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Need to vent

McCain is coming to my town today, and I pray that he has some restraint and does not feed the hate and racism he has conjured up in many of his followers here lately. That is the last thing we need in VA. This is a video of Palin's latest visit to PA. A man carrying an Obama monkey and he is so proud of himself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKUovpF9LWU

What does that have to do with politics and where our country is headed. I'm so sad about the direction of this election and even though we've made so much progress in this country, we see how easy it is to bring out the worst in people. When you have your beliefs about who will take this country in the right direction that's one thing, but to feed on peoples' fears with outright lies is just wrong. I know he has tried to make it right with the weak statement that Obama is not someone to be scared of as President, but it is too little too late in my opinion.

The hate speech is getting out of hand. This video makes me want to cry. If you haven't been a victim of racist comment but have been a victim of homophobic comments and attitudes, you should still understand how this makes one feel. We take two steps forward to take one step back. I pray for our country because it's in a very sad place right now.

Submitted by

sexyseed (126 posts)

on October 13, 2008 - 8:26am.

TAGS ::

Politics

OMG

Submitted by

Alisha (155 posts)

on October 13, 2008 - 9:24am.

That video was unfortunately taken in my town.

That man is an asshole. Thank goodness we're not all like him. I avoided downtown that day because I feared my eyes would get stuck in a perminate rolled position due to all the nitwits who actually wanted to see Palin.

http://www.drunkduck.com/Empathy/

Vent, Vent, Vent

Submitted by

Dahni (7 posts)

on October 13, 2008 - 9:47am.

My mother was born in 1928 and she told me a lot of real stories about the racism she encountered growing up. If she were alive now, she would tell me not to be shocked or hurt by the things that are happening in the campaign. She really wouldn't be surprised. My mom was out there facing the dogs, fire hoses, billy clubs etc. and at that time, that was the norm.

The goings on in this campaign are a shame, but it is what it is. We are seeing the real, true souls of these individuals. Don't forget it. The way these people are acting is shameful but out of the substance of the heart, the mouth does speak. This is what's going on "on the inside" of these individuals. They are doing and saying exactly what they feel. Now you know.

So, what do you do about this? You talk, you vent, you donate, you assist, you volunteer, you vote, and you change things.

-Always, Dahni

Now there's video of the

Submitted by

sexyseed (126 posts)

on October 13, 2008 - 10:25am.

Now there's video of the racist coward trying to play it off when he sees himself caught on camera again and passes the monkey off to a nearby child. How sad!

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4515218n&tag=centerColumn;centerColumnContent

Yeah, Palin is in Richmond

Submitted by

shay_neile (not verified)

on October 13, 2008 - 10:54am.

Yeah, Palin is in Richmond today over at RIR (Bill Clinton was here last night). I'm not going, but I know channel 12 will be streaming the speech on it's website. I do plan to watch it. VA has been a red state for quite some time. I've seen my fair share of supporters of both sides this election.

This will be the third presidential election in which I've voted. And it seems, this time, there is so much more at stake. I made a point to listen to both sides; not necessarily to sway my decision, but rather to be informed. Maybe it's because I'm older, but it just feels different. I am saddened by people's pride in their hate. And only now, three weeks out, McCain campaign is trying to put out the fires it once fueled.

I heard an excerpt this morning on the radio from one of McCain's events where an older woman in the audience said she had read about Obama and didn't want to vote for him because he was an Arab. A caller made a good point saying that the woman called him an Arab to say that it's something bad. McCain corrected her, but I think it's coming too little, too late. Most people have already made up their minds (a lot, as soon as Barack accepted the dem. nom.).

This United States is very divided. It is my hope that one day it will be better. But it takes work.

Dahni, much thanks to your mom and all those who stood up, so that we could have a better life.

it was worse than that.

Submitted by

jackedup77 (897 posts)

on October 13, 2008 - 12:08pm.

More Hatred at a Palin Rally in Johnstown, PA

I don't have anything constructive to say about these people. I am past the point of sadness.

wow

Submitted by

Alisha (155 posts)

on October 13, 2008 - 12:39pm.

I hang my head in shame. These are my neighbors? The fucking ignorant...I'm not going to even finish. I'm disgusted.

http://www.drunkduck.com/Empathy/

I went door to door last

Submitted by

sexyseed (126 posts)

on October 13, 2008 - 1:06pm.

I went door to door last night for Obama, and most people were kind even if they were voting for McCain. That is the way it should be. We should be able to respect each others' differences, because this is America and we have the right to that choice. I pray that the majority of the people are like those that I met yesterday. Hopefully these idiots that we keep seeing who are so hateful are in the minority. As saddened as I am by these images, I have faith that this country is better than that.

