Biden Addresses Palin's Comments

Yesterday, I posted about the hate spewing from Sarah Palin and its effects on the GOP "crowd" at rallies. It is inappropriate at any level.

This hate is somehow spilling over onto the press--the "third rail"--as well in a sort of "shoot the messenger" approach, complete, in one case, with a racial epithet:

“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’, Milbank wrote.
--Reuters, 10/7/2008

Biden addressed the issue this morning, in a mild way. Too mild for me, but at least someone addressed it:

"This is beyond disappointing, this is wrong," he [Biden] said at a rally in Tampa, Fla. [parens mine]
--Los Angeles Times, 10/8/2008

Media is generally buzzing about the "that one" statement in last night's debate. In this McCain statement, instead of calling Senator Obama by his name, he referred to him as "that one". Rather a nasty slip for McCain, actually. Later, as Obama outstretched his hand to McCain, McCain turned away. Instead, he shook Cindy McCain's hand.

McCain insiders have admitted that their only hope to win the presidency is to go negative indicating the trouble they know--and we see--is upon them. With one more debate to go, and McCain literally struggling to stay afloat far below Obama, McCain is staying home this weekend to reassess his campaign... or so they say. After his lie of suspending his campaign, who knows what he is really doing.

Palin is, in my opinion, now in dangerous waters as she incites hatred among her God-loving supporters.

Photo credit: Sarah Baxter, Washington, from TimesOnLine

Palin Supporter Advocates Killing: Palin Over The Top

My worst fears are coming to fruition.

Now that the "R" word is being more discussed by the press (as though it wasn't extent this entire time), Palin is stirring it up on the "sly" through use of words designed to instill fear and hatred. Sadly, it seems to be working for some of her more brain-dead supporters.

"Kill him!" proposed one man in the audience.
--Washington Post, October 7, 2008

And did that man get plucked out of the crowd for a talking to by the FBI? Apparently not.

Did Palin correct him? Of course not.

Now imagine someone doing that at an Obama event. Double standard?

Her goal is to foment hate and fear. Apparently, this is what she is good at and used to. And one can only wonder if she learned it at church.

Palin's Wasilla Church, an Assemblies of God church where she attended until just a few years ago from the age of 12, knows a thing or two about advocating hate and fear.

They have had guest speakers who have broadsided Judaism. The church's pastor has laid claims to 911 as a war contending for your faith and has stated that Jesus was in war mode.

The same Pastor has assigned hell to those that didn't vote for Bush later saying it was questionable whether Kerry supporters could enter into heaven. I sure hope someone reports this louse to the IRS. If that isn't supporting a candidate from the podium I don't know what is. And if that isn't instilling hate and fear, I don't know what is.

The trash on the net aimed at Obama is no accident. Some people will believe anything, especially if it suits their hateful or racist purposes. This is precisely why Palin has gone nuclear (or nucular in her pronunciation) in attacking Obama.

I have said it time and time again that Palin is neither qualified to be vice president let alone president and she is an embarrassment to intelligent women, regardless of party. Palin's moral ground has not shifted. Rather, it is just beginning to come into the light and it ain't pretty.

Last spring, McCain said that mudslinging and dirty campaigning wasn't something the public wanted. Apparently he has changed his tune. Please read THIS to get a good feel for what those in campaign positions are now foisting on the public.

Here is McSame vowing to run a clean campaign, as well as his wife doing the same... amid their attack adds:



I can tell you right now that if anyone in the Obama campaign dared do such things they would be fried by the mainstream media. Why is Obama held to a higher standard?

It doesn't get more vicious.

Yes, it angers me to no end. It reminds me of the crowd asking to let a thief go free and for the crucifixion of Christ instead. It's an eerie parallel. Not that I am equating Obama with Christ, it's the crowd that concerns me. A charismatic leader can be a God-send, or stand for evil.

There is a long list of them, historically. We know their names.

Now we can add one more. Sarah Palin.

Here is a rather gruesome, if telling, You Tube video on some of Palin/McSame's supporters. It is jaw-dropping.

Spit it Out: The Election and the "R" Word

Having traveled a lot within the United States, and having worked in a number of states as well as having lived in several, I have never doubted that racism is alive and well. I also know it rests heavier in some states and regions than others.

I have heard it, seen it and felt it. I am fairly certain you have, too. Statistics on the current presidential election show it potentially effecting the next election.

What is racism?

