With less than a month to go til America votes, barring any more mad game changing moves or even an October Surprise from Osama Bin Laden or the tattered remains of the Bush administration, all the smart money is on the financial crisis seeing Barack Obama translate the momentum he’s built up into a pretty impressive victory in the Electoral College. What does the GOP have left? It’s surely significant that there are rumours around that the GOP itself – the Republican National Committee – is thinking of pulling funding from McCain advertising and pushing it into Senate races to attempt to forefend a 60 vote filibuster proof Democratic Senate majority (the Senators defending seats this year are those first elected in the Bush first term post s11 surge of the 2002 mid terms). So how about the old white dude himself? There’s one more debate. There may be more lunacy. But there’s certainly lots of ugliness, as the Culture Warriors of the base show their ugly face.
[Via Majikthise, but it's just about everywhere on the web - it's so viral it might just be this cycle's Macaca moment.]
Now McCain at least – if not Palin, I think (it’s hard to tell as there appears to be some internal GOP noise dissing Palin), have belatedly taken to hosing down calls of “Bomb Obama!” and “kill him!” at their rallies, often leading to the candidate being booed by the enraged “base”. But it’s pretty clear that this sort of thing stands in a very close relation to the dogwhistling that’s going on at epic volume from the GOP “hate talk express”. All this vileness is leading to more conservatives jumping ship, and a hollerback from a supposed “McCain adviser”, Congressman John Lewis.
I really hope that this stuff gets repudiated at the ballot box, and goes down the tube with McCain’s shattered reputation (and incidentally, I’m somewhat bamboozled that some local observers seem inclined to give McCain the benefit of the doubt.) The politics of division has revealed its true face.
Elsewhere: More from Lyn Calcutt at Public Opinion. Some more incidents of ugliness here and here.
Yeah sure.
There’s Obama – the man whose only connections seem to be with Chicago political mafiosos, terrorists and radical leftards and with ZERO achievements -, his campaigners and his supporters with their Palin Derangement Syndrome, voter fraud, thuggery, repeated lies, race baiting, corrupt media cronies….you name it…and you think this video should go viral? Bwaahahahahahahahahaha. Say it ain’t so Kimmy.
Ah yes, the free speech of the left. Say it ain’t so Barry.
Speaking of Palin, I’ve just posted a recently discovered Sarah Palin baby video, for anyone who might be interested. It’s quite telling.
Grace and Peace,
Raffi
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saint, you seem rather more worked up than is good for someone at 2.21 am. Perhaps there’s an Adelaide time difference that I’m not getting, or some other explanation for such a GOP talking point packed comment.
I’ll make the point again that Obama won’t be Preznit of Australia, and posting comments on this blog reciting the Republican attack lines of the day is unlikely to sway too many votes in the land of the free. I’d have thought, anyway.
Excuse me, but should the interviewer have so much contempt in his voice? No wonder the people are hostile to him. I kind of like the crazy woman – she’s throwing the questions back in his face.
Duh! Saint has Obama Derangement Syndrome.
BTW Mark – is this missing a link? “More from Lyn Calcutt at Public Opinion.”
BTW, Kim
Mark…Only half an hour, Mark, we’re on daylight saving early this year. But it’s not enough to explain it, is it.
Saintie, dude, I think you need a new nom de blog. The current one’s looking a little inappropriate.
Never ya’ll mind, grampa McCain wants that Osama guy to git offa his lawn or he’s gonna give him a good old fashioned whuppin’.
There was an article in today’s O.O. that I wanted to link to, but it appears they’re too ashamed to put it online. Some academic from James Cook Uni, spouting all the drivel about the Weathermen and that Ayers guy. Why do they bother, and why do they try to pretend this is something other than a Republican attack smear?
@wilful, the piece is here written by Mervyn Bendle at James Cook University.
Nope, it’s online. It’s from our friend Merv Bendle who’s taken some time out from writing a submission to the Young Liberal inspired “academic freedom” enquiry all about himself.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24485226-5013479,00.html
You can find his submission here if the Senate ever has enough bandwidth to serve a page:
http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/eet_ctte/academic_freedom/index.htm
Down and Out, I’ve fixed the post and here’s the link:
http://www.sauer-thompson.com/archives/opinion/2008/10/frightened-hors.php#more
Crossed, Phil!
