Silence In The Face Of Hate Makes McCain-Palin Unfit To Lead

The Washington Post has reported on a Palin rally in which the crowd turned on the media and hurled racial epithets at a sound man:

Worse, Palin's routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. 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."

Huffington Post has reported on screams of "treason" launched in reference to Obama.

I've written about the ugliness of McCain and Palin in painting Obama as a mysterious, scary terrorist and ignoring calls to "kill him."

Everything we need to know about John McCain and Sarah Palin is summed up by their reaction to these incidents. Their positions on health care no longer matter. Their tax policies are irrelevant. Their talking points have been made moot. Not only do they bring out the worst in people, but they feed the worst in people. They are basing their campaign on painting Obama as a terrorist and monster. They are cultivating prejudice, racism, fear and ugliness.

America has been down this path before, and it is the exact opposite of what this country needs right now.

History awaits moments like these. We are on the brink. When a society's pent up frustration and anger searches for an outlet, it is a leader's job to step up and focus those wild emotions away from destruction and toward something productive. At least that is what a good leader would do.

A true leader would stop their politicking for a moment to remind the crowd that we are all Americans, that a sitting U.S. Senator is not a terrorist, that calls for murder have no place in a democracy because we work out our differences through debate and argument and law.

A true leader would recognize the pain ripping through his or her people and would seek to comfort them and then inspire them. A true leader would empathize with his or her people and then ask the nation to rise above our baser instincts, to come together as we've done before.

A true leader would lift his or her people up, not prey on their fears, their insecurities, their ignorance and their anger.

John McCain and Sarah Palin are not fit to lead this country. They have seized on a terrified populace and encouraged terror. This way leads to war, to hate, to self-destruction.

We can be a better nation than this, and we deserve better leaders than these.

If this bothers you, please do something.

Follow Baratunde Thurston on Twitter: www.twitter.com/baratunde

Comments

[backfist64]

Jack,

Imagine--I know you already have, but indulge me--imagine the script flipped, and Shaniqua Palin was going state to state, suggesting that John McCain was a traitorous, closet terrorist who "palled around" with Bull Connor and other known violent segregatio­nists/terr­orists. And then imagine the crowds at these rallies where the scarce white guy was insulted and threatened; where Black men suggested that McCain be "killed".

Imagine the (very much warranted) outcry. Imagine the mainstream media dismissing Shaniqua Palin as a whack job, unworthy of media coverage.

Why won't our media imagine this?

Ronnie B.

[babyruth]

I am scared of the hatred that Palin is stirring up. "Country First" which country?? "Palin Country"??
Words have consequences. A lot of innocent men were linched by mobs like she is creating. McCain says that he will reach across party lines to help this country while Palin divides it even more!! They are not even working together for the good of America. How are we supposed to believe that they will work with all Americans for the good of "Country First".

[Foucek]

That man who yelled "kill him" should'nt he have been arrested? Aren't these people in these audiences yelling actual threats breaking the law....isn't Sarah Palin inciting violence...isn't that a crime? I don't see how they are getting away with this...its all on tape.

[tuttlemsm]

The man who yelled "kill him" wa s indeed invetigated by the secret service. I bet he won't be spouting off again anytime soon.

[addie24]

Silence in the face of hate proves only one thing. Senator McCain and Governor Palin are practicing racism. This is a disgrace. It is setting our country back 100 years.

[jeamar]

This attack of McCain/Palin is so utterly empty it would be laughable if it were not for the idiots who apparently are buying it. To anyone out there who thinks that the FBI and CIA have not throughly investigated Obama, or for that matter, ANYONE who has EVER run for any office in this country, well, I've got a Bridge to Nowhere to sell ya!! They have a file on EVERYONE. But hey, lucky for us FOX news is looking into this for us!! Too bad there isn't a stupidity/­gullibilit­y test people take before they are allowed to vote!!!

[deb123]

Well said. While the world is watching America's process of electing a president, what kind of message are we sending? We don't need terrorists to take us down -- we are doing it to ourselves. I am ashamed and frightened by the rhetoric I've heard over the past days. To think that anyone trying to convince us of his or her leadership abilities would play to the most base instincts of the worst in America is beyond the pale. Whatever service Sen. McCain has provided his country through his career has been totally erased by his selection of Palin as his running mate and his silence on the furor they both are whipping up. The good people in America -- and I believe they are the majority -- should be outraged.

