The Republicans have been reduced to the equivalent of screaming “fire” in a crowded theater. Actually, it’s worse than that, because what they’re really doing is screaming “Nigger! Nigger! Nigger!” at the top of their lungs and then pointing fingers at the Democrats as if they were the guilty ones.
It is worse than pathetic. It is, in fact, somewhat ominous. As we move toward the denouement of these two long years of campaigning, as the margin in the polls grows wider and wider to favor Obama, one has to wonder if these people will become even more deranged. One seriously has to wonder if they will actually move to physical violence, and against whom. Obama himself does not seem to worry about his personal safety, but at this juncture it’s probably not the candidate who has to worry. It’s the people in Obama campaign offices, the people who work in Planned Parenthood clinics, the people gathered at Democratic campaign rallies who need to be concerned than an unhinged right-winger will start shooting, or leave a backpack full of explosives in a public space, or throw a Molotov cocktail into a campaign headquarters.
And I am genuinely concerned that for the next eight years, this will be the norm, not the exception, to how those people will continue to express their outrage at a black President. This is the culmination of all the angry polarization that has consumed the American public since Bill Clinton was elected in 1992. The right wing has been driven into a corner, and it will lash out at anyone and anything. They are beyond reason — just listen to them continue to spout the most ridiculous rhetoric about Obama, or watch those videos that went big-time over the weekend of McCain supporters screaming “Kill Him!” and “Treason”. They are frightening and they are very, very real.
Frank Rich’s column in today’s NYT is on the money:
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.
The enabler has been Sarah Palin. Unfettered by McCain’s own personal reputation as “an honorable man”, she has been the point-person for the Rovian campaign people who are ultimately responsible for these tactics of fear-mongering and hate. She gets away with saying the most detestable things because of her “you betcha” accent and her fake eyeglasses and her little winks. Whether she really knows if what she’s saying is true or false, who can say, because it’s obvious she does what she’s told and is capable of little else. Nevertheless, she sells it with fervor (and a little sex), and the angry and stupid who are her political base eat it up with a big spoon.
Already there is talk that the response to Palin on the campaign trail is making some think that she is the right candidate to restore the Republicans in 2012. That this is her springboard to the top, and John McCain is the loser she will step on to get there. Given the response, given the readiness of so many Republican supporters to go to the very precipice of violence against Obama and their fellow Americans, it is something to consider with deep, deep apprehension.
And, of course, no one will see the slightest bit of irony in their promotion of these acts of “domestic terrorism.”
“It’s not my fault if I encourage you to violence and you actually go out and do something violent. I mean, why would anyone put that burden on my shoulders?”
Sing it, brother. Are Ben and I the only ones who noticed that McCain said he was going to “whip” Obama’s ass in the next debate? That is a very interesting choice of verb, isn’t it?
This is the first campaign where I’ve actually been frightened by republican retoric. In times before, I’ve been disgusted and surprised by it, but people I have considered somewhat sane have turned ugly and hateful in ways I’ve never noticed before.
I seriously doubt that McCain meant to imply anything racist by the “whip him” remark, any more than he did with the overblown “that one” comment.
I have a problem with finding fault with every noun and verb, because it will only diminish what is said about the real, intentional racism that their campaign is promoting.
My particular concern is that this isn’t going to go away after the election. The people who are screaming “kill the traitor” now, will be ready to do that and more for the whole time Obama is in office, and a genuine demagogue on the Republican side could exploit that. McCain is certainly not that person, and I don’t think that Palin is either, but I fear that she is very easily manipulated and is already prone to corruption.
If things get bleak, they could also get very, very ugly.
I seriously doubt that McCain meant to imply anything racist by the “whip him” remark, any more than he did with the overblown “that one” comment.
I think that’s right. Not unlike the “lipstick on a pig remark”. But there’s no equivocating what the people are saying at the rallies and in clips like this.
I’m not saying McCain’s use of the word “whip” was deliberate and meant to evoke slavery; I don’t think he’s that stupid. But the fact that it’s not even the correct slang (he didn’t say “kick” his ass) makes me think it’s at best piss-poor speechwriting, and at worst a subliminal slip-up.
Fair enough. I do think there are people making that implication, though. The no-quarter-given mercilessness for the slightest verbal slip-ups in this campaign has gone overboard. It’s important at this point to stop blustering about nonsense and start taking a long, hard look at the potential for violence as the righties get more wound up. There’s too much faux outrage from both sides about meaningless twaddle, while there are clear warning signs about serious outrage.
I’m alot more concerned about the other obviously intended language that is slung around…not only the kill hims shouted from the back rows of McCain rallys but the fucking lies thrown at the cameras time after time that if said often enough end up becoming believable truths to the idiots who listen…for example, “I was found innocent of corruption by the Branchflower Report” and “I earned my war hero status in the war I won in Viet Nam”.
To me, that sort of bullshit evaporates immediately after Election Day. To wit, nobody puts any credence into the Swift Boat nonsense from 2004 at this point in time. Everybody recognized it as crap and let it go. Ditto for the Bill Ayers stuff now and the blatant lying from McCain and Palin. It’s the unrelenting confrontationalism that seems to be reaching a critical mass.