Check this article by a Doug Thompson at Capitol Hill Blue, specifying incidents of McCain’s racism going back to his days as a Representative.
Take special note of his hiring of Richard Quinn in 2000 as a spokesman, and consider that he hired Terry Nelson, who produced the blatantly racist ad against Harold Ford in 2006, in March of this year.
The Lion doesn’t know if Doug Thompson’s particular charges can be substantiated, but the material from Salon.com and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is likely true, as both are legitimate organizations.
And all of it fits what we’re seeing in McCain’s campaign.
An additional note: Keith Olbermann last night reported that the McCain campaign had two ads prepared on the issue of Obama visiting wounded troops in Germany. One crucified him for not going, and that ad was used. If he had gone, they had another ad they would have run crucifying Obama for using the troops in a political stunt.
Which is exactly what The Lion suggested in a previous post. It doesn’t matter what Senator Obama does or says, McCain’s crew of Rovian con artists and bigots will slam him with lies and distortions.
Maybe it’s time for Senator Obama to take the gloves off and start bodyslamming the pathetic little bastard.
Grumpy Lion 
Stop it Rick. He isn’t a racist. He’s “uninformed”.
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Apparently he’s uninformed about the people he hires to do his dirty work too. Oh, sorry, should have said ‘the people he hires to create his campaign ads’.
And I refuse to stop, even if the little gnome stops. Beating up on little old racist conservative pigs is simply too addictive, especially when there’s so much material to work with.
So much bigotry, so little time.
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Pretty funny exchange between McCain and Obama surrogates on MSNBC a few moments ago:
McCain: Obama played the “race card”
Obama: Obama never once mentioned the word “race”
McCain: Well…. uhh…. you don’t have to specifically use the word “race” in order to play the race card.
Obama: Oh? Well, then, what you’re saying is that McCain’s original ad could be racist without ever using the term “race”? You agree that, just because McCain’s ad never used the word “race” it nonetheless could have been McCain’s campaign “playing the race card”!
McCain: Well… no….. we’re not saying that……….
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dio –
Love it!
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I think this is one of the reasons they keep mentioning Kaine, because he’s the type to strike back apparently. This works since Obama could stay all nicey-nice and not get his hands dirty.
I’m surprised the Republicans haven’t used that little scene where Obama got interrupted recently. He handled it ok, but did you catch the reaction from the crowd, the creepy mass response chant to drown out the protesters? “Yes we can! Yes we can!”
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Obama can’t take the gloves off because, apparently, they’re Crazy-Glued on. That’s why he now favors off-shore drilling, and why he voted for FISA, and why he no longer thinks that “mental distress” is a valid reason for an abortion, and why he practically ejaculates over the idea of Faith-Based Initiatives, and why he’s for the death penalty, and why he supports having guns in the District of Columbia, and … hey, he’s the candidate of CHANGE, so who better to start with than himself, huh? The guy stands for nothing except getting himself elected. He’s a younger, taller, darker, bigger-eared version of McCain.
They both suck. Vote for the Exterminator/Chappy ticket or the third party of your choice.
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I dunno Ex, you might be a little too extreme for me… Besides I sort of promised my vote to a third party – The All Girls All The Time For Ric Party. That’s if I survive the preliminaries…
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Hey, Philly Chief? The protesters were interrupting a lawful activity that the audience came to participate in. If the protesters feel like the First Amendment gives them the right to interrupt, then that same First Amendment gives everybody else in that audience the right to exercise THEIR rights to show their disapproval of the protesters. Nothing wrong with that… unless you already have an anti-Obama bias growing underneath your skin.
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diogenes:
Of course everyone has the right to protest. But what does “yes, we can” mean? It’s a fucking empty slogan, just like everything else that either of the major party candidates say.
Are you trying to imply in your response to Philly that any anti-Obama sentiments, whatsoever, are based on race? What else does “bias” and “underneath your skin” connote?
I think Obama sucks as a candidate for all the reasons I mentioned in my previous comment. Are you going to use veiled language to call me a racist now?
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Diogenes,
So objecting to an empty mantra being chanted by the crowd in response to protest means I must be anti-Obama. Yeah, that makes sense. Are you an idiot or just play one on the internet?
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It’s a campaign slogan. Whether or not it’s an empty one is up to you. But it’s no big deal that supporters chant a campaign slogan during a campaign. Would you prefer that they chant “Shut the fuck up?”