[CindyWV]

Please tell us, what else is new? I've had my fill of most Republicans...

[LiarLiarIraqsOnFire]

Plausible deniability.

[EllaMcC]

Excellent articulation of the horrible feeling I've had in my stomach for days.

It got worse when I read that many Democratic and Obama offices have been targets of bricks and other vandalism in the past couple of days.

For those of you who don't know the history of this sort of politics of fear and hate and culture wars, there is a good article at Salon at the moment: The GOP goes back to its ugly roots (They also say that McCain has run the dirtiest smear/fear campaign of all.)

http://www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2008/10/07/republican_smear_tactics/index.html

I don't understand why McCain/Palin's SS detail doesn't step in to at least communicate to the Obama detail that they need to ratchet up security by 100% every day that McCain and Palin don't stop their supporters.

There is a law about yelling fire in a crowded theater -- the only one that really trumps 1st Amendment rights, and that is exactly what McCain/Palin are doing. Not to mention that they are the epitome of allowing evil to continue (though perhaps that doesn't hold if you've incited it to begin with.)

May PEACE come to the people of the world and safety to the Obama family ticket.

[darker]

Hahahaha. POLITICS OF HATE is Republican politics!
Their base adore hate, bigotry, lies, deception and just LOVE VOTING AGAINST THEMSELVES!
Republican rich screw them every day and the base loves it. They adore being scammed.

We middle class Americans CANNOT AFFORD REPUBLICANS any more.
No more years for Republicans.
They CANNOT GOVERN, don't want to, and THEY PROVED IT.

[lbrillante]

I agree. I was outraged by the fact that McCain just kept on going and seemed to enjoy hearing the hatred and violent threat. If the situation had been reversed I feel confident that Senator Obama would have rebuked it immediately. I would have had the secret service remove the person who threatened to 'kill him'. If I knew nothing else about McCain and Palin their behaviors in inciting hatred and condoning threats of violence against their opponent is enough of a demonstration of poor judgement, lack of morals and ethics, and poor leadership skills would be enough to convince me that they 'must not' gain power. They are a danger to our country and leaders all over the country should be speaking out and expressing boundaries about their behavior.

McCain has proven himself to be willing to do anything and be anyone to get what he wants...

I am glad that most americans have caught on to this and aren't buying.

[AntonioGramsci]

Palin-McCain NOW know that the ONLY way they can defeat Senator Obama is to *WINk* at someone who suggests murdering him. What a great state in which we find our republic. Wouldn't the first Republican president be proud of his party? From being willing to go to war over freedom, to hoping that some fearful, modern-day Boothe "does his duty." Yes, modern Republican party--you should be so proud!

[2876]

Amen. Palin and McCain needed to denouce this type of garbage. Their silence speaks to their lack of character.

[Rossan]

This McCain /Palin ticket is getting worse daily- not working for me! Obama will get my vote- the sensible one

[the-lexicon]

part of the problem here is that campaigning politicians no longer face indifferent or adversarial audiences. The audiences are just props, so they're picked for their ferocity of support.

Imagine Palin having to get up in front of an audience of democrats, and talk them into voting for her.

what kind of alternate reality world would THAT occur in?

lexicon

[spiffarino]

I recently attended an Obama rally in Asheville, NC. There were an estimated 28,000 people in attendance, and I neither saw nor heard a report of anybody given a test of support. Everyone who showed up in time got to hear him speak. While Asheville itself is heavily Democratic, the surrounding areas are deeply conservative and there were a few of them there, made obvious by the Republican candidate names they sported on their shirts, hats and buttons.

Contrast this with McCain and Palin, who go to places that are overwhelming in their support for the GOP and, like Bush, anyone wearing the "wrong" shirt, hat or button is not allowed in.

[ProFromOre]

I read earlier the Palin campaign isn't letting the press talk to attendees. If they leave their 'designated press' area a Palin staffer cuts them off and herds them back into their area.

And WE are called sheeple?!

[Jsens3]

I think that Americans are tired of race cards regardless who plays them. I certainly am. McCain and Palin supporters are not advancing their cause by making offensive statements that sound like something out of the 1920's. If McCain and Palin let opprobrious words pass without comment they are only hurting themselves in the eyes of right-thinking people.