Fear Watch 2008 on The Huffington Post

Alan Miller: Recession, Depression and Therapy

2009-04-05T18:36:56Z

An interesting article appeared recently in The New York Times explaining how libraries were increasingly coming under pressure as numbers visiting swelled due to the recession. Quite rightly, it pointed out that (like so many other institutions) libraries have been steered in the direction of becoming "more relevant" and "accessible" -- more akin to an indoor digital town square. While some have pointed out that it is not the role of libraries (or museums or art galleries for that matter) to be used instrumentally to try to resolve broader social problems, the larger issue at hand revealed itself when we were told that "The stresses have become so significant here that a therapist will soon be counseling library employees.

Voila. What is a question about resources and provision of facilities -- basically an economic and political situation -- speedily becomes transformed, or therapeutized, in to a psychological issue. What tends to happen next is that the solution is sought in the realm of the personal -- the inner journey, the dialogue -- as opposed to the root of the problem: how we deal with the current economic crisis. Sure, maybe people will get angry -- even furious -- although this is not necessarily such a bad thing -- often historically legitimate anger has led to very positive developments and changes in the world.

The UK sociologist and political commentator Frank Furedi wrote recently about how the UK government was "diseasing the recession" and planned to train 3,600 therapists to set up centers around Britain to deal with what it perceives as a "growing army of mentally ill people."

In the US though, as we know, the dash to therapy has been deeper and more pervasive than in Europe. When Margaret Thatcher's government in Britain introduced counsellors to "help" newly unemployed workers, they were viewed with suspicion as an attempt to pacify any challenges. In our anxious, isolated times, there seems to be little alternative to calling a professional for some counseling. Indeed, back in September Bloomberg reported that calls to Hopeline in NY for those dealing with depression leaped by 75%.

Unfortunately, in an age where anxiety and fear have been key elements of how we view the world, seeing ourselves increasingly "at risk" from it, rather than agents of change and masters of our destiny that can make and remake society, our tendency to view things psychologically ends up being remarkably costly, seductive as it is.

ABC requested feedback from viewers on how financial stress was affecting them. Many have pointed to statistics showing that during The Great Depression suicides increased, and there have been all sorts of other studies, such as the one analyzing children's mental health in Finland during economic troubles.

However, far more important is how we, as a society, view the world around us and our ability to deal with things that happen. In the past, our networks and affiliations did seem to make people more confident and a sense of "can-do" ensured a certain tenacity and resilience. More broadly, there was a sense that even if people were bitterly opposed between Left and Right, there was a fight over something that had meaning, a better potential future that the battle lines were drawn over -- intellectually, politically and at times (of course) physically.

The answer is not, as some have argued, that the recession is good because it is an eco-warning and will slim us avaricious nasty gulpers down to size, but adaptability and perseverance are attributes that humans have in spades. Often we just have to remind ourselves that we are creative and inspiring beings, capable of significant achievements.

We should challenge both the nasty idea that recession somehow will result in a cultural renaissance and the destructive one that we are all in need to therapeutic counseling. We find ourselves, as many others have done before us, facing some tough options with difficult decisions. How we decide to deal with the obstacles we encounter is up to us. It would serve us well to recognize that the matter is not so much that we are fragile creatures who are predisposed to mental illness, but rather find ourselves in a situation where the debate over resources and how we organize the world is still very much up for grabs.

People, after all, make history.

Obama Birth Certificate Kooks In Court

2008-12-09T13:58:34Z

Mike Madden chronicles in Salon a day spent watching the people who believe President-Elect Barack Obama isn't a natural born citizen because of gamma rays emanating from internet porn. It's a story to be delighted in and savored. It's the incredibly true tale of "dentist-slash-lawyers" and manic-depression and multiple violations of Godwin's Law and the "press conference" they held at the National Press Club.

I mean, this is straight bonkers, y'all:

Throughout the press conference, the conspiracy theorists had trouble keeping things focused. Harlem minister James David Manning wandered off on a tangent about how Obama's election still means "there's never been a black womb" that produced a president. Manning might have seemed like he was making a case against Obama based on some theory of black nationalism, except that he admitted he had endorsed John McCain in the campaign. That was after he had called Obama "this usurper, this long-legged mack daddy."

Taitz -- the lead attorney in the case the Supreme Court declined to hear Monday morning -- kept making stranger and stranger assertions. At one point, she asked why the government had fined broadcasters for Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction," but didn't intervene to force the media to report on Obama's allegedly phony birth certificate. She claimed Obama holds passports from at least four countries, compared him to Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver, equated the "controversy" about Obama to Watergate, and finished her tour-de-force presentation by saying that if Obama can claim he's a U.S. citizen and win an election, then so could just about anyone. "If a person can become a presidential candidate only based on his own statement," she said, "then somebody like Osama bin Laden, theoretically, can come and write a statement, 'I'm eligible,' and we should put him on the ballot, too?"

I also appreciate that Madden is kind enough to throw in a little News You Can Use about how the mentally ill are always using the National Press Club as a venue to validate their lunatic night terrors:

It was clear from the occasional applause that most of the people in the room agreed with Schultz, anyway. Although the event was at the National Press Club, that's no guarantee of mainstream media interest. Groups may appear legitimate because they hold a news conference at the club, but the dirty little secret is the club rents out its rooms to anybody who shows up with the money. Most of the people apparently came from the weirder corners of the media. One friendly questioner, Shelli Baker of Morning Song Radio, wound up taking the mike for about 10 minutes to tell a complicated story involving Saudi oil barons, John Ashcroft, sharia law, the World Bank and Mitt Romney, which left even Schultz confused.

If you recall, the National Press Club is where the unbalanced Larry Sinclair held his own "stupefying press conference." Anyway, Madden says the conspiracy twits have "another lawsuit up [their] sleeve," so, there's no reason that any of this ever has to end.

Lisa Earle McLeod: Gut-Wrenching Moments In Money

2008-12-09T13:09:19Z

It's like a rock in the pit of your stomach, a cold clammy feeling that spreads up your gut and momentarily stops your breath.

It's the awful moment when they tell you that your credit card was denied. Or you open the mail and you find out that your utilities are about to be cut off. Or the check to your kid's school bounces, or the IRS seizes your bank account, or your spouse comes home and tells you they lost their job.

As you take in the information, you go from paralyzed to hyperventilating. It almost seems like it's happening to someone else.

It's when the finality of your circumstances becomes apparent and you have to face up to the fact - you're broke.

Sometimes it happens in public, when a waiter quietly informs you that American Express has denied your charge and you realize that you have no other way to pay.

Sometimes it happens in private, as you and your spouse finally take a calculator to all those bills piled up on the kitchen table.

And sometimes it's the heart-breaking realization that you can't afford to buy your kids anything for Christmas.

It's awful, it's heart-stopping, it's marriage-wrecking, it's life-altering, and it's happening to more and more people everyday.

If you've ever been there, or you're there right now, you know what I mean.

It's a panic like you've never known. All of a sudden, all the assumptions you made about your life are stripped away. Things you didn't even realize that you took for granted, like that you'd always have a place to sleep, enough to eat, and a car to drive, now seem up for grabs.

It's in that humbling, humiliating moment that you finally look at the weary-eyed landscape worker counting out his pennies for a burrito at Quick Trip and you realize, he's no different than me.

For the first time in your life you look at poor people and you don't feel sorry for them, you feel kinship. Instead of pity, you now feel empathy, because you finally understand, we're all in this together.

When we hear about someone else's trouble or see someone in less fortunate circumstances we often think, "There but for the grace of God go I."

