at least some of it, but seems at a loss as to how to return the campaign to a more respectful tone. This sort of behavior is the result of desperation, but to have Right Wing zealots shouting “Terrorist!” and “Arab!” and “Kill him!,” incites the sort of hatred that has no place in the public forum.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/10/06/in_fla_palin_goes_for_the_roug.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7665780.stm
"Kill him!" proposed one man in the audience.
One man out of how many? And he was talking about The terrorist William Ayers.
Ayers is an anti-American Marxist terrorist who has stated that his only regret is that he didn't do enough. Ayers bombed the NYC Police Headquarters, The US Capitol building and the Pentagon - to name only a few. I don't know about killing him, but he deserves to be in jail, not teaching at a university.
The only difference between William Ayers and Timothy McVeigh is the body count
VW
You want to talk about rage?
http://michellemalkin.com/2008/10/12/crush-the-obamedia-narrative-look-whos-gripped-by-insane-rage/
Try that.
There's a video of Madonna threatening Palin.
There's a video of Sandra Bernhard with most hate-curdled face saying some pretty vile things about Palin. The language is vulgar and as hateful as it gets so be prepared on that one.
http://www.afineexample.com/other/other02palin.html
Nice pictures there.
Want more?
Good stuff, huh? Kind of makes Palin's rhetoric kind of tame, I think.
VW
Hate in any form,from any side is vile, but if you look at the statistics of negative rhetoric and commercials you can see that the McCain/Palin ticket far outstrips that of Obama/Biden. I am frightened at the thought of Palin becoming vice-president because I do not believe she is educated enough or temperate enough to be in the number two position in the government of this country, never mind that fact that she'd be a heart attack or stroke away from the presidency. Her folkiness may play well with Joe Six Pack in Alaska, but it would be appalling on an international stage.
Nobody's bull**** is tame anymore vhuwhu...and I'm tired of wearing hip-waders to try and talk about taking this country forward.
I want the best and the brightest to lead, not the bottom 5 of the class. Mavericks do not lead...they run self-centered, lost and erratic...and no one follows...have you noticed how the numbers are changing as the leaders of your party zig and zag...and do NOT deal specifically with the issues? How about Graham, who told us we were a nation of whiners before the caboodle hit the fan...a McCain advisor.
I've had enough of substandard intelligence and "Rapture-led" diplomacy. I've had enough of the White House looking like a dirty enclave, while good people have lost their homes and now sleep in their cars. I've had enough of hearing from young soldiers who are not registering to vote because of their fear of being found and sent back to Iraq...of soldiers who have had their medical boards wiped clean so they can be deployed, with the Catch-22 of wiping out their benefits when they come home due to "pre-existing conditions." I've definitely had enough of pseudo-feminism. I've definitely had enough of moral and ethical sermons from a man who left his wife for his richer mistress, is one of the Keating 5 and bears some responsibility for setting up the Slip 'N' Slide at the economic edge of the cliff. I've had enough of a VP candidate who winks instead of giving intelligent debate...and who has some very embarrassing pastors in her own history. She, who let her husband do as he pleased through her office as Governor, is no feminist. Do you want hubby snowmobile guy to have free run of the VP's office...or God forbid, the Oval Office?
I've definitely had enough of racism and I was FURIOUS to see McCain refer to his honourable opponent (with a side-glance sneer) in debate, in front of the country, as "THAT ONE." I've had enough of fear being stoked as the national fire and the constant message that "he's not like us."
We can play these stupid games, link for link, until this country becomes nothing but laughable vaudeville, heading for another Civil War, to the rest of the world. Personally, I've had enough.
Do you want a man who is freinds with terrorists and Ayers is, by his own admission, an unrepentant one. He has said he wished he had done more. I'll take my chances with McCain and Palin rather than someone who associates with the likes Ayers, the McVeighs and yes, the Bin Ladens. Not a dimes bit of difference between the three of them.
A terrorist is a terrorist I fear that this is the type that will be cavorting in the Oval Office.
VW
Sorry, VW, your thinking isn't working this time...
Hope we all shall be around in four years so that we shall finally be able to stop excusing folks who hate...
Tired of going over garbage that was aired out a long time ago...
Joseph
The Neighborhood, Tacoma, and Washington State are microcosms of the country. If the purpose of this blog site was to take the pulse of South Puget Sound then it ought to be a forum for all discussion whether it is political or inspirational or fluff.
Certainly no one is forced into a discussion. This election is possibly the most important of my lifetime. To stand by and remain silent while Sarah Palin is blowing on the embers of racism in this country implies consent.
I have not called for John McCain or Sarah Palin’s lynching nor has anyone associated with the Obama campaign. If anything the Obama Campaign has been too polite and while I would not like to see the sort of vitriol and fear-mongering being used at Republican rallies, I would like for the Democratic campaign to take more notice of the differences as to education, family values, and accomplishments of all the people in question.
Certainly the nation owes a debt of gratitude for the five years John McCain suffered at the hands of the North Vietnamese, but he’s lost touch with the values he’d purported to have had in the past—those that made me esteem him--and now panders to the Religious Right to the extent of picking a beautiful, but highly unqualified woman to be possibly a heartbeat away from the presidency. This shows poor judgment and is insulting to me as a woman and an American.