Bendle is the same guy who accused ADFA academic, Anthony Burke, of being pro-terrorist. an accusation which is palpably false, and presumably made because Burke is left in his politics, based on the little of Burke’s work I’ve read. (And I’m no fan.)I would suggest Bendle has little or no credibility on these issues, given his record.
Ah well, sorry for bringing that article to your attention. Guy’s a dill – good to see he’s on the public tit.
(Not suggesting this is a problem, merely that he is probably a stinking hypocrite).
Thanks, Kim.
Poor Merv everythings a conspiracy to him. With every article in the Oz he seems quite happy to continue to promote how dopey he is.
Bendle:
Looks like Bendle agrees with Obama on this point.
Why do Americans have to ask themselves this? Americans may choose to ask themselves this, especially if prompted often enough by Republican talking points.
But, much to the disappointment of the McCain/Palin machine, it is quite clear that American voters are as bored by these emanations from the Right Wing Noise Machine as the are by rumours that Obama is inelgible to be POTUS because he was born in Mombasa, Kenya
Away from the base, Palin got booed big time at a….. hockey game in Philly. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7TgDanmWkg&feature=related
So much for being America’s new favourite hockey mum – maybe that should have been hokey mum. And a few Obama signs in the crowd behind her.
My new favourite campaign moment eclipsing when McCain made an unscheduled stop to meet workers at an auto parts factory and all the workers he shook hands with were wearing Obama ribbons etc.
More unscheduled and non-base appearances from the McCain/Palin camp pleeze!
Those people are crazy. But that interviewer deserves good slap for his tone and rudeness. It made me want to support the crazy woman who kept yelling bac at him.
Hmm, it would seem that the McCain supporters do not have a monopoly on hatred or violence. Michelle Malkin assembles a good impromptu list of hatred and violence directed towards the McCain campaign.
TimT, I think Malkin left out this one
http://hillbuzz.wordpress.com/2008/10/12/obama-supporters-wearing-sarah-palin-is-a-c-tee-shirts/
Is that the vileness Kim was referring to?
More like this
marlin:
Obviously not since there’s no report to suggest those T shirts were worn at a pro-Obama rally. If that were to happen I’d certainly excpect better from Obama than the tacit acceptance of vileness displayed by Sarah Palin. The other significant difference is that the unpleasant T shirt message is unlikely to signicantly increase the chances of a candidate being assassinated. Unlike the calls of “Bomb Obama!” and “kill him!” at the Palin rallies.
Tim, “Michelle Malkin” and “good” don’t really belong in the same sentence.
all the smart money is on the financial crisis seeing Barack Obama translate the momentum he’s built up into a pretty impressive victory in the Electoral College
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Yep. Obama’s a sure fire shot to win the World’s Worst Job. And when he gets in he’s gonna…
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Um he’s gonna…
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He’s gonna do jack shit. After the Iraq/Afghnaistan debacle and the Crash ther ain’t no money left smart or otherwise. As Marx says we’re all trapped in history’s waves and if you follow Dubya you’re fucked whoever you are.
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Dubya: History’s Greatest Loser.
Jenny – Is that the vileness Kim was referring to?
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Isn’t that just delightful?
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Why don’t the Yanks just go medieval and get it over with? Forget liberal civility and democracy with its wimpy ‘peaceful transfer of power’ namby-pamby bullshit. Here’s how it’s done. It’s the way God wants it.
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Please someone take the nukes away from these kids or everyone’s gona start cryin’.
Sorry, TimT – but I couldn’t get to the end of the Malkin link. The gist, I gather, was that “insane rage” equals “lousy photoshopped images of McCain and Palin” + “political sign theft”. She really needs an editor.
The substantive difference TimT, is that it is the McCain/Palin camp themselves rather than their supporters alone whipping up the fear.