But perhaps we're a bit off. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say, "There through the grace of God am I." Meaning that, we really are all one. What happens to one of us happens to all of us, and the distance between our souls is not as great as we think.

People say that God never sends you anything bigger than you can handle. I know there are lots of factors that create a recession, but maybe this is all part of a big divine plan to help us get more connected to each other.

I'm sure there are probably some folks out there who still judge people based on what they wear or what they drive. But I'm hoping that the rest of us have grown up a bit, and that the empathy we've learned won't be forgotten the second we have a little money in our pockets.

Because it doesn't matter whether it's you, your neighbor or the guy at Quick Trip who doesn't make eye contact, when somebody is panicked about money, they should never have to feel alone.

Lisa Earle McLeod is a keynote speaker, author and syndicated columnist. Her current work is focused on helping individuals and organizations stay survive the recession with their sanity - and profit margins - intact.

More info -www.ForgetPerfect.com

Obama Birth-Certificate Suits Discussed On MSNBC

2008-12-05T10:44:21Z

Yesterday, we mentioned how insane lawsuits about Barack Obama's natural live birth were creeping like cracked-out, pissed-off kudzu through our court system. One of them is headed to the Supreme Court today. We used words like "clown car," and "macadamia nuts" to discuss the matter, because we wanted to conjure up the appropriate metaphor to describe the ongoing craziness. But hey! We wouldn't want any of our readers to think that Serious Newsmen weren't taking this matter Deadly Seriously. So here's David Shuster and Peter Williams, talking about the matter, breathlessly. Here's my favorite part:

WILLIAMS: The question is what is a natural-born citizen? That's never been legally defined.

Yes! That's because the founders didn't envision the totally batshit citizens we have now! It goes on:

WILLIAMS: The Supreme Court seemed to say a couple of decades ago if you were native born that meant you were a natural born citizen. It's never been conclusively determined. So it's a close question, I guess. You could say it's ambiguous. Most scholars agree that the Supreme Court is not going to weigh in and overturn the votes of 44 million Americans unless it was absolutely crystal clear.

Emphasis mine. Because: Really?

Obama Birth Certificate Lawsuits Flourish Everywhere

2008-12-04T11:12:17Z

Yesterday, I made note of how one of these nutlog lawsuits alleging that President-Elect Barack Obama was not an American citizen had been appealed to the Supreme Court. Well, apparently, that's not the only lawsuit of this sort snaking its way through our court system. The Honolulu Advertiser has the news:

Similar legal actions have been filed here and in several other states, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, California, Georgia and Mississippi.

And maybe one of these suits will be coming to your state, very soon! Maybe we'll be treated to the sight of all these plantiffs piling into a clown car to seek writs of certiorari from John Roberts, so he can hear more about this magnificent criminal conspiracy between Barack Obama's parents, Hawaii state officials, the Weather Underground, and the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Company to one day plant Obama in the Oval Office.

Silly vexatious litigants! It's like my boss said: Blog your secret passions, people.

Obama Citizenship Rumor Peddlers Buy Ad Space In The Tribune

2008-12-03T15:35:59Z

So, if you've been following the many tin foil hat wearing crack-a-lacks that the election season brought out of the woodwork, with their Whitey tapes and their stern warnings of Vietnam gulag deprogramming, you'd know that one of the more persistent claims made against President-Elect Barack Obama is that he's not an American citizen. Nowadays, you'll hear the yammerings over Obama's birth certificate put in terms of a looming "Constitutional crisis," though, as Unattributable.com aptly states, "there would have to be actual proof that Obama wasn't a natural born US citizen to spark any kind of crisis." It's complete madness -- sour grapes serving as the fuel to rampant paranoid lunacy. But it's also sadly persistent. One fool has appealed a case based solely on "Rumors On The Interwebs" all the way to the Supreme Court, and some other nimrod bought ads in the Chicago Tribune this week.

The Tribune, naturally, forged a response of their own to the matter, and for the most part, it accords Obama the credibility he's entitled to, noting: "Cases challenging Obama's citizenship have been tossed out of courts in several states, and Hawaiian officials have vouched for the authenticity of Obama's birth certificate, which is locked in a state vault. The Obama campaign likewise has always dismissed the accusations." But one sentence later, I caught the Tribune going all mealy-mouthed. Well, at least at first blush:

Nevertheless, some critics remain dubious.

Naturally, my senses snapped at what looked to be a traditional deployment of the tired "some say" device, where straw men become foundational sources to claims that reside squarely within the borders of the Breakaway Republic of Unsubstan(tiated). But when I read the sentence again, I realized that it had actually captured these crackpots perfectly. Indeed! These critics do, in fact, "remain dubious." They are in a constant and ongoing state of pure, unadulterated dubiousness. Well, played, Chicago Tribune! Just remember: sometimes the best satire goes unnoticed.

Mailbag: The Case For Home-Schooling In California

2008-11-03T17:57:13Z

We want your stories! What was your voting experience like? What interactions have you had with the campaigns? Are you volunteering for a candidate? Have you received any last minute robocalls or campaign mail? Let us know what's happening in your neck of the woods: email vote@huffingtonpost.com

Lia, from California's Central Valley, writes:

I have many troubling personal stories from this election. I live in the Central Valley of CA in a very conservative and evangelical area. People are very passionate, angry and yes bitter. I see on every suburban and Lexus a McCain/Palin sticker and many stickers that proudly say "I'm voting for Sarah! " I have also heard many sad and sickening things like "Hey, the monkey's onTV!" or "Its ok because Biden is actually really going to be the President."

Yes I have had my signs stolen. But much worse than that I have had to read letters to the editor of my small town paper by the Catholic Bishop lying to the people in the name of God claiming that the church will be forced to marry gays or it will be at risk of lawsuits. And other priest and Catholics falsely claiming that a vote for a pro choice candidate is a sin of which the Pope has clearly stated to Americans to vote their conscience.

All this I can tolerate,but what has happened to my children is what is the saddest. My daughter was given a GATE class assignment to participate in a political debate. Her subject was to take Obamas position on the economy and taxes. She had brought in a paper from the Washington Post showing Obamas position side by side to McCains and asked if she could pass it out as evidence. After the debate her teacher told her, in front of other students, that Democrats want abortions and Democrats are like the Germans who followed Hitler blindly believing everything they were told without any thought. She told my child that her father and I just did not understand and the trickle down theory has worked wonderfully for many years. She also told my daughter that she should watch FOX news to get an unbiased view of the news. The teacher was so forceful my daughter thought the teacher might cry.

However, after the teacher brought up FOX news all the teachers credibility went out the window and my daughter saw this woman in a whole new light. I only wish this religious fanatic would read the constitution rather than watch FOX as is my wish for the rest of this backwards little town. I would love to give this woman a piece of my mind but it is a very small town and there is a long way to go yet to the end of the year.

Thanks for letting me vent - God Bless America, all of it, and all of us!

Erik Ose: Top McCain Advisor Learned Slime Tactics From Jesse Helms

2008-10-28T18:01:49Z

Despite sharing the same initials and middle name "Alexander," Jesse Helms and Joe Herzenberg were very different. Helms was a bigoted, heterosexual, Southern Baptist, extreme right wing Republican who used divisive politics to keep himself in power for five U.S. Senate terms. Herzenberg was a tolerant, gay, Jewish, staunchly liberal Democrat who spent his life standing up for progressive ideals.

Jesse Helms and Joe Herzenberg

Yet they were both historic politicians who bookended the Old and New South. Helms, who died last summer at age 86, was the last unapologetically racist politician of the segregation era. Herzenberg, who passed away one year ago today at age 66, was elected to the Chapel Hill Town Council two decades ago as the first openly gay elected official in the former Confederacy. And in 1984, their paths memorably crossed during the epic Helms-Hunt U.S. Senate race.

