Palin Attacks Provoked Assassination Plots on Obamas
Unnamed Secret Service field officers have revealed to the press that Sarah Palin's attacks on President-Elect Obama provoked numerous white supremecist assassination plots against him:
'The Republican vice presidential candidate attracted criticism for accusing Mr Obama of "palling around with terrorists", citing his association with the sixties radical William Ayers.
The attacks provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling "terrorist" and "kill him" until the McCain campaign ordered her to tone down the rhetoric.
But it has now emerged that her demagogic tone may have unintentionally encouraged white supremacists to go even further.
The Secret Service warned the Obama family in mid October that they had seen a dramatic increase in the number of threats against the Democratic candidate, coinciding with Mrs Palin's attacks.'
McCain got all blustery when John Lewis accused his campaign of sowing the seeds of hate. But of course Lewis was perfectly right.
Anywone who knows the history of race relations in the United States knows that accusing a Black man of 'palling around with terrorists' is the prelude to a lynching.
McCain and Palin knew exactly what they were unleashing with that line, as did Neocon Randy Scheunemann.
It should be remembered that rightwing rhetoric in Israel lambasting Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin as a traitor was implicated in whipping up an Orthodox assassin to kill him, thus destroying the Oslo peace process.
Words have consequences, even ignorant disconnected words like those of Sarah Palin.
posted by Juan Cole @ 11/09/2008 01:10:00 AM
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One of the reasons John McCain lost the election was his descent into the politics of hate. With every defamatory remark made, he reminded voters just how much he WAS like George W. Bush and the Karl Rove School of Hatemongering. Sarah Palin also took to mudslinging like a bee to honey. She appeared to relish every lie and vicious deception. Both of them got their just desserts. Millions of Americans were disgusted and appalled at the ugliness of the Republican campaign. They were not going to buy the venomous snake oil this time around. The economic crisis was the biggest factor in McCain's defeat; but his obsession with Supply Side Economics coupled with all of the negativity simply served to remind people that the Republican brand has become toxic. I don't know if these people can learn from their mistakes. Their fanaticism is frightening. To have invoked such violent reactions, then fail to acknowledge that their behavior was dangerously inappropriate, says a great deal about their lack of character and very poor judgement. Winning is NOT everything. Any means to an end is a losing ideology. Palin is busy being embarrassingly defensive and running her mouth overtime. McCain was supposed to be the "Happy Warrior." Instead, he turned himself into a Rancid Renegade, defending the false attacks against Obama at every opportunity. Neither McCain nor Palin should be proud of what they did. Both should publicly admit they would have better served their campaign and the country had they stayed on the high road. I will not hold my breath waiting for them to do so. Let us hope that in future campaigns of both parties, a lesson has been taught about hatemongering and fearmongering. The Far Right and Karl Rove have been rebuked. Let them sink out of sight into the muck of their own making. We will be a much better country without them.
It was a wile campaign McCain/Palin orchestrated.
And they riled up the base to maximum ugly.
Over at Free Republic I came across the following sentiment: "I vomit in my mouth at the thought of Michelle Obama in the White House."
This was in reaction to Bush inviting the Obamas. (Bush, btw, was considered a traitor in that thread.)
One doesn't even have to look in White Supremacist circles to find people who consider the Obamas ruling the WH an outrage. Many of the ugly comments caught on camera from McCain's supporters at rallies are testament to that.
Palin mined this seam to the fullest, with McCain's backing.
What, then, to think of the "gracious" concession from McCain, and the "gracious" welcome from Bush?
These are talking points. The GOP now hopes to have the Dem's involved in the final days, in a manner where the electorate won't be able to see clearly "Where the Blame Stops."
Fortunately, the Obama camp seems smarter, and will leave the whole miserable Bush White House on the GOP doorstep, until it's time to hand over the keys.
Still - I must confess: I find watching Barack Obama in live transmission to be testing, as I find myself rooting for the Secret Service every single second ...
There are a lot of loons out there, and they have guns galore.
This is most disturbing, although I've read some of it before. I do worry about the safety of our new President. My mother said, some time back, that if Jesus returned, we probably would stone him. Barack Obama is not the Second Coming, I don't think, but he is a rare and special individual, indeed.
Tragically, the USA now and then assassinates those who are inspiring, those who give hope to countless many.
May it not happen again.
The horrors of the Rwandan genocide began, afaik, when a few Rwandan radio commentators started raving against one of major ethnic groups of the country.
Words can be like matches, and our nation is figuratively rather dry -- God forbid that we should have a racial war.
What's also disturbing is that hatred's embers can smolder for even whole lifetimes. The Secret Service is quite professional enough to not let down its vigilance and its guard.
It's awful, and this paragraph might be edited out, but at times I think of Sarah Palin as a latent equivalent of another woman who was rather pretty in her younger years, Ilse Koch. Some idea of why Ilse Koch got her nickname will be better understood when you learn how her orders were connected with preparing bulls for bullfights.