And FTR I don’t like the blind hatred directed at Palin or McCain catalogued by Malkin – albeit some of her list is padded with stuff from the 2004 Kerry campaign, ie. the malicious destruction of Bush/Cheney posters mugshots, but you would have to agree that the Palin T-shirt wearing brigade linked to by marlin, are likely only to be dangerous to themselves, as they do look like a bunch of complete wankers in their matching t-shirts. OTOH, the wingnut base have historical form when it comes to carrying out threats of violence against Democrat presidents and presidential candidates and black people of standing, with Obama about to be all three…..and therein lies the real worry about emboldening the repug base. Lots of guns, not a lot of brain cells.
To McCain’s credit he finally stood up and said this isn’t right. I was watching a commentator on Rachel Maddow’s show who is travelling with the McCain campaign and she said that her and all the other reporters have noticed that the percentage of nutters has gone through the roof and although you could always find nutters at rallies, she said they were just about all nutters now. Which means McCain/Palin are rooted if only nutters are turning out….. and when Palin for instance faces a real crowd… they boo her (although it must be said that any local politican who walks out in the middle at an Oz sporting event is ritually booed) hopefully the McCain/Palin campaign will give up the low road, but I don’t hold out much hope. Swiftboating isn’t an expression now for nothing.
The Flyers boo every celebrity that attends.
They even ritually boo Santa Claus at Christmas time games, and throw things.
Get a clue.
What Jo said.
If Malkin and the rest of the Right Wing Noise Machine can’t detect the difference between random fanatics and idiots acting out their inadequacies and McCain and Palin pandering to their rage and propensity for violence, then Malkin and the RWNM’s powers of critical thought are frighteningly and fundamentally impaired.
But, of course Malkin’s capacity for critical thought isn’t impaired at all. She is, in fact, a professional who lies for a living.
I’m curious what examples you’d cite as McCain and Palin ‘whipping up fear’? I did a google search for a couple of terms ‘McCain’, ‘dogwhistle’, and ‘inciting fear’, and came up with
a) A couple of claims that McCain’s anti-Obama ads were racist
b) Comments by McCain and Palin about Obama’s links to William Ayers.
Is there any more? Mostly, I kept on running into websites that made generalised claims about McCain’s ‘dogwhistling’ and ‘inciting violence’ without providing specific evidence.
Oh c’mon, TimT, most of the good people here aren’t going to fall for ‘I Googled it (using search terms that almost by definition wouldn’t be attached to the kind of material I was looking for) and couldn’t find it, therefore it isn’t true.’
And you strike me as too smart to have drunk the Google Kool-Aid yourself.
But I didn’t argue that these claims – of McCain and Palin dogwhistling and inciting violence – weren’t true. I’m just curious to see what the evidence is for it. That’s why I asked.
In Slate todsy, Christopher Hitchens makes an attempt to re-habilitate himself by attacking McCain and Palin. http://www.slate.com/id/2202163/
Extract: ” On “the issues” in these closing weeks, there really isn’t a very sharp or highly noticeable distinction to be made between the two nominees, and their “debates” have been cramped and boring affairs as a result. But the difference in character and temperament has become plainer by the day, and there is no decent way of avoiding the fact. Last week’s so-called town-hall event showed Sen. John McCain to be someone suffering from an increasingly obvious and embarrassing deficit, both cognitive and physical. And the only public events that have so far featured his absurd choice of running mate have shown her to be a deceiving and unscrupulous woman utterly unversed in any of the needful political discourses but easily trained to utter preposterous lies and to appeal to the basest element of her audience. McCain occasionally remembers to stress matters like honor and to disown innuendoes and slanders, but this only makes him look both more senile and more cynical, since it cannot (can it?) be other than his wish and design that he has engaged a deputy who does the innuendoes and slanders for him.”
Well put Christopher.
Huggy.
More from Christopher – might answer Timt- one presumes the Sainted hitch does his research.
“The most insulting thing that a politician can do is to compel you to ask yourself: “What does he take me for?” Precisely this question is provoked by the selection of Gov. Sarah Palin. I wrote not long ago that it was not right to condescend to her just because of her provincial roots or her piety, let alone her slight flirtatiousness, but really her conduct since then has been a national disgrace. It turns out that none of her early claims to political courage was founded in fact, and it further turns out that some of the untested rumors about her—her vindictiveness in local quarrels, her bizarre religious and political affiliations—were very well-founded, indeed. Moreover, given the nasty and lowly task of stirring up the whack-job fringe of the party’s right wing and of recycling patent falsehoods about Obama’s position on Afghanistan, she has drawn upon the only talent that she apparently possesses.