That year, Helms used shameful hate mongering against Herzenberg, his partner Lightning Brown, and the rest of North Carolina's gay and lesbian community to eke out his narrow re-election against sitting Gov. Jim Hunt. Helms had been getting decreasing mileage out of race-baiting, drawing heavy criticism for his filibuster against the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday a year earlier. So he found a new bogeyman - the homosexual menace.

GOP operatives like Lee Atwater whose names are synonymous with slimy politics cut their teeth working on Helms' campaigns. During the '84 race, one of the top Helms aides responsible for implementing this gay-bashing strategy was Atwater's mentor, Charlie Black. Black was neck deep in the planning behind every one of Helms' infamously racist and divisive election bids. He went on to a long lobbying career representing disgraced foreign dictators like the Philippines' Ferdinand Marcos and Mobuto Sese Seko of Zaire. Black currently serves as a senior advisor to John McCain's presidential campaign, and the results of his most recent handiwork have become evident as the McCain-Palin message has swerved disgustingly into the gutter.

McCain and Black confer aboard McCain's campaign plane

Headlines screaming "Jim Hunt Is Sissy, Prissy, Girlish and Effeminate," and asking, "Is Jim Hunt homosexual?...Is he AC and DC?" appeared throughout 1984 in a free newspaper called The Landmark, a virulently anti-gay publication printed in Chatham County, N.C. The paper's homophobic publisher, Bob Windsor of Chapel Hill, was a cog in the Helms machine.

The stories ran alongside paid ads for Helms' re-election campaign, and hundreds of thousands of copies of the paper were distributed around the state, particularly in rural areas. Its press run increased dramatically in the weeks leading up to Election Day. The Landmark was funded by shadowy national Helms backers, part of the religious right that played a key behind-the-scenes organizing role in Helms' campaign.

That June, the N.C. Republican Party held a press conference to accuse Jim Hunt of a "gay connection" because gay donors had bought 100 of 700 tickets to a Hunt fundraiser in New York, and Sen. Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts, leading Senate sponsor of a gay rights bill, had held a fundraising dinner for Hunt in Boston. The next day, Helms supporters paid to have a Landmark story reprinted as a large ad in the Raleigh News & Observer, accusing Hunt of "accepting a $79,000 contribution from Gay Activists."

Posing as reporters for the black and gay press, right-wing operatives made and taped phone calls to gay Hunt supporters around the country. Articles based on distorted excerpts from the phone calls were then published in issues of The Landmark.

Herzenberg and Brown were the smear campaign's N.C. poster children, targeted because they had helped co-found the Lesbian and Gay Democrats of North Carolina two years earlier, and were both vocally campaigning for Hunt. According to Lightning, one caller "asked about my fund raising for Hunt. The details ended up in The Landmark right away - it was frightening."

Besides running made-up stories that slandered Herzenberg and Brown relentlessly, including accusations that they had started a Chapel Hill NAMBLA (North American Man-Boy Love Association) chapter and were secretly "porno kings," The Landmark also published their home addresses and did everything possible to incite violence against the two of them. No wonder, as gay activist Mab Segrest recounted in an article on the Senate race, that "Brown and Herzenberg were subjected to more than a dozen separate incidents of intimidation, vandalism and harassment...for their work within the Democratic Party."

In a 1984 interview with the Independent Weekly when Herzenberg and Brown were awarded two of the Indy's first-ever Citizen Awards, Brown told of how "two people even threatened to kill me on Rosemary Street" in Chapel Hill. Herzenberg called the attacks "very disruptive and at times painful." Asked if he had been scared, he admitted, with a subtlety that testified to his courage, "At moments."

In September, The Landmark published an interview with Helms in which he called homosexuality "a perversion and a crime." He described the gay movement as a "threat to the morals of our young people" and to "the ability of our population to reproduce itself...jeopardizing the very survival of the nation."

Helms was eventually forced to publicly distance himself from The Landmark after the paper published its most sensational charges accusing Jim Hunt of having a lover who was a "pretty young boy."" But he was well aware of how the paper was being widely distributed on his behalf. Helms betrayed himself on this point during a televised debate.

Although both were known in Triangle political circles, and in the state's gay community, the only actual media coverage of their status as gay activists was through The Landmark's smear campaign. But in one of their four debates, Helms twice gay-baited Hunt by thundering, "You're supported by people like Joe Herzenberg and Lightning Brown!" Herzenberg considered the moment he was publicly outed to have been when Helms announced his name on statewide television.

In the wake of his sliming by Helms' hateful tactics, Herzenberg decided he was out of the closet for good. His political activism and organizing flourished. He was elected as an openly gay Mondale delegate to the 1984 Democratic National Convention. He helped organize North Carolina's first Gay Pride Parade in 1986. He ran for the Chapel Hill Town Council as an openly gay candidate in 1985, and again in 1987 before he was finally elected.

Herzenberg was arguably the first gay candidate in U.S. history elected to office outside an urban area or historically gay enclave, and he did it by assembling a broad-based progressive coalition. His election was an important symbol of how the South was changing, and in some ways, Jesse Helms and his repugnant minions like Charlie Black made it possible. Joe Herzenberg would have been thrilled to see the political landscape one year after his death, only one week away from the election of Barack Obama and a historic repudiation of the politics of division and hate.

Erik Ose is a veteran of Democratic campaigns in North Carolina, one of the curators of JoeHerzenberg.org, and blogs at The Latest Outrage.

Erik Ose: McCain Campaign Tried Using Assault Hoax to Slime Obama

2008-10-24T17:00:33Z

The day after her story of a politically-motivated assault made headlines around the nation, coverage pushed relentlessly by McCain-Palin campaign officials, a McCain campaign worker admitted she made it all up. Ashley Todd, 20, told Pittsburgh police on Wednesday night that she had been held up at an ATM, and the mugger, a 6' 4" black male, had become enraged once he saw a McCain bumper sticker on her car. Todd claimed her assailant had then pinned her to the ground and used a dull knife blade to carve a "B" into her cheek, after telling her, "you are going to be a Barack supporter."

The most appalling part of this episode was the McCain team's reaction. Desperate for a turn of events that would paint their opponents in a negative light, they rushed to disseminate the story to media outlets before all the facts were known. McCain's Pennsylvania communications director Peter Feldman actually peddled a version to reporters that was far more incendiary than details confirmed by police at the time. Feldman claimed the attacker told Todd, "You're with the McCain campaign? I'm going to teach you a lesson," and that the carved "B" definitely stood for "Barack."

But it was all a hoax. Friday morning, police stated that "we have learned that the victim's statement has a few inconsistencies in it and her statement has changed." A few hours later, police said Todd had confessed that there was no robbery or attacker, and would be charged with filing a false police report. She also told police she had prior mental health problems.

According to one of the actual police reports documenting the charade's unraveling, Todd says she can't remember whether she mutilated her own face, or had someone else do it. And Todd now claims she can't explain why she invented the story, but her motivation behind staging the incident seems clear from details in the police report - to smear Obama supporters.

Todd said she was driving around in her car, looked in her rear-view mirror, saw a "B," and the first thing she thought of was Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, according to a police report obtained by WTAE Channel 4 Action News.

Todd, from College Station, Texas, had been campaigning in Pennsylvania for the past few weeks. She was volunteering through the College Republican National Committee to recruit other college students to volunteer for McCain-Palin. CRNC executive director Ethan Eilon told FOX News that Todd had taken a year off from Blinn College in Texas to work on the campaign. She is also apparently a former Ron Paul volunteer.