Exterminated, here’s the deal: “bias” means “bias.” Nothing more. We all have biases. I’m biased in favor of Obama, you’re biased against, well, everything, it appears. That’s our respective right. And by “under the skin” I merely meant “under the surface” except a human being’s “surface” is called “skin.”. I have no idea what color Philly is, nor do I care, so I wasn’t referring to any racial bias. If I mean to say “racial bias” I know how to spell and types those words. See?
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diogenes:
What an insincere response. We all know what “bias” and “underneath the skin” are code for. I suppose you just happened on that latter phrase out of the thousands of ways you could have made the same point.
That’s Rovian bullshit. See?
And once again, you jump to a conclusion that’s completely unfounded. Just because I’m not “biased in favor of Obama,” doesn’t mean that I’m biased “against, well, everything.”
So maybe you can tell us why, exactly, you’re biased in favor of Obama? Support your opinion by pointing to his recent actions and stated political positions, rather than idiotic slogans.
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Make up your mind Diogenes, are you arguing to defend the chant itself or the right to chant it?
Here are some clues:
1) IF I was actually against people expressing their first amendment rights, that would not be a sign I was anti-Obama
2) IF I’m against what they chanted, once again, that is not a sign that I’m against Obama
3) If I’m simply against people chanting in unison, once again, that is not a sign I’m anti-Obama
Man, it’s like they’ll let just anyone on the internet these days. Sheesh!
The FUCKING POINT, btw, was that in light of McCain’s recent ads and the rhetoric his campaign is putting out, a clip of that crowd chanting would be just the thing that they could exploit as proof of the way he’s hypnotized people into thinking he’s a Messiah. They could play that clip with clips of Manson, Jim Jones, hey maybe even Nazis chanting “Sieg heil!”. I mean, would any of that be beyond those scumbags?
(hint: the reference to those in McCain’s campaign being “scumbags” is a sign I’m anti-McCain)
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Jeez, who pissed in your guys’ corn flakes this morning?
Ext, I meant what I said. “Bias” and “under the skin” weren’t meant as any kind of code. Consider it insincere if you want, it matters not to me. My life will go on whether or not you disapprove of me.
I think I hear something in what Obama says that strikes a chord in me, something I haven’t really felt about politics since Bobby Kennedy was assassinated. I know it’s not cool to say it, but yeah, some sense of hope. Not “Hope” necessarily, but good old-fashioned lower-case hope. This is the first time in nigh-onto-forever that I’ll be voting for a cnadidate that I want to vote for, instead of voting against the worse of two bad choices.
And, if I’m wrong, I’m wrong; it’s still better than anything McCain has to offer. And voting for a third party? Why not just stay home and pull the covers up over my head?
If you don’t agree,well, fine. I never asked you or anybody else to agree.
Phiily, all I know is that, for some reason, you decided you had to comment that people chanting at a campaign rally were somehow worthy of derogatory comment. I should have not bothered to try to figure out why you would feel it necessary to make an unnecessary comment. Consider it withdrawn.
But I don’t think anybody ought to be letting John McCain’s bunch interfere with anything they want to say or do. If chants stopped immediately, there’d be plenty of tape from past rallies if that’s what McCain wanted.
Besides, McCain would like to use his own crowds chanting his name…. but it sounds too weak on tape when there are only seven voices calling out at any given moment.
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Hey, diogenes, it sounds like you’ve taken a faith position on Obama. I asked you to support your opinion by pointing to his recent actions and stated political positions. Instead, you come back at me singing “Kumbaya” and spouting some woo about “hope.” That kind of mindless crap is what got Bush elected twice. See?
Now, it’s your right to vote for anyone you care to, acting on whatever delusions you may have. But if you want to engage in a meaningful discussion, your feelings aren’t really worth shit.
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Maybe, maybe not. But I ain’t wasting time discussing worthless protests like third party votes.
No candidate represents my views 100% but,in general, I appreciate Obama’s positions on some of these issues that I care about:
Taxes: Bush tax cuts for the ultra-rich are not in the best interest of our entire society. Especially with the massive deficit we’re facing thanks to Bush’s war of choice, we cannot afford to continue to cut taxes in this manner.
Education: “No Child Left Behind” needs to be radically altered, and more support has to be given to public education.
Foreign relations: We need to reestablish America as not onlythe most powerful nation in the world, but that “city upon a hill” that Reagan took note of. We have to show the world that we are NOT the warmongering nation that Bush made us out to be. Diplomacy is not a bad word, or a sign of weakness, and it’s time to reinforce to everybody else on this planet that America is not always fixated on carrying that big stick, that we’re also willingto speak softly, if that’s what’s called for in any given situation.
