at a certain point calling it a mere difference of opinion is a lie

[rm]

I have to confess, I've hit the point in this race where I'm waiting for McCain of Palin to have a A Few Good Men moment in which someone loses their temper and says exactly the evil and vitriol they've been dying to unleash since the beginning of this.

I've been watching reports about this on the news, and the Republican commentators shrug it off as the party firing up their base and some people getting out of hand.

Sorry, not good enough. These people want pitchforks and torches and they scare the shit out of me. It's bad, BAD, when I've run out of eloquence for what's happening.

We are losing our grip on ourselves as a nation.


Effigy of Obama alarms George Fox campus
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/09/racial_incident_rattles_george.html

NEWBERG -- Students and campus leaders at George Fox University denounced the hanging of a life-size cardboard cutout of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama on campus, vowing to work together to fight racism and intolerance.

A custodial crew at the 3,355-student Christian university found the Obama likeness hanging by fishing wire from a tree at 7 a.m. Tuesday and tore it down before students arrived for classes.

A sign taped to the cutout said, "Act Six reject," referring to a scholarship program for Portland students, many of whom are minorities.

*

Who'll Call Obama A Terrorist?
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/wholl_call_obama_a_terrorist.php

You can hear it clearly on this video clip taken from MSNBC-- after McCain asks "Who is the real Barack Obama?" the first, loudest voice can be heard answering "Terrorist!"

*

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/07/obama-hatred-on-display-a_n_132572.html

In the latest instance of inflammatory outbursts at McCain-Palin rallies, a crowd member screamed "treason!" during an event on Tuesday after Sarah Palin accused Barack Obama of criticizing U.S. troops.

*

Unleashed, Palin Makes a Pit Bull Look Tame
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/06/AR2008100602935.html

In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy."

...

"One of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers," she said. ("Boooo!" said the crowd.) "And, according to the New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, 'launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and our U.S. Capitol,' " she continued. ("Boooo!" the crowd repeated.)

"Kill him!" proposed one man in the audience.

*

McCain, Palin, Tacitly Approve Assassination
http://thepoliticalcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2008/10/campaign-is-becoming-dangerous.html

Twice yesterday and again today, when McCain was giving a speech and asked the rhetorical question, "Who is Obama?" someone in the crowd shouted back "terrorist" followed by someone else yelling "kill him," to hearty and approving applause. The same threats echoed during Palin speeches since Sunday, as well. The videos are all over YouTube.

Neither McCain nor Palin stopped their speech to lecture the audience about offensive, inappropriate and illegal comments. Why not?

...

When McCain and Palin use silence to give tacit approval to suggestions from supporters that their opponent should be shot, then they are tacitly signalling that it'd be alright for someone to take a pot shot.

Comments

[lavendergem.livejournal.com]

As awful as these kinds of things are, the Republican Party doesn't have the corner on the kooky market. Humans, regardless of their leanings, have a tendency to adopt mob mentalities just as part of our very nature. It is the rare odd duck who does not join the swarm when things get heated.

Whoa, sorry for so any mixed metaphors in so short a paragraph. *shakes head*

Anyway, my point is that not all Republicans are bigots, or idiots or slavering warmongers, any more than all Democrats are any of those things. People are just sheep, driven by fear and the bellies, no matter what their paradigm.

After all, Woodrow Wilson was a Progressive, and possibly the worst pres this nation has ever had-- as well as being one of the biggest bigots ever. But our nation survived his presidency. The Dems have a longer history of bigotry than the Republicans-- whom I might point out, were the ones to free the slaves in the first place. ;-)

Please don't fret... our lives will probably not shatter, regardless of who becomes pres-- though on either side, there could be some unprettiness. It's easy for me to feel like my freedoms will be stripped away-- from either choice-- but I have to stave off those worries, because as bad as I can imagine it could be, we aren't there yet so best to be prepared for the worst, yet hope for the best.

I don't have much hope for the mob. The mob will always do what the mob does-- with torches and pitch forks. But until I have to face the mob down, I will do my best to love and encourage the people around me, and trust that if it's not ok, then it's not the end.