Todd with Ron Paul at campaign appearance in February, 2008

Police doubted her story from the beginning, said Maurita Bryant, the assistant chief of the police department's investigations division:

"We have robbers here in Pittsburgh, but they don't generally mutilate someone's face like that," Bryant said. "They just take the money and run."

Bryant confirmed that police were also suspicious as to why the "B" on Todd's cheek was backward.

This tale faced a skeptical public from the moment it hit. Even rabidly far right blogger Michelle Malkin pointed out numerous holes in Todd's hard-to-believe account of being the victim of a political hate crime.

The entire mess is a tragic development, and I hope this young woman gets the mental health treatment she needs.

Yet a double standard is obvious based on the amount of coverage this incident received prior to any suggestion that it might be a hoax. The story was pushed hard by the Drudge Report, and most conservative talking heads ran with it. Sean Hannity devoted most of his Thursday afternoon talk radio broadcast to the topic, broadcasting live from Pittsburgh. Local news stations around the country featured the story on Thursday night's evening and late night newscasts.

Compare this with how little attention has been paid to a recent wave of politically-motivated, violent acts perpetrated by McCain-Palin supporters, several of which occurred in North Carolina and were covered on HuffPo earlier this week.

The crucial difference is that Obama and Biden are not traveling the country stirring up hatred among their supporters that would incite violence, while McCain and Palin clearly are. But let loose the spectre of a scary, hulking black criminal knifing up a poor, defenseless white girl, and predictably, the media lights swarmed.

Thankfully, McCain and Palin's disgraceful attacks on Obama have backfired, contributing to their meltdown in the polls. And the McCain camp's shameful eagerness to exploit hurtful situations like this hoax for political gain helps explain the revulsion that decent citizens have developed for the GOP ticket's increasingly desperate, unbalanced campaign.

Erik Ose is a veteran of Democratic campaigns in North Carolina and blogs at The Latest Outrage.

Erik Ose: McCain and Palin Inciting Violence in North Carolina

2008-10-22T18:41:43Z

Forced to defend what should be reliable red state turf, John McCain and Sarah Palin finally showed up in North Carolina over the past few weeks. So far in October, the GOP running mates have appeared at four campaign rallies here. And in the wake of their visits, a string of election season crimes have occurred around the state involving violence, vandalism, and harassment.

First, a reporter was assaulted at a Palin rally held last Thursday at Elon College. Greenboro News & Record reporter Joe Killian was kicked to the ground by a Palin supporter as he was trying to interview protestors at the event who backed Barack Obama. From Joe's blog:

"Oh, you think that's funny?!" the large bearded man said. His face was turning red. "Yeah, that's real funny..." he said.
And then he kicked the back of my leg, buckling my right knee and sending me sprawling onto the ground.

An MSNBC sound technician was hit in the head by a rock thrown by another Palin supporter at this same rally.

Next, over the weekend, about 30 Obama supporters had their tires slashed while attending an Obama rally that attracted an overflow crowd of more than 10,000 at the Fayetteville Crown Coliseum. Among the citizens left stranded were a single mother and toddler. "This is an embarrassment to this city and to me as a citizen," said a nearby resident. "This is a crying shame."

After the rally finished, a mob of white McCain-Palin supporters jeered and harassed a steady stream of mostly black Fayetteville residents standing in line to vote early at the downtown Board of Elections office. According to the Washington Times correspondent who reported the story, "people were shouting about Obama's acknowledged cocaine use as a young man, abortion and one man used the word 'terrorist.' " In doing so, they almost certainly violated the Voting Rights Act of 1964, which states:

"No person, whether acting under color of law or otherwise, shall intimidate, threaten, or coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any person for voting or attempting to vote"

McCain supporters heckle early voters in Fayetteville, N.C., Oct. 19

And this Monday, a black bear cub was killed and left at the entrance to Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, with Obama campaign signs wrapped around its body, including two taped together over its head. Police reports are calling the incident a "prank," and claim seven students are being questioned. Whatever the motive, this latest development was met with immediate public revulsion and condemnation. As the Asheville Citizen-Times editorialized today, "It was an innocent bear cub that lost its life this time as some deranged person or persons expressed their political rage. Next time, it could be an innocent person."

These incidents have all been perpetrated by or linked to McCain supporters, and stirred up by McCain and Palin's angry, hateful campaign rhetoric. Like during Palin's first stop in the state at a Greenville rally on Oct. 7, when she continued trying to smear Obama over his tenuous connection to Bill Ayers. With uniformed service members standing in the crowd behind her, she again peddled her discredited attack line that Obama was "palling around with terrorists" by asking, "He didn't know that he had launched his political career in the living room of a domestic terrorist?"

The McCain campaign is currently flooding the state with robocalls making identical false charges. The N.C. Republican Party is aiding the attack with a scurrilous mailer sent to N.C. voters headlined, "Obama has close ties to domestic terrorist," with mug shots of Ayers from 1968 and a recent photo of him wearing a Cuban national baseball team jersey. This is the same ridiculously far right state GOP party that ran an attack ad during the primaries tying Obama to Rev. Jeremiah Wright, which McCain repudiated at the time.

Briefly, McCain realized the angry tone of his rallies was turning off voters, and rebuked an elderly supporter who called Obama "an Arab." Within days, he was back in the gutter at their final debate. Before 56.5 million people, he linked Obama to the community organizing group ACORN's voter registration efforts, and hysterically insisted ACORN was "on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy."

On Saturday, McCain recorded a radio address in Concord, N.C. in which he made the racially loaded claim that "Barack Obama's tax plan would convert the IRS into a giant welfare agency," then appeared at a rally attended by several thousand supporters. There McCain was introduced by loony Republican Congressman Robin Hayes, who informed the crowd, "Liberals hate real Americans that work and accomplish and achieve and believe in God." Hayes is locked in a tight rematch against challenger Larry Kissell, a progressive former textile worker who lost to Hayes in 2006 by only 329 votes.

Last week, Palin told big donors at a fundraiser in Greensboro that she was thrilled to be visiting the "pro-America areas of this great nation," a gaffe so ill-advised and guaranteed to offend that she actually apologized for it, a first for Palin. But it was entirely consistent with her worldview, which is warped and narrow minded, categorizing anyone who doesn't share her extreme beliefs as "haters" and enemies.

The same day, she was asked by a local reporter what she thought of the late Sen. Jesse Helms, who was the last unapologeticly racist U.S. politician of the segregation era, held legendary, disgraceful campaign rallies of his own, and whose ultra right wing views were cut from the same cloth as Palin's. No wonder she expressed admiration for the man, admitting that "I do respect those years of service that he had provided." She also did her best to whitewash Helms' shameful legacy by falsely claiming he had apologized for his past misdeeds.

Interviewed by the Washington Post for a recent story on McCain's early political career, former executive director of the Arizona Republican Party Jon Hinz gave some insight into why McCain shows little concern over his campaign stooping to such lengths to trash Obama. "He needs to make enemies of the people he's going against in order to get fired up," said Hinz.

The violent incidents we've witnessed in North Carolina are all lower than low, in fact, they're despicable. But McCain and Palin are to blame for creating an environment where their more unbalanced supporters feel these kinds of actions are legitimate.

Supporters line up for a McCain rally in Wilmington, N.C., Oct. 13

It shows what dangerous ground McCain-Palin are traveling by relying on increasingly desperate, unfounded character attacks on Obama in their attempts to distract our country from the ongoing economic crisis. Yet as polls continue to indicate, these attacks have backfired. They are contributing to voters' distaste for the Republican ticket.

