This is a world where no one is smart enough to say "hello" to me without directions. (All interactions with me - not involving unpaid work, are set up by the U.S. government).
This is a world where sex is a prerequisite for employment (as determined by the men in charge) and all phones are wiretapped.
This is a world where E.N.D.A.(even if it is passed) will never be enforced.
This is a world where a suit is more important than a brain.
By his OWN description of what makes someone a racist, HE'S A RACIST!
March 19, 2007
RUSH: These people are racists. You know, the racists in our society, Ted, are these white liberals. They're the ones that notice your skin color before anything else, and they're the ones deciding whose skin color is dark enough and therefore who's authentic enough and who's been down for the struggle. It's those people doing this. It's not me. It's not "talk radio."
January 16, 2007
RUSH : And for Barack Obama, a -- well, he's a half-minority --
January 24, 2007
RUSH: Hey, Barack Obama has picked up another endorsement: Halfrican American actress Halle Berry. "As a Halfrican American, I am honored to have Ms. Berry's support, as well as the support of other Halfrican Americans," Obama said. He didn't say it, but -- anyway
September 22, 2008
RUSH: These polls on how one-third of blue-collar white Democrats won't vote for Obama because he's black, and -- but he's not black. Do you know he has not one shred of African-American blood? He doesn't have any African -- that's why when they asked whether he was authentic, whether he's down for the struggle. He's Arab. You know, he's from Africa. He's from Arab parts of Africa. He's not -- his father was -- he's not African-American. The last thing that he is is African-American.
Last week, we made a mistake. We ran a cartoon that offended many people. Today I want to personally apologize to any reader who felt offended, and even insulted.
Over the past couple of days, I have spoken to a number of people and I now better understand the hurt this cartoon has caused. At the same time, I have had conversations with Post editors about the situation and I can assure you - without a doubt - that the only intent of that cartoon was to mock a badly written piece of legislation. It was not meant to be racist, but unfortunately, it was interpreted by many as such.
We all hold the readers of the New York Post in high regard and I promise you that we will seek to be more attuned to the sensitivities of our community.”
I believe him. After all, the main author of the Stimulus package was Nancy Pelosi, so the chimp, in the cartoonist’s mind, was akin to one of those monkeys I referred to in my earlier post. It was too “overtly racist”, if you will, to refer to Obama. However, the key phrase in Murdoch’s statement is “sensitivities”. Old racist stereotypes die hard, and they are still alive in many people’s minds.
First, the cartoon, by Sean Delonas.
THAT CARTOON
Wednesday's Page Six cartoon - caricaturing Monday's police shooting of a chimpanzee in Connecticut - has created considerable controversy.
It shows two police officers standing over the chimp's body: "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill," one officer says.
It was meant to mock an ineptly written federal stimulus bill.
Period.
But it has been taken as something else - as a depiction of President Obama, as a thinly veiled expression of racism.
This most certainly was not its intent; to those who were offended by the image, we apologize.
However, there are some in the media and in public life who have had differences with The Post in the past - and they see the incident as an opportunity for payback.
To them, no apology is due.
Sometimes a cartoon is just a cartoon - even as the opportunists seek to make it something else.
Third, my attempt to logically analyze this.
I should point out the difficulties in trying apply logic to what is written in newspapers, let alone newspaper cartoons, but here goes.
The Post said that the cartoon was meant to mock an ineptly written federal stimulus bill.
Surely the caption gave the strong impression that the dead chimpanzee represented in some way the writer(s) of said bill. Now there’s that old joke about if you had enough monkeys on typewriters, one would do Hamlet. By the same token, one would do the stimulus bill. Is that where the cartoonist was going? One dead chimp to a lot of (dead) monkeys?
Then there’s the Post’s disclaimer that their apology doesn’t apply to opportunists looking for payback. So their apology only applies to people who were genuinely offended, as opposed to those who are always looking for ways to be offended by the Post.
But let’s ask ourselves, who in fact wrote the Stimulus Bill. Evidently it was written by Congressional Democrats and their staffers (the monkeys?), with guidance from the White House. However, at the end of the day, if one name has to be attached to the bill, it is that of our president, Barack Obama, who just happens to be an African-American.
Enter stage right the longtime racist identification of black people with apes of various kinds. So was the chimpanzee, and a dead one at that, meant to represent our president? If so, we should bring on the Patriot Act.
End of my analysis. To paraphrase Fox News, I pontificate, you decide.
PS. I’m sure you’re dieing to know where I come down on this. I think that, subconsciously, the cartoonist associated Obama with an ape, though not a dead one. Such associations should really be banished, even from humor. They just aren’t funny, not to mention disrespectful. The New York Post has plenty of other ways to spread its venom.
(CNN) -- A self-described white supremacist charged with plotting to kill President-elect Obama claims in court filings that his indictment should be thrown out because there were too many African-Americans on the grand jury.
Paul Schlesselman, left, and Daniel Cowart are accused of planning to kill more than 100 African-Americans.
Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tennessee, was indicted earlier this month on charges of illegally possessing a sawed-off shotgun, conspiracy to rob a federally licensed gun dealer and making threats against a presidential candidate.
Prosecutors allege Cowart and Paul Schlesselman, 18, of West Helena, Arkansas, plotted a "killing spree" against African-Americans and hoped to cap their rampage by assassinating Obama, then the Democratic presidential candidate, days before the election.
The two planned to dress in white tuxedos as they carried out the assassination, prosecutors said.
Both Cowart and Schlesselman appeared before a U.S. magistrate judge in Memphis, Tennessee, on November 6 and pleaded not guilty to the charges. A trial date has not been set.
But Cowart's defense attorney claims, in a motion to dismiss the indictment against him, that of the 23 grand jurors who indicted Cowart on November 5, 21 were African-American and two were white.
Attorney Joe Byrd argues in the motion that the case should have been tried in the Eastern Division of Tennessee, where Cowart lives, but federal prosecutors decided to try it in the Western Division.
But in either division, Byrd wrote that "such a degree of under-representation" does not reflect the racial makeup of the area. "The right to an impartial jury requires a fair possibility for obtaining a jury constituting a representative cross-section of the community."
Under that rule, more than 80 percent of grand jurors from the five Tennessee counties encompassing the Western Division should have been from Shelby County, which contains the city of Memphis, Byrd wrote.
Since more than 64 percent of Shelby County residents voted for Obama in the election, he wrote, "the probable cause determination resulting in the defendant's seven-count indictment was handed down by a grand jury which statistically could not have represented a fair cross-section of the community nor which under the most modest constitutional scrutiny could be considered fair, impartial and unprejudiced."
