This is pleasant. Dana Milbank reports on audience reaction to Sarah Palin’s racially undertoned, fear-mongering campaigning in Dixie.
CLEARWATER, Fla. — “Okay, so Florida, you know that you’re going to have to hang onto your hats,” Sarah Palin told a rally of a few thousand here this morning, “because from now until Election Day it may get kind of rough.”
You betcha. And the person dishing out the roughest stuff at the moment is Sarah Palin.
“I was reading my copy of the New York Times the other day,” she said.
“Booooo!” replied the crowd.
“I knew you guys would react that way, okay,” she continued. “So I was reading the New York Times and I was really interested to read about Barack’s friends from Chicago.”
It was time to revive the allegation, made over the weekend, that Obama “pals around” with terrorists, in this case Bill Ayers, late of the Weather Underground. Many independent observers say Palin’s allegations are a stretch; Obama served on a Chicago charitable board with Ayers, now an education professor, and has condemned his past activities.
“Now it turns out, one of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers,” Palin 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.
Palin went on to say that “Obama held one of the first meetings of his political career in Bill Ayers’s living room, and they’ve worked together on various projects in Chicago.”
Isn’t that special? I’ve been to dozens of Democratic political rallies in my life and I’ve never heard anyone call out for the assassination of a Republican. But, then, I’ve never been at a rally as dishonest and dishonorable as the one Sarah Palin held today in Clearwater, Florida. Nice job, Sarah. That’s I want in my leaders…incitement to violence. Bravo!
Florida– a graph that’s worth a thousand words.
But Palin and
McCain needs to explain this to Florida seniors, poor families and the disabled. It won’t be lost on Florida seniors who have lots of time to read WSJ.
.
URGENT…
“This move leaves a tremendous hole in our ground campaign that we must now fill.” Mr. Anuzis cited the potential fallout for the re-election drives of Reps. Joe Knollenberg and Tim Walberg.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Hi Oui,
an aside – something of interest- check these out here and here
Sarah Palin is a walking abomination. She reminds me of the nazi element in American politics. She is a Republican, what else does one expect from such miserable and unhappy people?
There’s also the video of McCain talking the same sewage and someone from his crowd calls out ‘terrorist’ referring to Obama, and McCain smiles his demented little smile, just like he did last spring when a woman called out ‘how do we beat the bitch’ referring to Hillary.
…and don’t tell me there is any real counter attack to the McCain’Palin smear going on. Just some weak protestations and promises to attack in the future.
My concern is that the Obama campaign seems to be blindly following the failed campaign strategies of Gore and Kerry. The Obama campaign, like those two previous proven failures, seems not to understand the nature of what a modern presidential campaign is all about. They conceptualize campaigning as some sort of glorified college debate which it most certainly is not. Modern presidential campaigns are not about abstractly droning on and on about issues. They are not about taking some sort of high road while the other side is negatively defining what you are all about in the media. What they are about is image.
Already the Obama campaign’s ignoring of the media cycle and sole concentration
on grass roots endeavors has allowed Steve Schmidt (McCain’s new Rove) to steal the Obama campaign motto of “change.” The Obama campaign seems not to understand what they are up against. Obama is always deferring to McCain as an honorable man. In debate, Obama is always pointing out how right McCain is and won’t answer personal attacks. Biden, who as VP running mate, is supposed to be an attack dog,
also keeps going on about what a great guy McCain is.
This allowance of the other side to demonize you with no effective response is the same weak and passive strategy that has doomed the last two Democratic attempts for the White House. The only reason Obama is only a few points ahead of McCain is because of the recent economic collapse. Obama should be way up in the polls. Why is he not? Because his strategy is weak and passive and he refuses to go on the attack.
And attack is the name of the game!!!Negative campaigning is the most effective strategy there is. It’s been the lesson of the last eight years. Negative campaigning could be especially effective for Obama because his attacks would be factual unlike the other side. There is so much ammunition. It is a crime not to use it.
First of all, McCain should be shown to be in the pocket of the lobbyists who caused the Wall Street fiasco. McCain’s role in the Keating scandal – his trying to silence the regulators should be demonstrated in attack ads using video clips. Show video of McCain and Gramm. McCain should be shown to be completely inept at foreign policy – all you have to do is show the video of Lieberman whispering in McCain’s ear that McCain had mixed up Sunni and Shia. Show video of McCain’s wife talking about the jet she bought for him. A constant barrage of video clips would destroy the “maverick” image of McCain/Palin.
