THE BIG NEWS on the Internet yesterday was that federal authorities arrested two skinhead cretins who were plotting to kill over a hundred black people, including Barack Obama.
Now, these two idiots probably did not represent a serious threat to Obama or anyone else. Their puerile plot included dressing up in white tuxedos with top hats and “driving at top speed and firing high-powered rifles at Obama from their car windows,” according to an ATF special agent who was a lead investigator in the case. Most ten-year-olds could probably come up with a better scheme than that.
I found this story amusing until I thought about all the other crazies out there who might be plotting similar actions. Some of them might be a bit more sophisticated. Somebody might actually pull it off. Obama is constantly surrounded by huge crowds in these final days of the campaign. The Secret Service can’t be everywhere, watching every one of those tens and hundreds of thousands of people. It’s a scary thought.
It has happened before. The Kennedy brothers and Ronald Reagan took a bullet. But this time, if the unthinkable happened and Barack Obama were assassinated, I think it would be a national crisis of a magnitude not seen since the Civil War. There would be massive protests and demonstrations, maybe even riots. Racial tensions would escalate to incendiary levels.
What would happen to the election? I hate to say it, but I hope some leaders of the Democratic Party are doing some quiet contingency planning. It would be necessary to recall the convention delegates and select a new candidate immediately…probably Hillary Clinton. New ballots would need to be printed. The election would probably have to be delayed, at least for a few weeks. It would be chaos.
Much of the blame for this can be attributed to the vitriolic campaign that is currently being waged by John McCain, Sarah Palin and their followers. The LA Times ran an editorial last Sunday deploring the “disturbing, discordant note” that has permeated the campaign in its final days. Sarah Palin’s thinly-veiled attacks on urban America, claiming that only the rural areas are “pro-America” is one example. Others have said that Obama “hates America,” is a Muslim, and has trained as a terrorist.
Such outrageous claims have raised the emotional level, and possibly are the reason for the foiled attempt described above. During a recent speech by Palin, when she repeated her false claims about Obama’s ties to terrorists, a supporter shouted “Kill him!” To her everlasting discredit, Palin did not denounce the shouter. She said NOTHING!
Similarly, at a McCain rally, someone shouted that Obama is a terrorist. McCain said nothing in response to admonish the shouter.
In contrast, when Obama mentioned McCain’s name at a rally, supporters booed. Obama’s response? He said, “We don’t need that…we need you to vote.” And then he went back to discussing his plans to rescue our nation from the mess created by Bush & Co…a mess that John McCain voted for, and plans to continue.
I suspect that moderate Republicans, and probably even a number of Conservatives are horrified by the direction of the Republican campaign in these final days. But as you travel further to the Right in the Republican Party, it begins to resemble a 19th Century lynch mob. At the fringes, I have no doubt that there are a number of unbalanced people who are willing and capable of planning and executing an attempt on Obama’s life. The leaders of their party are…deliberately or not…inciting them with their polemics.
The hypocrisy of this is stunning. These are the same people who fatuously fulminate about piety, patriotism, and the sanctity of life. Palin will defend a fertilized egg, not yet even attached to the uterus wall in a woman’s body, calling it a crime to destroy it.
But she has NOTHING to say when one of her followers advocates the assassination of a Senator from Illinois who is the front-running candidate for President of the United States.
This kind of behavior is beneath contempt, and should be enough to cause any intelligent voter to reject her as a candidate for ANY public office.
Sigh...I did say "intelligent."
So we still have a problem...
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Comments: 57
In many ways, this group wants to bring us back to the 19th century, and even beyond. They are the antithesis of the 'values' they purport. It is outrageous, but clearly a problem as these are the people that tend to amass guns and ammunition like liberals amass books. I hope reason prevails, Bert, and that Obama starts advertising his ideas of having reps from all parts of the two parties as part of his administration, as did Lincoln. People need to feel that they have a voice in government, no matter which party in is the majority. I hope fervently that Obama gets a chance to make that wish a reality, for I see in him the ability and desire to do so.
It was disgusting what these man had planned to do but I see not relation to this campaign.
Jose, the point is this: McCain and Palin are working hard to appeal to folks with FEAR. They are constantly using words like "take away" and "free money" which scares most honest hard working people.
Add to that both McCain and Palin's continual appeal to gun owners and fringe isolationists (look no farther than Palin's husband for a real fringe group), and their lack of back bone putting down these hecklers calling for violence.
If you look at the law, the person inciting a mob riot or mob violence is guilty of a crime. I'm not saying McCain or Palin are criminals, but they certainly are whipping up violence.