Byrd told CNN that with such a "gross statistical disparity," the court had a responsibility to quiz potential jurors on whether they felt they could remain fair and impartial, given the nature of the case. According to his motion, no such question was asked.
"I'm saying that I think this may be a sign of severe problems," Byrd said.
Cowart and Schlesselman were arrested outside Jackson, Tennessee, about 75 miles east of Memphis, after an aborted robbery attempt, according to court records.
According to an affidavit from the federal agent who questioned them, the two planned to charge at Obama with a car, firing from the windows as they went. They would be dressed in white tuxedos and top hats during the attempt, the affidavit said.
But federal law enforcement sources have said there was no evidence the two had any details of Obama's schedule.
And although they told investigators they would have been willing to die in their mission, they backed out of their October 21 attempt to rob a gun dealer after spotting two cars and a dog at the home, the affidavit states. However, they shot out the window of a church on their way back to Cowart's grandfather's home, where they were arrested the following day.
According to the affidavit, they planned to start their spree by killing more than 100 African-Americans, including 14 who would be beheaded.
One of the federal law enforcement sources told CNN that while the plot was being taken seriously, "we see no evidence these guys have the ability or the wherewithal to pull off what they say they wanted to do."
Obama was placed under Secret Service protection in May 2007, far earlier than other presidential candidates. Threats against him led to arrests in two previous cases.
In one, federal prosecutors said that the three people arrested with drugs and weapons in a suburban Denver, Colorado, motel posed a "true threat" to the candidate. In the second, a Florida man was charged with threatening bodily harm against the candidate in August.
Byrd's motion asks that the indictment against Cowart be dismissed and that the court investigate whether the failure to ask jurors whether they could be impartial resulted in his receiving an impartial jury. The motion also asks the court to appoint a commissioner to interview each of the grand jurors to see if there was any partiality or prejudice on their part.
Prosecutors have 10 days to respond, Byrd said
Hi, all,
I would like to ask your help in a journalistic research project, which I hope will result in an article or book. I expect to have to ask this question of thousands of people in order to find the few who fit the profile I’m seeking.
I’m trying to find people who overcame a personal bias against black people in order to vote for Barack Obama for president. I’m looking for individual stories of how people moved away from bias they grew up with, to the point where the US could elect a black president. This change could have occurred gradually, or quickly for this election.
I'm looking for people willing to talk seriously about their own bias, to canvassers who ran into biased people and talked them past it, to people who voted for Obama and didn't dare tell a racist boss or relative, to anyone else who has a direct story about this change in attitude in America.
So please, if you can help, 1. write back to me with your own stories or just your contact information, but even if you don't fit, 2. pass this request to your list of friends. Ask them to pass it on to their friends.
I'm a journalist with decades in newspapers. I'm a former foreign correspondent who covered the collapse of the Soviet Union, and did not misquote Soviet leader Gorbachev. I promise to record your statements accurately.
Please, help me document this monumental change in our country.
Thank you.
Ann Imse E-mail to: research31@gmail.com
Well, I think [health care] should be a right for every American. In a country as wealthy as ours, for us to have people who are going bankrupt because they can't pay their medical bills -- for my mother to die of cancer at the age of 53 and have to spend the last months of her life in the hospital room arguing with insurance companies because they're saying that this may be a pre-existing condition and they don't have to pay her treatment--there's something fundamentally wrong about that.
It's definitely within Obama's grasp. McCain’s biggest opposition comes from those who know him, and the Arizona political establishment knows him all too well.In Arizona John McCain is viewed as a carpetbagging opportunist. They even refer to McCain as an elitist congressman and senator.
With accolades like that I'll wager McCain will be constantly looking over his shoulder as the gap between him and Obama closes in the polls. I must ask why there isn't a noticeable groundswell of volunteers backing him on his own "home" turf in Arizona? Obama's office in Phoenix, Arizona on the other hand is rockin and rollin with the massive support of Phoenix Arizona volunteers! Obama's Arizona offices are bustling with supporters while John McCain's Arizona offices look like ghost towns... I can see the tumble weeds blowing by and the dust building up on McCain's unsold yard signs.
Arizona's lack of support and excitement for John McCain during this Presidential Campaign speaks volumes. When Republican Rob Haney (state party chairman in Arizona) goes door to door to stump for candidates and asks them to rate John McCain on a scale from 1 to 10. “The people who don’t know much about politics rate him a 9 or 10,” says Haney, “The people who know what’s going on rate him a 1 or a 2, or ask, Can I rate him a minus?” McCain did score big in one survey the GOP group did: Reportedly 59 percent of the Republican activists named him an “unacceptable candidate.”
Fall Out from The McCain and Palin Racist Hate Speeches
McCain and Palin's "Hate Talk Express" has had a deeply profound effect on one of Arizona's businessmen. A local Arizona restaurant owner, Mike Terrell whom supports Obama and just happens to be black came to work one day only to find that it had been defiled by graffiti of hate and racist remarks including the N word, White Power, and swastika's etc.While he has pride and is not a quitter and has already poured in a quarter million into his restaurant he is considering closing his business because he fears for the safety of his family.
http://vodpod.com/watch/1091434-%E2%80%9Cn%E2%80%9D-word-swastikas-spray-painted-on-arizona-restaurant-the-hate-talk-express
Juli Norwood
First, these are a few of the most important things you should know, but may not (things she definitely won't tell you):
1) Juneteenth Director wrote, "While meeting with Black leaders concerning the absence of any African Americans on her staff, Gov. Palin responded that she doesn't have to hire any Blacks and was not intending to hire any." All the people on her staff and, not one is Black? How is it possible, in today's world that any of the 50 states would not have any Black employees in the administration of a state?
2) A Director for African American Juneteenth Events in Alaska said that Palin was the first governor not to attend or send a congratulatory letter. She never even responded.
3) Palin cut funding for a transitional home for teen moms in Alaska with a line item veto. (she doesn't support helping teen moms but she is against abortion???)
4) As mayor, Palin raised locals taxes while giving breaks to large companies (remind you of the last 8 years?, it should!!!)
5) "The governor did have a tanning bed put in the Governor's Mansion. It was done shortly after she took office [in early 2007] and moved into the mansion," said Roger Wetherell from Alaska's Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
THE TRUTH ABOUT PALIN'S "EXPERIENCE"
I would love to be able to sit down in front of a camera and ask Sarah Palin a few questions about all that experience and what she did, as mayor, for the town of Wasilla, Alaska. Actually the question would be better phrased as 'What did you DO to the town of Wasilla'.