Instead, the McCain campaign knows it can attack Obama with impunity. They can attack his character and smear with him Ayers, etc. They know the Obama campaign is weak and clueless and won’t really smear back. Just a few weak threats. This doesn’t have to be. There is so much ammunition to use against McCain – it is criminal not to use it.
There are only a couple of weeks left. Please convey to Obama campaign higher-ups that now is the time for Obama to take his gloves off. The American people will respond to a candidate who fights with his bare knuckles for what he believes. This aloof business has got to be put on hold. If my concerns are not heeded, Obama will soon join Dukakis, Gore, and Kerry in the ash-bin of failed presidential contenders.
The most defining moment of the last presidential campaign was when Kerry was on the stump during the Swift Boat smear, a little old lady spoke up at a Kerry rally and asked Kerry why he wasn’t standing up for himself and attacking back. Kerry just looked at her cluelessly and mumbled some gibberish. Please don’t let this happen this year. This campaign is bigger than Obama or any of us. He has got to act now.
wow. Did you miss the Keating 5 launch today? Have you seen how dismissive and critical the press (both print and TV) is of McCain’s strategy?
Have you seen the polls?
The Keating 5 launch is some long video that few will watch. You need a saturation barrage of one minute videos of McCain with Keating/Gramm/etc. to be effective. The polls show Obama up by just a little bit and only because the economy is abysmal. Obama’s lead should be far greater if he had an aggressively effective campaign. Where’s Biden? Palin is doing her job as a VP candidate and attacking. Biden isn’t doing his job of playing attack dog – he’s too busy telling everybody what a great guy McCain is. There are tons of one minute damaging video clips of McCain hurting himself that are not being used. The “withcraft” video of Palin should be used. We can smear McCain/Palin with the truth. Don’t get complacent just like Kerry did last campaign just because your up a few points. Rove/Schmidt can pull off what they did last time unless you hammer back.
Biden’s mother-in-law just died yesterday.
Obama’s slogan that he won’t throw the first punch but that he’ll throw the last is REAL.
Today, with Obama at the helm, I have felt like we finally have a Dem that just does not back down and delivers massive intelligent blows back.
It sure would be nice if that were true.
McCain-Palin getting from their own too.
Listen in on WSJ’s columnist Peggy Noonan on The Laura Ingraham Show:
Thinkprogress link
‘Obama should be way up in the polls. Why is he not?
Because his strategy is weak and passive and he refuses to go on the attack’. Greenlover you seem unaware that Obama has been attacking McCain on the economy for weeks and began a series of ads and a website On the Keating Five scandal the same day that McCain/Palin began rehashing the guilt by association tactic of Ayers and Wright.
Obama has to attack McCain and Palin’s character. That’s the name of the game. Ideally, Biden, should be ferociously attacking so as to leave Obama with clean hands. We can smear them with the truth with news clips of McCain and Palin’s own actions. (Just the video of Lieberman whispering corrections in McCain’s ear and the Palin “witchcraft” video would do the trick. That Keating 5 scandal video is too long. You need short ads on TV playing all the time to sow the seeds of doubt. Why are Demos so clueless about what attacking means?
Ooops… I just forgot about a real biggie!!! Let McCain use Rev. Wright Obama- Obama can come back with Hagee. McCain spent more than a year courting Pastor Hagee to win his endorsement during the Republican primary, only to renounce the association last February after footage emerged of the pastor describing the Nazi holocaust as part of God’s plan. Obama would own Florida if the Jewish voters got to see Hagee’s speech interspersed with footage of McCain sucking up to him. Plus there’s some other scary pastors McCain sucked up to. There is so much ammunition if the Obama campaign had the gonads to use it.
If Obama did what you suggest the subject would be changed to crap. Obama will not do this because the subject needs to remain on the economy. I cannot think of a better way to explain how we got to this financial Pearl Harbor than to explain the Keating Five with a short video. If you need to convince an undecided to vote for Obama just send them a link to this video then continue the conversation. We are now talking about issues, not slogans. McCain would rather we talk about the crap.
Negative campaigning was proven to be extremely effective in the last 2 presidential campaigns. What makes you think human nature has changed in 4 years? Gore took the hight road and stuck only to the issues and Kerry took the high road and stuck only to the issues and where are they? Get real. Just a link to some long video is not going to do the trick .
