Palin/McCain rallies and threats to Obama

Threats against a new president usually increase after an election, "but from Maine to Idaho, law enforcement officials are seeing more against Barack Obama than ever before."

Here are a few examples as reported by AOL News.

* In Vay, Idaho, a sign with Obama's name was posted on a tree with an offer of a "free public hanging."

* Racist grafitti "targeting Obama" was "found in a tunnel near the North Carolina State University campus."

* A Maine convenience store invited "customers to join a betting pool on when Obama might fall victim to an assassin.

* One of the most popular white supremacist Web sites got more than 2,000 new members the day after the election, compared with 91 new members on Election Day."


Doug Rushkoff, in his book, Coercion - Why We Listen to What "They" Say, describes how sports spectacles, along with political and religious rallies, impact those involved.

"The modern sports spectacle is cousin to a much more pointedly political sort of rally ... in which the same basic set of crowd-unifying techniques are used to promote something much more potentially dangerous that simple consumerism: ideology. It is a tradition that finds its most extreme expression in the political rallies of dictators like Adolf Hitler, who depended on pageants and spectacles to keep their followers committed to a collective mission and free from taking individual responsibility for what they were doing."

And therein lies the power of a religious or political rally: "...when we are caught up in the madness of a crowd, we no longer feel individually responsible for our emotions or actions. We can allow ourselves to shout, sing, cry, or strike without the temperance imposed by personal accountability.

"The more repressed a culture, the more pent-up its passion becomes. In those rare opportunities when we are permitted to vent this energy, we are brought into unfamiliar emotional territory. We feel alive as never before, and strangely honest -- as if in our daily lives we have been living a lie. We may shed tears of joy or sadness, but underlying these tears is a sense of rage at not having been allowed to express these feelings all along, which magnifies the rage even more."

Rushkoff notes that a political rally often begins with "unifying rituals" which builds commonality among those present. The talk is frequently about the "values" held by the group as opposed to "outsiders" who don't.

The "outsiders", thus become the enemy. The rally-goers are unified against the enemy. And the rage and frustration builds.

Most importantly, Rushkoff says that often people are left to stew in their rage as they are not given any tools to change the situation. "Because of the many unresolved emotions it leaves in its wake, spectacle [a rally] is a dangerous way to generate enthusiasm for one's cause ... "


Please understand that I'm not comparing Sarah Palin to Hitler. I find it frustrating, however, that she refuses to take responsibility for the rage and racism she unleashed at her rallies.

Nor am I saying that Palin is directly responsible for the increased threats against Obama. Yet it seems very likely that the rage and unresolved emotions dredged up by the McCain/Palin campaign have led some of their more frustrated followers to give expression to their rage by issuing threats and/or engaging in actual physical violence.

Day after day on the campaign trail, Sarah Palin told her adoring fans that "He [Obama] is not one of us!" Obama doesn't share the same values! He's an "elitist." Day after day, she and McCain asked the question, "Who is Barack Obama?" Day after day they enraged the crowds with the cry, "He pals around with terrorists!"

Perhaps neither McCain nor Palin realized they were using time-tested techniques to turn a crowd into a mob -- a mob where people are given license to behave irresponsibly and irrationally, and to even engage in violence against their perceived "enemy." But they should have!


To this day, Palin refuses to apologize for her cries that Obama "pals around with terrorists." Just a few days ago, in an interview with Larry King, she said she thought she was right to use that language and feels it is still appropriate to tie Obama with Ayers, who she claims is an "unrepentant terrorist."

I'm fairly certain that neither Sarah Palin nor John McCain wished that Obama would be assaulted or killed. But they are both adults. They had to know that the cries of "He's not one of us" and "He pals around with terrorists" would unleash very dangerous emotions in the crowds gathered in front of their podiums.

They had to know they were enraging their base. And they should have known that leaving people with unresolved emotions and unresolved rage could very well create a surge of hatred and violence toward Barack Obama.

They have no excuse. For that alone, both should be forever banned from the political life of our nation!

Pathology at Palin rallies

[Photo of Palin in Ocala, Fl by Joe Byrnes - Star Banner]


Two Palin rallies in Florida. Not unique, according to news reports. The pathology of Palin supporters is rabidly evident across the nation.

New Port Richey, Florida. Saturday, November 1. Palin's "preaching" to the choir. Halfway through her remarks the chant begins:

"John McCain! Not Hussein!"

A woman attendee who helped lead the chant said she did it because it rhymes. And she doesn't know whether or not Obama is a Muslim. "He says he's not, but we have no way of knowing." The woman's husband, even more brilliant than she, said that because Obama's middle name is Hussein, "I guess Obama was named after Saddam Hussein."


Ocala, Florida. Saturday, November 1. About two thousand people show up at a local high school to hear the cheerleader from Alaska.

Here's some of what she said:

1) She wants to hear Obama say, just once, he wants America to win [the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan]. The woman is a devious liar. Obama has said that very thing on numerous occasions!

2) John McCain should be president because he was a war hero and is the only one "in this race who has ever really fought for you."

3) Obama will levy "massive new tax burdens." Another lie.

4) Palin quoted from Joe the Plumber, that intellectual giant whose real name is Sam, who is not a licensed plumber, and who hasn't paid his taxes, who said that Obama's proposals "sound like socialism."

5) Rep. Kurt Kelly, another Republican liar, tried to paint over Palin's ignorance by blaming the media: "The press," he said, "has been nasty, biased, and, I guarantee you, they have been callous to the very values we hold dear. ... Nasty, biased and callous ... that's NBC."


Here's some of what her pathological supporters said:

1) One man doesn't trust Obama. "We're not ready to go socialist. I can't even believe we let this man run for president. He's a radical socialist."