One of the first things she did was to go in and immediately and illegally terminate people, which resulted in several lawsuits, at least one of which was in Federal Court. They were terminated either completely without cause, because they didn't support her in her campaign or because they crossed her. One of the members of the town council, where she served before running for mayor, said 'that's how Sarah is, her friends get rewarded and everybody else gets cut off at the knees'.
When she campaigned for mayor she ran as a 'budget-cutter'...really!! There was apparently an urgent need to redecorate the mayor's office. She spent more than $50,000 to redecorate her new office, which included red-flocked wallpaper. People described the newly revamped office as 'looking like a bordello'. It was illegal for her to spend that kind of money without getting the authorization of the City Council. She paid for this lavish expenditure using funds from a city highway fund used to plow snow, grade roads and fill potholes. When she was told this, her response was: "I'm the mayor, I can do whatever I want until the courts tell me I can't". Can you imagine? That's why she keeps giving her own interpretation of the duties of the Vice President, even though it is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!! Like she said when she was mayor, she plans on doing whatever she wants until the courts tell her she can't!
Her term as mayor started off so badly, in fact, that people were talking about a recall. It was around this time that she hired a city planner and he is the one who actually ran things from that point forward. She takes credit for running the administration every time she talks about her 'executive experience' and 'Wasilla' or 'being mayor'. What would you call it when you're elected to a position, you can't handle and you are about to get tarred and feathered, so you hire someone else to perform your duties? Terri the Blogger calls that being a figure head or being a mayor in title ONLY!!! As a matter of fact, when asked about her claims that she has all this experience, on of Wasilla's City Council Members said 'executive experience? She doesn't have any!'
Ms. Palin touts all the things she did for Wasilla and how she got rid of the good ol' boy network. According to government officials in the Matanuska Valley, her tenure was actually characterized by waste, cronyism and incompetence. The town of Wasilla consisted of between 5,000 and 7,000 people during her tenure as mayor. They had little to no debt when she was elected. That wasn't the case by the time she left office.
First, there was the Wasilla Sports Complex, which she looks at as her legacy. She okayed them to start building before everything was settled with the land deal so what ended up happening was they had started building on land they didn't even own! The initial cost which had been funded by bonds was approximately $14.7 million. The biggest problem, however, was the process of how the land was acquired. The whole thing was handled with exceptional incompetence and arrogance, ultimately costing the city an extra $1.7 million in settlement and court cost for a piece of land that would have costed only $125k if they had handled it right from the beginning in 1998.
Then there was the huge expense to build Wasilla its own Emergency Dispatch Center even though they were successfully sharing one center and the costs thereof with nearby Palmer. It was, according to officials, strictly her ego that refused to share the center with Palmer because they were Wasilla's town rival, so she got earmark money for her own system. There are now two expensive operations, both are losing money, serving a total of 85,000 people. In comparison Anchorage, a city of over 300,000 people, manages just fine with one center.
Then there are the inproprieties or possible conflicts of interest. She took her kids on trips and had the good people of Alaska pay for it, even though it is expressly forbidden to charge per diem etc. unless the children were for some reason invited. When she found this out she changed the expense reports to indicate the children were invited. The problem with that, when the people at the location of the event were asked, they stated how surprised they were that she had brought her children. OOPS, caught in something else that, at least, appears illegal!!! Of course, by Ms. Palin's intrepretation of others if it appears so, it is so, so it must have been illegal.
Then there's the Palin's $552,000 home. Todd Palin told a reporter that he built it with the help of a few 'contractor buddies'. Everybody should be so lucky to have this guys 'contractor buddies'. Turns out every single one of them were, in some way, either were or were affiliated with the architects, the builders, the suppliers, etc. that ended up getting the contract to build the $15 million Sports Complex. Imagine that!
Then there's the whole pipeline thing that she seems to be so proud of. The whole bidding process for that was questionable. Ms. Palin either had meetings or phone conversations with people from the company that were awarded the contract, prior to the award!!!
Want to know what McCain's own staff & supporters have to say about her:
"She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," said this McCain advisor, "she does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else."
Senator Joseph Liebermann, a close advisor of McCain said: "Thank God, she's not gonna have to be president from day one."
Former McCain advisor, Charels Fried, voted for Obama because of McCain's "choice of Sarah Palin at a time of deep national crisis."
Alaskan Palin supporters and critics alike have said "the woman they see stumping in swing states and being interviewed on national TV is not the hockey mom-turned politician they once knew."
No matter what you think of John McCain, if you vote for McCain for President, you stand the very real chance of getting Sarah Palin as President. If you still think that would be okay, please go back and reread this blog!!! She is a clear and present danger to this Country. She is an exceptionally divisive person. She most clearly has racist attitudes. Don't risk your Country, your finances, your home, your future, or your children and their future!!!
VOTE OBAMA/BIDEN '08!!!!
I voted yesterday...
for Barack Obama & Joe Biden!
and ...
in so doing, made myself proud ...
of myself ...
of them ...
and of my country.
After casting my absentee ballot in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the home of the University of Alabama and its No. 2 ranked Crimson Tide football team, the program long headed by Paul "Bear" Bryant and now under the able stewardship of Nick Sabin, I reflected upon the moment
... where I am
... and where we as citizens of the greatest nation on Earth are ... at this precipitous moment in time.
I feel so proud that we, as a nation, have finally progressed to the point where an African-American can realistically be elected President in the next 11 days ...
and where the electorate has finally realized again that we are one, that we are all in this together ... and must work together to survive and prosper ... as we (well, for most of us) once did ...
back in the glory days when hard work was its own reward and neighbors were friends ... and when we extended a hand to those who needed it ... where important values of honesty, love for our fellow man, character, strength of purpose, and lack of greed were passed down from generation to generation ...
before the day of "trickle-down" economics which allowed unregulated greed to appear legitimate and even noble in purpose... after all, if some of us got rich enough, some of it would eventually trickle down to the lower classes ... and wasn't that good enough?
Those "glory days" were not all good, though ... were they?
Prejudice, the state of judging without or before knowledge, was rampant. Discrimination on the basis of skin color, national origin, race, religion, age & sex was almost universally practiced, no where more true than in my home states of Georgia and Alabama.
We have come a long way in these matters. It looks like racial and sexual discrimination are finally on their last legs, that only the hardcore bigots and their misguided progeny (those that refuse to honestly and intelligently, much less spiritually or religiously, confront the issue) are left.
There is now hope that we as a nation can finally rid ourselves, our common destiny, from such unneeded and unhealthy baggage and move on together to face the genuine, critical issues of life in the 21st Century.
No, Obama's election is not required for this to happen. His campaign has forced America to confront the ugly issue of racial prejudice ... and America ... as a country ... has repudiated racism ... whether he prevails ... or not.
For this, all of us owe him a great debt.