And they're leaving behind a hollowed out party destined for minority status. As independents and moderate Republicans like Colin Powell abandon the McCain-Palin GOP in droves, all that remains are increasingly bitter, frustrated, far-right voters. This election's coming Democratic tsunami will exile Republicans to the political wilderness, where they will have to decide whether to keep clinging to yesterday's politics of fear.

As for John McCain and Sarah Palin, shame on both of them. After resorting to careless demagoguery and stirring up hatred and division so recklessly, neither deserves to hold public office.

Erik Ose is a veteran of Democratic campaigns in North Carolina and blogs at The Latest Outrage.

Campaign Trail Antipathy Really Getting Scary Now

2008-10-21T13:07:02Z

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.

Cartoonist Depicts Powell As Benedict Arnold In Blackface

2008-10-20T11:52:13Z

As if Colin Powell needed one more reminder of the toxic level of political discourse that, in part, fueled his decision to endorse Barack Obama, political cartoonist Gordon Campbell has captured the moment by portraying Powell as Benedict Arnold, in blackface. Inscribed at the bottom of the cartoon is the phrase, "Benedict Powell, Race Patriot."

In remarks reported on by Politicker, Campbell echoed the sentiments of Rush Limbaugh, saying:

"The only reasonable explanation for such a public political "about-face" in the midst of this important election is that Colin Powell, perhaps understandably, wishes to see someone who looks like himself in the White House," Campbell said.

"It's my opinion that General Powell has based his endorsement of Barack Obama on the color of his skin, not his qualifications, his experience or the content of his character."

Here is Campbell's cartoon, a model of decorum and overall classiness.

RELATED:
Cartoonist depicts Colin Powell as Benedict Arnold in blackface. [ThinkProgress]
Cartoonist equates Powell's endorsement to Benedict Arnold in blackface [Politicker]

Florida GOP Figure Traffics In Obama Death Jokes

2008-10-16T11:36:43Z

The issue of campaign tone came up in last night's debate, with a false equivalency drawn between the Obama campaign calling McCain erratic and people on the campaign trail referring to Obama in shouts like "Traitor!" and "Terrorist!" And as this false equivalency is being allowed to stand as proper and just, it's no wonder that people continue to find it okay to promulgate jokes in which the Democratic candidate's death is broadly mocked.

Via Spencer Ackerman, we learn of one more: Tampa Bay's Al Austin, "a longtime, high-level Republican fundraiser," who thought it would be a good idea to forward the following joke on to his political contacts via email:

The joke concerns a group of schoolchildren discussing the definition of "tragedy" as opposed to "great loss" or "accident." The punch line comes when one child says that if an airplane carrying Obama and his wife, Michelle, "was struck by a 'friendly fire' missile and blown to smithereens," the event might be a tragedy "because it certainly wouldn't be a great loss, and it probably wouldn't be an accident either."

Yes. Ha. Austin should, truly, take his act on the road. Specifically the middle of Interstate 4, during rush hour. Austin was found out because two of the people on his email list happened to be reporters. According to Tampa Bay Online, "Austin acknowledged sending the e-mail to his list of political contacts but said he forwarded it without fully reading it and didn't know what it said."

Sure he didn't. Anyway, as John McCain might say, this is me, making Al Austin famous.

Sacramento GOP Removes "Waterboard Obama" Graphic From Website

2008-10-15T11:39:55Z

Republican officials in Sacramento, California have removed highly offensive materials from their official website after just about everyone with even a vestige of class complained that the images -- which include a suggestion that Barack Obama be waterboarded -- were totally ridiculous. Through a spokesman, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger decried the materials as being "completely and totally inappropriate."

Apparently, the responsible party -- or at least the guy willing to "take credit for" the web images -- is Craig MacGlashan, the Sacramento County GOP Party Chairman. Prior to the removal of the offending items, he defended his website by saying, "I'm aware of the content. Some people find it offensive, others do not. I cannot comment on how people interpret things." Hmmm. Let's see. "Waterboard Barack Obama." How should I interpret that? How about, "Craig MacGlashan is a horse's ass?"

RELATED:
Sacramento County GOP removes website materials urging people to 'Waterboard Barack Obama.' [ThinkProgress]

Campbell Brown Hits Back On Maligning Arabs, Muslims (VIDEO)

2008-10-14T10:34:05Z

Campbell Brown's own brand of "special commentary" doesn't quite draw the fanfare of those offered by other media figures. So it should be noted that the CNN anchor has been quietly injecting some righteous fire into the discourse, and last night, she killed it again. A week after calling out the McCain campaign for allowing "race-baiting" on the campaign trail, demanding a "much stronger denunciation" of the rhetoric that was on display at McCain rallies, Brown saluted the GOP candidate for doing just that -- correcting a misinformed voter who thought Senator Barack Obama was a dangerous "Arab." Having given McCain credit, Brown then pivoted and issued a sharp indictment of the underlying prejudices directed at Arabs and Muslims that give rise to such toxic rhetoric in the first place: "So what if he was? So what if Obama was Arab or Muslim? So what if John McCain was Arab or Muslim? Would it matter? When did that become a disqualifier for higher office in our country? When did Arab and Muslim being dirty words, the equivalent of dishonorable or radical?"

[WATCH.]

BROWN: First, though, cutting through the bull. Now, you may find it hard to believe that this remains an issue in this campaign, but it does. The candidates, both candidates, are still getting questions about Barack Obama's ethnicity and religion. If you are even semi-informed, then, by now, you already know that, of course, that Barack Obama is an American, of course, Barack Obama is a Christian. Yet, just a few days ago, here was a woman at a rally for John McCain incorrectly calling Obama an Arab.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't trust Obama. I have read about him, and he's not -- he's an Arab. He is not...No?

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: No, ma'am. No, ma'am. He's a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues. And that's what this campaign is all about. He's not. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Now, I commend Senator McCain for correcting that woman, for setting the record straight.

But I do have one question. So what if he was? So what if Obama was Arab or Muslim? So what if John McCain was Arab or Muslim? Would it matter? When did that become a disqualifier for higher office in our country? When did Arab and Muslim being dirty words, the equivalent of dishonorable or radical?

Whenever this gets raised, the implication is that there's something wrong with being an Arab-American or a Muslim. And the media is complicit here, too. We have been all way too quick to accept the idea that calling someone Muslim is a slur.

I feel like I'm stating the obvious here, but, apparently, it needs to be said. There is a difference between radical Muslims who support jihad against America and Muslims who want to practice their religion freely and have normal lives, like everybody else.

There are more than 1.2 million Arab-Americans and about 7 million Muslim Americans, former Cabinet secretaries, members of Congress, successful business people, normal, average Americans from all walks of life. These are the people that are being maligned here every time this happens. And we can only imagine how this conversation plays out in the Muslim world.

We can't tolerate this ignorance, not in the media, not on the campaign trail. Of course he's not an Arab. Of course he's not a Muslim, but, honestly, it shouldn't matter.

Martin Lewis: Drudge Report Incites "Kill A Mockingbird" Racial Fear Of Obama

2008-10-14T07:51:33Z

This is the photo that Matt Drudge chose to illustrate a headline from a Reuters news story titled "Obama goes door-to-door to drum up votes in Ohio" that he linked to on the Drudge Report as of 7.45am EDT - Tuesday October 14, 2008.

But this photo does NOT appear anywhere in the linked story. It is only on the Drudge Report front page.

However - the reason WHY Drudge selected and used this particular image IS there. In colorful Black and White...