Just a few ideas. Tear ’em to shreds if you want, because I’m not here to debate you. We all get to choose in this country… which is why I posted originally: I think supporters at a political rally can chant what they damn well want to chant, and I think it’s kind of silly to attack anybody over something so minor.
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It’s “Philly”, and it should be “all you knew” not “all I know” because I’ve explained the point (which everyone got except for you, btw) so you SHOULD know the reasoning now. Unfortunately, since you find the comment still unnecessary, I fear there’s little hope for you, but here it goes anyway…
• Republicans paint Obama as a demagogue with catchy phrases, charm but no answers
• Republicans paint Obama supporters as fanatics caught up in a cult of personality with no knowledge of issues
Now you have a scene where protesters at an Obama speech get drowned out by a crowd chanting an alleged empty phrase. It plays perfectly into the Republican’s hands because you have a crowd drowning out dissent through a creepy unified chant. That conjures up all the imagery they’ve been pushing of religious fanaticism coupled by the delicious irony of liberals silencing dissent.
If you took a moment to venture out from your ivory tower princess, you’d see that this shit plays well to the right and does sow doubt in the middle, and really that’s all the Republican strategy is this year isn’t it? Sowing doubt. It’s all they’ve got. It’s Obama’s to lose and they know that so they’re going to try and hammer that message. It doesn’t matter if the crowd has a right to chant, if they were right to drown out the protesters or even right to get caught up in a campaign slogan. It’s how that scene looks, or more specifically how it can look in the hands of Republican marketers.
So do you get it now? If you don’t, I suggest you find someone to explain this to you. It wasn’t an attack of Obama, a revealing glimpse at bias lurking under my skin, or evidence of a hard on in my pants for McCain. It was acknowledgment of both how creepy an incident appeared (which if you took your damn blinders off you could see) and it could appear and be used by the Republicans.
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I apologize for the typo, Philly. As for the grammar lesson, I don’t stand corrected. You may say what you wish, as will I.
And I sincerely apoligize for not immediately realzing that you are a sensitive person. Others may think you overly sensitive, but I leave it to them to judge.
“Alleged empty phrase” is your opinion. Some folks seem to think that, although simplistic, it summarizes in just a few short words why they’re backing Obama. Different strokes for different folks.
As to your characterization that this incident was “creepy”? A tad over the top, if you ask me, which I know you haven’t. You expressed your opinion, which is evidently the only important one around, and come out swinging against anybody with the “audacity” to wonder aloud whether you’re possibly making a mountain out of a molehill.
As for me, I’m through with allowing Republicans to frame the issues. I’m not accepting their politics of fear anymore. I doubt that, had I been in the crowd, I would have chanted “Yes We Can”, but I’m not about to tell those folks to shush up, because the mean old nasty Republicans might use this against Obama; there’s already an abundance of tape out there that the Republicans can utilize if they’re so inclined. Do you think for a moment that the Rovians would hesitate for a second in dubbing over that visual with an Obama chant derived from another source? Truth isn’t important to them, only image.
Besides, if Rove is looking for Obama chanting, he only needs to wait until August 28, when Obama gives his acceptance speech at Invesco Field.
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Okay guys, I think you’ve made your points. I won’t ask you to kiss and make up, but I think there’s been an overabundance and it’s gotten too personal. Knock it off or you’ll force me to have to figure out how to shut off comments on this thread, which means I’d have to figure out how to navigate the WordPress menu system and that always gives me a headache, and then I have to start taking things for a headache and one of them would probably kill me and you’d both be up on murder charges. And you’d have to find a replacement Lion.
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Technically, it’d probably only be an accessory to murder charge. And they might claim justifiable homicide, even.
But I digress.
I’ll (try to) be good, Dad!
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I have nothing more to say about this topic. I just want to say Ric you were a total puss over at Steph’s blog which you linked to on Ex’s blog. A whiff of virtual pussy and the lion becomes a lamb. LOL
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PC –
Apparently you’ve never tangled with Steph. I’ve learned to stand aside, watch, learn, and admire. It hurts a lot less that way. (She’s Sicilian and a lawyer and her brother hurts people for Maseratis and Lamborghinis.) 🙂
(Lest that be miscontrued, he’s a world-class pro wrestler – real wrestling, and he’s very good and very smart.)
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