Racism is racial prejudice that has been incorporated into the activities and procedures of major institutions, corporations, social systems (such as those related to housing, education, and health), and other arenas of major social activity (such as politics, the media, finance, and banking). Racism serves both to discriminate against ethnic minorities and to maintain advantages and benefits for White Americans.

--American Psycological Association

I started to write on this topic a month ago but found it so personally depressing, I stopped and left my draft to simmer. After some shocking comments I heard yesterday from an acquaintence, I cannot remain silent.

But nobody -- well, hardly anybody -- acknowledged their own prejudices. Both blacks and whites instead blamed "they," a vague and unaccountable surrogate for their own racial attitudes.

*****
Four of every 10 white Americans hold at least a partly negative view toward blacks, calling them "lazy," or "violent" or blaming them for the ills of black America, according to the AP-Yahoo poll. Such surveys draw criticism from whites who say the numbers are exaggerated and from blacks who say the numbers are too low.
--Associated Press, 9-28-2008

And it's not just African Americans, it is Arab Americans, Mexican Americans, Latino Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans and what are generally referred to as European Americans. Each doles it out, each gets it back. And this doesn't even begin to cover classism or sexism.

How might this effect the election?

"What kind of choice do guys like me have? A black guy or a woman," Coccia says. "It's a lesser of two evils."
--Associated Press, 9-28-2008

An Associated Press-Yahoo poll conducted with Stanford University has some telling statistics. In the linked article, you can go to the PDF and look at the questions and various stats. The segment on racial beliefs begins on page 12.

But the bottom line is this: Race DOES make a difference in elections and in the case of Obama, perhaps a 6 point difference something the "Bradley Effect" seems to agree with, at least on paper. In a nutshell, the Bradley Effect is a theory about outcome when a white and non-white candidate are running against one another for the same position.

A May 14, 2008 article in the Huffington Post concludes that not only is West Virginia the most racially prejudiced state in the union, but that exit polling shows that 17% of voters had a racial element in their voting deliberations, noting this topped the previous Arkansas standing of 13.7%.

The Republican Party's rise to power in recent decades has largely depended upon the fact that impoverished whites blame blacks rather than corporations for their problems. Without these racist whites, Republicans such as Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush could never have won. The biggest hope for the future of the Democratic Party is the dying off of the old racists who helped bring the Republicans to power. But West Virginia skews very old, and poorly educated, which is the worst possible demographic for Obama.
--Huffington Post, May 14, 2008

I know racism is a factor because I personally hear it from folks who surprise me and don't. Interestingly, I hear more of it from men than women, and far more from my age group than 18-30 year olds (who hold my greatest hope in helping to conquer racism, sexism, classism, ageism and all the other isms and gender identity issues that drag us down as a nation).

I know I am not alone. And it comes through in other respects, as well.

Anyone that scours the net daily as I do, sees another alarming trend: Increasingly hostile racist comments, and more internet sites dedicated to the white nationalist movement and its variations.

"The truth is, we're finding an explosion in these kinds of hateful sentiments on the Net, and it's a growing problem," said Deborah Lauter, civil rights director for the Anti-Defamation League, which monitors hate group activity. "There are probably thousands of Web sites that do this now. I couldn't even tell you how many are out there because it's growing so fast."

Neo-Nazi and white power groups acknowledge that they have little ability to derail Obama's candidacy, so instead some have decided to take advantage of its potential. White-power leaders who once feared Obama's campaign have come to regard it as a recruiting tool. The groups now portray his candidacy as a vehicle to disenfranchise whites and polarize America.

--Washington Post, June 22, 2008

This Palm Beach, Florida online new site, PalmBeachPost.com, carried a July 26, 2008 article that is almost a must-read on the issue as a primer. The largest white nationalist group in the country is located in Palm Beach (yes, eh hem, that Palm Beach!), and several others, likewise, hearken from Florida.

Remaining silent about the elephant in the room does little to supress its behavior, something I have argued with myself about for a month. We cannot change it in others, each of us, but we can remain vigilant for it's appearance and each of us can let it be known that this kind of talk and thinking is neither appreciated or tolerated. It can be done kindly, but it must be done.

The bottom line is this: We must not stop working for Obama until the polls close on November 4. The race is close if the Bradley Effect and polling are right, and even if they are not it is extremely close at this point with 37 days left.

Please, as Brave Net Films says..."pssst... do something."