As we do our forebears ... the members of the Underground Railway, Frederick Douglas, Martin Luther King, Jr., the Mississippi Freedom Riders, the marchers in Selma, those who withstood the blast of fire hoses in Birmingham to protest discrimination based on skin color, Rosa Parks, Senator John Lewis ... and many, many more who gave of themselves to advance the cause of civil rights ... for all of us.
And to Paul "Bear" Bryant, who integrated the football rosters of the University of Alabama and the Southeastern Conference, in a state governed by the racist bigot, George Wallace, by showing white Alabamians that we needed all of us to participate together if we were to continue to be able to compete with the likes of Southern Cal and other national football powers.
I grew up in southwestern Georgia, Moultrie & Albany were the towns, and in northern Alabama and ... thus ... was culturally bound to be the racist I became. I wasn't allowed to use the "N" word; instead I was taught by my "progressive" parents to refer to blacks as "colored". I held most of the usual racial stereotypes ... especially when it came to black females.
But, and I do mean "buttttt"; we, as members of the upper-middle class, had "maids" and "yardmen" and I came to know and to love Clementine, our housemaid for some 10 years and her husband, Andrew (I did not learn their last names until much later in life ... after both had died).
These were not inferior people. They taught me love, tolerance, patience and how to survive despite unpopular characteristics and beliefs. They, with all they had to endure, were remarkable Americans!
So, I ate in the car with Clem when we traveled to Florida on vacations while my parents dined inside in air-conditioned comfort. And I shook my young head in disgust at the farmers with their pick-ass handles who gathered on the street across from the Albany jail as Martin Luther King, Jr. led the Children's March in my hometown.
And ... when George Wallace (after making his infamous "Stand in the School House Door" at the university I would later attend) was shaking hands with everyone in the barbershop of the Stafford Hotel except the "shine boy", an elderly black man who greeted Wallace with extended hand and the gracious words, "Welcome, Gov'nor.", I refused to shake the hand of the governor of my state, much to the distress and embarrassment of my father ... who later told me that he completely understood my refusal....
And so, because of my life experiences I learned better and overcame the manacles and blinders of my upbringing and environment. I think we as a country have also, to a large degree, done just that. I am proud of myself, a former racist, for shedding tears of joy for being able to cast my vote for Barack Obama, who in 11 days will become the first African-American President of the greatest nation of earth! And, I am proud of Barack for the way he has made his case. And, I am proud of America for making it happen!
I am at peace... ....
Yes, I am!
I have seen the mountain top ... I am ready to move on now.
Have you?
Are you?
One love,
clint
* This blog is an abridged version, without graphics & videos, of the one I posted to my myspace page at:
Click Here!
Read the full version and several more there ....
I have been predicting that this election is going to hinge on the issue of race and fear. Are voters going to decide, when alone in the voting booth, that they can accept a black man as President of the United States? I am an optimist. I think we will turn a new page in racial history in the United States. We will, at least on this issue, regain our moral standing in the world. We will be the first major power to elect a member of the minority to lead the nation. Not only will we make that decision, but it will be an overwhelming affirmation- as I have predicted since it was clear Obama would be the nominee. In three weeks, we will be talking about a landslide.
Predictions notwithstanding, it looks like the next three weeks are shaping up to be the test of racial politics that I have predicted. The McCain campaign is shamelessly turning to scare tactics and attempting to, rather blatantly, exploit the fears and prejudices that exist in America. After a week of escalating rhetoric, Palin being the most prominent mouthpiece, there is now a consistent consternation among the press and a laudable “calling out” of McCain, his surrogates, and the zealots at his events. The last few days has revealed a McCain who appears torn between race baiting and fear mongers, and salvation for what little remains of his political reputation and honor.
Obama, to his credit, has acknowledged the two instances where McCain has dialed back and corrected his maniacal supporters at his recent events. I, for one, am not offering thanks, and I am not going to give McCain a pass until its clear that any and all of these tactics have been renounced- which, I believe is unlikely. Also, nothing short of removing Palin from the ticket will gain my forgiveness and restoration of any semblance of respect.
This started with two major arguments from the prime players. First, Palin repeated, in her typical broken record, wind up doll, fashion: “Obama believes America is so imperfect that he would pal around with domestic terrorists.” McCain, following the Republican rule that repetition and emphasis make lie into truth, says that Obama is a liar and begs the audience to ask “who is the real Obama.”
Let’s consider the subversive belief that exists about Obama, rooted I believe in his race. The belief goes something like this: Obama is a terrorist, or at a minimum a terrorist sympathizer. He is unpatriotic, and a student of black power- a modern day Huey Newton. This is why the internet rumors and the footage of Reverend Wright have resonated. It’s the classic guilt by association (in this case, infinitely loose association). So now McCain and Palin stoke the innuendos like Nero playing his fiddle as Rome is burning. John McCain, in his recent town hall meetings is getting just the answer he wanted to his question, “who is the real Obama?”
So I find it infuriating that John McCain is correcting, rather meekly, the two recent members of his audience who gave him the very answer he was looking for. In case you missed it, here is a quick rundown of several comments of which I refer.
In one instance, a man describes his thoughts on an Obama administration, saying he actually fears raising his son in America with a president who cohorts with terrorists. John McCain had to tell the man, and the audience (which booed the response), that he did not have to fear an Obama administration. In another instance, a woman tells McCain that she doesn’t trust Obama, she has heard he is an Arab. McCain (channeling Hillary Clinton’s, “he’s not a Muslim as far as I know”) says that the woman’s statement is not true, that Obama is a citizen and a decent family man. It must have been very confusing for the audience to hear. Journalists have reported at other events shouts of “terrorist,” “off with his head, and even, “kill him.” I don’t know about you, but this makes me very concerned, and that is an understatement.
We are at a cross roads in the last three weeks of this election. We have the choice as a nation to decide this election on the issues and the direction that our country takes, here at home and abroad. We can vote for a better economic situation, or a wiser, safer use of our military. Though I deplore it, we can vote to have social values reflected in our nation’s laws and/or on our Supreme Court.
Or we can add fuel to the flames of racial division and poke the wounds and injuries of prejudice. We can roll back the gains made in reconciliation and, and turn back from America’s “path to perfection” (a beautiful construct from a previous Obama speech on race).
Join me in saying “no,” not only to those politics but once and for all, that predjudice. Stand with Obama, disaffirm McCain and Palin. Vote Barack Obama as the next President for ALL of America.
Regret that this racist t-shirt was seen on a public street in Oklahoma City, OK. The person who sent this asserted that it's not racist. Really? How can anyone even defend this stuff? Mike W Tulsa+ Who knows that racists usually shrink from the spotlight of broad daylight
A Republican women's club in San Bernardino County sent out a recent newsletter with a photo of Barack Obama surrounded by fried chicken, watermelon and ribs compliments of Ms. Fedele.
