LAKEVILLE, Minnesota, Oct. 10, 2008
McCain Sticks Up For Obama At Rally
Is Booed For Calling Democratic Rival A "Decent Person" As Campaign Crowds Get Increasingly Angry
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McCain was booed by his own supporters Friday when, in an abrupt switch from raising questions about rival Barack Obama's character, he described the Democrat as a "decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States."
A sense of grievance spilling into rage has gripped some Republican events this week as McCain supporters see his presidential campaign lag against Obama. Some in the audience are making it personal, against the Democrat. Shouts of "traitor," "terrorist," "treason," "liar," and even "off with his head" have rung from the crowd at McCain and Sarah Palin rallies, and gone unchallenged by them.
McCain changed his tone Friday when supporters at a town hall pressed him to be rougher on Obama. A voter said, "The people here in Minnesota want to see a real fight." Another said Obama would lead the U.S. into socialism. Another said he did not want his unborn child raised in a country led by Obama.
"If you want a fight, we will fight," McCain said. "But we will be respectful. I admire Sen. Obama and his accomplishments." When people booed, he cut them off.
"I don't mean that has to reduce your ferocity," he said. "I just mean to say you have to be respectful."
Presidential candidates are accustomed to raucous rallies this close to Election Day and welcome the enthusiasm. But they are also traditionally monitors of sorts from the stage. Part of their job is to leaven proceedings if tempers run ragged and to rein in an out-of-bounds comment from the crowd.
Not so much this week, at Republican rallies in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida and other states.
When a visibly angry McCain supporter in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on Thursday told the candidate "I'm really mad" because of "socialists taking over the country," McCain stoked the sentiment. "I think I got the message," he said. "The gentleman is right." He went on to talk about Democrats in control of Congress.
On Friday, McCain rejected the bait.
"I don't trust Obama," a woman said. "I have read about him. He's an Arab."
McCain shook his head in disagreement, and said:
"No, ma'am. He's a decent, family man, citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with (him) on fundamental issues and that's what this campaign is all about."
The anti-Obama taunts and jeers are noticeably louder when McCain appears with Palin, a big draw for social conservatives. She accused Obama this week of "palling around with terrorists" because of his past, loose association with a 1960s radical. If less directly, McCain, too, has sought to exploit Obama's Chicago neighborhood ties to William Ayers, while trying simultaneously to steer voters' attention to his plans for the financial crisis.
The Alaska governor did not campaign with McCain on Friday, and his rally in La Crosse, Wisconsin, earlier Friday was much more subdued than those when the two campaigned together. Still, one woman shouted "traitor" when McCain told voters Obama would raise their taxes.
Volunteers worked up chants from the crowd of "U.S.A." and "John McCain, John McCain," in an apparent attempt to drown out boos and other displays of negative energy.
The Secret Service confirmed Friday that it had investigated an episode reported in The Washington Post in which someone in Palin's crowd in Clearwater, Florida, shouted "kill him," on Monday, meaning Obama. There was "no indication that there was anything directed at Obama," Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren told AP. "We looked into it because we always operate in an atmosphere of an abundance of caution."
Palin, at a fundraiser in Ohio on Friday, told supporters "it's not negative and it's not mean-spirited" to scrutinize Obama's iffy associations.
But Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania an author of 15 books on politics, says the vitriol has been encouraged by inflammatory words from the stage.
"Red-meat rhetoric elicits emotional responses in those already disposed by ads using words such as 'dangerous' 'dishonorable' and 'risky' to believe that the country would be endangered by election of the opposing candidate," she said.
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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See all 334 CommentsPosted by gotagrip at 08:31 PM : Oct 10, 2008
Oh, it is to laugh. The Demoncrats have been stoking the fires of hate for years.
McCain is better than that, but he should have moved to stop it earlier. Even some of the Conservative base were becoming angry with him over that one.
What all this says about his leadership abilities is still up for grabs.
This is not to McBush''s credit. He was only ruled by the polls. The man is devoid of integrity.
They''ve been lying on most of it...check your facts
I did not catch, even re-reading, WHERE in Wis. this "rally"was. But it brought back horrifying memories of being a child in the home county of Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950''s.
Hatred EXACTLY like that the news story describes was common then. The phrases and words chill me.
My mother and father owned a small town grocery store. They had many friends since everyone in the hamlet of maybe 150 people was a friend to everyone else.
There was a competing store and my parents and the couple who owned it were good friendstoo. But their best friends ran a car repair shop/gas station/ post office out of the same building we were was in.
UNTIL, Knowing it would cause a ruckus, my parents joined the other store owner couple putting an Adlai Stephenson for President bumper sticker on their cars.
And when Mom and Dad stepped into the tavern across the street at 6 PM as they and their friends from next door did most days, for coffee, they were greeted with stone silence.
When the next door couple arrived they sat at the bar instead of the normal table. When he entered the neighbor man said coldly, "Jesus Christ. I had didn''t know you were Communists."
McCain MUST disown this sudden surge of hateful expression at his campaign events. But this story is only one example of several I have seen in the past weeks in the McCain campaign. And the language used by McCain and Palin FUELS THESE frustrated people.
Scott Brundage
Posted by mr22583!
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A few nut jobs are angry with Obama but their votes mean nothing, and their illiterate diatribes only serve to distance them from anything resembling an educated electorate. And John McCain should not be blamed for these fringe radical racist loonies. He and his chosen one did nothing more than open the can of worms; the worms were already there. Speaking of worms, this just in from CNN: - Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power in a state official''s firing but did not violate the law, an Alaska legislative panel finds. Worms know the law!
Once again, fact check needed on mr22583. One, it was less than a million, not more than a million (y''all really shouldn''t exaggerate, it weakens your argument). In fact it was $800,000. Two, it was a donation to support get out the vote registrations. The McCain campaign, the RNC, the GOP, the DNC, etc., all financially support get out the vote efforts. How is that a controversy?
Unless you''re referring to the DOJ raiding the ACORN offices, maybe? In which case, I have to say it''s pretty hypocritical to be condemning this considering the case isn''t even resolved yet. Or have the Republicans decided the court of popular opinion trumps due process of law?
And speaking of which, how about that Palin being found guilty of abusing her power as Governor, hmm? Let me guess, because the McCain campaign said she''s "not guilty" yesterday, it must be true?
Y''all never fail to amaze me with the level of misinformation and rumors you spew.
Today, in an half-hearted effort to try and tone down the angry mob which had been incited against Barack Obama, McBush stuck up for Obama claiming he was a good person and should be treated with respect. I suspect that Palin, whose words last week about Obama started the wild anger reminiscent of the Hitler rallies of the 1930''s, was angered herself by the sudden appearance of a "halo" over McBush''s head!!!
Gauging from the reaction to "St. McBush''s" attempts to prevent an all out riot, McBush had better watch out before someone full of hate and venom starts throwing things at him!!!
SIG HEIL, THE GOVERNMENT IS HARDLY WORKING ON THE PROBLEM!!!, BUSH!!!!
sig heil, HE WAS A LIAR YESTERDAY, BUT TODAY HE''S A DECENT MAN!!!, McBush!!!!
sig heil, I WANT TO GO BACK TO KUWAIT AND SHOOT MORE TARGETS!!!, Palin!!!
IT IS AGAINST THE LAW TO THREATEN OBAMA.
Why do Republicans hate America so much?
There will *not* be any socialists taking over the country if Obama is elected. This is just a scare tactic by the right-wing fanatics swallowed in whole by gullible followers who blame their own shortcomings on the government.
What BS. McCain is totally devoid of integrity. Wake up.
Republicans belive in socialism -- for the RICH!
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