Anyone who does not believe that racism is alive and well in this country in 2008 or that our government has been trading on keeping the population afraid probably sleeps better at night than I. Perhaps I should be grateful that McCain and Palin have thrown themselves headlong into the gutter of racism and xenophobia since it shows how frightened THEY are.
I was asked to write for this site because of my many letters-to-the editor which were always about matters pertaining to local and national politics. I know the paper only prints the fluff and I write my share, but I could not continue to be a good German in this case.
Oh Michael, I'm so disappointed that you would also feed the fear-mongering bunker mentality without one shred of real proof...factual proof, that you've demanded from others. Fear is the enemy within.
I will give just one link to the checked facts behind this supposed Obama/Ayers evil connection...facts that debunk this ridiculous smear.
http://truthfightsback.com/site/smear/253/?gclid=CJ7fgafGopYCFSBciAodGEoR7A
The responsibility of irrefutable proof, providing the smoking gun hand-off between Osama bin Laden and American Senator, Presidential Candidate, Barack Obama now lies with you.
You cannot drop grenades in a neighbourhood and then claim to rise above them with another post. There's nothing wrong with lively, respectful and factual debate. Fear and fantasy is what the neighbourhood is trying to rise above...and the aim of Stephanie's post.
I agree with you Joseph...I'm tired too...but I'm not going to sit down until the garbage is put where it belongs and we get back to the issues...the issues...the issues.
My last word on this.
Obama ran the Annenberg Challenge under the direction of William Ayers. It was Ayers that hired him for the job of distributing tens of millions of dollars. You just don't hire some rookie lawyer off the street to administer funds like that.
They also served together as directors of the Woods Foundation
Ayers and Obama have a long history together
Try here for some background
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122212856075765367.html
VW
Well, that was another Op-Ed piece on the Obama/Ayers supposition...and not the smoking gun proof of a terrorist heading to the Oval Office that I asked for...but we can, once again, agree to disagree and move on.
My last words begin with those most famous ones, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself!"
My dear neighbours, if we base our decisions on fear...we are not free. I would have us be free, united in hope for this country and the world's future.
No one said that Obama was a terrorist. Ayers is. Google William Ayers.
Maybe you'll believe the NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/us/politics/17truth.html
A quote from the article:
“I don’t regret setting bombs,” Mr. Ayers said then. “I feel we didn’t do enough.”
Ayers is a terrorist, period and the only difference between him and Timothy McVeigh is the body count. Obama is not a terrorist, but I question his judgment.
The original article from the WSJ was an investigative piece, not an op ed.
VW
VW
Okay, VW, I'm going to let you in on my dirty little secret. Lean in close. Even my children don't know. I voted for John McCain in the 2000 primary. Ah huh. But I'll tell you something. I think his frustration in losing to a nincompoop then has tainted HIS judgment now. He so wants this that he's made a deal with the devil. Either that or he’s going senile. He has made a 180 on everything that made me like him and his pandering to the Religious Right in picking Sarah Palin is appalling. William Ayers doesn’t have the potential for being a heartbeat away from the office of the presidency. Only a Black American man would have to suffer the insults and insinuations that Barak Obama has suffered with dignity during the course of this campaign. The Republican Party is peeing its pants right now and has resorted to slinging pooh. Every day that Palin is off the leash is a good day for Obama.
What the left has done to vilify Palin is some of the most despicable and vile stuff around.
This just today from ABC:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/10/vile-anti-palin.html
As much as some peole want this to be about race, by and large, it is not. That is not to say that it's not there, but it's also there on both sides. I tell you honestly, if McCain was the black man and Obama white, I'd still be for McCain. for me, it's ideology.
McCain wasn't even my first choice, nor even my second, but despite what I see are flaws, McCain has the experience and the leadership resume.
Perhaps I'll post the note I received on my fence.
VW
That's okay, Obama wasn't my first choice either.
I don't believe that anyone has suggested that Palin or McCain be lynched. I don't believe that anyone has called them Arabs (thus offending many American voters of Arab decent)or terrorists (yes, audience members DID shout "terrorist")nor have any Democratic audience members yelled "Whitie" at a cameraman. I don't think Palin is evil, but she is dangerous because she's not very informed and subscribes to a radical form of Christianity that believes in witch hunts and that the Rapture is coming in four years. Don't tell me that wouldn't influence policy should something happen to McCain.
If you believe that much of this race isn't about...well, race...I've got some New Orleans property to sell you. Those nice Bible toting white folks in the Bible belt are scared spitless. In 2008 there are still people, although not you, who would vote for ANYONE who is white, even a pitbull in lipstick--her words, not mine.
And, since you don't really like engaging in political discussion, I turn the floor over to you for the last word.
Oh, I love a good political discussion. As a matter of fact, we had some friends over for dinner last night and they are Obama supporters. We had a great discussion.
But when it is not face to face, it's so easy for feelings to get hurt when you can't actually hear the other person. We read some words and often we interpret them in ways not intended in a comments section.
That's what pains me more than anything. I might be a political junkie and election seasons to me are like the superbowl to a football fanatic, but I'm not into the rancor that often can get injected into these online debates, either by design or accident.
I follow politics extremely close. I suppose that there are a lot of folks down south and elsewhere that just cannot stomach someone of another color in the limelight. No one of any stature has gone down that road. I do see a ray of hope in the election of Bobby Jindal in Louisiana. He's not black, but he isn't white either.
Both sides have folks taking some fairly vile shots and I condone none of it.
VW
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