What really sucks is that people still believe the lies. When I was on the other coast in 2000, the preacher told me and the rest of the congregation: "if you support Al Gore then you're a Lace-Wearing Liberal on your way to HELL!"
That made me sick.
The chorus of "amens" made me leave.

Then today I stopped to debate someone I overheard saying Obama is a Muslim under Shia law. I asked her since when was America under Shia law? Factcheck.org! Factcheck.org!

The GOP riling up the mob is bad enough, but defending them, and as AVERAGE AMERICANS no less, is inexplicable. Being an average american myself, I am quite insulted by that notion.

At this point, if someone does take a shot at Obama, that blood will be on John McCain's and Sarah Palin's hands. I think McCain realizes this, but Palin does not.

Nothing they throw at him will stick, no matter how hard they try. It's the desperate last gasp of a dying campaign. The dirtier McCain gets, the worse he does in the polls. So have at it, Johnny! Let's see what you've got!

any church or religious organization that makes any political statement (either direction) should immediately and permanently loose their IRS tax exemptions

With Palin now imploding from her Alaska scandal, I'm wondering if the GOP is just going to go ahead and drop out of the race before they really hit the shitter.

It's true! He called them "riled up." And "crowds." How could he? What sort of way is that to refer to large groups of angry people?

Wow, calling a lynch mob "regular people" is just "puttin' lipstick on a pig."

why are we pussyfooting around the obvious here?:

middle america sucks and must be smothered.

that fucking video of that little old lady telling mcCain "he's an arab??!!??"
and then after mcCain says no, she says "...no????" so completely weak in her assertion? and yeah i know she's old and feeble, but man that video said it all.

stupid fucking red state bible belt beating idiots that have NEVER suffered the threat of a terrorist attack (because what self respecting jihadist gives a fuck about a bunch of dennys, giant balls of twine, and hillbillies fucking their sister behind grain silos?) and yet consistently use 9/11 as an example of why "fancy new york faggot commies" dont understand the threat of terrorism.

FUCK THESE ASSHOLES!!

and you know what? right now one of these perfect godfearing america lovers is firing shots into a cut-out of barrack obama right now. thanks to the fucking GOP knowing exactly how to rile up the very peons they exploit and rape to pad their successes with.

when do WE get to throw around these threats as freely as they are? i know that I'm WAY more furious about these last 8 years than any of these idiotic douchebags are about being so pathetically scared of black people.

Right wing thugs. Finally getting their come-uppance. Always have resorted to violence and threat of violence.

Whaaa? After the disasters of the last week, I half expected to wake up this morning and read that the McCain campaign had conceded the race.

There is only ever one story at a time in politics. Earlier this week it was that Obama is better for the economy than McCain. The headlines in the past 48 hours are all about McCain's ugly mobs. And they're working to keep that in the headlines? They're actively trying to make that the front page story? What the hell are they thinking?

The only sensible path for them would be to start presenting an easy to understand economic recovery plan. It wouldn't even have to be good--it would only have to *sound* good. Sit around the conference table at McCain campaign headquarters, order a pizza, stay up late thinking up some stuff to say that sounds like a McCain administration wouldn't lead us into the next great depression. And they need to beat that drum from nonstop for the next three weeks. But it appears that in addition to being evil, they aren't very bright.

In the olden days I used to have some amount of respect for McCain. I guess I wasn't very bright either.

I guess they would feel stupid if they lost the election while they still had some class left.

Hey. Everybody who yesterday said "Bless John McCain...blah...blah..."? Could you please retract that? He sent out his spokesmen and senior adviser to defend his the violent racism he pretends to oppose in person.

McCain is a coward on top of it all.

This campaign can't end soon enough.

*sigh*

Then the real problems begin.

As much as I enjoy the rethugs imploding and as much as I despise the wingnut haters, I really think the line that separates right wing haters from their leftist counterparts is pretty thin. You folks just use more syllables and better sentences. Remember what liberal values are all about before you hop on the hate bus with a load of rubes from Middle America. You'll never out hate them but you'll always outsmart em.

Ack! Right after I read this post and the comments, I opened my email, and there was a forwarded-forwarded-forwarded message from one of my parents' friends that WE MUST NEVER FORGET that it is still, in 2008, our patriotic duty to hate Jane Fonda. I think I'm gonna go back to bed.

