McCain dials down his crowd
 

Good for him. I've watched the second half of this clip, where he actually takes the mic from the old lady, a few times.

The media's take on these events is pathetic, such as MSNBC's caption ("...forced to defend Obama..."), because they have to go a long way to write a negative narrative on this. You'll be immune if you watch the clip. Politico, which is usually pretty good, uses the headline "Crowd boos after McCain says Obama not 'an Arab'". Listen for the boos at the end of this clip after he says it. You won't hear a single one.

what scares me is the thought that their rhetoric may have gone too far already
(like the 'kill him!' Palin supporter)
and this might be out of their control.
i just hope they dont end up creating a mob

It will be interesting to see if Palin remains the junk yard dog, while McCain becomes the voice of reason, placating the people that are turned off by her rhetoric. :confused:

by the way
when the caption isn't in the way
the guy who's head is under the 'rea' of breaking news
shakes his head no when McCain says that Obama's a decent person...

It is worrisome that not only did McCain / Palin not stop the hate before it became public and a liability to their campaign, but the rest of the crowd didn't stop them, either. Would you have sat by and said nothing to someone who yelled,"kill him"?

A few weeks ago Sarah Palin showed up in the middle of Philly to greet her supports at the Irish Pub. A spontaneous anti-Palin rally formed outside the place.

Until a few days ago, I worked with a guy who lives right above the Irish Pub. And he was there at this rally. You afraid of McCain supporters? Republicans don't mob. This group was a mob. They talked as violent as they wanted. It was not reported in any media.

The McCain campaign has a problem. Extremists embedded in his campaign want to go nasty. McCain does not. You see this contradiction in his latest speeches where he is trying to dial back the hate and nasty attacks that his campaign staff has been pushing for.

McCain is not an extremist which puts him at conflict with many in his campaign. That makes it more difficult to rally the troops.

I may be naive, but I think what McCain said was classy. I'm not looking at it as some kind of intricate political move: I think he was just saying, simply no, Obama is not a bad man, Obama is not an Arab...I'd be a better president, but Obama is not a force of evil.

I have a lot of respect for McCain. I think Obama would be a better president for me, but I do respect McCain. I don't really respect Palin; she reaps what she sows.

Sheesh! I've had a drink or two there.

I have a lawyer friend who meets me there for a kip after work, when I'm in town.

Phila is heavily Democrat so this doesn't surprise me too much.

You're technically right. I heard them booing as he said it. Check out 1:04-1:09 minutes into the clip.

I thought it was a decent thing to do. I'd give him even more credit if he hadn't wound them up in the first place.

As for Palin, it's hard to tell how much is her own views and how much is her being the designated attack dog (pig?) for the campaign, which is the traditional job of the running mate. Still, compare Biden's attacks with hers and decide which are more on point.

Still, Palin is one tough lady. She is going to rule her cell block.;)

:lol2: You think she is going to jail?!?! :lol2:

Probably not, hence the smiley. Possibly a censure.

A) That is not as he corrected the woman about Arab. That's the following clip.

B) If one is the sense the entire crowd reaction to THIS statement, it's about three times as positive as the first reaction is negative. Of course you can just take the five seconds you like out of time, and advance that as the critical narrative. But that's very obviously bullshit.

The schizophrenic nature of McCain's campaign continues. Whereas McCain apparently wants to run as a moderate, many in his campaign want to promote and incite the rhetoric of extremists. This is not the same well run Republican campaign that elected George Jr . A problem apparently created because John McCain was never a supporter and often a critic of those extremist elements that are now working to get him elected.

From ABC New of 11 Oct 2008:

UT I respect you enormously. And I know we don't share political ideals, but you are so rational it's never been something that has made me question your posts. But the above? A little broadly painted perhaps.

OK, then we agree that they were booing McCain for saying 'you should not be afraid of an Obama presidency' instead of 'Obama is not an Arab'.

I agree richlevy, just forget the one idiot lady and her Arab comment - that mindset is such a minute percentage of the populus. McCain showed a lot of class - again. Blame the media for even showing it. What a total non story.

Republicans don't mob. This group was a mob.