Times Exposes Anti-Semitic Obama Slanderer, Finally

2008-10-13T15:50:25Z

During this long election season, one of the things that the candidates have had to confront are smear merchants, peddling the most vicious and hateful of innuendos. By any measure, it would appear that Barack Obama has had the worst of it this election season, but John McCain is no stranger to those sorts of attacks, either. Nor is he a stranger to those sorts of attackers, having hired them to work on his campaign. Along the way, the media has had a difficult time confronting these smears and debunking the debunkable. After all, isn't simply restating the smear just, on one level ... one vastly stupid level ... just confirming the smear? Plus, don't time-honored press traditions require reporters to treat crackpots who shout drooling epithets from America's finest bus stations as the equivalent of experts with advanced degrees from leading universities?

Well, Jim Rutenberg has hit upon a novel way of confronting the smear-traffickers: write a story and call them liars! It's so crazy that it just might work!

Of course, one still mourns how, in life, timing is everything:

Until this month, the man who is widely credited with starting the cyberwhisper campaign that still dogs Mr. Obama was a secondary character in news reports, with deep explorations of his background largely confined to liberal blogs.

But an appearance in a documentary-style program on the Fox News Channel watched by three million people last week thrust the man, Andy Martin, and his past into the foreground. The program allowed Mr. Martin to assert falsely and without challenge that Mr. Obama had once trained to overthrow the government.

In this case, so much depends upon when an organ like the New York Times decides is the right time to start telling an essential truth. Without a trace of irony, or remorse, Rutenberg actually describes how a bunch of lowly blogs had this story foregrounded -- and had this story right -- for some time now. I guess it's that descriptor, "liberal," that made it impossible for the traditional media to report out! Finally, Martin ended up on Sean Hannity's show, his ravings presented as documentary fact, and even then, the Times said, "No, no. Now's not the right time. Let's wait a week, and then we'll do the story." So, for whatever reason, an essential truth about someone who's been persistently driving a lot of the Obama fearmongery was left to pickle and brine until Sunday, for editorial reasons that no doubt defy any sensible explanation.

The piece on Martin is fronted by the disclosure that he's a guy who loves nothing more than to file frivolous lawsuits, and who has done so for such a long time that he's had his lawsuit-filing privileges revoked. But, hey! You already know that, don't you! Just like everyone who's looked this cuckoo-log up on the Wikipedia knows.

The article captures Martin's whole history as a crackpot burr in the ass of polite and decent society -- the exaggerated claims, the rampant anti-Semitism, the grist he provided for the toxic mill known as Obama Nation -- the "widely discredited best seller" from Jerome Corsi. And on that last point is the part of the story that Rutenberg missed: Martin's falsehoods fueled a best-selling book! And this wasn't a commercial enterprise that stayed solely in the family of fringe wackjobs -- Obama Nation was published by Mary Matalin, who has defended the efforts behind this great work by calling it, "a piece of scholarship, and a good one at that." Never let it be said that this poison fruit didn't fall from an establishment tree.

Barry Yourgrau: McCain Shouts "Terrorist!" in a Crowded Theater

2008-10-09T14:58:40Z

McCain today released a shockingly inflammatory Obama-is-a-pal-of-terrorist-Bill-Ayers ad. Here's the link via Andrew Sullivan.

Sullivan, who has been a mensch on McCain-Palin, calls the ad "dishonorable."

His Atlantic colleague Ross Douhat calls it "Gloves, Off."

In both their cases, the hell it is.

McCain has crossed over into territory where the dark stuff of politics seethes and boils. He is shouting "terrorist" in a crowded theater, and juicing things up with creepy racist touches (notice one of the images of Obama in the ad uses the main one from the Obama-Is-A-Pedophile ad).

Forget the ad's disgraceful content and distortions of fact (see Gail Collins op-ed in the Times today for a deft spiking of these).

I keep recalling: the poisonous climate revved up by right wing fundamentalists in Israel prior to Rabin's murder.

I keep recalling: the radio campaign by Hutu extremists against Tutsi "cockroaches" prior to the Rwanda horrors.

I keep recalling: the stabbed-in-the-back rhetoric that always seems to go along with some of the scariest movements of modern mass politics.

Are my recollections uncalled-for exaggerations? I sure as hell hope so.

But there is a seething proto-violent ugliness that McCain and Palin are whipping up in their dead embers.

If something were to happen to Obama... can you imagine what will result in this country? No, you do not want to go there. You do not want to recklessly tease any such possibility.

Republican politicians with half a soul or brain left--Schwarzenegger? Bloomberg? Hagel?--better tell McCain to shove the dark genie back in the bottle that is Steve Schmidt's catastrophic bullet head.

David Bromwich: Party Watchwords: Fairness and Fear

2008-10-08T15:33:14Z

A watchword is the familiar code used by a sentinel to tell the approach of a friend. After three debates and a protracted exposure to campaigns that show consistency on both sides, we can say what the watchwords of the parties have become. The Democrats are speaking of fairness, the Republicans are speaking of fear.

Once or twice in last night's debate, Barack Obama referred to the value of fairness in the civic life of democracy. Joe Biden, with greater sharpness and force, made the revival of fairness almost the central theme of his debate against Sarah Palin.

It doesn't seem fair that every month in Baghdad the federal government spends money it no longer has to spend in Galveston or New Orleans. It doesn't seem fair that the Republican candidate for president has come into this campaign without a semblance of a plan for medical insurance, and that, as a substitute, he palms off on voters a $5,000 check from the government, without telling us that adequate coverage now costs about $12,000 for a family of four. It doesn't seem fair that the CEOs and stockbrokers and stockjobbers who made out like bandits while they destroyed the economy are now assisted by Treasury to execute their getaway with a parachute of gold.

John McCain, a man celebrated for his courage, could not be the one to carry the message of fear which is the most infectious vote-getter of his campaign. That work has therefore been entrusted to Sarah Palin; and she does it with a credulous devotion that suits her personal style. "I am just so fearful," she said in a speech on October 6 in Clearwater, Florida, "that [Barack Obama] is not a man who sees America the way that you and I see America--as the greatest source of good in this world." And again: "I'm afraid this is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to work with a former domestic terrorist who had targeted his own country."

The repetition of the idea of fear, in the words fearful and afraid, was a carefully coached piece of rhetorical insinuation. Yet Palin's phrasing also brought an oddly disturbing echo for anyone who had seen the e-mails channeled in susceptible right-wing circles half a year ago--mailings which spoke of powerful evidence that Obama was a secret Muslim with dubious intentions toward this country. At the bottom of one such letter were the unsigned words: "I'm afraid of this one. I'm just so fearful." An unwary reader might naturally assume that the disarming confession had come--with the signature somehow erased by accident--from an anxious woman of uncertain education in her late seventies or eighties. It now seems likelier that those words came out of the workshop of Karl Rove. Anyway they have become Sarah Palin's words. She speaks for, she has become, that elderly, shaken white woman who is "so afraid" of Obama. It was noticeable too, in last night's debate, that McCain threw out a studied echo of the same letter's use of "this one" when, quite oddly, he called his opponent "that one."

Sarah Palin, as immodest as she is unqualified, has thus been put to the job of trawling for undecided voters who are racially anxious enough to be tipped into voting for McCain by one additional rumor or tremor or fear. It must be added that in this rotten cause, she received some unexpected assistance from the lead story on William Ayers which the New York Times published on October 4. The story by Scott Shane disclosed, in elaborate detail, that there was nothing much to the connection between Obama and Ayers. Other newspapers had reached the same conclusion with less fuss. The effect of the Times's 135 column-inches and the longhair Sixties photos and the fingerprints and picture of Ayers's arrest--the effect of this peculiar treatment was, by the very fact of bringing the matter into discussion, to support the idea of some connection between Obama and the word "terrorist." It was left to Palin merely to insert the word "domestic."

