As Sarah Palin spoke in Jeffersonville, Indiana, during the last week of the 2008 election, she made a rousing speech, cheered by the crowd at almost every line, but tight campaign control and poor reporting are making a potentially dangerous situation worse.
To a degree remarkable even in these times, everything in the rally had been scripted. Rally officials told folks who brought hand-lettered signs to leave their colorful creations at the entrance. The campaign instead passed out blue and white McCain-Palin signs and red pom-poms to wave. Then it gave what only appeared to be hand-lettered signs to people in the bleachers behind Sarah Palin, the backdrop that TV cameras saw. On a riser, a technician babysat the teleprompter that told Palin what to say, keeping her on message. Reporters were welcomed then boxed. All big campaigns furnish a press box, an enclosure with electricity for our laptops and risers for our cameras Press credentials should be sufficient to get us in and out of that area, yet if we even had to go to the bathroom, minders went with us. We were allowed to interview only those people who lined--or whom we could coax to--the edge of our press pen, and even that was iffy A red-jacketed woman official for example stopped wheelchair racer Jack Johnson from talking to me, pushing between us then ordering him away.
Johnson had been saying, "I'm pro-life, pro-guns, and believe that we need to work for what we've got. Our jobs have gone overseas; there's inflation and that big bad bailout. I do not support the war in Iraq; we are fighting there for corporate interests. It's not just Haliburton cozying up with Bush; it's both parties, for decades. I'm here to decide who to vote for..So far, I think that Palin actually gives a crap about the American public...."
Shooed off, Johnson was allowed to finish his thoughts only when another official intervened. The second official while defending the right of a small portion of the crowd to talk to the media however ordered the rally volunteers not to talk to us. For eight hours as they stood in the chill wind and then indoors, taking notes with pen and paper technology. I nonetheless listened to both supporters and volunteers--all friendly, courteous people-- who wanted to explain how they felt, Like voters across the political spectrum, they called for an end to 1) political corruption and corporate control of government, 2) dependence on foreign energy sources, 4) handouts rather than opportunities, 5) treaties that penalize U.S, workers, 6) heavy taxation of the middle class, 6) ineffective, costly education, 8) policies that weaken the US economy and 9) the Iraq War.
Ethan Crouch, New Middletown, Indiana, said though, "I'm here because I'm pro-life and pro-free enterprise. Obama's an obvious Marxist, a socialist. I'm willing to see change within America, but am not willing to see America changed."
Wearing an "I Vote the Bible" button, Jeff Summitt explained that "Sarah Palin is the Queen Esther of our time." [In the biblical Queen Esther story, a Persian king gets rid of his wife because she has on one occasion refused to sleep with him--he and his counselors fear that her disobedience could trigger a women's revolt. He then examines all his kingdom's virgins, choosing Esther as his favorite. Made queen, Esther deceives the king, not telling him that she is Jewish, but keeps her "place," appearing only and always when bidden. When the king authorizes a man to slaughter all the Jews however, she intervenes, getting his permission instead for the Jews to slaughter their enemies and enemy's children.] Many Palin supporters see her as a traditional woman, bold in a time of crisis. Katherine Harris, who oversaw the 2000 election in Florida, also got her inspiration from Esther.]
Unwilling to be quoted, several people whispered to me that Obama was the Anti-Christ.
While polls showed that Sarah Palin had lost women as an overall group, women in the hall strongly supported her, and many were from nearby more cosmopolitan Louisville.
Jan Searcy, seated with her husband Will in matching red sweaters in the V. I. P. section said,."Palin is much more conservative than McCain, smart on energy. Here is at last a woman candidate, and she is pro-life; believes that the U.S. is doing a good job in the war in Iraq; and wants this economy turned around. We see Joe Biden as liberal establishment and don't believe what Obama says."
From the area, Bobbie Hawkins, 76, said, "It's women's rights. Sarah's a woman gun carrier. So am I. We can do anything men can do."
Nothing drew stronger applause than even passing references to handguns, rifles, shotguns, assault weapons, all seen by supporters as a source of self-sufficiency (hunting), the freedom stemming from that self-reliance and the ability to defend themselves from crime and government interference. They said that they feared dictatorship if Obama won.
Governor Mitch Daniels [R] of Indiana had for the third time in two weeks avoided sharing a stage with Governor Palin, which was noted in Indiana press stories. Most media reports though concentrated exclusively on smiles and based their crowd-counts on the 20,000 tickets that Palin organizers said they had distributed, rather than on the people visibly there.(The center though built to contain 20,000 was at the rally's peak only 1/4 to 1/3 full.) The surrounding neighborhoods were more diverse than the overwhelmingly white audience, reflecting a shift many have noted in the Republican party No reports that I saw noted this or that singer Hank Williams who has been campaigning with Palin got thunderous applause not only by mentioning the often extraordinary self-reliance of country people, and guns, but also when he denounced liberals, Democrats, city people and other groups.
These are times of profound change. That kind of campaigning rubs already raw wounds.
My Indiana brother-in-law that day painted on his car''s back windshield "NO-BAMA: PRO-CHOICE, PRO-GAY, ANTI-AMERICAN." Shocked by the reaction he got, he said that when he drove through nearby Louisville, "a gay guy" shot him the finger and black men "all bigots"-- raised their fists and followed me almost all the way home for expressing my beliefs When I agreed that following someone while making threatening gestures was wrong, but said that painting signs that called people who disagreed with him "anti-American" was wrong too, he hung up on me. Those are all expressions of free speech. No one was physically attacked, but after this election bad blood could spill blood if reporters do not shake off their handlers and get deeper into their surroundings.