Campaign Trail Antipathy Really Getting Scary Now

Good God. Really? According to the AP, officials in Cullowhee, North Carolina are having to investigate who placed a dead bear cub on the campus of Western Carolina University, and bedecked it with Obama campaign signs. That's right. Someone shot a bear cub in the head and stapled Obama signs to it. Seriously. What is wrong with people?

Tom Johnson, chief of the university police, serves as this event's official Cosmonaut Of The Totally Obvious: "This is certainly unacceptable...Someone was wanting to draw attention to the election." Somewhere, in tribute to his fallen comrade, a bear defecated in the woods.

Leila Tvedt, the associate vice chancellor of the university, said, "We cannot speculate on the motives of the people involved, nor who those people might be." And truly, who can blame her for not wanting to ponder the motives that drove someone to...yes--SHOOT A BABY BEAR IN THE HEAD, DRAG THE CORPSE TO A SCHOOL AND PLACE ELECTION SIGNS ON IT.

Oh, and elsewhere, there's this:

Chesterfield County police are investigating the theft of a resident's campaign sign supporting Barack Obama's historic bid for the presidency.

The 4-by-8-foot sign in the yard of a black resident was replaced by a Confederate flag.

The Obama sign was posted by 78-year-old Leroy C. McLaughlin, a Baptist minister. He reported it missing on Friday.

Chances are, though, this stuff is all a part of what it means to Sarah Palin to be a patriot.

And now, my soul needs to go and throw up a little.

Comments

[grizhead63]

WCU must be another American training center for der USWaffenSS. Way too many of these sites in this country.

[ElBruce]

Hey, I think I just figured out where the anti-America parts of the country are!

[baklava]

what happened to that SarahandJohnWINNERS character? Is he arrested yet?

[patianneb]

Amen.
As an NC resident (in one of only two blue counties in NC...UNTIL Nov 4, hopefully when blue will dominate) I am doubly sickened by the cruelty to a baby bear and the h8fulness of those rowdy brats.
I personally doubt that they "found" the cub, or randomly "found" the lawn signs ....
Emails can be directed to: jbardo@ema­il.wcu.edu (chancellor or dean) and to student newspaper: [e-mail]

[SeeDaddy]

It's the real "pro America" Palin and McC cater to.

[wagadog]

Hi. Another one "for ya"

Texas Thugs Trash Obama Supporters Car on Eve of Early Voting

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/20/204023/54/741/636920

[kid5rivers2]

Quit pulling punches! "Antipathy"? You mean "Hatred"? Or, "Bigotry"?
Call the spade by its popularly-­understood name when you see it lying in wait to trip up somebody.

[MsDebate]

Right on, call a spade a spade and quit sugar coating everything.

[Whinger]

Whether or not we pass a test is determined by how we respond when the storm rages!

Sooner or later, even the most ferocious storm will become a gentle breeze!

[normathumb]

I hope they publicly burn the traitorous standard. Note that McCain is proud of his followers.

[Independenthinker08]

I still find it funny when I am called a racist when I wear my Veterans for McCain T shirt to wal-mart because I am white and do not want to vote for Obama because I have a southern accent I am racist. My great great great great GPA faught in the war of the northern aggression. Confederate flags do NOT! say racism they are heritage. please read learn.. this country needs hits history books revised horribly... and also the confederate flag you speak of isn't really a true flag. it derives from the CSA Navy Jack and the Battle flag.

[sd4peace]

Well you need to enlighten those A-holes who use that flag to intimidate minorities.

[totalliberal]

To blacks that rag you call the confederate flag is like a swastika to Jews. Get over yourself son.

[elbowguts]

I'm having a hard time parsing that first sentence. Is it really true that you do not want to vote for Obama because you have a Southern accent? Seems like it'll be tough for him to win the election if no one with a Southern accent will vote for him.

Maybe he needs to get Tom Petty to do some outreach for him.

[Independenthinker08]

I am from near Elkin North Carolina.. Its nothing to do with racists or the KKK for that matter it has to do with the way Small town rural America feels about the way Obama portrays himself... most people horrified are from a large city they don't live in the south or for that matter in the country the Mountain folk are the HARDEST to win over and if they feel aggravated or threatened they react in a way that shows how they are feeling...

[Grumpmo]

Oh, so that makes it okay? I'm from a very rural town in NC and I am horrified! I really can't believe there are people out there that aren't!

[elbowguts]

Care to elaborate?

I mean what is it exactly about the way Obama "portrays himself" (whatever that means) that would motivate someone to pointlessly kill an animal and make some sort of protest sign out of its corpse?

Cause otherwise us ignorant city folk will remain not only horrified, but extremely puzzled.

[SeeDaddy]

Yes, small town, intellectu­ally-chall­enged southern white folks are bothered by a highly educated, intelligent, successful no-white man wwho is about to be elected POTUS. I have spent over 40 yrs.of my adult life in the rural south. I know racism is alive, and that it usually hides behind the Confederate flag and southen heritage argument. I have seen it many times.

[redsongia]

Yeah, but that type, (and I'm pretty sure it's a minority, even in the south, though still to prevalent) they dislike anyone who's smarter than them, i.e., better than them. Faulkner probably captured the best portrait of such a type in Absolom, Absolom. They hate everything and ruin everything that looks like progress.

[IsyFleur]

Oh my God! And I don't even believe in God...

[suhud]

Now will McCain listen to John Lewis?

[mcliberty]

If this author is appalled now, just wait. These racist crazies are coming out of the woods in droves. It's kind of like watching a zombie movie. I have had 5 direct, obvious racist encounters this year. The first was at a house party at the beginning of the year. A girl brought 2 friends from work that were African-American and some of the white boys started saying some really racist things like, "They aren't wanted here", "They act like dogs", and "Look at them, they make me sick". When I asked who "they" were, they said, "Those over there". I left before a fight ensued. In the spring I visited WV/KY to visit family and had multiple racist experiences. After the primary, my grandpa called and asked me if I "voted for that ". This being the same grandpa that won't talk to my mom because she married an African-American. My boyfriend experiences racism every night on XBox Live; he reports people every night for using the n-word. I am truly scared for my family and Obama's, because these crazy people are only going to get worse, the more desperate they feel.

[scrutiny1]

Two questions:

What is it about the actions of these people that makes McCain so proud of them?

Who is Sarah Palin that she can't articulate policy issues or define the role of the VP, but she can incite this kind of ugliness on the campaign trail in seven short weeks?