BlackChampagne -- no longer new; improvement also in question.: Almost enough to restore my faith in humanity...
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Almost enough to restore my faith in humanity...
I seldom approve of the mindset of my fellow Americans, or of the mentality of any large mob, for that matter. Humans are fearful, ignorant, tribal creatures, easily swayed by lies and misinformation, as innumerable recent national and international events have demonstrated. Goering summed it up quite famously, with principles that were on (very successful) display throughout the political discourse of the US from 2001-2003.
In the new Newsweek poll, taken over the last two days in the midst of the Ayers attacks, Obama now has a +24 favorability rating (60/36), which has improved from the +20 (57/37) he registered in last month's poll. In the new poll, McCain's favorability rating is only +6 (51/45), which has worsened substantially since the +21 he registered last month (57/36). The same has happened to Sarah Palin's rating, which has dropped from +20 (52/32) in the prior month to a meager +4 now (49/45).
...
Worse still (for the Right), a large majority -- 55-39% -- answer "NO" when asked if Sarah Palin "is qualified to step in as President if she had to" (Newsweek 14), whereas only 46% answered "NO" last month. And 47% say that Hockey Mom Palin does not share their values, while only 48% say that Palin does (versus 59% who say that the Radical-Terrorist Obama shares their values) (Newsweek 14).
...the more Americans see of and hear from Sarah Palin and are exposed to her filthy smear politics, the worse she looks to them. And the more the McCain/Palin campaign attacks Obama with ugly, despicable smears, the worse McCain/Palin look, while Obama's popularity with Americans continues to solidify and even gradually increase (Americans believe Obama is "trustworthy" by an overwhelming margin of 60-32%) (Fox 36).
And perhaps most damning of all for the McCain campaign, when asked which campaign has been "too negative or nasty," Americans choose the McCain/Palin campaign by an overwhelming margin (39-10%) (Newsweek 17) -- by far the most lopsided margin for that question over the last eight years (by comparison, both the Democratic and GOP campaigns of 2000 and 2004 registered no more than 24% on that question and each side received roughly equal ratings).
So, the more people have seen of Sarah Palin, the less they think of her. And the more they see Obama slandered by the nasty, all-negative McCain attack ads, the more they like him. This isn't going to change, either. There are 3 weeks to go until the election, and since McCain has nothing positive to run on other than the ludicrous notion that he somehow represents change from the President he voted with 95% of the time, (And really, that's not a positive message either; he's just attacking Bush instead of Obama.) and since the recent years of Republican electoral triumphs have been built entirely on Rove-style attack ads and race baiting and fear-mongering... there's no chance McCain's strategists are going to change their tactics now, even as they're proving less and less successful. (Well, successful nationwide; they are very effective at firing up the radical right fringe, while alienating everyone else.)
I've been wondering about it for a while, since news of people shouting out "traitor" and "terrorist" and "kill him" during the anti-Obama speeches by McCain and Palin, and I've not seen it addressed anywhere. Is there a chance the Secret Service could be forced to take action to muzzle the Republican nominees they're there to protect? Think about it; if some group were holding rallies at which speeches were given that were clearly designed to whip up a nearly-murderous rage against the leading presidential candidate, and at which people voiced unveiled death threats towards said candidate, wouldn't we expect the Secret Service and FBI to descend upon them?
We hear about it when some random kook makes a, "I want to kill George Bush!" comment online, or in real life. We hear about it since that kook gets a sobering visit from the Secret Service, even when they (the random kook) obviously had no intention or ability to do anything to back up their "threat." McCain, and especially Palin, are going far beyond that. They're not actually threatening Obama's life, but they're deliberately creating a climate or rage that's causing audience members to voice comments as threatening as those that regularly draw the attention of federal law enforcement personnel.
I'm not suggesting that McCain or Palin (well, maybe Palin) actually wants one of their minions to instigate some sort of murderous action against Obama, but no one suggests the people I linked to above (or the hundreds of others like them) were serious about their threats either. That's the whole point; you can't make threats against the president or leading presidential candidates without receiving some unwanted legal attention, and yet in this case the people making inciting the threats are under Secret Service protection themselves. I can't envision some black-suited, shades-wearing SS dude taking Palin aside for a stern talking to... but why not? If you or I did what she's been doing at campaign rallies, we'd have our very own FBI file by the end of the week.
Ironically, while skimming some blogs for links to news items about the "kill him" stuff people have been shouting, I saw a link to this. Apparently the Secret Service is looking into it, but only (so far) to maybe try and identify the Republicans in attendance who are getting a little too um... overly-enthusiastic about their candidates' message.
I love Sarah Palin, god bless her heart. You have no right to criticize her because you are sexist. I think you may also be a terrorist lover, which might explain why you are voting for Obama. Obama is clearly an Arab black gay terrorist.
I'm not going to argue the "too negative" assertion on the part of Republicans, but race baiting? Can you name even one instance of the McCain campaign even bringing up race? I can't, but I know I can mention at least one time Obama's done it...
Also, I've never even heard anybody yelling out death threats in McCain's presence, but he has repeatedly poo-poo'ed people who say that they're "afraid" of an Obama presidency. Has Obama ever hushed his fawning audiences when they took to chanting, "McCain sucks?"
I don't think its sexist at all. Palin simply is not qualified, and shes an idiot. On the other hand, not saying id vote for her, Hillary was way better prepared, and acted like she knew what she was talking about. So it isn't sexist, just a bad vp candidate. McCain? i don't want to get started on that piece of crap.