I've had a few encouraging moments lately: At work (which, despite our excellent union representation, tends to be a depressingly conservative place) I've noted several Obama bumper stickers - even on the cars with the stupid Christian bumper stickers ("The real big bang theory: God spoke and BANG it happened!)

Then, I was speaking to an admin who didn't want to vote for Obama because he supported "socialized medicine". This person has had some serious health problems, and goes to Group Health, which he loves. I pointed out to him that Group Health is pseudo-socialized medicine, and that we both work for a socialized power company, and that made quite an impression on him. It's kind of neat when you see the light bulb go on in people's heads.

But, Catalina, shouldn't the dope have known that anyway? I mean, if you're in a medicare/medicade program how could you say you don't want socialized medicine? Oh, wait, never mind. I forgot I was talking about Republicans. Expecting any kind of intelligence from one of those dolts is impossible.

@13 - I get your point, but I disagree in this case. While the results of our relative positions might be sort of similar (they hate us, we hate them), the line that separates us is rational thought, and I for one won't apologize for it.

Sure, there are some on the left who are just as loony, but in my experience far more people on the left can mount a coherent argument and defense of their position. On the right, their is no defense or argument. It's so because they (or Sean Hannity) says it's so.

awesome post aj.

I'm with Bob @13 (probably a first). I understand the anger toward the red states for bringing us the imbecile who has lived in the White House for the last eight years, but we can't stoop to their level. We need to be better than that.

There are always going to be people who hate Obama, Democrats and liberals generally no matter what. But I think some of red America is salvageable. Next year when President Obama starts implementing policies that actually help working people maybe some will realize that left of center ideas aren't so terrible after all. The best thing he can do is to reach out to middle America once safely in office. The voices of Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and pulpit-pounding divines (like the example @1) will just start sounding like the bleating of sheep. If mid-America can be won over, the less chance of getting saddled with another Bush four, eight or fifty years from now.

Without defending any of the extreme comments, I still feel prompted to point out that some of these people are angry, not just at Mr Obama, but--rightly or wrongly--at a lot of things. They're angry with Mr Bush, but if his approval ratings are around twelve percent, those of the Democrat-led Congress are lower still. They're angry about health care, jobs, the credit crisis, immigration, energy prices, bank failures, and the world situation. To be strictly accurate, I also hear a fair amount of anger here about the same issues. And I think the anger on either side has some justification behind it. Morons some of them may be, but the last time I checked, the right even of morons to be angry was still guaranteed.

Rightly or wrongly, such people view Mr Obama as a liberal, progressive leader, who is friendly with many leading Democrats in Congress (whose extremely low approval rating I mentioned). They see him as someone who's promised a lot of new government programmes, with accompanying spending; and, to be fair, I have been to BarackObama.com, and looked at his proposals, and added up what they would plausibly cost, and my calculator melted when it got to the trillion-dollar mark. Many of these people don't want more government programmes--they want less. And the "clinging to guns and religion" remark, if it was blown up beyond all propriety, WAS one that Mr Obama did, in fact, make, at a closed meeting, and they wonder how many other closed meeting he's been to where the remarks weren't reported.

They see the Mr Obama's support is heavily in the Northeast, Upper Midwest, and West Coast, places with long records of supporting liberal/progressive politicians in the past--Kerry, Gore, Clinton, Dukakis, Mondale, Carter, and McGovern, not to mention Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, and other legislators they don't like. And National Journal--hardly a collection of right-wing troglodytes--rates Mr Obama as having the most progressive/liberal voting record of any Senator. Of course, he's not a terrorist or any such thing. But in this case, his relative unflappability (for which I give him props) may work against him, because it may look like he's not terribly concerned with the issues. I think he is concerned, and means to help the country; though I don't support him, I don't think he has any evil intentions, and the Republic would survive his Administration.

Yeah, I think I understand it now. McCain/Repubs get to not only rile up supporters in hating Obama, they also get to rile up the supporters FURTHER by saying that Obama is ATTACKING them. The fucking ego on McCain and this party.

@8 wins.

@8 Most certainly does not "win" (what does that even mean?)