As for McCain shutting down that idiot at his rally, that was for his own good. An interview with said nutjob afterwards revealed she was a racist idiot. McCain sure didn't want to stain his suit with her likes.
I still haven't heard Obama use those kinds of divisive tactics. He continually talks about hope and unity, a far cry from the messages being parroted daily by his Republican counterparts. It only takes a few minutes to hear the difference in McCain's and Palin's speeches vs. Obama's.
I know these groups have been around a long time, but I hold John McCain and Sarah Palin personally responsible for inciting violence and for giving those cowards wink wink permission to act on their subliminal orders to act.
Any moral person should be ashamed that this could result from his or her actions.
I've been worried about the potential for some act of insanity since it became obvious we'd have either Obama or Clinton for the Democratic candidate -- but never for a minute did I expect to see the GOP candidate(s) giving silent assent. That seems like the thing that should alert every voter: who could feel safe with McCain in charge?
Even if voters have concerns about the "inexperience" of Obama, they have to see that the instability of McCain is far more dangerous.
The GOP wouldn't be the first in history to overdo this "play to the extreme right" trick and lose control of the situation as the Nazis climb out of their holes.
This is especially true if they're sailboat owners as well. :-)
"US police fear riots could break out if John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, wins steals the election next month. Law enforcement officials say the intense public interest and historic nature of the vote could lead to violent outbreaks if people are unhappy with the results, encounter problems casting their ballots or suspect voting irregularities. Police departments say they cannot rule out disorder and are mobilising extra forces and putting SWAT teams on standby. In Oakland, near San Francisco, police will have tactical squads, SWAT teams and officers trained in riot control on standby. " rest of the story
Another possibility...most blacks are not comfortable with cops around. They have been subjected to discriminitory enforcement for a long, long time. Republicans have used this tactic in the past to intimidate black voters. A few cops around the polling booth, and quite a few potential voters will just leave.
I think it's fairly reasonable to predict that if Obama loses, and people feel it was due to fraud (and what else could they think?) there would be wide-spread protests. And whenever people take to the streets, the "mixed bag" situation mentioned on another thread manifests itself big time: peaceful protesters, violent protesters, thugs, common criminals looking for an opportunity will all be out there together, in one big crowd. It always happens that way, no matter who the "subjects" are. The Oakland police would be negligent if they didn't prepare for this possibility.
Jose, if you don't see the connection, I suggest you start playing a few games of solitaire each night and work logic and math problems instead of typing on Gather until you have developed some critical thinking skills and can see the connection between related events and how they impact one another. This was racially and politically motivated.
Bert, I detected a tinge of racism in the article and I also see Aniko's point about acknowledging reality. I think the reality is that there will be trouble no matter who wins this election. There is no possible way for McCain to win, so if that should happen we will know the many already documented attempts by the Republican Party to steal another one was successful (disenfranchising, not putting enough machines/ballots in certain districts, purging registrations, Republicans throwing away registrations that weren't for their party, telling students they can't vote where they go to school, telling people the police will be watching poll locations for people with outstanding warrants, etc) and the people (black and white, young and old) are NOT going to sit back and watch this happen again. And the two guys in this story represent a large number of violent, gun-toting racists who would rather kill and/or die than have a black president.
Honestly, I suspect the Republican Party and McCain/Palin purposely incited these people, hoping they would incite violence before next Tuesday so they can call in the troops they have prepared to put us in a police state before Election Day. I think that's why we have this big push for early voting.
One of these men is a high school dropout the other a bag boy, they met online. This sounds no different to me than all the other crazies who go on shooting sprees to get famous and are willing to die to make the evening news.
This was not Political, It was Racist.
"[I don't] want to sound racist here," said another participant, "but I do not want a black man running my country."
How can anyone say such a thing and not sound "racist"? What difference does skin color make? We're voting for the intelligence, the integrity, and the capability of a person, none of which is generated in the epidermis.
Just for the record, I'll say this again, too: according to my Anthropology text book, there is only one human race.
All horses are horses, whether they're palominos, appaloosas, chestnuts, or roans. Likewise, all people are people, regardless of appearance.
Dannielle, that is a racist statement but people who say things like that (or, claim to be color blind, or announce that they have a black friend) will never understand why others think they are racist.
I can only imagine a couple of reasons people would not want a black president. 1) They believe whites have used their power to abuse others, and expect (irrationally) others will do the same when they are in power. 2) They are afraid of everyone who isn't just like them, which means they have chosen to segregate themselves, which makes their fear self-induced and irrational.