Shooting wolves (especially from a plane) might signify a cruel streak; I do hope I'm wrong.
-- Nicabod.
"McCain and Palin knew exactly what they were unleashing with that line, as did Neocon Randy Scheunemann."
Actually, I don't think Palin knew where the line would take them at all. She is an instinctual politician (and thus prone to demagoguery) but I don't think she had any idea of context with respect to the history of African-Americans.
There should be a law against slander - or worse - provoking a riot...? I think there's laws against shouting fire in a crowded theater... What about "terrorist" to a crowd of partisan republicans???
Am I just being paranoid or is it strange that the radical Christianist movement, which supports Palin, has attracted almost no media scrutiny.
Despite being the largest protestant "denomination" worldwide with some 300 million adherents, the New Apostolic Reformation is still virtually unknown.
OK, you may have heard of certain manifestations of it : Jesus Camp; Ted Haggard; witchfinder general Bishop Muthee; holy laughter; Lakeland revival; third wave.
So far, only talk2action seems to be connecting the dots. In the light of polls showing that Palin is the overwhelming favourite for nomination in 2012, it's time for this sinister dominionist movement to be exposed.
The Secret Service are seasoned professionals. May their work meet with unqualified success, for all of our sakes.
As I wrote on my blog, the gun they are pointing at Obama's head they are also pointing at their own. They don't realize that even for them, the world will be a better place with Obama than without him. The rest of the world will simply not tolerate a United States that is so violent and self-destructive that any ray of hope is extinguished.
Does Ms. Palin understand the forces she's unleashing? Does she really believe the things she said in her speeches, or was it just campaign rhetoric? And which is worse?
Yes. Words do have consequences.
But being called out on screaming "Fire" in crowded theaters takes away their First Amendment rights. And that's truly Un-American. Unless Newt Gingrich advises it.
I completely believe this, but could you site a source? I want to send this out to others. Thank you, C. Pierson, Louisville, KY
Basically, John McCain is a decent fellow whose blind ambition and hunger for votes led him to abandon respectable campaigning -- and take up the coded language of racism, fear, and 'other-ness' instead. That is exactly how Wallace became the voice and face of southern racism.
Lewis' comparison was on the money.
For at one time, Wallace had a liberal and humanitarian track record as a judge; but when he discovered the utility of hate in getting elected governor, he began to talk about representing the "good people" of Alabama, much as Palin enjoyed visiting the "pro-American" parts of the country.
As much as the majority HATED Bush and Cheney over the past 8 years, most of us wanted to see justice served in the way of legal indictment and prosecution, not violence.
The McCain/Palin campaign was poorly run. Sarah Palin is a idiot and John McCain is old and senile. Palin knew she would target fools out there that would try to assassinate Obama and his family that would have made their way to the white house a breeze. They both knew they were fighting a loosing battle.
When I read Juan's post and the thread following it, I think of Rudy Dutchske and John Lennon, snuffed after hate campaigns, on the one hand done by the Springer press and the other by so-called "born again" Christians in Georgia.
@Matt Osborne above -- indeed, if I recall correctly, Wallace was rather liberal until he lost an election to a racist. Supposedly, he then said, "That's the last time I'm going to be out-niggered".
The point is, politicians are politicians and they follow more than they lead. Sooo, dear hearts, if you really want Obama to deliver, you have to make your voices heard.
There are laws against incitement to riot. Here's Wikipedia; just google that phrase and you'll find lots more.
Under United States federal law, a riot is defined as:
A public disturbance involving (1) an act or acts of violence by one or more persons part of an assemblage of three or more persons, which act or acts shall constitute a clear and present danger of, or shall result in, damage or injury to the property of any other person or to the person of any other individual or (2) a threat or threats of the commission of an act or acts of violence by one or more persons part of an assemblage of three or more persons having, individually or collectively, the ability of immediate execution of such threat or threats, where the performance of the threatened act or acts of violence would constitute a clear and present danger of, or would result in, damage or injury to the property of any other person or to the person of any other individual. 18 U.S.C. §2102.
As every state in the United States has its own laws (subject to the Supremacy Clause), each has its own definition of 'riot.' In New York State, for example, the term 'riot' is not defined explicitly, but under §240.08 of the N.Y. Penal Law, A person is guilty of inciting to riot when he urges ten or more persons to engage in tumultuous and violent conduct of a kind likely to create public alarm.
Inciting a riot is one thing. Inciting the assassination of the President (or President-Elect) of the US is treason.
Couldn't Gov. Palin be charged as an accomplice?
I just saw that the unnamed McCain source who leaked the Africa story about Sarah Palin to Fox News was Martin Eisenstadt - he just came out of the shadows and admitted it on his blog:
www.eisenstadtgroup.com
Martin Eisenstadt doesn't exist. Check The New York Times. He was fabricated by some sly individuals who were mocking the unorganized and often irresponsible system created by blogs and associated citizen journalists. This faulty source was mistaken by many to be a legitimate one.
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