I'm from Ohio, which has gone Republican in the last couple elections (although I believe in 2004 the vote tampering there was significant enough to throw that into question.) It's definitely 'Middle America' or 'Flyover Country' or whatever dismissive name coastal dwellers are using these days. But here's the thing: It's a state with several large, Seattle-size cities. It's not a big cornfield filled with gap-tooth hillbillies drinking from jugs marked 'XXX', a la Hee-Haw. Get that bullshit out of your heads.

In my experience, the ratio of dumbasses to non-dumbasses is mostly consistent wherever you go, with the exception that certain industries tend to be magnets for more educated people, so certain places (like Seattle) have a slightly higher average level of education. However, people with college degrees can still be dumbasses, and not everybody who votes Republican does so because they believe that dinosaurs lived in Bible times.

Seajay @20 is exactly right in pointing out that not all of the reasons these people you're seeing are angry are specious -- they may wrongly attribute blame for many of the economic and social woes that beset their regions, but they are not mistaken about the existence of those woes. And a liberal agenda that prescribes further neglect of these often economically stunted areas will do nothing to lessen their anger and frustration. Liberals need to stop claiming to care about hard-working Average Joes and Janes in Middle America the moment the campaign is over. We all piss and moan about how they vote against their economic interest when they vote GOP, but if Democrats have nothing to offer them on that front then all they are left with is this kind of crazy-ass, race-baiting identity politics of the Right.

Calling them "hillbillies" and putting down their religious beliefs at every opportunity isn't going to help heal the cultural schism that has developed. A very smart Democrat, initials FDR, realized this when placing a lot of the public works programs he created in some of the poorest regions. It wasn't just the fact that these regions had the greatest infrastructure needs. He knew that these regions were, then as now, a battleground for ideas, and that he had to offer them tangible benefits to outweigh the appeals to ignorance that the fascists of his day were offering them on the other side.

The way to win these people over from xenophobia and nationalist hysteria is to bring jobs to their regions.

As a Jew growing up on Long Island I was taugh in Hebrew School that the fly over states are crowded with inbred Christian idiots. It really would be better to smother these vermin.

A Harvard or Yale education should be the very least requrement for public office in America. No uneducated people should be allowed to even run for office.

I just hate stupid hicks like Sarah Palin. They are so ignorant and intolerant of other people's religion. All Christians are ignorant idiots.

By the way does anyone know of a good hip liberal Jewish Temple in Seattle where my girlfriend and I can celebrate the holidays? I urge everyone to be observant. Judaism is so important in America today, we must all respect our Jewish cultural roots even if we are not religious.

The idiots screaming "terrorist" and "kill him" are angry all right. They are angry about the economy, the vietnam-like stalemate in Iraq, the fact that America is losing respect all over the world. Their problem is that they have to find some one ELSE to blame. Bush lied to them, but they can't admit that voting for good ol' George was a mistake. Somehow this has to be all the Democrats fault. They can not admit any complicity.

This is cognative disonance, my friends. The world does not match their world view, so they have to either change their world-view or they have to change the world. And they are so invested in their world view that they'd rather make the world change to suit them. It is just too painful for them to give up their preconceptions.

But you see some of the same behavior on the left as well. Yeah, McCain's screaming fanatics make me angry - because they scare the bejeebus out of me! But I really try to hold myself above that sort of behavior. Returning hate for hate just makes things worse.

It's too easy to cast the blame on the other guy. If we want to get out of this mess - not just the economy and the war, but also the divisive politics - then we have to start trying to understand the other guy's point of view. And accepting that, yeah, we deserve a portion of the blame as well.

@23: Very well said, flamingbanjo. Thanks.

nope.
@8 definitely wins.

Now wtf has middle names and forwarding mail got to do with anything?
And yeah .. f*ck Harvard. Same goes for Dartmouth.

Maybe Obama is a muslim. We don't know. Nonethelessm, I commend you, sir, for voicing out against thuigs. Shall we take a look at Chicago and Obama and the boyez?

Well, Obama being like Bush.. yes, the only reason Bush won in 2004 was GOP scaretactics. Of course you're gonna vote if scare people into voting for you. Fear can be a powerful deterrent. However, Gore was good in 2000 .. but, since then ..
He ran a poor campaign. Yes, Bush did cheat .. but he let him get too close.