You can't explain it because you have no basis for your argument. You can insult me but you cannot debate me on this because you know you are wrong.
Yes, I said Wrong! Now if you choose to attempt to insult my intelligence than I strongly suggest you present me with some logic.
How does white supremacy equal John McCain?
The two fools recently arrested identify themselves as white supremacists, and they are supporters of McCain -- or, at least, they are not supporters of Obama and since we have only two choices at this point in the process, and if we assume they are registered to vote, we can use valid logic to connect the dots.
The dots might not all be there -- were they registered voters? Were they planning to vote? Did they even care who Obama was running against? I don't know.
McCain is speaking to people who prefer buzz words, who prefer to let someone else do their thinking/analysis for them. This doesn't mean stupid people or poor people, either -- it literally means those who let others do the work for them, and CEOs do that all the time (think secretaries.)
McCain stands for the status quo. He is looking for whoever feels secure with how things are now, but more than that he is looking for anyone with fears about how things might change: they think this is a game of Othello.
Do you really think racism is isolated from the rest of the things that go on in society? Do you think of it as an idea that hangs out in a dark, hermetically sealed corner, and never comes in contact with politics?
How will we know that? There will be observers at many polling places, particularly in poor and black neighborhoods where there has been a history of voting fraud in the past.
But still, it will be difficult to prove, especially where voting machines are used.
Isn't it a shame that third-world countries like India can run elections that are clearly fair and fraud-free, and the greatest democracy in the world cannot?
Sandy detailed their methods in an earlier comment:
You are going to blame the spotlight exposure of race issues that have been running rampant and somewhat underground in this country for decades (where we like to keep them because they are unflattering to Americans everywhere) on McCain and Palin not defending Barack Obama?
C'mon. You have to do better than that.
I just think the personal attacks which have been repeatedly discredited are promoting violence. And I think that is unconsionable.
Newly-freed slaves throughout the South loyally joined "the party of Lincoln" and yet were promptly silenced at the polls by all kinds of new measures: literacy tests, grandfather clauses, and so forth. Henry Lincoln Johnson of Georgia, a black delegate to the RNC in 1923, objected to that party's move to reduce the influence of Southern states. They were going to "reward" those Northern states where there were Republican victories by allowing them more delegates. For some reason, the GOP could not see that they could win in those Southern states if they would just do the right thing and fight those measures that denied black voters their fight to vote.
I loved Johnson's quote:
"Why not the Republican Party first give me the chance to vote, and then if I fail penalise me?"
You can find groups of skinheads talking of doing the same thing , except the media and government doesn't publicize it (here they did, for self-serving reasons, probably). A crazy plot. The skinheads named perhaps copied the scenario from other skinheads. It seems like this "terrorist" plots that get publicity and turn out to be far from actually being carried out and some turn out to be encouraged and created by paid informants. They are racists and want a race war and many think Obama being elected would hasten the day.
These guys were outed by an ATF agent who had infiltrated their group. I am glad to hear those guys are doing that! But Palin's failure to remonstrate a supporter who advocated killing Obama is beneath contempt.
By the way, I read this morning that she is now trying to "distance" herself from the McCain campaign so that she can position herself for a run for PRESIDENT in 2012!
I simply cannot make any comment on that. I am speechless.
Good grief! That's bad on two political fronts. First, it is a statement of defeat for her own running mate -- which brings into question (again) what political acumen might actually be rolling around in her cranium. Secondly, it means she takes herself seriously. That's like a cheerleader considering herself part of the football team -- great in spirit, terrible in reality.
On the lighter side (and there is one) -- this might mean she won't be available for the alleged TV shows being contemplated.
Such "folks" are actively recruited by the similar thinking less religious folks that have already extreme wealth and power ... those that actually run our "system" in anonymity "buying" politicians (law makers) and anyone else that values what "they" have to offer over and above just decent human morality ... it is such "folks" that already in affect run this world and intend to consolidate their power base to ever more effectively continue doing so ... in the truest sense of the word, if there is evil it is "them" ...
Conspiracy ? You damn well betcha !!! ... Such a fearful thing that almost everyone will deny it ... to their last breath ... which given "their" way,may be closer than we would like to think.
Earlier it was mentioned; "that the right collects guns (and bombs, if they could) like the left collects books" ... there is far more truth to that in general than most would realize or admit ... proudly bragged about by many at the same time they denounce the book folks as those disdainful elitists, those of the left, the libs that teach such reprehensible value systems in the schools of higher learning in this nation ... all such philosophy being Anti-American and leading to the ruin of "their" Great Nation ...