Right, the Keating video is too long. It’s also too complicated, like a college lecture. Maybe a lot of people around these parts are used to listening college lectures but most people aren’t or never found them worth the time. The beginnin is lousy, an abstract definition of fraud and it’s relatin to trust. Good, I’ve never looked at the subject quite like that. The grabber comes at the end when the professor tells us his motivation. In fact that should be at the very beginning and then maybe repeated at the end. The story is so sensational that a simple account without all the artsy atmospherics would be more than enough. And why oh why are these things always narrated by MEN? I don’t have a television. Does Obama have female narrators in his advertisements?
Dude, barring a seismic shift in our country, McCain is going to get a minimum of 40% of the vote.
McCain is currently polling with 40% of the vote.
Obama IS “way up in the polls” compared to McCain. If he somehow maintains this level of polling until election day I’ll be surprised. This is a huge gap between the candidates for this country – just huge.
Yeah, I’d like our fellow Americans to wake up and realize just how much the Republican Party sucks right now. That might happen, but 40% of them are still going to vote for the Republican. The fact that Obama has pushed McCain down to what is probably his floor one month before the election is, frankly, astounding. And bodes well for the next month of election days.
Right, 40% is the rpugnants base line. In 1932 this percentage of voters went for Hoover. The Great Depression was raging (Do you really think that what we’re experiencing today is bad?) and unemployment stood at 30%. Still, four out of every ten voters had warm feelings for the repugnants.
McCain and Palin ought to be more careful with those rocks they’re throwing, given that they both live in glass houses.
Read somewhere that both campaigns internal polling put Obama with nearly 270 Electoral votes. The writing is on the wall for McCain-Palin, I’m waiting for John McCain to suspend his campaign again, because the economic crisis is not over.
Palin had to much make-up on this morning in FLA. I wonder what that was all about, maybe she’s trying to hide something.
What – a pimple on her nose?
no probably a bruise, doncha think
Am I a bad person to nourish the fervent hope that McCain will treat us all to a viewing of that foul temper he’s known for? Preferably during the debate.
After that, I don’t feel like joking about “my” Sarah anymore.
What Bill Ayers and other Weathermen did was evil and counterproductive, but it was over 35 years ago. He served time and has not been warranted for arrest since.
When does the sin of association for legal activities come off those who know Mr. Ayers, even those like Sen. Obama who see him on only a few widely spaced occasions? Should those who associate with Gordon Liddy be condemned also? Is it OK for Mr. Ayers to have friends and colleagues now or his he to be shunned for life? I once worked at a state university as a janitor and came into contact with ex cons because government janitor jobs are a traditional placement for those who might not be welcomed by other employers. I haven’t been arrested once or even ticketed but do I bear an onus because I tried to get along with those guys?
He was never convicted and served no time. The charges against he and his wife Bernardine Dohrn were kicked on prosecutorial misconduct.
She copped a plea to battery and bail jumping and got probation. They threw her in jail for a few months when she refused to testify in one of the bank shoot out cases.
I’m of the mind they were fools who were able to skate because of money and influence. But whatever the case they’ve been sheep dipped back into polite Chicago society.
I just don’t see the upside of going after a couple of aging and well regarded Professors who have the connections and resources to push back.
How do we protect him? America’s best leaders never make it.
Correct strategy and attack balance will win this election for the campaign that achieves it. The Obama campaign is working hard to achieve this balance as they recognize that the American voter is angry and has a low tolerance for the candidates not concentrating on the issues, especially in the current pre-depression economic state of the nation.
It is definitely a fine tightrope that the Obama campaign must walk in its use of attack ads, and this is essentially independent of what the Mccain camp decides to do. Not responding effectively to Mccain attacks carries the problem of allowing the theme of each and every attack ad to be endlessly echoed throughout the national media channels. Under these conditions you face the danger of losing control over your public image, abandoning it to your opposition.
On the other hand too many attack ad sours your image in the eyes of the public and you will be seen as irrelevant to the problems of the nation.
John Mccain has made a decision to use Palin as the super nasty attack dog, and she will not be talking about the issues whatsoever. Meanwhile Mccain’s speeches will attack Obama from higher level which will be mixed with Mccain’s positions on the national issues.