Racism on the campaign trail

Submitted by

vannie2 (165 posts)

on October 13, 2008 - 1:16pm.

John McCain has no one to blame but himself for this type of stuff....he let the genie out of the bottle (as stated by a CNN correspondent) and now he can't put it back in, and he can't have it both ways by now saying that he thinks Obama is a good person with whom he has some disagreements. His ads don't reflect that more genial sentiment, and they certainly fan the flames of hatred and racism. Some of these rallies resemble a KKK lynch mob than a political rally with cries of "get him" and "off with his head" by McCain supporters.

Further, John McCain started this with all the talk about who the 'real' Barack Obama is by trying to associate him with terrorists and and not sharing American values. This what the Republicans have done over the last 20+ years in presidential elections. Why is anyone surprised? This is what you do when you have no real grasp on the issues, you're feeling desperate and you appeal to the worst in people in order to get votes.

McCain/Palin Klan Rallies

Submitted by

zephyr (444 posts)

on October 13, 2008 - 7:50pm.

You said what I was thinking about the latest "Town Hall Meetings" they've been having. When people are yelling things like "kill him" and "terrorist" that is some major sickness, which eventually translates into violence. Obama has had to have a larger more specialized Secret Service detail than the other candidates from the beginning, due to the seriousness of the death threats against him. The viciousness of these town hall meetings does not surprise me. Some of McCain's supporters feel they're losing and they're becoming desparate. As many of them have voiced, they can't believe they're in this position. Remember the guy who said he didn't care about the economy? He just wanted McCain to go get the "socialist". I don't think he even knew what a socialist was. That was just some code word bs.

My real concern is that the Secret Service and the rest of the intelligence agencies do not let any of these right wing wackos get the chance to go through with any schemes they have for causing harm to Sen. Obama. I remember a couple of months ago it was reported in the news about a two militia guys setting up an assasination plot who got caught (thankfully).

The news media did not really go after this, but McCain's response to that woman who called Obama an Arab was half-assed. Besides saying that Obama was a decent guy, he should have addressed the racism of equating something wrong with being Arab. I thought McCain actually reinforced the notion that Arabs should automatically be suspect. That is so wrong. I wish all the candidates would address that. That kind of bigotry is not good for the country as a whole.

I totally agree with you. It

Submitted by

rainbowcoloredb... (200 posts)

on October 13, 2008 - 11:38pm.

I totally agree with you. It was said as if it was a bad thing. Not all Muslims are Arabs and not all Arabs are Muslims. And most importantly not all Muslims are terrorists.70% of Arab Americans in the US are Christian. You already have an Arab-American Presidential candidate in Ralph Nader. It's not like Arabs are aliens from outer space.

The so-called liberal media never picked up on the ARab comment and how McCain said he Obama is not an Arab but a decent man. Does that mean the over 1 million Arab Americans and 7 million Muslims law abiding citizens should be disqualified from higher office because of their race or culture or religion?

Liberal media

Submitted by

GrrrlRomeo (511 posts)

on October 14, 2008 - 5:33am.

Liberal media is kind of a broad term because I'm not sure what you watch or read. Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow all commented on McCain implying that Arabs are bad.

Thanks for that GrrrlRomeo.

Submitted by

rainbowcoloredb... (200 posts)

on October 14, 2008 - 11:21pm.

Thanks for that GrrrlRomeo. I'm not actually a US citizen but I am very interested in this election. I guess I was talking more about print media like the New York Times. I just haven't found it mentioned much. Although i'm very glad to hear Rachel Maddow brought it up. The word liberal media is thrown around a lot, but I really don't think the media is as liberal as people really say it is. If it were we'd be hearing about Palin and Todd's shady connections, or how McCain staffers have had links to Saddam Hussain or how McCain was part of some fascist group in Latin AMerica. Instead, we hear about Wright and Ayers all the time.

I could be wrong...

Submitted by

zephyr (444 posts)

on October 14, 2008 - 4:51pm.

but rainbowcolored may have been refering to the general term of "liberal media" applied to the news media in general by the far Right. So many Rightwing strategiests and politicians have a tendency to characterize anyone who is not their personal lapdog as the liberal media.

Exactly that was what I was

Submitted by

rainbowcoloredb... (200 posts)

on October 14, 2008 - 4:54pm.

Exactly that was what I was doing. I am a liberal so I would be happy to be exposed to more liberal media.

Exactly that was what I was

Submitted by

rainbowcoloredb... (200 posts)

on October 14, 2008 - 4:54pm.

Exactly that was what I was doing. I am a liberal so I would be happy to be exposed to more liberal media.