It therefore seems to me that the Republican Party has invited not just defeat but discredit this year, and that both its nominees for the highest offices in the land should be decisively repudiated, along with any senators, congressmen, and governors who endorse them.
I used to call myself a single-issue voter on the essential question of defending civilization against its terrorist enemies and their totalitarian protectors, and on that “issue” I hope I can continue to expose and oppose any ambiguity. Obama is greatly overrated in my opinion, but the Obama-Biden ticket is not a capitulationist one, even if it does accept the support of the surrender faction, and it does show some signs of being able and willing to profit from experience. With McCain, the “experience” is subject to sharply diminishing returns, as is the rest of him, and with Palin the very word itself is a sick joke. One only wishes that the election could be over now and a proper and dignified verdict rendered, so as to spare democracy and civility the degradation to which they look like being subjected in the remaining days of a low, dishonest campaign.”
Very Eloquent:
Huggy.
I’m curious what examples you’d cite as McCain and Palin ‘whipping up fear’? I did a google search for a couple of terms ‘McCain’, ‘dogwhistle’, and ‘inciting fear’…”
Oh please Tim, besides the obvious methodological failing Pav pointed out: if you haven’t read about the egregious stories about “minorities” (= blacks and hispanics) being behind the economic meltdown, and specifically the ACORN scheme linked to Obama; the repeated used of “Barack Hussein Obama” (FURRIN name!!!1!1); the spurious claims about his supposed madrassa education; the accusations of “palling around” with terrorists because he attended meetings with a group which included Bill Ayers, and all the other shitty lies and distortions trying to paint both Obama and his wife Michelle as Scary Black Terrorist Sympathisers, you just haven’t been reading much.
Hey Jo
Shouldn’t that be hockey/hokey mom?
I think the problem is embedded in American political culture more than anything else. The historian Andrew Bacevich treats Obamamania with skepticism not so much because he dislikes Obama as because it’s a continuation of a flaw in the culture: the idea of the president a messiah figure who will ’save us’. As he says the solution isn’t a great president but a better citizenry.
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The appalling behaviour witnessed by supporters of either candidate, by the nomination primaries testifies to this. Hitchens’ remarks by themselves seem to infer that this campaign has been unusually bad. Difficult to say. But considering that the standard of American polemic is to routinely distort, omit, outright lie and habitually treat the other side as if they were sub-human I’d say there’s a dire problem and it’s in the general mentality.
I read a comment today by a voter who said he wasn’t going to vote for Obama as his vote was for “less taxes and a small government.”
So, as he is not voting for the Republicans then who the hell gets his vote?
One more vote for Bob Barr, Shaun! His campaign seems to have the momentum of a runaway freight train. Why is he so popular?
BBB
Useful list here of right wing bloggers who have been pushing the Obama = Muslim theme:
http://www.grods.com/post/3712/
A few of those examples Malkin points to are pretty appalling, but when she gets to the part where she’s citing someone committing insurance fraud as an example of left wing rage you really know she’s lost the plot, if she ever had it.
Meanwhile you don’t have to look too hard in blog comments to find the same stuff from the right, but there’s a whole lot more of it.
Well, it’s a beautiful result. A GOP implosion and the biggest Democrat victory since whenever was the last big one. Although I’ll be slightly sad to see the end George Bush’s presidency. I like to watch chickens at roosting time.
Christy Hardin Smith sums up what’s happening rather well, I think:
http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/14/is-mccain-about-to-be-tinkered-and-doled/
yar, pity that this idiot wasn’t lucky enough to be born here Adrien
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/10/religulous.html
otherwise he may have ended up only using his wife’s electoral office’s special printing machine to produce fake pamphlets about the ALP forgiving the Bali Bombers and dropping them into letterboxes in the middle of the night.
BBB, would this bloke know he is really supporting Bob Barr and would Bob Barr know that he actaully has a supporter?
It might even bring an end to the global economic meltdown so long as Obama wins. Has anybody else noticed every time GWB opens his mouth lately Wall street goes down?