My suggestion for the Obama campaign is to try and exploit this use of Palin in the current Mccain strategy; because in the days to come she will be acting more and more like she is at the top of the ticket and Mccain is the VP. The Obama campaign should try to exploit every slip she makes in this regard and use it to drive a wedge between the two. Methinks with Mccain’s short temper, he will not tolerate Palin flexing her ego in public in regards to who is actually the big cheese of the campaign. In the upcoming days Palin will be hitting the big rally circuits across the country, and I think that the “smell of the greasepaint and the roar of the crowd” will start to blow her mind and she will become more and more critical of Mccain and the way he is running his campaign.
they sent Palin out to call Obama a terrorist-sympathizing fifth-column America-hater while Joe Biden is at home with his family mourning the loss of his wife’s mother.
Even her statement that she was reading the NY Times that morning is a lie.Remember she could not recall a single newspaper when asked a question by Katie Couric.
Now she says she also reads the Economist.
When pigs fly…….
Yes, I picked up on that too – as if the way now to prove that she DOES read newspapers and magazines is to not miss an opportunity to slip in a mention of them. “As I was reading in the New York Times this morning – or was it Economist – you know I read so MANY important publications every day, I just lose track – anyway, as I was saying…”.
It reminds me in a very, very bizarre way of Dr. Laura when she was going through her “observant Orthodox Jew” shtick (yeah, like THAT was going to last any longer than necessary for publicity). In order to remind everyone in her listening audience that she was an “observant Orthodox Jew”, she would constantly say things on the air like “As I was sitting here eating my kosher corned beef sandwich, it occurred to me…”.
How transparent can you be?!
I’ve heard she reads BooMan too.
The reference to the NYT was to rile up the crowd. The loonie right hates the NYT and sees it as a commie rag
“John Mccain has made a decision to use Palin as the super nasty attack dog, and she will not be talking about the issues whatsoever.“
Of course they would not risk allowing her to talk about this issues. She worse than useless on the issues because she has no clue about the issues, and makes a complete idiot of herself every time she tries to bulls*** her way around them.
Palin probably has a full Secret service detail, who are sworn to take a bullet to protect her from wackos.
I wonder how they feel about her making their job of protecting candidates that much harder? They can’t walk off the job. But can whomever leads her detail sit her down in a corner and explain exceedingly graphically what happens in an assassination and why promoting it is a Bad Idea?
The Palins support a terrorist separatist organization whose leader (a crazy old coot named Vogler) died buying plastic explosives. The AKIP is willing to destroy to further its aims. What is she willing to do to get her hands on power?
Lady MacBeth was smarter. And we saw how well that turned out. Ambition alone is not enough. Ambition with sex appeal doesn’t work either.
Where did you learn he died buying plastic explosives?
http://www.akip.org/introduction.html
He served as chairman of the AIP from its founding until 1993, when he mysteriously disappeared from his Fairbanks home. After a sixteen month search that captivated Alaskans and drew nationwide media attention, state law enforcement officials determined that Vogler had been murdered during a robbery attempt.
The NYT and some (gasp) blogs. Just google
[vogler murder plastic explosives]
some meat from the first items:
“The blue tarp and duct tape in which the remains were wrapped, officials said, matched a description given by a convicted thief, Manfred West, who confessed last summer that he had killed Mr. Vogler in a plastic-explosives sale gone bad and had then buried him.”
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940CE3DB153CF936A25753C1A962958260
“What was an 80-year-old separatist doing badly buying plastic explosives, anyway?”
http://www.sadlyno.com/archives/11534.html
“But it gets worse. Vogler was also pallin’ around with hostile foreign governments:”
http://cynthiagee.blogspot.com/2008/10/pal-in-around-with-terrorists-ayers-is.html#links
“Vogler would never get to make that speech. He was murdered. A convicted theif named Manfred West, who worked as an aide to Vogler, confessed saying he murdered Vogler in a plastic explosives deal gone bad.
AIP leaders think a conspiracy was afoot.
Quote:
AIP leaders allege that Vogler, who was murdered that year by a fellow secessionist, was taken out by powerful forces in the U.S. before he could reach his U.N. platform. “The United States government would have been deeply embarrassed,” by Vogler’s U.N. speech, darkly suggests Clark. “And we can’t have that, can we?”
So, we have Palin with close ties to a violent secessionist group. Where’s the outrage? We already know the answer. It’s ok if you’re a Republican.”
AIP chairman Lynette Clark said of Palin
Quote:
Sarah Palin is her kind of gal. “She’s Alaskan to the bone … she sounds just like Joe Vogler.”
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1976267
*******
So, just go digging!