The excuses she gave along with her explanation about her choice of food are totally unbelievable in fact the more she tried to convince us she wasn't racist the more convinced I am that she is.
It is outrageous! But wait there's more...
An image on the Sacramento County GOP website this week showing Obama in a turban beside Osama bin Laden with the words: "The difference between Osama and Obama is just a little B.S." The site also exhorted members to "Waterboard Barack Obama."
Not all republican's are racist...
Gary Ovitt, a county supervisor and chairman of the San Bernardino County Republican Party stated that "He is disgusted and appalled by it, and he believes it is blatantly racist and offensive no matter what the intent was,"
A sharp reprimand from Ron Nehring, California Republican Party chairman."Any material that invokes issues related to race is absolutely unacceptable, tarnishes our party, diminishes the hard work of the tens of thousands of volunteers who are working hard every day for our candidates, and must be condemned," he said in a statement Thursday. "This material I've seen inspires nothing but divisiveness and hostility and has absolutely no place in this election, or any public discourse."
Republicans and Democrats as well as Independents MUST come together for the sake of our great country and adopt a NO TOLERANCE policy for racism in all of it's ugly forms.
The article stated that volumteers cannot be fired! No they can't... However they can be asked to leave and not come back. Reprimands and giving them a good talkin to is simply NOT enough!
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-foodstamps17-2008oct17,0,2209911.story
See the article and video of the racists that John McCain and Palin caters to. These are the supporters that McCains proud of!
One Obama supporter is scared! He's afraid the racists will try to hurt Obama!
http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/mccainpalin-supporters-let-their-rac
More videos of McCain racist mob's
http://newsone.blackplanet.com/elections/inside-the-mccain-palin-mob/
http://newsone.blackplanet.com/elections/the-hate-that-hate-created/
Another excellent article at the Huffington Post titled McCarthyism Redux: The McCain Campaign's Calumny Express by Menachem Rosensaft discusses the link to Mccarthyism and the McCain campaign. And how McCain and Palin have evoked the Four Horsemen of Calumny -- Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry and Smear."
In her 1950 Declaration of Conscience, Margaret Chase Smith said that "I don't want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny -- Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry and Smear." John McCain, Sarah Palin and the Republican Party have knowingly resurrected these demons with a vengeance. We must not, we cannot let them get away with it.
You can read the entire article at the following link.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/menachem-rosensaft/mccarthyism-redux-the-mcc_b_138055.html
For all of us folks who have had it up to here with McCain and Palin's intentional incitement of violence, hate and racism against Obama! Keith Olbermann gave a voice to our thoughts and feelings on national cable tv show called Countdown with Keith Olbermann.
See Video
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27188417#27188417
Please read the article from the New York Times titled The Terrorist Barack Hussein Obama by FRANK RICH - it is an absolute must read.
It discusses McCain and Palins racist mob mentality at their rallies!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/opinion/12rich.html?_r=3&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&ref=opinion&adxnnlx=1224068595-ceLemDxk1ODM6l+rJ1rzbw
Even his Volunteers are taught to say things that would elicit rampant hate and out of control anger that could easily ignite violence against Obama, his wife and two little girls, or against anyone supporting Obama for that matter! I read this article titled McCain Volunteers Taught to Accuse Obama of Terrorism by Jeffrey Feldmanhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-feldman/mccain-volunteers-being-t_b_133980.html
It is a terrifying account of how racist and how dangerous John McCain's campaign has become. If any violence comes of this to the Obama family or to ANY of Obama's supporters then John McCain and Sarah Palin should be held accountable for the action of inciting vicious violence or even worse, to the full extent of the law!As a U.S. citizen I demand that the government look into this and to the other examples of McCain and Palin inciting violence and racism and that they be punished to the full extent of the law!Where are our leaders our elected government officials why don't they do something... silence is complicity to a crime!
PLEASE Contact your Congressmen and demand that there be a probe into McCain / Palin campaign regarding the incitement of violence, racism and be sure to include the link to the article above and add any further evidence that you have of incitement of violence and racism. Thank You!
Contact YOUR Congress Reps here http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
Also please sign this petition titled
The Petition for the Immediate Abandonment of Incendiary Rhetoric
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Obamashield/index.html
Dear Friends/family/acquaintances,
I wrote this with many of you in mind, and I am sharing it with as many other people as I can find. I am not mentioning any names here. Those of you who watch Fox national "news" will recognize I am talking to you, and those of you who don't, will recognize my public warning to all.
I am so worried about this country, I don't know what else to do.
I know that the vast majority of my friends, and millions of people like me, would never take Fox national "news" seriously (I am not talking about the local stations here, but the national one on cable). We know that it is entertainment, and we know that the Fairness in Media act does not apply to it because it is cable. With the deregulation of the airwaves and media these last eight years, anything goes. We know that Fox "news" is deliberately extremely biassed to the right, and that its content is designed to get people to support the interests of big business and to to be brainwashed against their own self-interests. We know that they deliberately slander anyone who advocates for the "little guy", because that undercuts the profits of the corporations who pay them to throw their mud. We know no intelligent person would ever think it is "fair and balanced". How could they possibly???????
But they do. Millions and millions of millions of Americans, who still have not gotten the memo that it is merely "entertainment" rather than real news. Millions and millions and millions of people who actually think that because they say the words, "fair and balanced", they actually aspire to be so. I am concerned that if the large corporate interests that give the world Fox news ever wanted to commit a Holocaust, or witch trials, or massive public lynchings, or something as evil as these things, they could seriously get away with it.
I sometimes make myself watch Fox "news", although I know that I will get upset watching it after a very short time. I make myself watch it because I firmly believe I should "keep my friends close, and my enemies closer". So, I force myself to watch it, and I imagine myself getting all of my "News" from this station. If I did, I would probably become very paranoid. I would think liberals and unions were nuts, and minority members were evil. Every "news" story is presented, edited, and exaggerated from that angle. Every story, twenty-four hours a day (I know that because I have watched it all night at times.) The same corporate lies are presented all night long, just like they are during the day.
Lately, I have been sickened by the whole ACORN story, for example, because it is so heavily sensationalized. The lies are fantastic. There were 8 or 9 "news" stories about this, or mentions of it, every hour on Fox "news". Never mind that every credible, sane, unbiassed agency has said that this story is not accurate, and that the lies have been hugely distorted. Fox "news" says it is true, so millions of Americans think it is true.