Jo – he may have ended up only using his wife’s electoral office’s special printing machine to produce fake pamphlets about the ALP forgiving the Bali Bombers and dropping them into letterboxes in the middle of the night.
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Yeah and remember how that went down with us?
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‘Straya! We got no kulcha, we got no toiste, we got no broins. But at least we’ve got the good sense to realoize that politicians aren’t good people. The only question is which one’s sloitly less useless.
Kim – Useful list here of right wing bloggers who have been pushing the Obama = Muslim theme
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Look you commie.
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Obama is a muslim terrorist. What kind ofa ‘Merican’s named Obama? You know what these people are? They’re religious fanatics who completely ignore facts and science and want to roll back the Enlightenment so that they can start an apocalyptic world war that wipes out the human race all because they think that they’ll go straight to heaven if they do it. They wanna get their hands on nukes! Nukes.
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That’s why I’m a Sarah Palin supporter.
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Um…
Well, it must certainly be hard knowing who to vote for at rallies. Do you go with the folks wanting to bomb the other guy if he gets in as president? Or do you side with the mob who advocate punching or shooting the vice-presidential candidate in the head?
Both sides seem to be competing hard to get the violent psychopath vote sewn up!
Obama: “George Bush has dug a deep hole for us. It’s going to take a while for us to dig our way out…”
I’m sure it sounded good in his head.
BBB
TimT – can you use someone else apart from Malkin as a reference? It’s like trusting Pravda on US-Soviet Relations.
And you seem to be attempting to get the inappropriate comparison vote all sewn up, TimT.
Anybody who uses Michelle Malkin as source material is struggling to be taken seriously.
Did you guys visit the links?
Any vote is a vote, TimT. But let’s put the glasses down – this is over. Let’s just see if the Dems can get the magical 60 in the Senate.
“Did you guys visit the link?”
I did. Can you tell me where Obama or anyone from his campaign tacitly endorsed the ’shoot ‘em’, ‘hit ‘em’ graphics by keeping quite when they were waved in their faces?
Seems to me you can’t tell the difference between what supporters do (and some of them from both sides are abhorrent) and what the campaign endorses by ignoring such when they happen right in front of them during campaigning ie Palin ignoring yells of ‘kill him’ and McCain not condemning those calling Obama a terrorist.
Can you give me one example of similar events during Obama/Biden public addresses?
TimT: no, I didn’t read the link. Malkin’s got issues with credibility on death threats.
I’m not really interested in getting into an argument about that comment Polly… it was meant as a joke. I’d originally included some [/sarcasm] tags, but they got edited out.
Geez, TimT, you must have learnt your comedic skills from any number of Australian comedians. You know, jokes that aren’t funny, have no discernible point, don’t make sense etc. etc.
Dreaming of a world that will never be… hopefully.
“I’m not really interested in getting into an argument about that comment Polly”
I wasn’t trying to have an argument about ‘that comment’, TimT.
I specifically asked if you could give examples of the Obama/Biden campaign giving their supporters tacit approval to those d*heads. You know like McCain/Palin did by their silence?
You know, jokes that aren’t funny, have no discernible point, don’t make sense etc. etc.
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Outstanding. Give that man a job on The Footy Show.
Those Democrats are making fun of Sarah Palin in such rude and unfunny ways!
http://www.cafepress.com/landoverbaptist.305521167
Mr Fish came up with a goody that is apposite.
http://blogs.laweekly.com/fish/2008/10/12/Motherfucker.php
Senior politician and up-and-coming (seemingly from nowhere) politician, female, new and somewhat naive. Is prepared to go much further in being ugly about “minorities” than the senior politician. Senior politician stands back and lets Junior politician have her head, tut-tutting from time to time but covertly using, and fanning, the public hatred that Junior Politician has unleashed, to his own benefit.
Does this scenario seem a little, um, familiar to the other Australians here?
Also, Junior Politician’s appeal is populist and folksy. Senior politician enables her by promoting the view that the liberal/lefty elites are out of touch with the Real Americans/Australians.
I’m starting to feel that there is a horror-movie style body takeover going on here…
…Also, LPers, your timestamp is out for Victorians. We’re on daylight saving time and I’m up early to walk the dogs. Just had to mention that in case you thought I was some tragic case commenting at 4.30 AM!