Why did the Times do it? There are several possible answers, all of them unpleasant. One has heard it said that the story, accurate in its details after all, was long in the works and only its timing was unfortunate. Still, the decision to run at all a very big story on the very small subject of Obama's friendship with Ayers, is not a decision that an institution like the Times, with its layers of editors and managers and ownership, could possibly have taken lightly. The same paper that says we ought to negotiate with Iran, and yet says that Iran is an "existential threat," now wants us to know that Obama is a serious candidate, yet it wants to show what a long story can be made of the threat his former associations might be felt to present.

Possibly these swings of emphasis are sincere--if we can allow an institution the virtue of sincerity. Yet "there are kinds of sincerity," wrote Camus, "so confused that they are worse than lies." By now Americans know Barack Obama about as well as they have ever known a candidate for high office. The reasons to vote for or against him turn out to be ordinary reasons. If there is a silent scandal in the campaign, as it now goes forward, it comes from nothing in his past, and nothing, even, in the legend-laden and reconstituted past of John McCain. The scandal is the presence on the Republican side of a candidate who by policy is kept away from questioning by the press. That is a story. Nor would it show imbalance or partiality for the better newspapers of this country now to declare the simple fact. To run someone for vice-president who cannot answer political questions is an abuse of civic responsibility which is rapidly becoming a national outrage.

Republican Jewish Coalition Gets In On The Guilt By Association Game

2008-10-07T14:59:22Z

Everybody else is playing the Guilt-by-Tenuous-Association game (ages 6 and down) so why not the Republican Jewish Coalition, whoever that is? Ari at Oxdown Gazette was tipped off to a pair of advertisements that the RJC is running in newspapers with predominantly Jewish readership. One of the ads features America's Next Top Bugaboo, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is continually characterized by the Republican Party as having sway over Iran's foreign policy. That ad copy reads, "Ahmadinejad says Israel won't survive. Obama says he would meet with him personally." They'll drink doogh, in Hitler's bunker, with Dracula!

But the best ad is this one:

OH NOES! LOOK AT THAT GUILTY ASSOCIATION! Apparently the Pat Buchanan from fifteen years ago gave Barack Obama the "thumbs up," and now that these two images have been juxtaposed on a piece of newsprint, this can never be undone! Though J Street, the reasonable wing of the Jewish lobby (at the very least, reasonable in that they are willing to admit that they are a lobby, instead of getting crazy shrill about it), is trying to do just that. But, really, the jokes on the RJC, because everyone knows that the Jews in Palm Beach County are just crazy about Pat Buchanan.

RELATED:
Republican Jewish Coalition Lies [Oxdown Gazette]

WATCH: Virginia Rep. Depicts Opponent As Scary, Dark, Bearded

2008-09-29T11:41:18Z

Virginia Representative Virgil Goode -- whose primary contributions to the civic discourse has been ranty, slow-witted displays of Islamaphobia -- has produced the most toxic and transparently venal campaign ad so far this year. Peep his latest great work below, in which he uses what looks to be the single worst picture his opponent Tom Perriello ever took, and submitted it to a photographic process that his office probably calls "Muslimization." The result is hardly surprising, given Goode's predilection for being one of the worst human beings to ever occupy office, but telling in that he feels that he cannot base his case to constituents merely on his opponent's liberal positions.

[WATCH.]

Greg Mitchell: Finally: One Brave Newspaper Refuses to Distribute 'Islam Terror' DVD

2008-09-15T19:04:02Z

I wrote here Saturday about the "Islam terror" scaremongering DVD Obsession that the Clarion Fund has paid dozens of newspapers across the country -- almost solely in "swing" election states -- to distribute, many of them quite large in cities such as Miami, Philadelphia, Denver and Pittsburgh. (HuffPost was one of the first to be on this.) My posting was updated yesterday when many more papers sent it around. An estimated 28 million copies have been distributed so far, also through the mails and other magazines. An article at the group's site, www.radicalislam.org, all but endorsed John McCain this past week, then was pulled down.

But at least one newspapers turned away the money and refused to distribute it, calling it "divisive."

It's the Greensboro News & Record in North Carolina, which was one of the first mainstream dailies to really plunge into blogs and other Web-related community things. The longtime editor, John Robinson, explained his reasoning in a column yesterday.

Here is an excerpt and link.

Many newspapers across the country distributed a controversial DVD today about Islam, titled "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West."....We did not distribute it. I was not involved in the decision; it was an advertising call, in keeping with advertising policies.

I asked our publisher about it. He said it was divisive and plays on people's fears and served no educational purpose. The revenue it would have brought in was not a motivator.

As I've said on other occasions about news decisions, just because you can publish doesn't mean you should.

Read It Here.

My earlier story: http://www.eandppub.com/2008/09/controversial-d.html
*
Greg Mitchell's latest book, on Iraq and the media, is titled "So Wrong for So Long."

Erik Ose: Pro-McCain Group Dumping 28 Million Terror Scare DVDs in Swing States

2008-09-12T11:49:31Z

(UPDATE 9/13 - 70 newspapers in swing states have been paid to distribute Obsession this weekend and next, which means not all the DVDs have been delivered yet. Check the list at the end of this post to see if your newspaper is one of them, and let them know how you feel about their participation in this shameless propaganda campaign.)

This week, 28 million copies of a right-wing, terror propaganda DVD are being mailed and bundled in newspaper deliveries to voters in swing states. The 60-minute DVDs, titled Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West, are landing on doorsteps in a campaign coinciding with the 7th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Funding is coming from a New York-based group called the Clarion Fund, a shadowy outfit whose financial backers are unclear.

The program was originally shown on Fox News in the days leading up to the 2006 mid-term elections, and far right-wing activist David Horowitz toured the country screening the film on college campuses during 2007. Mainstream religious groups have called Obsession biased and divisive. It cuts between scenes of Nazi rallies and footage of Muslim children being encouraged to become suicide bombers.

Talking heads in the film include infamous anti-Muslim, self-proclaimed "islamophobes" like Daniel Pipes and Walid Shoebat. In 2001, Pipes claimed the "presence" and "enfranchisement" of Muslims in the U.S. presented "true dangers to American Jews." Shoebat is an evangelical Christian who falsely claims to be a former Muslim terrorist. Last year, Shoebat told the Missouri Springfield News-Leader, "Islam is not the religion of God - Islam is the devil."

As detailed in an OffTheBus report on HuffPo two days ago, the DVDs were distributed last weekend in national editions of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal within selected swing states. These included Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Colorado, Iowa, Florida, Wisconsin, Nevada, New Hampshire and Virginia.

Sally Lopez of Lemoyne, PA displays a copy of the DVD that came in the mail.

Here in North Carolina, another battleground state that John McCain must win to reach 270 electoral votes, 160,000 copies of the DVD are to be distributed tomorrow by the state's leading newspaper.

The Raleigh News & Observer reported yesterday on its Under The Dome politics blog that the paper is preparing to bundle copies of the DVD with this Saturday's newspapers. Jim McClure, vice president of display advertising for the N&O, said the "ultimate decision" to distribute the DVDs had been made by publisher Orage Quarles, and compared the propaganda to harmless household samples.

"'Obviously, we have distributed other product samples, whether it's cereal or toothpaste,' he said. He declined to say how much the agency paid."

The News & Observer recently announced deep buyouts and layoffs for its employees. It is owned by the struggling McClatchy news chain, which is slashing newsroom jobs and pages at the papers it owns around the country. Advertising revenues have plummeted during the ongoing economic downturn, and it appears the N&O is now auctioning off its journalistic integrity to the highest bidder.