Peaceful desires are considered weak and effeminate (picture "gay") to "them" the Patriotic, Proud, and extremely Materialistic crowd ...
Of course "they" also see all poor people, especially those of darker skin color, as the epitome of free-loader trouble makers threatening to steal "their" hard earned wealth ... that of course is exemplified by "their" pundit idols on FOX, their only allowable source of direction about how to think and act ...
Watch the VIDEO(S) earlier supplied by N.K. ... (there are two consecutive videos that give the "contrast" between the two political philosophies ... One of FEAR and it's HATREDS and the other of LOVE and COMPASSION ... then guess which side is which ... and read here on Gather comments about the indignant denials of the truth of it all by the one side indicted.
But this is not a new phenomenon, rather is the culmination of a long trend in that direction.
I have long thought of the Taliban and the Dominionists as birds of a feather. They both seek a theocracy, dominated by males, with women as second-class citizens. Both the Koran and the Bible are very clear about that. And all laws will be based on books that are a thousand or more years old. If it ever comes to that, the earth will enter another Dark Ages. But I remain hopeful that sanity will prevail.
Gary,
I certainly hope you are right. I said the same thing in the article...that moderate and even some conservative Republicans are bailing out of the McCain plane as fast as they can. Of course, the Religious Right is in to stay with their "poster person," Sarah Palin.
Jerry says she will be a "poster person" for the Religious Right, but I think, like another VP of a few years ago, Dan Quayle, she will be seen as a different kind of "poster person" for everybody else...a butt of unending jokes and ridicule.
And if she ever DOES decide to run for President (which I would love to see) the Dems will have an easy time of it...assuming she could win the R nomination. I sincerely doubt that you ever see that. The kingmakers in the Republican party are not stupid.
Now before you take umbrage at that, I acknowledge that most Republicans are no more racist than any other Americans. But, I stand by my statement about the far Right Wing of the Republican party. I know some of those people and they are racists!
But the main thrust of this article is that the Republican campaign's inflammatory polemics about Obama's "terrorism ties," and questionable patriotism, together with their divisive rhetoric about who in our population are "real Americans" can incite unbalanced people to take violent actions.
The "others" must have a "master authority" figure to follow and tell them how to think and act ... it is those of that "ilk" of the farther right who will look for any excuse, the permission or even a suggestion by one of their "esteemed" leaders (even FOX pundits) to make it "all right" to carry out what lies in the depths of their darkness ... they see themselves as avenging heroes serving a "higher power" ... which is anyone "above" their lowly selves and of a like mind.
I did not mean that all Right Wing Republicans are racist.
What I should have said is that the Right Wing of the Republican party harbors many bigots.
Bigot is a broader term than racist. It encompasses anti-semitism, racism and other forms of ethnic and religious intolerance.
I have found that the more devout or fanatical a person is about their political or religious views, the more intolerant they are of anyone with differing views.
The further you go to the Right in the Republican party, the more devout/fanatical they are.
Is this also true of the extreme Left in the Democratic party?
I honestly do not know, but they seem to be much less politically active...with far less funding to pursue their goals.
The Religious Right has definitely mastered the art of extracting money from old, senile, mentally decrepit people
The right-wing "advisers" use their think-tanks to come up with such stuff because the right wingers we speak of here either cannot or will not, think for themselves, they require being "told" what is what by some "authority figure" ... thus they are told that everyone to their left cannot think for themselves and only follows their own advisers such as the "liberal" MSM all of which are "said" by them to be controlled by the far left, (but in fact are controlled by the Far Right) ... so they say ... because they prefer to believe that the left is the problem and has the faults that they prefer to deny about themselves by "transference" to those they insist are "their" enemies. IMnsHO.
Jerry Kays, Nov 1, 2008, 2:30am EDT (revised)
What a perverted sense of "joy" they must have amongst each other with such lying, fear and hatred that they so often express towards those of us different than themselves ... and how they so often chortle about how "upset" they think they make us, ... as if we were anywhere as near being really "bothered" like "they" prefer to imagine in their sad delusions ... sure makes one wonder ...
Those dumb criminals got way too much air time - just so Obama could be in the news even more. His security guards told people in stores, when Obama was speaking, that if anyone came to the window, they would be shot. Now that's coverage you can count on.
I have never seen any evidence that the person who shouted "kill him" was a plant.
Please provide your proof.
And prove your statements about Obama's security guards.