Hate as a political strategy...

McCain-Palin have been rather busy this week endorsing the view of some of their psychotic supporters who chanted "Obama is a traitor," among the other hate-filled rants.  Well, DU blogger Heather located this document - a political ad that ran in Dallas the day before John F. Kennedy was assassinated - from the national archives:

How far will McCain and Palin go to get what they want? Are they willing to incite violent behavior? The fringe of the right-wing does not need to be encouraged or supported. They simply need to be pushed to the outskirts of civilized society. Sure they can vote, but KKK members can vote too. Best not to pander to hate in a country where hate has already caused so much horror.

Comments

[ErnestineBass]

Who or WHAT did JFK pose a threat to?

http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2006/10/05/dynasty_of_death_part_1

Always follow the money.

[vizbit]

Posting in full caps is hardly the issue here.
I didn't see one piece of profanity in that entry, thank you.

It's called tolerance, folks, accepting a variety in creative styles.

i am so grateful for this medium where we can express
and share our concerns.
How would we survive without it ?

The real issue is..
Where is law enforcement ?
Is there no clause within the secret service policy
to prevent this irresponsible campaign ?
Who's responsible for public safety?
Who controls the individuals who incite violence ?

I

[rosal]

I wonder if the same kind of adjectives were being used against Mc, the authorities would be all over investigating and controling this type of behavior? Notice the decent, honest kind of people that assist to O. rallies. Anybody can see the difference.

[hexham]

This is something that we should all be forwarding amongst our freinds. This picture, and the text below it, are downright spooky. Amond of the "Treasonous Acts" listed are being "Anti-Christian", a charge that is still being used today. Others, looking back, are obvious on thier face as untrue, paranoid, or silly (or all three). Let's be clear; what Palin-McCain is doing is wrong. They are no longer trying to win the election, they're trying to win the post-election by keeping an angry base motivated against the success of an Obama Adminstration. They are literally putting Party First.

[Oonagh]

Before World War II in Europe the economy was so bad the rhetoric started against the Jews and they became the scapegoats. Here in the 50's the fear was against Communism and it created McCarthyism that singled out innocent people as traitors. Bush after 9/11 said "you are either with us or against us" and we lost our backbone. President Bush for his re-election had so many orange and red days ... creating fear... Carey could not win.. Now we have McCain who has stooped in the gutter by calling Obama a terrorist and has run a campaign of lies and fear.... it stinks, it is the same old stuff being fed to the fear of the masses... How sad.... Do we call this MCCainism.........

[heyjoe]

Sen. Obama is now wearing a bullet proof vest on the campaign trail thanks to McCain and Palin's hateful rhetoric. This is pitiful that American nominees stoke historical hatred in this country to win the Presidency. Maybe if Ms. Palin knew more about the problems of the "lower 48th" she would be more graceful in her endeavor to lead this nation.

I could NEVER vote for McCain/Palin..NEVER!! SHAME on the two of them---SHAME!---SHAME!---SHAME!

[Snow97]

I agree with you wholeheartedly. The poisonous tactics deployed by McCain/Palin in their recent desperation have taken this presidential contest beyond the realm of "reasonable minds disagreeing." People who vote for McCain and Palin now are also implicitly voting for, as the columnist says, hate used as a political weapon -- implicitly voting with each and every racist supporter that McCain and Palin leave unchecked.

By the way, I don't believe, not for one moment, that John McCain is unaware of what his running mate is saying, of the hate that she is fomenting. But I do believe it takes a particular type of politician to take such joy in saying such ugly things.

[gd h]

They're telling us now (the hired help media) that maybe people are lying in the polls, or maybe there's a Bradley effect, etc. So this becomes the justification for our worst possible surprise on 11/5. We'll wake up to "McCain-Palin" headlines (God forbid, but...look at our history....and look at the measly attempts to combat election fraud)...and all the talking heads will say, they lied in the polls, the young people didn't come out...and this time--we've got to take it all the way, to the supreme court again, and get out in the streets. Altho--we may well be under martial law at the time, as this has already been initiated. So-get ready for the final phase. It's quite probably coming, unless, perhaps, we actually beat them in triple digits and it is patently obvious. Also remember-even though the civil unrest in the 60's was hard to live through, difficult to interpret, and personally scary at several times--it actually brought a lot of attention to the issue, and the country actually responded pretty well. Once sunshine hits these despicable attitudes, those who hold them don't necessarily change their minds--but they crawl back under their rocks for a while as the rest of society recovers. And a good recovery period makes a lot of difference, so let's all hold on.

[kellygrrrl]

maybe something good will actually come from this. Maybe this event will awaken the Soul and Psyche of America and lead us to a New Day.
The End of MEAN GIRL RULE on campuses across the Nation!
The End of SMEAR MERCHANTS and HATE JOCKS with million-dollar contracts!
The End of the BULLY ERA!

[flydoghead]

Perhaps the good that will come from Palin and McCain's shameful campaign will
be that in their humiliating defeat will come a change in the tenor of politics in this country.

McCain is three weeks from crash his last plane.

[FaceYourFears]

Seeing that photo gave me chills.....