I recently shared my concerns with an intelligent male friend of our family. This man is a college graduate, has a job with a great deal of responsibillity, and has a great family with several children. He is a mildly religious person, pays his taxes, and is a good all-around citizen. Even though this man in intelligent, I was the first person who told him Fox "news" is not real news. Two weeks later, he said to me, "I have to admit, I did start to notice after awhile that what you are saying is true. Fox is the only "news" station that perpetuates the "stories" they report. All of the other stations are very different. I did not realize that until you pointed it out to me.
What do we do? Imagine if Hitler owned a tv station on cable, and used "news" anchors that were always emotionally charged like the ones on Fox "news". Psychological research shows that when information is presented in ways that evoke emotion, it is remembered more easily, and people are more inclined to act on that information. Fox "news" does this in every segment. If Hitler wanted to motivate people to kill others, he would certainly have started using Fox "news" had it been available to him. Their method of delivering lies and distortions would have made the job easy and effiicient.
"People are too smart for that", some of my friends tell me. These are the same friends who say they do not understand where all of the irrational sentiment is coming from about Barack Obama, or why people bring monkey dolls to McCain/Palin rallies. They don't understand why people are falsely being accused of being "terrorists", and why violent racist acts are increasing all over this country.
But I do understand it, because I have many dear friends and relatives who watch Fox "news", and watch it regularly. They cannot be the only fifteen or twenty people who do. They are religious and secular people alike, peopje who have jobs and families, pay their bills, and are otherwise good citizens, and great people. Not only do they watch it, they believe it, and they don't even question what they are watching. They truly believe that watch they are watching is "news".
I am very worried about this country. I am worried that millions of Americans are psychologically addicted to a "news" source that constantly plays on their emotions, brainwashes them, and feeds them lies about the world. I am worried that if Fox news had any other agenda than their current one of getting people to vote against their own economic best interests, they have enough believers, and they could do pretty much anything they wanted to do, and a sizeable minority of the population would simply follow their suggestion. This is how Hitler attempted to take over the world. Who is the next Hitler? Does he watch Sean Hannity?
There is a saying, "If we don't know history, we are destined to repeat it". One of the most significant events that led up to the Holocaust was the German economy collapsing. Germans needed a scapegoat for their fear.
You may laugh at this suggestion, however, let me remind you of two recent news stories. In one, a man who regularly watched Fox news (books written by some of their frequent guests and anchors were in his home in prominent places), walked into a Unitarian church during a children's pagaent, and murdered a number of people, wounding many more. He said he did it because he hated liberals, gays and black people. This man left a letter saying he had just lost his job and needed a scapegoat.
A month later, a similar story happened when an unemployed man shot the leader of the Democrats in Arkansas.
Even more concerning than just the occasional crazy people who are pushed into acting on their impulses, I am worried about the complacency of the majority. Most of the people who read other newspapers and who know how insanely biassed Fox "news" is, don't recognize the danger in ignoring them. They are not remembering the lessons of the Holocaust. They do not do anything about the daily brainwashing by Fox "news", except to shrug it off and say with a smile, "Come on, people are smarter than that".
Smart people killed millions of Jews, gypsies, academics, homosexuals, developmentally disabled people and others in the Holocaust, too, and not that long ago. Other smart, decent people saw it coming and did nothing.
Pass this on if you care about this country. Or don't. The choice is yours. I hope we don't regret our complacency later.
~ Nancy Cronk
First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist.Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew.Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant.Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.by Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945
Is it just me?
Facing the most important election in recent history - wouldn't you expect voters to seek out the truth? To scrutinize what they are being told ? If not voters, than at least the media?
Basically, I believe if you support McCain/Palin you are either Selfish, Stupid or Racist - here's why..
It discusses the toxic language seen at McCain and Palin rallies! The article goes on to say "Doing nothing is not an option." I did something! I signed the petition located here
AND I wrote my Minnesota representatives warning them of the dangers of hate, violent, racist rheteric and told that something MUST be done! I asked them to investigate McCain and Palins campaigns for this explosive rheteric.
Rachel Maddow has a great video on the violent sentiment that has been encouraged at McPalin rallies and McCain's too-late attempt to put the bomb Obama genie back in the bottle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBmO6YAszGU
Shame on McCain and Palin, the real traitors to our democracy!
October 12, 2008Op-Ed Columnist
The Terrorist Barack Hussein Obama By FRANK RICH
IF you think way back to the start of this marathon campaign, back when it seemed preposterous that any black man could be a serious presidential contender, then you remember the biggest fear about Barack Obama: a crazy person might take a shot at him.Some voters told reporters that they didn’t want Obama to run, let alone win, should his very presence unleash the demons who have stalked America from Lincoln to King. After consultation with Congress, Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, gave Obama a Secret Service detail earlier than any presidential candidate in our history — in May 2007, some eight months before the first Democratic primaries. “I’ve got the best protection in the world, so stop worrying,” Obama reassured his supporters. Eventually the country got conditioned to his appearing in large arenas without incident (though I confess that the first loud burst of fireworks at the end of his convention stadium speech gave me a start). In America, nothing does succeed like success. The fear receded.Until now. At McCain-Palin rallies, the raucous and insistent cries of “Treason!” and “Terrorist!” and “Kill him!” and “Off with his head!” as well as the uninhibited slinging of racial epithets, are actually something new in a campaign that has seen almost every conceivable twist. They are alarms. Doing nothing is not an option.All’s fair in politics. John McCain and Sarah Palin have every right to bring up William Ayers, even if his connection to Obama is minor, even if Ayers’s Weather Underground history dates back to Obama’s childhood, even if establishment Republicans and Democrats alike have collaborated with the present-day Ayers in educational reform. But it’s not just the old Joe McCarthyesque guilt-by-association game, however spurious, that’s going on here. Don’t for an instant believe the many mindlessly “even-handed” journalists who keep saying that the McCain campaign’s use of Ayers is the moral or political equivalent of the Obama campaign’s hammering on Charles Keating. What makes them different, and what has pumped up the Weimar-like rage at McCain-Palin rallies, is the violent escalation in rhetoric, especially (though not exclusively) by Palin. Obama “launched his political career in the living room of a domestic terrorist.” He is “palling around with terrorists” (note the plural noun). Obama is “not a man who sees America the way you and I see America.” Wielding a wildly out-of-context