Just three weeks away from the November 4 election and things are heating up on the campaign trails, specifically the trails of Republican candidates Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin. On Monday, McCain spoke at a New Mexico rally where supporters called the Demoratic candidate Barack Obama a “terrorist.†While, another supporter screamed “Kill him†when Palin spoke about Obama at a Florida rally.
The heated campaign trails have reached the Internet with global bloggers noting the comments.
A Bosnian-American Fedja describes [1] the comments as disturbing and that McCain should have said something in defense of his rival.
The most disturbing part of the rally was when McCain asked the question: “Who is the real Barack Obama” and someone from the audience shouted “A terrorist!” We all know that the intellectual level of McCain supporters is that of a 5 year old with a slight mental retardation, but rather than stepping in and saying “That's out of line, sir…” McCain contorted his disfigured face into a smirk and carried on.
The blogger goes on to write about Palin’s rally and what October 6, 2008 will now be remembered as.
If you thought that this was the climax of this sad day for America, you were wrong. At another rally, being held at the same time, Sarah Palin was throwing the kitchen sink at Obama, trying to associate him with a man who was engaged in despicable acts when Obama was 8 years old and who served with Obama on two charity boards where many conservatives served. She said: “what are we going to do with him?” And someone from the audience shouted: “Kill him.”
This should be remembered as the day when McCain and Palin became just two sad, racist, xenophobic, idiotic criminals with nothing but hatred spewing out of their disfigured faces. I will be truly ashamed to be American if these two get to run our exhausted country.
An expat in South Korea Expat Jane agrees [2] with the Bosnian-American blogger, stating that the Republican candidates shouldn’t have disregarded the comments.
If you continue to support a man that will stand and say nothing while his supporters say this then you're just as evil as he is. And I'm someone who in 2000 thought McCain wouldn't be so bad. Clearly, he's learned all the bad and dirty tricks that kept him from the nomination in 2000.
Letting people yell “kill him” is simply dangerous and unnecessary. I also have to say if you don't support him but you sit back and don't tell others about this video and what's in it, you're complicit too.
Can you imagine how much worse this makes the USA and its citizens look? Like Obama or not he's a husband and father of two young girls. I don't like McCain or Palin but I don't wish death on either one of them. This is an outrage!
Australian blogger of firedoglake [3], states that Palin and McCain are allowing “lies†to spread.
You can never accuse the McCain/Palin ticket of not playing to their base. The economy is tanking, despite McCain's impotent grab for the bailout laurels, and Obama is widening his lead in the polls, so the “brains” behind the ticket have resorted to what they do best: sliming the opposition. Churning out the bilious hate and the barely veiled bigotry, McCain and Palin started the new week on the campaign trail, leaving behind a wake of vitriol and lies.
Across the Atlantic in Portugal, João Lopes, points out [4] that Palin left out poignant facts when speaking of Obama’s relationship with William Ayers.
“Palin não só não referiu a especificidade desta relação pontual, como omitiu dois elementos do artigo: primeiro, que Obama é citado por The New York Times, considerando que Ayers é “alguém que se envolveu em actos detestáveis, quando eu tinha oito anos”; segundo, que The New York Times, aliás à semelhança de outros órgãos de informação (The Washington Post, Time, The Chicago Sun-Times e The New Yorker),
conclui que não tinha qualquer fundamento a ideia segundo a qual Ayers e Obama teriam uma qualquer relação de proximidade. Depois do confronto de ideias, assistimos, assim, ao despertar dos monstros da difamação. A menos de um mês (4 de Novembro) da eleição do Presidente dos EUA, isto significa que os próximos tempos poderão não ser muito edificantes.
The news of the Republican campaign trails have further hit the Twittersphere, with Tweeps commenting on the “Kill him†remark in a forum.
African American Tweep, Zik [5], was one of the poignant Tweeps in the forum, stating [6] his disapproval of the remark and that a vote for McCain/Palin resulted in a vote for racism.
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Another African American, mmoney [8], stated [9] that the obvious racisim could eventually lead to something more horrific.
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Finally, McCain Supporter [11] was also flabbergasted by the comment and stated [12] an apology was necessary.
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