How many of you have gotten a credible death threat?
I have. In fact, I get them all the time, via email, text message, telephone. As one of the very few openly gay talk show hosts on major market radio, a liberal one at that, well, you can imagine. Or maybe you can't. And that's what brings me great pause. I know what it's like, and I know what conditions lead to these things. I also know how serious they can be and have thanked my security (yup) for the great follow up they do, as well as the San Francisco Police, Seattle Police, Los Angeles Police and Long Beach Police for their thorough investigations and sometimes arrests.
Yes, it's gone there. Because these things are serious, and knowing that makes me afraid. Not for myself. You can't think about these things, no performer can and every performer, columnists, talk show host or public figure deals with this. I'm sure even someone out there hates Oprah. No, I take all the precautions I can. I'm afraid that this country doesn't know how serious these things can be, and how no environment should ever be fostered to create danger. They've never seen it happen first hand, looked in to the eyes of someone you know could flip, and may.
And I'm afraid of the silence. I'm afraid this editorial won't be printed. I'm afraid because it voices my fear and the fears of so many that go unspoken; unspoken because to verbalize them is just too horrible. I'm afraid because I know in my heart what I feel is possible, and I'm afraid of the implications.
I'm afraid people will say I'm wrong. I'm afraid people will ignore the solid evidence to back me up.
You see, I'm afraid that the neoconservatives are so desperate to keep a hold of power, of their life line to the purse strings of America and their ability to do as they will and never be held accountable, so afraid themselves of losing this power that they have resorted not only to class warfare, but to actually creating an environment dangerous to the health of a political candidate.
Yes, I'm afraid that John McCain and Sarah Palin through their hateful, spiteful and untrue rhetoric are, no matter how inadvertent, trying to get Barack Obama out of the race, literally, as in, taken out.
I didn't want to believe it. But the deal was cinched with the "that one" heard 'round the world. It was further bolstered when Palin began equating Obama with terrorism, stating he supported and condoned domestic terrorists. Then the McCain campaign began spreading around the theory that some of his funding may be from dubious Middle Eastern sources. In other words, he's a Black Muslim Terrorist trying to take over our country.
I am gay, and as a gay man with images of Matthew Shepherd or Gwen Arujo still in my head, I know that when you shake a tree of zealots, a nut or two will fall out. And to these nuts these are code words for must be destroyed.
Images of Obama have been found hung in effigy, in good Christian schools if I am not mistaken. People have yelled "terrorist" and "kill him" at McCain / Palin rallies. The Secret Service and FBI are already investigating these threats. And yet, as of this day, October 10, 2008, while the economies of the world crash and the G7 Finance Ministers meet to try and manage, all McCain and Palin keep pushing is the fact that Barack knew someone named Ayers who was a terrorist at some point and that he is dangerous and mysterious and that we know nothing about him.
Well, that message says everything about you and your party. This is the same party that painted a decorated veteran, John Kerry, as a traitor and coward, that said Bill Clinton was an evil draft dodger, that Al Gore was stupid...on and on...the same message of division over and over. And now that message has taken a dangerous, hostile tone and the focus is one of the most eloquent and classy candidates for President in some time.
Chris Mathews notices. His entire October 10th, 2008 show on MSNBC focused on the fact that all week all McCain has done is try to create so much negativity about Obama that it is dangerous, or, as he said, "can get in the blood of the wrong people..." In other words, wackos will be inspired to take matters in to their own hands.
And I'm afraid that out of the fear of not wanting to say it, this will go unnoticed, will go unpunished as one of the worst crimes this party has committed: that while as their nation lay bleeding out of it's financial and moral arteries, all they could do was try and create an atmosphere of actual danger for a candidate and division for a people.
Shame. Shame on the neoconservatives for putting this man in more danger than he already was or is as the first credible Black man for president. Shame on you McCain and Palin for once again playing to the worst of us instead of the best; shame on all of you for your vile insinuations and downright vicious allegations and lies. What you are doing is criminal and wrong and very, very dangerous.
I don't care if you have red or blue as your party color it is time to remember you are red white and blue in your veins, you, me, us, We, the People are all Americans and what the Republicans are doing in this election is un-American, unjust and just plain wrong. It verges on criminal as do most of their actions (well, many cross the line easily).
October 9, 2008 testimony was given that the NSA had spied on innocent Americans without so much as a FISA warrant, including soldiers who were engaging in phone sex with their spouses overseas, American journalists stationed abroad and more. A "panel" is going to be opened to see what abuses were committed. October 10, 2008 the headlines read "Stocks On Track to Have Worst Year Since 1937." Today, at one of the stations I work for, KNX 1070 Los Angeles the local radio website laradio.com described what happened as "Bloodbath at KNX and KFWB this afternoon, Over 20 CBS employees let go..." When I emailed a friend that works for the Orange County Register, the daily in Orange County, CA, he said the entire marketing department had just been laid off and the graphics department was later in the day.
Really bad things are happening to really good people every single day. It was announced this week that ten states will run out of unemployment money by March, California being one of them. At that point the states have to go to the Feds for a loan.. The situation is only worsening...how much of a loan does the Federal Unemployment Reserve Fund have to give? Will it even be solvent in March 2009?
And as all these questions face Americans and the world, as Obama is out trying to lay out a plan and a vision, McCain and Palin spread hatred and bigotry throughout the land in the guise of a Presidential campaign.
John McCain and Sarah Palin, nothing about either of you is remotely Presidential. In fact, I'd say barely human at this point. You know what you are doing and what impact your words could have; you just hope they don't, denounce a few things here and there and feel you hold no responsibility should anything occur. Well, you're deluded. You are putting Barack Obama in danger, real, palpable danger with your lies and innuendo.
Stop, or someone could get hurt. The nation is already down and bleeding, please don't cause an event that would tear our national souls apart.
For once I think it's safe to say we really couldn't take it.
Note:
Well, today is the two year anniversary of my being a HuffingtonPost blogger. I never fancied myself a Blogger. In fact, the word is pretty new in the American lexicon. For those that don't know, it means Web Log, a chronicle of events or opinions on the internet; enter Orwellian newspeak and we get Blog.
Then one day Arianna Huffington was on my talk radio show on KGO AM 810 San Francisco and she mentioned her site, the HuffingtonPost.com. She extended the offer for me to write for them on air and I took her up on it. At the time, she was promoting a book, On Becoming Fearless, and was looking for editorials about people living through fear. Well, that hit home, so that was the first, on October 10, 2006. Since that time, it's been the most active in American political and social history and an honor to blog for Arianna and all the great editors and readers here at the HuffingtonPost.com -- Karel