Sen. Obama has to...

Submitted by

zephyr (444 posts)

on October 14, 2008 - 5:02pm.

walk a very fine line due to the deep seated bigotries large portions of the U.S. population have, coupled with his own interracial and cultural background. While these bigotries against him have to be recognized, I do hope that once the election is over he addresses the anti-arab and anti-muslim hatred so prevalent in this society.

Right now though, he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. It's pretty tough when even a local Westchester, NY politician, John Murtagh is attempting to equate Sen. Obama with Osama bin Laden in order to win his own election.

More intense racism found at McCain-Palin rallies

Submitted by

rainbowcoloredb... (200 posts)

on October 13, 2008 - 10:27pm.

Check out these "Obama is a terrorist" racist videos. It's pretty disgusting.

http://www.mafo2008.com/video/video/show?id=2279493%3AVideo%3A4444

http://www.mafo2008.com/video/video/show?id=2279493%3AVideo%3A4447

Good grief

Submitted by

zephyr (444 posts)

on October 14, 2008 - 5:44pm.

Thanks for posting these. You know I can tolerate the fact that people are going to have views opposed to my own for another candidate, but that was really disgusting. What was truly deplorable was not that one or two McCain supporters voiced those views in a crowd, it was that almost to a person in that large crowd people were venting the same vicious misinformation and hatred. There is no way in hell McCain and Palin do not know the general views of their supporters. These people were so open about their prejudices. It was vile.

I heard about that

Submitted by

rainbowcoloredb... (200 posts)

on October 14, 2008 - 11:35pm.

I heard about that happening in Virginia. It was very disappointing to hear that. I really hope Obama wins despite all these tactics used by McCain's supporters. He appeals to the best of us and the Republican party to the worst in us.

Totally unrelated

Submitted by

rainbowcoloredb... (200 posts)

on October 14, 2008 - 5:07pm.

Anyone hear about Hillary Clinton not think about running for President again. Although I think she would be awesome on the Supreme Court. I'm glad that Hillary Clinton is on the Obama team. There was a lot of talk about the Democrats being divided, but right now I think it's the REpublicans who have that problem.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/14/second-white-house-run-un_n_134513.html

http://www.smh.com.au/news/us-election/hillary-casts-aside-white-house-ambitions/2008/10/15/1223750070835.html

Hillary casts aside White House ambitions

Hillary Clinton, who failed against Barack Obama in her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, told US television that this year's White House run will likely be her last.

Asked by Fox television about the chances that she will run for president again, Clinton responded "probably close to zero."

The former first lady added she is quite happy serving as one of two US senators representing the state of New York.

"I love being in the Senate," said Clinton, who added she also had no interest in vying for the job of leader of Senate Democrats or for a coveted seat on the US Supreme Court.

Clinton narrowly lost out in her bid for the Democratic nomination to fellow US senator Obama, who currently leads his Republican opponent John McCain in most national opinion polls ahead of the November 4 presidential election.

She said her own White House ambitions were likely over.

"I ran for president because I thought we had to make drastic changes, given what I viewed as the damage that the Bush administration had done here at home and abroad," she said.

"Now I'm going to work very hard with President Obama to repair that damage," she told Fox.

Clinton added: "There's going to be a lot to do in the Senate. And he's going to need senators who are ready to legislate and fix a lot of our problems."

Speaking about Obama's election prospects, the New York senator said his recent strong showing in the polls is in part because "he has been steady and very calm in the face of this economic crisis.

"I think that the mood in the country, and the way voters are making their decisions points to a big victory for Democrats starting at the top of the ticket with Barack," as well as for his running mate Senator Joe Biden.

By contrast Clinton said the campaign of McCain, her Republican colleague in the Senate, has faltered badly.

"I think that, you know, Senator McCain's campaign has really, kind of, lost its way. It doesn't have the kind of approach to the economy that Americans can understand and buy into," Clinton said.

"On so many other issues - from, the way that their health care plan would undermine the employer-based health care system to privatising social security - they're just so out of touch with what people are worried about."

A majority in the Senate...

Submitted by

zephyr (444 posts)

on October 14, 2008 - 5:17pm.

as well as the House is critical for the executive branch to be effective on a large scale. Both former President Bill Clinton's and Bush's administrations illustrated the importance of having a majority of their parties in Congress; the Clinton Administration showed the difficulties of not having a majority, and the Bush Administration showed how powerful it could be against established law with a majority in both houses. The role Sen. Clinton can play in Congress is powerful and greatly needed.

I'm a little surprised and pleased at Sen. Clinton's candor on a variety of issues. They are things that needed to be said.