[Terriac]

All McCain, and to an even greater degree Palin, have done is bring out the absolute worst of our society, and even more frightening, they are empowering them and building up their nerve. It scares the living daylights out of me.

[keepemhonest]

Palin has proven, on a national level, that the far right wingers think similarly to Adolf Hitler:

"All great movements are popular movements. They are the volcanic eruptions of human passions and emotions, stirred into activity by the ruthless Goddess of Distress or by the torch of the spoken word cast into the midst of the people." - Adolf Hitler

"All propaganda has to be popular and has to accommodate itself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of those whom it seeks to reach." - Adolf Hitler

"By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as h@ll or an extremely wretched life as paradise." - Adolf Hitler

[keepemhonest]

Palin has proven, on a national level, that the far right wingers think similarly to Adolf Hitler:

"All great movements are popular movements. They are the volcanic eruptions of human passions and emotions, stirred into activity by the ruthless Goddess of Distress or by the torch of the spoken word cast into the midst of the people." - Adolf Hitler

"All propaganda has to be popular and has to accommodate itself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of those whom it seeks to reach." - Adolf Hitler

"By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise." - Adolf Hitler

[Saidas]

I hope that after Obama is elected, that Republicans will start being Americans and not Republicans first.. You know....as in "Country First"!

[Deeniwhoo]

Well said!!!!

[lunchlady]

I hope so too, but I fear that the racism and resentment of far right Republicans will be a big problem. Especially if the promised increase in taxes for the rich actually happens. Its no coincidence that a majority of the superrich are Republicans, last time I looked at figures on this.

[moonie1]

I'm afraid that there will be little chance for that. When we have a Republican president the far right screams in its shrill voice that we should all back the president regardless of our beliefs. Put in a democrat, say like Bill Clinton, and they scream even louder that we should not support the president because they see some fabricated lunacy to go against our elected leader. There will be no pleasing or appeasing them since their hate and bigotry blind them to any assemblence of temperance and tolerance.

[Buddy McCue]

That would be nice, but I don't think it will happen that way. The usual loudmouths on the AM radio are talking up this attack on ACORN, pretty much non-stop. They are going to claim that Obama stole the election by getting his friends in ACORN to stuff the ballot box. I believe that they are going to use this dis-information to try and delegitimize O's presidency.

[ImVotingforThatOne]

And I'm sure they'll get plenty of help from the Republican Supreme Court

[guillotine]

Several thoughts: . . . Buddy, you may be right on target and ImVotingforThatOne (cool name, there!), likewise. Unless Obama wins this thing by possibly 10 million votes, neocons and their corporate sponsors would likely fight his victory, using innuendos, accusations, and legal appeals. Worse would be hate-filled right-wing bullies deciding to stop boasting about their guns and start using them against anyone THEY feel doesn't put "country first."
Whoa! you say-- WE'RE the ones proposing to put country first, as in JFK's "Ask not what your country can do for you. . .." Yes, but there's a huge problem of distorted meanings in this land. Here's why: can you picture Bush Republicans subordinating their self-interest to the nation's? (Surely not, after Wall St. treats the US Treasury like its private ATM.) But this puts them in a bad light, so they want "country first" to mean "USA, right or wrong-- no questioning the motives, methods, or merits of our government." For them, "patriotism" is code for "we're #1"; and no fair suggesting that the USA could be bettered. We liberals may reason that our convictions are sound, but cons "KNOW" they're right, so goodbye, rational discussion.
We'd best do all we can to ensure that Obama/ Biden win going away. That's our best means of keeping the stacked Supreme Court on the sidelines. And bullies-- even the idealogical kind--may hesitate to face down a clear majority of Americans.

[justobserve]

Palin is an amateur Governor. Beside the title, she runs her administration just like a family business with Todd helping her to mind the front store when she is not there or busy with her children. She is the puppet of the right-wing extremists and is acting on the national scene as if she is running for a provincial race like Alaska where racial and religious divisons are the norm. Sarah-POWER-ABUSER-Palin doesn't have a clue about history. McCain made a fatal choice of his life to have this empty-headed-extremist-puppet for his VP mate. He is now erratic and also fell under the spell of the people. God have mercy on our country and save us from these people.

[TScheisskopf]

Lala, m'dear:

The prescient and always vital David Neiwert(http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/) has been warning of what would happen in this election, if the Dem candidate got out in front and stretched it out, for years. In an equally prescient fashion he also predicts what will happen, at least with the most radical and crazed amongst them, should the Dem win. Now, add to that the fact that said Dem is of African-American provenance to add some piquancy to this gumbo and you are gonna have some really demented people out there, and yes, they are gonna be dangerous. Neiwert always takes pain to point out: They have guns. They know how to use them. They have in the past.

Anyone who has two brain cells to rub together, and still remains a man or woman of goodwill, ignores David Neiwert at their own peril. He has been right all along about events in this election, right about the depths to which the Republicans would descend in a losing campaign, and right about the vile keg of hatreds that they would tap, should they find themselves holding the brown end of the electoral stick.

I would submit to the nice editorial boys and girls at HuffPo that if you want the definitive and most erudite analysis of what is moving under the carpet of this election, you seek out Mr. Neiwert for that analysis. He is the dean of this subject.

He's real.

-T.