Oh bullshit. Perhaps there is less tie dye and fewer puppets. Perhaps mob is not the effective form for the likes of George Will or Cheney/Libby (they can hire it done) but just as you note with leftist ideologues, there are enthusiastic conservative fundamentalists, culture warriors (!) who gather and threaten or enact violence against individuals or institutions with which they disagree---those acting too gay, not speaking English, exercising their right to obtain medical treatment, or perhaps daring to teach Toni Morrison to 12th graders and charismatic mouthpieces- Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Hannity to egg them on. There is plenty of hate to go around.

McCain did well ethically and strategically rebutting those ignorant Minnesotans. I also watched some footage from Ohio where the rhetoric was not countered but encouraged by the Campaign and surrogates. Who is leading here? the mob?

You can make that statement, and actually, we expect it of you. But if you were trying to describe the event in an unbiased, journalistic sort of way, would you?

(If so, a job waits for you at most major metropolitan newspapers.)

The unbiased statement is: A smattering booed his initial comment. The crowd cheered his followup.

Is there a Youtube clip.

her: he's an arab

him; no ma'am, he's a decent family man citizen


wait, since when are "Arab" and "decent family man citizen" the opposite of one another?

I see what you're saying there Monster, but I think you might be digging a little deeper than needed. If someone, in reference to any man, said - "he's a nigger/jew/other disgusting epithet", I think "decent family man citizen" would be an appropriate way of countering an insulting term by pointing out that he is not deserving of any such insult. I don't think that any insult towards arabs should be read into that statement.

no deep digging was required for that... you need to dig deeper (ostrich-style) to ignore it.

I'm glad and impressed that he "corrected" the woman and "defended" Barack, rather than ignoring the bigotry of churning out a standard speech, but that was no real defence or correction.

That was a "yes, arabs are bad, but he isn't one".

So, you think "Jew" is a disgusting epithet? ;)

maybe this is my foreignness showing, but i was waiting to hear "he's not an arab, but even if he was, so what? He's an American citizen."

L123, you yourself just equated "disgusting epithet" with both "Jew" and "Arab". Is that really what you wanted to say? :headshake

(monster beat me to it, I see.)

Wolf and I are discussing this at my blog...I forgot about this thread.

The woman said she didn't trust Obama, then gave as a reason, "He's an Arab". That's what makes it a disgusting epithet.

That's also when McCain cut her off, so we don't know if she had more reasons or not.

I wanted to see the exchange and found this on YouTube, though I can't quite make out what she's saying:



Disclaimer: I haven't watched the entire video.

The video is in the first post.

I suggest that for "disgusting" we read "derogatory".

Using a derogatory epithet - especially in that context - might reasonably be considered disgusting, but it is the use, not the epithet itself, which is disgusting.

It's disgusting to use the epithet in a derogatory manner? I'll buy that.

Grrrrr - That is certainly not what he meant - that's a big stretch.

Right...but the video I linked to starts with Gayle Quinnell's Arab statement, then cuts away to an in-depth interview with her. Here's a transcript of the interview.

I know both sides have their kooks, but Jesus...this shit has been refuted to death already.

To me, it doesn't matter what a random person in the crowd said or did not say - candidate McCain (whether of his own volition or at the urging of his handlers) tried to defuse and refute the charge. I used the "Contact Us" link at his web site and thanked him for doing so and encouraged him to follow that path. It's not much and may be nothing at all, but it felt like a positive (re)action. He has not won my vote because I have big problems with Palin, but he did a good thing there.

I thought this article was an interesting look at what's going on in the McCain campaign.

I especially liked the last 1/2 of it - I think he very accurately described my position. I think most people have pretty much decided who they are voting for, but the issues both candidates need to address are laid out very nicely. Thanks dar.

Sweetwater, I agree...what McCain did was awesome, and I totally respect him for that. That old hag just really rubbed me the wrong way...she might as well have said, "I'm not voting for Obama because he's a n****r." I've heard people here in St. Louis say as much.

yeah, that's exactly what i meant. the intent behind the usage of the words is what matters. they are simply words that in another context are simply words. when used as an insult, then yes "jew" and "arab" are disgusting.