iNow Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 We've all heard John McCain and Sarah Palin asking this question on the campaign trail, trying to stir up fears in the populace and distract us from the issues. If it weren't so frustrating and infuriating, I would find their approach funny... but, it's not. We've had nearly 2 years to get to know the man and his family. Either way, people are still trying to raise doubts, and since they can't seem to compete on the real issues facing our nation and our planet, the focus has been on character, personality, and associations instead. In response to these attacks, the Obama campaign has released this video. Give it a look, let us know what you think, and how/if you think it will impact this election. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Realitycheck Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 Yawn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangloss Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 Um, iNow, did you make this video?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRFj_joPn2s /runs for cover! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Realitycheck Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 I wonder if it is an acting job or if she is bipolar. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ydoaPs Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 I wonder if it is an acting job or if she is bipolar. LOL It's a guy. Someone took the "LEAVE BRITTANY ALONE!" video and added a different soundtrack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Realitycheck Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 That did occur to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangloss Posted October 12, 2008 Share Posted October 12, 2008 We've all heard John McCain and Sarah Palin asking this question on the campaign trail, trying to stir up fears in the populace and distract us from the issues. If it weren't so frustrating and infuriating, I would find their approach funny... but, it's not. We've had nearly 2 years to get to know the man and his family. Either way, people are still trying to raise doubts, and since they can't seem to compete on the real issues facing our nation and our planet, the focus has been on character, personality, and associations instead. Sappy DNC fundraiser videos aside, there remains this question which I think is a valid one -- has the McCain camp gone too far in its criticisms of Obama on a personal level? I think it has, and I think it's a sign of the times. This Week this morning had a clip of McCain stopping a woman from berating Obama on a personal level. I thought "good for him, putting a stop to that", but he wouldn't be hearing comments like that if he wasn't contributing to the problem in the first place. I think it's also a sign of a larger disconnect (or at least a lack of concern) amongst candidates over the damage they may be causing with their partisanship. An interesting example of that came out on Saturday when Sarah Palin stated that she was happy that she had been cleared of any wrongdoing! No, she actually said that. Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said Saturday that the report actually cleared her of any "legal wrongdoing or unethical activity." http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/12/politics/main4516113.shtml But in fact the investigation did no such thing. The investigation said she violated Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act, which states, "… each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust." It's almost as if she's setting herself above information. Have we become so jaded by spin and misinformation that we can't even recognize when a candidate blatantly ignores the facts and simply states the opposite of the truth? This is what partisanship produces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iNow Posted October 13, 2008 Author Share Posted October 13, 2008 This Week this morning had a clip of McCain stopping a woman from berating Obama on a personal level. I thought "good for him, putting a stop to that.. I saw that too, and had a similar reaction. "Thank you, John. I just knew there was still an honorable man inside of you, and I am glad you decided to bring him out and show him off again." One thing that I worried somewhat about, though, was the woman "berating Obama" simply said she couldn't trust him because he was an Arab. I took issue with that. While I'm glad McCain stopped her and indicated her comments were inappropriate, I was not comfortable with the fact that the implicit distrust of Arab people was not seen as a bad thing in and of itself... that nobody took issue with that part of it. Maybe that's just me, though. I dunno. We're all humans sharing human problems on a big planet. I don't care about such ignorant and ancient tribal distinctions based on region of birth or tone of skin. I just don't. Here's the clip for those who are not sure what Pangloss and I are on about (the woman is about 1:15m in): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_HcBQfPDto To Pangloss' point, much of this wouldn't be happening if comments like those made by the first man were not so encouraged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangloss Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 One thing that I worried somewhat about, though, was the woman "berating Obama" simply said she couldn't trust him because he was an Arab. I took issue with that. While I'm glad McCain stopped her and indicated her comments were inappropriate, I was not comfortable with the fact that the implicit distrust of Arab people was not seen as a bad thing in and of itself... that nobody took issue with that part of it. Saying something to that effect would have been nice, yes. That point of view that that woman had is remarkably common, I'm afraid. I run into it all the time, even amongst relatively moderate and reasonably intelligent people (and not all of them conservative/Republican). I blame most of it on people not paying attention to what's going on in the world around them and getting snagged on some biased programming they happened to catch somewhere. But just to be an optimist for a moment, perhaps that will be a positive outcome of this election -- shedding some light on that sort of prejudice, and/or getting people used to a little more diversity at that level of politics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDarwin Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 One thing that I worried somewhat about, though, was the woman "berating Obama" simply said she couldn't trust him because he was an Arab. I took issue with that. While I'm glad McCain stopped her and indicated her comments were inappropriate, I was not comfortable with the fact that the implicit distrust of Arab people was not seen as a bad thing in and of itself... that nobody took issue with that part of it. I've noted that in how news media will report on the rumors about Barack Obama's Muslimness. They always say that the emails say he's a radical Muslim. Well, no, they don't really, for the most part they just say he's a Muslim. But the media doesn't want to implicitly endorse that being a Muslim is bad by saying "Barack Obama is not a Muslim that's a lie," while at the same time they don't want to have to address the deeper issue of racism and fear implicit in the charge. So they just paper over it by saying he's not a "radical" Muslim. Which is sort of offensive in and of itself. Radical Christian is hardly an insult. The point isn't that terrorists are really radical in their religion, it's that they're violent in it. They're violent Muslims. But, on topic, this new blitz from McCain and Palin has absolutely turned me off. When you've got people at your rallies saying "terrorist" and "kill him" about your political opponent you've crossed a definite line. That's the kind of stuff you see in former Soviet republics and places in Central America. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john5746 Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 To Pangloss' point, much of this wouldn't be happening if comments like those made by the first man were not so encouraged. Maybe, but this stuff has been swirling around for a very long time. To be fair, McCain should be applauded for having this conversation with the people in this format. It would be interesting if Obama let some of his supporters talk. I wonder if their kool-aide could get just as bitter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangloss Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 He does let his supporters talk, but mostly in face-to-face walk-arounds. He doesn't seem to favor the "town hall" format the way McCain does, preferring a traditional stump speech. Here's a video and article of McCain calming a crowd about fears over an Obama presidency (and getting boo'd for it). http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/10/10/mccain.not.scary.cnn http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/11/mccain-to-crowd-dont-be-scared-of-obama-presidency/ That's actually going a bit beyond the point of just being polite. Some observers are speculating that McCain may be anticipating a loss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iNow Posted October 13, 2008 Author Share Posted October 13, 2008 That's actually going a bit beyond the point of just being polite. Some observers are speculating that McCain may be anticipating a loss. Indeed, and he wants to maintain some semblance of his integrity when this is all said and done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sisyphus Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 It's traditional for the candidates themselves to (publicly) take the high road, no? Obviously he's not above allowing his campaign to make ugly insinuations, but I have to believe he never intended for quite this level of ugliness that we've recently seen more and more of. At the end of the day I still think John McCain considers himself an honorable man (even if I think he's managed to rationalize quite a few actions to the contrary), and he doesn't want this kind of stuff associated with his legacy or on his conscience. Plus, obviously, its bad for the campaign - if he wants any voters besides the lynch mobs that have been showing up at rallies, he can't be seen as one of them. Unfortunately his running mate doesn't seem to have any such qualms, but actually revels in this stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iNow Posted October 13, 2008 Author Share Posted October 13, 2008 Another more "strategic" part of all of this... If McCain and team pretend to be the "underdog" for the rest of the race, they get an additional level of support from those of us who implicitly "root for the underdog." If they can play on this whole "we're fightin' hard comin' from behind" mentality, it could stimulate greater support. Same with those of us who have been recently disenchanted with McCain... "What happened to the John I used to know and love?" If he starts crushing his own nastiness, it gives the appearance that it's still the old honorable part of him and we'll be more likely to throw our votes his way being reminded of why we liked him in the first place (albeit, the reminder comes from a complete 180 degree turn of his own actions which generated our disgust in the first place). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharonY Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 One thing that I worried somewhat about, though, was the woman "berating Obama" simply said she couldn't trust him because he was an Arab. I took issue with that. While I'm glad McCain stopped her and indicated her comments were inappropriate, I was not comfortable with the fact that the implicit distrust of Arab people was not seen as a bad thing in and of itself... that nobody took issue with that part of it. True that. The exchange went something like. "He is an Arab" "No Ma'am he is a decent person". It probably wasn't meant that way, but it is pretty insulting anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangloss Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 I really don't think McCain was making a statement about Arabs. He recognized the path she was heading down and cut her off before she went further down. You can kinda see him doing it in that video, too -- interrupting her before she can finish her nasty thoughts -- he's responding to more than the word "Arab". I don't fault iNow's concern of unintended racism beneath that, but it's more of a larger, societal issue than a McCain-specific one, IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iNow Posted October 14, 2008 Author Share Posted October 14, 2008 I don't fault iNow's concern of unintended racism beneath that, but it's more of a larger, societal issue than a McCain-specific one, IMO. Oh, I quite agree. It was never my intent to suggest this was some issue specific to McCain. While I do think that he missed to the opportunity to correct another example of ignorance in this world, my intent was to point out how sad our collective perceptions have truly become when something like this goes unchecked and nobody comments, and further, when everyone simply agrees that it was a bad/dangerous/scary thing to be Arab. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharonY Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Dito. Incidentally I found an article referirng to that incident: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/13/campbell.brown.obama/index.html Boy, I browse so much, I must be writing a paper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iNow Posted October 15, 2008 Author Share Posted October 15, 2008 Turns out that more and more people are noticing. 10,000 McCainiacs: http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=188473&title=10,000-mccainiacs An Arab Family Man: http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=188474&title=an-arab-family-man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangloss Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 He goes too far saying that McCain "created the monster". And the pot is certainly calling the kettle black, there! But he's essentially correct, so far as I can tell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sisyphus Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 Hey, had to share this, and this thread seems appropriate. I was browsing Conservapedia, as I sometimes do out of morbid curiosity, and I came across the Barack Obama article: http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Barack_Obama&oldid=537393 It's gotten pretty awesome lately, and it's not just a few rogue editors - Andrew Schlafly himself is watching the article closely, and reverting all attempts to moderate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iNow Posted October 18, 2008 Author Share Posted October 18, 2008 SNL did a piece on the crazy McCain rally lady: http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/update-crazy-mccain-lady-we-liked-it/768741/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iNow Posted November 3, 2008 Author Share Posted November 3, 2008 h/t Evolving Thoughts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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