Obama quote, Palin slurs him as an enemy of American troops. By the time McCain asks the crowd “Who is the real Barack Obama?” it’s no surprise that someone cries out “Terrorist!” The rhetorical conflation of Obama with terrorism is complete. It is stoked further by the repeated invocation of Obama’s middle name by surrogates introducing McCain and Palin at these rallies. This sleight of hand at once synchronizes with the poisonous Obama-is-a-Muslim e-mail blasts and shifts the brand of terrorism from Ayers’s Vietnam-era variety to the radical Islamic threats of today.That’s a far cry from simply accusing Obama of being a guilty-by-association radical leftist. Obama is being branded as a potential killer and an accessory to past attempts at murder. “Barack Obama’s friend tried to kill my family” was how a McCain press release last week packaged the remembrance of a Weather Underground incident from 1970 — when Obama was 8. We all know what punishment fits the crime of murder, or even potential murder, if the security of post-9/11 America is at stake. We all know how self-appointed “patriotic” martyrs always justify taking the law into their own hands.Obama can hardly be held accountable for Ayers’s behavior 40 years ago, but at least McCain and Palin can try to take some responsibility for the behavior of their own supporters in 2008. What’s troubling here is not only the candidates’ loose inflammatory talk but also their refusal to step in promptly and strongly when someone responds to it with bloodthirsty threats in a crowded arena. Joe Biden had it exactly right when he expressed concern last week that “a leading American politician who might be vice president of the United States would not just stop midsentence and turn and condemn that.” To stay silent is to pour gas on the fires.It wasn’t always thus with McCain. In February he loudly disassociated himself from a speaker who brayed “Barack Hussein Obama” when introducing him at a rally in Ohio. Now McCain either backpedals with tardy, pro forma expressions of respect for his opponent or lets second-tier campaign underlings release boilerplate disavowals after ugly incidents like the chilling Jim Crow-era flashback last week when a Florida sheriff ranted about “Barack Hussein Obama” at a Palin rally while in full uniform. From the start, there have always been two separate but equal questions about race in this election. Is there still enough racism in America to prevent a black man from being elected president no matter what? And, will Republicans play the race card? The jury is out on the first question until Nov. 4. But we now have the unambiguous answer to the second: Yes.McCain, who is no racist, turned to this desperate strategy only as Obama started to pull ahead. The tone was set at the Republican convention, with Rudy Giuliani’s mocking dismissal of Obama as an “only in America” affirmative-action baby. We also learned then that the McCain campaign had recruited as a Palin handler none other than Tucker Eskew, the South Carolina consultant who had worked for George W. Bush in the notorious 2000 G.O.P. primary battle where the McCains and their adopted Bangladeshi daughter were slimed by vicious racist rumors.No less disconcerting was a still-unexplained passage of Palin’s convention speech: Her use of an unattributed quote praising small-town America (as opposed to, say, Chicago and its community organizers) from Westbrook Pegler, the mid-century Hearst columnist famous for his anti-Semitism, racism and violent rhetorical excess. After an assassin tried to kill F.D.R. at a Florida rally and murdered Chicago’s mayor instead in 1933, Pegler wrote that it was “regrettable that Giuseppe Zangara shot the wrong man.” In the ’60s, Pegler had a wish for Bobby Kennedy: “Some white patriot of the Southern tier will spatter his spoonful of brains in public premises before the snow falls.”This is the writer who found his way into a speech by a potential vice president at a national political convention. It’s astonishing there’s been no demand for a public accounting from the McCain campaign. Imagine if Obama had quoted a Black Panther or Louis Farrakhan — or William Ayers — in Denver.The operatives who would have Palin quote Pegler have been at it ever since. A key indicator came two weeks after the convention, when the McCain campaign ran its first ad tying Obama to the mortgage giant Fannie Mae. Rather than make its case by using a legitimate link between Fannie and Obama (or other Democratic leaders), the McCain forces chose a former Fannie executive who had no real tie to Obama or his campaign but did have a black face that could dominate the ad’s visuals. There are no black faces high in the McCain hierarchy to object to these tactics. There hasn’t been a single black Republican governor, senator or House member in six years. This is a campaign where Palin can repeatedly declare that Alaska is “a microcosm of America” without anyone even wondering how that might be so for a state whose tiny black and Hispanic populations are each roughly one-third the national average. There are indeed so few people of color at McCain events that a black senior writer from The Tallahassee Democrat was mistakenly ejected by the Secret Service from a campaign rally in Panama City in August, even though he was standing with other reporters and showed his credentials. His only apparent infraction was to look glaringly out of place. Could the old racial politics still be determinative? I’ve long been skeptical of the incessant press prognostications (and liberal panic) that this election will be decided by racist white men in the Rust Belt. Now even the dimmest bloviators have figured out that Americans are riveted by the color green, not black — as in money, not energy. Voters are looking for a leader who might help rescue them, not a reckless gambler whose lurching responses to the economic meltdown (a campaign “suspension,” a mortgage-buyout stunt that changes daily) are as unhinged as his wanderings around the debate stage. To see how fast the tide is moving, just look at North Carolina. On July 4 this year — the day that the godfather of modern G.O.P. racial politics, Jesse Helms, died — The Charlotte Observer reported that strategists of both parties agreed Obama’s chances to win the state fell “between slim and none.” Today, as Charlotte reels from the implosion of Wachovia, the McCain-Obama race is a dead heat in North Carolina and Helms’s Republican successor in the Senate, Elizabeth Dole, is looking like a goner. But we’re not at Election Day yet, and if voters are to have their final say, both America and Obama have to get there safely. The McCain campaign has crossed the line between tough negative campaigning and inciting vigilantism, and each day the mob howls louder. The onus is on the man who says he puts his country first to call off the dogs, pit bulls and otherwise.
IF you think way back to the start of this marathon campaign, back when it seemed preposterous that any black man could be a serious presidential contender, then you remember the biggest fear about Barack Obama: a crazy person might take a shot at him.
Some voters told reporters that they didn’t want Obama to run, let alone win, should his very presence unleash the demons who have stalked America from Lincoln to King. After consultation with Congress, Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, gave Obama a Secret Service detail earlier than any presidential candidate in our history — in May 2007, some eight months before the first Democratic primaries.
“I’ve got the best protection in the world, so stop worrying,” Obama reassured his supporters. Eventually the country got conditioned to his appearing in large arenas without incident (though I confess that the first loud burst of fireworks at the end of his convention stadium speech gave me a start). In America, nothing does succeed like success. The fear receded.
Until now. At McCain-Palin rallies, the raucous and insistent cries of “Treason!” and “Terrorist!” and “Kill him!” and “Off with his head!” as well as the uninhibited slinging of racial epithets, are actually something new in a campaign that has seen almost every conceivable twist. They are alarms. Doing nothing is not an option.