So Bush cheated so did Obama. Election, nomination. Someone point out the difference?
Oh and is someone going shout racist now? Welcome..to the Obama brand of free speech lol
In fact, if Obama would win ..which he won't, natl security will take care of that .. he would be WORSE than Bush.
And a bullet is what cheaters get ..hey, don't blame me, I'm just the unspoken voice of the majority .. we've done nothing he hasn't done to himself. He would then have brought his family's and baby girls' misery upon himself.

Obama would never survive a game of poker in the Old West.

It is downright shameful how people will stoop to any lows, whatever lows to smear a good man. McCain is a Maverick, he's no repub. Nor is Lieberman a traitor. Or MIller. In fact those people are true Dems. But, the party has gotten hijacked by a group on the left ..

And you idiots never cease to amaze me. 1) it was what is the difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull that was lipstick, no pig involved, 2) I hardly think they were a lynch mob .. don't be racist now and 3) Palin? Imploding?? Hahaha

Yea. As surely as Mac will lose. he'll win with 48% of the vote i predict and overtake 48hrs before.

Ahh don't you miss the 90s. The DLC. Putting spin on everything. And unleashing attack ads.

Yes, negative campaigning is unfortunate..but it works. Now to all you mongrels (god I relish in bashing Obama ..i remain objective tho) if you want to feel good..go look for a therapist or turn to a motivational speaker for feel good crap.It's not smth we look for in the leader of the free world.

America would be even more f*cked up under Obama. See, it's just smth I call post Bush stress .. a bit like pms except this is traumatic. Yes; the people have been so traumatized after these 8yrs and Bush that should never have been .. that are willing to elect another similar d*ck just a diff color.

And by that I mean .. well, he's not a Dem. America is moderate conservative so repubs are conservative, Dems centrist ... liberals are liberals. Liberals are not Democrats. I dunno what they are. Scum. Like socialists.

Not being racist :) fun, ain't it?

I love how you people don't put a value on human life, don't see that no matter what, or who, they still are American citizens and AS IF terrorists were selective in who they choose to blow up. Rural America, small town, are good people. I'd much prefer to eat mashed potatoes with gravy then talk with my vet pal instead of going to Stabucks and ordering..and drinking...piss.
Oh, and btw, Washington voters say Obama won the first debate LOL

So Princess; fuck who? Fuck you? No thx.. but you can suck mine :p sluurrrrrp choke on it too gag , cmon ..

"when do WE get to throw around these threats as freely as they are?" You mean you aren't already? SO what are pig, crazy old man et al .. "than any of these idiotic douchebags are about being so pathetically scared of black people."
How does furious relate to being scared?
You're being racist.

Heeeeey jaaaaay you know people haven't flocked to Obama like lemmings now ..they are just uneasy 'cos of the economy. That's all.
You want an economic plan? OK. We'll have one for you tomorrow.

The funny thing is .. his posse (yes, that's what it is) think they actually are doing America a favor. They're recking her beyond repair. Yes, I want to keep the same ol' map, go back to partisan politics..where's the fun if can't choose sides ;) and to hell with Obama. Where did this freak of nature, natural abhorrence come from? The sooner the better.

Ya, I'm not gonna say anything about killing Obama except ..do humanity a favor and vacate the stage, pls..these aren't the 60s anymore..the bums had their revolution, you lost, and Elvis left a long time ago too lol

Oh sorry, I meant to say 'fuck me' or being truly cosmo (i lived in 22 countries so can afford to call 'em squinters ;) 'fuk mi' yes yes..and hurry hurry with the curry .. oh, btw i graduated with honors and realized it's fun to make fun of every nationality and every religion .. and choke on me, gag..to elenchos

:)

Indeed. Once this campaign is over .. President McCain has formidable challenges ahead. But fear not; it is still doable and concrete. Imagine the nightmare world of Obamaland ..

Another similarity between Obama and Bush. Jesusland/Obamaland ..where's the difference.
So if Obama would win ..again, he will not.. lol move to Canada

What we need is Harold Ford Jr, Evan Bayh or Hillary Clinton. No big govt. No socialist programs. The era of big govt is over (Bill Clinton)

Well said, Bob. And Catalina .. unions are the worst. NOW and AFL-CIO are. And to hell with ACLU as well.