The paper's announcement touched off immediate criticism from angry subscribers:

"A box of cereal? Toothpaste? Does a box of cereal or a tube of toothpaste encourage me to look with hatred and suspicion on my law abiding neighbors who have a different religion than mine? Does cereal and toothpaste lead to pogroms, religious harassment, fear and intimidation? The trailer for this video is about hate, pure and simple, and shows the video has only one goal -- to instill fear and hatred of neighbor against neighbor.

If I receive this DVD in my paper, that day, after 22 years of receiving the N&O, will be the last day of my subscription.

Please, please reconsider this decision!"

Although supposedly a 501 c(3) non-profit, this week the Clarion Fund's website featured an article supporting John McCain. Yesterday, the Patriot-News in PA reported on the DVDs showing up in Pennsylvania, and noted:

"On Wednesday, though, there was an article on the group's new Web site, www.radicalislam.org, that backed Republican presidential candidate John McCain. The article discusses both candidates and concludes: "McCain's policies seek to confront radical Islamic extremism and terrorism and roll it back while [Barack] Obama's, although intending to do the same, could in fact make the situation facing the West even worse."

According to Clarion Fund director of communications Gregory Ross, the article "crossed the line" and would be removed.

Where else exactly are these DVDs landing, and who's funding the Clarion Fund?

If you'd like to give News & Observer executives a piece of your mind, executive editor John Drescher can be reached at (919) 829-4515, or drescher@newsobserver.com. Or ask for publisher Orage Quarles at the paper's main phone number, (919) 829-4500.

(UPDATE 9/13 - Greg Mitchell of Editor & Publisher has more details. And here's a state-by-state list of most of the 70 newspapers in swing states that have agreed to deliver this garbage to their subscribers:

Colorado - Boulder Daily Camera, Centennial Citizen, Colorado Springs Gazette, Denver Post, Fort Collins Coloradoan, Greeley Tribune

Iowa - Daily Nonpareil, Des Moines Register, Iowa City Press Citizen, Quad City Times, Sioux City Journal

Florida - Daily Commercial, Florida Times-Union, Ft. Lauderdale El Sentinel, Ft. Myers News Press, Miami Herald, Ocala Star Banner, Orlando Sun Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Tampa Tribune, Tallahassee Democrat, St. Petersburg Times, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Michigan - Detroit Free-Press, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Lansing State Journal

Missouri - Springfield News-Leader

Nevada - Las Vegas Review-Journal/Sun, Nevada Appeal, Reno Gazette-Journal

New Hampshire - Portsmouth Herald News, Union Leader

New Mexico - Clovis News Journal, Hobbs News-Sun, Rio Rancho Observer

Ohio - Akron Beacon Journal, Canton Repository, Columbus Dispatch, Dayton Daily News, Hamilton JournalNews, Middletown Journal, Morning Journal, Springfield News-Sun, Toledo Blade, Youngstown Vindicator

North Carolina - Charlotte Observer, Raleigh News & Observer

Pennsylvania - Bucks Co. Courier Times, Erie Times-News, Morning Call, Philadelphia Inquirer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Reading Eagle, The Patriot-News

Virginia - Sun-Gazette, Virginian-Pilot

Wisconsin - Green Bay Press-Gazette, Janesville Gazette, Journal Times, La Crosse Tribune, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

(UPDATE 9/15 - Only two papers bravely refused to push this poison on their communities - the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in Missouri and the Greensboro News & Record in North Carolina. The American Muslim website has posted a lengthy list of "Resources for Responding to Obsession DVD Mass Distribution," and a detailed look at organizations and individuals involved in the production, promotion and distribution of the film - "Who is behind Relentless, Obsession and The Third Jihad?"

The progressive Jewish group JewsOnFirst.org has a thorough report on the Clarion Fund's background and role in pushing these hate DVDs. Highlights include the film's past ties to the Republican Jewish Coalition, Clarion's rent-an-address location, its incorporator, New York attorney Eli Greenberg, spokesman Gregory Ross' implausible denial that the Fund also paid to distribute Obsession at both the Democratic and Republican conventions, and Ross' statement that the Clarion Fund will not disclose its donors' names.

Obsession at the conventions.

However, one detail in this report seems mistaken, that "because it was established only recently, the Clarion Fund has not yet filed its first required disclosure (Form 990) with the IRS." According to the New York Secretary of State's website, the Clarion Fund was incorporated nearly two years ago, on December 28, 2006. So where are their Form 990's? Hello, IRS?)

(UPDATE 9/26 - NPR's Secret Money Project has picked up the trail of who's behind the Clarion Fund, and posted good information HERE and HERE. Earlier today, NPR also aired a story on Morning Edition - "Charity Floods Swing States With Anti-Islam DVD." Omid Safi of the American Academy of Religion has exhaustive coverage of Clarion Fund backers in his post, "Who Put Hate in My Sunday Paper?")

(UPDATE 9/30 - On Sept. 26, four days after the Dayton Daily News in Ohio distributed Obsession to its subscribers, there was a cowardly attack on three hundred American Muslims at a Dayton mosque. Unknown assailants, described by a witness as two white men, sprayed a toxic substance through a window of the mosque into a room where infants and children were waiting as their parents conducted Ramadan prayers. Chris Rodda of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has the full story, including excerpts from a graphic e-mail sent out by a family member of children who were gassed. Dayton police are refusing to treat the attack as a hate crime.

The incident has received little mainstream media attention since it occurred, except for one post from yesterday by Philadelphia Daily News senior writer Will Bunch. Not surprising, because it's pretty damning evidence that the newspapers who distributed Obsession DVDs have stirred up intolerance and hatred in their communities and encouraged this kind of terrorism.)

Erik Ose is a veteran of Democratic campaigns in North Carolina and blogs at The Latest Outrage.

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Max Bergmann: Time to Go Daisy Cutter

2008-09-10T12:04:12Z

Who says Republicans are the only ones who can play the politics of fear?

McCain makes Barry Goldwater look like a puppy. In the last eight years he has basically advocated war against six different countries: Iraq, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Afghanistan, and Russia. He has admitted his support for the draft. And he has a legendary anger problem. His Republican colleagues have even expressed fear of McCain as commander in chief. Republican Senator Pete Domenici even said "I decided I didn't want this guy anywhere near a trigger."

Do Americans really want someone with such an itchy trigger finger and with such an angry temperament with their finger on the button? An ad that said something to that effect would not only explode in the media - but it is also a hugely important point that has yet to be made. McCain's reckless temper combined with his inherent militancy is a very very dangerous combination.

This is a point Ilan Goldenberg raised last December:

I'm starting to think that the only way to counter Republican fear mongering is with more fear mongering...Democratic fear mongering needs to focus on how scary it would be to have another Republican President and how much that could endanger all of us (Especially if the nominee is Giuliani). Republicans spent years cultivating the frame that Democrats are weak and it was just as important to their dominance of the issue as their own ability to seem competent and tough. Something like the classic ad below might work pretty well in the '08 cycle.

Inhofe Questions Whether Obama "Really Loves His Country"

2008-09-07T10:38:40Z

Some harsh talk from Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK):

Regardless of what polls show, Inhofe said, voters will have to ask themselves a question once they get behind the curtain in the voting booth on Election Day.

"Do you really want to have a guy as commander in chief of this country when you can question whether or not he really loves his country?" he asked.

"That's the big question.''

The story quotes an Obama aide criticizing Inhofe's remarks, then a runs a "clarification" from Inhofe that seems just as harsh:

"Let me be clear,'' he said.

"I am not questioning Sen. Obama's patriotism, but you have to question why at times he seems so obviously opposed to public displays of patriotism and national pride, like wearing an American flag lapel pin.''

The message coming out of Minneapolis sure does seem to have crystallized: McCain's a patriot, Obama...not so much.