2) Another man said, "Obama's blood is Arab. His middle name is Hussein. He has a gray area that's very bad. He wants more civil rights. He wants to change the Constitution." Palin, however, according to this clown, is "an everyday American."

3) A woman said she holds the same religious beliefs as McCain and Palin. "They're not trying to get rid of our flag and our anthem. If something happens [to McCain], Palin is more than capable."

4) Then a man said he doesn't think Obama has a valid birth certificate.

5) Ed Burkhart, a Repugnican volunteer who drives a McCain/Palin trolley around, spoke of Obama's "palling" around with terrorist, William Ayers, and Michelle Obama's remark about being really proud of her country for the first time. She should apologize, said Burkhart. Furthermore, said this Repugnican genius, Obama has a "socialist agenda" ... and "all of [Obama's] promises are nothing more than a trap that has been sprung on a free society."

6) One fellow had a T-shirt bearing McCain's picture and the words, "a Hero for President." The wearer said he was supporting the right man for the country. "Anyone who served this country, first and foremost, is a hero. But he is also a POW. ... So he knows what it takes to serve this country. He's been in combat. He's been held in enemy territory."


This is all so sad. Such ignorance. Such prejudice. Such just plain stupidity.

Republican nuts and ACORN

[Photo of John McCain at an ACORN rally in Miami in 2006 where he was the main speaker}

It is hard to comprehend how Repugnicans can, with a straight face, accuse any other group of voter fraud. Repugnicans invented voter fraud. Repugnicans perfected voter fraud. It was Repugnican voter fraud along with the U.S. Supremes that gave Bush the White House in 2000, and it was Repugnican voter fraud that sent him back there in 2004.

The so-called Attorney General scandal is all about voter fraud; about a Bush-crony-controlled Department of Justice subverting justice in order to ensure Republican victories in several different states.

So when Sarah Palin and others complain about ACORN, all one can do is laugh at their hypocrisy.

ACORN is a community organization that registers voters. ACORN does a magnificent job. ACORN is not perfect, however, and sometimes hires people who fill out voter registrations falsely in order to get through the day without working too hard. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen sometimes.

Even the Republican governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, said the whole controversy is a tempest in a teapot, that any voter registration problems in Florida have been minor this go-around. In other words, stop beating up on ACORN.

The thing is, an occasional faux voter registration is not voter fraud. Anyone walking into a polling place on November 4th with a phony registration would not be allowed to vote. Furthermore, the reason we know that there have been some false registrations is because of ACORN itself. ACORN is required by law to turn in ALL voter registrations and the fine is steep for failure to do so. ACORN works very hard to flag registrations it suspects are illegitimate.

And NEVER, not once, has ACORN been involved in a case of voter fraud.

The Republican outcry about ACORN is a politically-motivated stunt to take attention away from the fact that the Republican candidate is a failed candidate with no viable plans to deal with any of the important issues of our time. But what's got the Repugs so pissed has nothing to do with voter fraud, it has to do with the fact that ACORN has registered 1.3 million new voters and it is suspected that most of them will vote Democratic!


Then we have Sarah Palin, the perfidious liar, out beating the bushes for votes, who, like McCain, will say or do just about anything to try to get a vote or two. And, as usual, her big lies have to do with Senator Obama who so outshines her in every way that when one compares the two she comes across as lightweight, way out of her league.

In Maine, Palin tied Obama to ACORN, and then said that he wouldn't "disavow a group committing voter fraud." She told other lies also, painting Obama as unpatriotic and not loving America - the same old shit - but hopefully the people noticed she has absolutely nothing to offer this country of a positive nature. She's an empty shell.

And Obama is NOT tied to ACORN. His only relationship to ACORN had to do with working with the United States Department of Justice in a legal action related to ACORN. Palin purposefully attacked his character by misrepresenting who he is and what he does.


The truth is, and I'm sure that Ms. Palin is too ignorant to know this, Republicans have been working with ACORN for years. In fact, one of ACORN's big supporters was John McCain.

In February 2006, John McCain landed in Miami to attend an ACORN rally at the Miami-Dade Community College. Here's the press release:

"The rally will feature sponsors of the bill, prominent leaders representing various constituencies, and immigrants themselves. Sen. John McCain, chief co-sponsor of the legislation, will be the main speaker."

The event "is being sponsored by the New American Opportunity Campaign (NAOC, a coalition of local and national advocacy organizations), in partnership with ACORN." Others involved were the Archdiocese of Miami, the Florida Immigrant Coalition, People for the American Way, and the Service Employees International.

The reason McCain was the "main speaker" at this event was because ACORN was backing his immigration bill. This bill, which he co-sponsored, he now disavows!!!!

McCain's proud of what?

McCain's proud of all those racists

Daily Kos calls McCain's "Straight Talk Express," the "Hate Talk Express."

And it keeps on rolling along.

Last night's debate found the elderly senator from Arizona actually defending the rabble rousing, racist bigots who show up at his and Palin's rallies to yell out "Kill him!" and "Off with his head," and "Terrorist," and "Obama bin Laden", among other things whenever McCain and/or Palin refer to Senator Obama.

To be fair, McCain did say he doesn't agree with that stuff, but what he didn't say is that his campaign has not only allowed those things to happen, but have actually perpetrated them with its negative and racist ads. AND CONTINUES TO DO SO. Which makes McCain one hell of a huge hypocrite!

So here's John: "Let me just say, categorically, I'm proud of the people that come to our rallies."

And that comment could only be made by a man who's so out of touch and so afraid of losing that he'll accept the support of the Devil himself in order to pull the presidency out of the proverbial hat.