And yes, I'm a Democrat. Remember what I said before?The only thing that should separate republicans and Democrats are education and health. Normal; we come from diff schools of thought. They're honest differences. Unions are needed... but not to the fatcat lazy extent we see it going (or having gone to) these days.

Byrd said, in the Senate, the majority cannot run roughshod over the minority, it has to be protected..but neither can a vexed minority hold the majority hostage.

Indeed, had Clinton governed as he had campaigned .. we would have crushed the unions as Tony Blair did in the UK.
See, the problem is this: you have 200,000 registered activists in Iowa and 210,000 ppl showing up at ralliues.. who do you think shows up at rallies?

Indeed. Socialized doesn't mean socialist. Nor is being social. Can do many thing socially .. i love my socialized schools and mail.
I'm big on education. Indeed, what makes us Dems .. education should always be provided free of charge .. and a sick person is not a client. They are a patient.
Otherwise I'm a social/cultural moderate and fiscal conservative. I love the flat tax. Yes, I am a Democrat. And I say ..

UHCoverage not UHCare. The coverage should extend to all..but people themselves know what is best for them.

Hannity rules. And the Dem must be purged of the looney Left.
This is why, folks; vote ticket down Dem this Nov except McCain for president. This also ensures the checks and balances.
4f ..sake.. for sure. You DO know that Obama and his thugs have been intimidating voters, right?

Yea .. Bill O'Reilly has some good ideas as to kids .. but Rush has to go ..

Issur .. how very tolerant of you. I'm for a one state solution, btw. We can have you deported there you racist f*ck., And while I am at it pls. go to Medina with your gf and f*ck through the sheets, eat cow or do smth ..

Yes, flaming banjo. Like with Iraq.. no one denies Saddam was a bad man. But the war wasn't about that. It was about oil. And revenge.
Family business. The case presented for the war was invalid making the war illegit..WMDs my ass.

The world does not match the world views of Obama/Bush so they have to either change their view of it .. or they have to change the world. And they are so invested in whatever that they'd rather make the world change to suit them. It is just too painful for them to give up their preconceptions that Obama is not the Messiah, this is absolutely true.

Sayjay, very true. Congress's approval rating is even lower than that of Bush's LOL

The DLC is the true reformer, the guardian of the progressive tradition in American politics. Liberals have ripped off that label too, it is not enough to hijack an entire party.

You are entirely right. Kerry and Ted K (who , unlike his brothers, is a liberal)
Dukakis, arguably the most liberal of 'em all .. the McGovern- Mondale wing of the party. Not to mention Pelosi. Carter who is an idiot, situation in the Middle East is thanks to him.
And of course we cannot forget the loser Edwards .. Judas Bill Richardson .. and poor Biden in that group now too.
Gore was good until 2004 ..

They all need to be fired. Ideally I'd like to see more of Schumer, Emanuel (who orchestrated the 2006 comeback it wasn't thx to Dean) could be DNC Chair..if HFJ decides to run. Otherwise it should be him since President of the DLC now.

hillary-Bayh in 2012. Remember, we like Palin now. We will turn our guns on her in four years.

It is hillaryous, tho .. that Obama supporters here speak of unity when they first started the divisive politics .. hillary didn't divide the party by staying in, that was her right, Obama did by sticking his nose into smth he never should have. Nonetheless, being a conservative Dem I get along alot better with my liberal republican counterparts than with the liberal faction in my own party. Unlike the GOP we are factioned. Now also fractured but ..
We tend to be a lot more reasonable than the diehard type at either end that so often enter the fray,

Conservative so often gets misunderstood. It is synonymous with tradition. I'm a Dem because of the economy. Of which education and health are a part of.

The Sensible Center. It is where America is. Not left. Or right. It is in the middle. And that is where :) too, these good middle values come from.

I'm not left or right, I'm center, dead in the middle. I love being in the middle, taking the best of both and producing a balanced solution. because best solutions are compromises. And that is as true in politics..as it is with relationships or anything else.

Life is not black or white. It is grey.