All’s fair in politics. John McCain and Sarah Palin have every right to bring up William Ayers, even if his connection to Obama is minor, even if Ayers’s Weather Underground history dates back to Obama’s childhood, even if establishment Republicans and Democrats alike have collaborated with the present-day Ayers in educational reform. But it’s not just the old Joe McCarthyesque guilt-by-association game, however spurious, that’s going on here. Don’t for an instant believe the many mindlessly “even-handed” journalists who keep saying that the McCain campaign’s use of Ayers is the moral or political equivalent of the Obama campaign’s hammering on Charles Keating.
What makes them different, and what has pumped up the Weimar-like rage at McCain-Palin rallies, is the violent escalation in rhetoric, especially (though not exclusively) by Palin. Obama “launched his political career in the living room of a domestic terrorist.” He is “palling around with terrorists” (note the plural noun). Obama is “not a man who sees America the way you and I see America.” Wielding a wildly out-of-context Obama quote, Palin slurs him as an enemy of American troops.
By the time McCain asks the crowd “Who is the real Barack Obama?” it’s no surprise that someone cries out “Terrorist!” The rhetorical conflation of Obama with terrorism is complete. It is stoked further by the repeated invocation of Obama’s middle name by surrogates introducing McCain and Palin at these rallies. This sleight of hand at once synchronizes with the poisonous Obama-is-a-Muslim e-mail blasts and shifts the brand of terrorism from Ayers’s Vietnam-era variety to the radical Islamic threats of today.
That’s a far cry from simply accusing Obama of being a guilty-by-association radical leftist. Obama is being branded as a potential killer and an accessory to past attempts at murder. “Barack Obama’s friend tried to kill my family” was how a McCain press release last week packaged the remembrance of a Weather Underground incident from 1970 — when Obama was 8.
We all know what punishment fits the crime of murder, or even potential murder, if the security of post-9/11 America is at stake. We all know how self-appointed “patriotic” martyrs always justify taking the law into their own hands.
Obama can hardly be held accountable for Ayers’s behavior 40 years ago, but at least McCain and Palin can try to take some responsibility for the behavior of their own supporters in 2008. What’s troubling here is not only the candidates’ loose inflammatory talk but also their refusal to step in promptly and strongly when someone responds to it with bloodthirsty threats in a crowded arena. Joe Biden had it exactly right when he expressed concern last week that “a leading American politician who might be vice president of the United States would not just stop midsentence and turn and condemn that.” To stay silent is to pour gas on the fires.
It wasn’t always thus with McCain. In February he loudly disassociated himself from a speaker who brayed “Barack Hussein Obama” when introducing him at a rally in Ohio. Now McCain either backpedals with tardy, pro forma expressions of respect for his opponent or lets second-tier campaign underlings release boilerplate disavowals after ugly incidents like the chilling Jim Crow-era flashback last week when a Florida sheriff ranted about “Barack Hussein Obama” at a Palin rally while in full uniform.
From the start, there have always been two separate but equal questions about race in this election. Is there still enough racism in America to prevent a black man from being elected president no matter what? And, will Republicans play the race card? The jury is out on the first question until Nov. 4. But we now have the unambiguous answer to the second: Yes.
McCain, who is no racist, turned to this desperate strategy only as Obama started to pull ahead. The tone was set at the Republican convention, with Rudy Giuliani’s mocking dismissal of Obama as an “only in America” affirmative-action baby. We also learned then that the McCain campaign had recruited as a Palin handler none other than Tucker Eskew, the South Carolina consultant who had worked for George W. Bush in the notorious 2000 G.O.P. primary battle where the McCains and their adopted Bangladeshi daughter were slimed by vicious racist rumors.
No less disconcerting was a still-unexplained passage of Palin’s convention speech: Her use of an unattributed quote praising small-town America (as opposed to, say, Chicago and its community organizers) from Westbrook Pegler, the mid-century Hearst columnist famous for his anti-Semitism, racism and violent rhetorical excess. After an assassin tried to kill F.D.R. at a Florida rally and murdered Chicago’s mayor instead in 1933, Pegler wrote that it was “regrettable that Giuseppe Zangara shot the wrong man.” In the ’60s, Pegler had a wish for Bobby Kennedy: “Some white patriot of the Southern tier will spatter his spoonful of brains in public premises before the snow falls.”
This is the writer who found his way into a speech by a potential vice president at a national political convention. It’s astonishing there’s been no demand for a public accounting from the McCain campaign. Imagine if Obama had quoted a Black Panther or Louis Farrakhan — or William Ayers — in Denver.
The operatives who would have Palin quote Pegler have been at it ever since. A key indicator came two weeks after the convention, when the McCain campaign ran its first ad tying Obama to the mortgage giant Fannie Mae. Rather than make its case by using a legitimate link between Fannie and Obama (or other Democratic leaders), the McCain forces chose a former Fannie executive who had no real tie to Obama or his campaign but did have a black face that could dominate the ad’s visuals.
There are no black faces high in the McCain hierarchy to object to these tactics. There hasn’t been a single black Republican governor, senator or House member in six years. This is a campaign where Palin can repeatedly declare that Alaska is “a microcosm of America” without anyone even wondering how that might be so for a state whose tiny black and Hispanic populations are each roughly one-third the national average. There are indeed so few people of color at McCain events that a black senior writer from The Tallahassee Democrat was mistakenly ejected by the Secret Service from a campaign rally in Panama City in August, even though he was standing with other reporters and showed his credentials. His only apparent infraction was to look glaringly out of place.
Could the old racial politics still be determinative? I’ve long been skeptical of the incessant press prognostications (and liberal panic) that this election will be decided by racist white men in the Rust Belt. Now even the dimmest bloviators have figured out that Americans are riveted by the color green, not black — as in money, not energy. Voters are looking for a leader who might help rescue them, not a reckless gambler whose lurching responses to the economic meltdown (a campaign “suspension,” a mortgage-buyout stunt that changes daily) are as unhinged as his wanderings around the debate stage.
To see how fast the tide is moving, just look at North Carolina. On July 4 this year — the day that the godfather of modern G.O.P. racial politics, Jesse Helms, died — The Charlotte Observer reported that strategists of both parties agreed Obama’s chances to win the state fell “between slim and none.” Today, as Charlotte reels from the implosion of Wachovia, the McCain-Obama race is a dead heat in North Carolina and Helms’s Republican successor in the Senate, Elizabeth Dole, is looking like a goner.
But we’re not at Election Day yet, and if voters are to have their final say, both America and Obama have to get there safely. The McCain campaign has crossed the line between tough negative campaigning and inciting vigilantism, and each day the mob howls louder. The onus is on the man who says he puts his country first to call off the dogs, pit bulls and otherwise.
If you appreciated this message, then please have a look at the rest of my blog, http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/henrymu and if you appreciate my blog, then please donate to the campaign: http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/henrymu/gGgFDD
Henry M
