Has the Violence We've Feared Already Begun?

On October 17th, Joe Killian, a reporter for the Greensboro, North Carolina News & Record, was assaulted by a McCain-Palin supporter at a Palin rally.

While covering the rally at Elon University along with fellow News & Record reporter Mark Binker, Killian saw that about a dozen apparent Obama supporters had spread themselves throughout the crowd. In his blog entry about the incident, he writes:

As Palin got into her speech they began chants of “Obama” and screamed out rebuttals to the points in her speech. This angered some in the crowd — some responding with cursing, others chanting “U.S.A.” and “NObama” to drown them out. Eventually the cops came and escorted them off of the baseball field.

Intrigued by the incident, Killian went looking for the Obama supporters to ask about their reasons for attending the rally. He found one who was willing to be interviewed. Killian writes:

I sidled up to one of the Obama supporters and asked why they were there, what they were trying to accomplish.

As he was telling me a large, bearded man in full McCain-Palin campaign regalia got in his face to yell at him.

“Hey, hey,” I said. “I’m trying to interview him. Just a minute, okay?”

The man began to say something about how of course I was interviewing the Obama people when suddenly, from behind us, the sound of a pro-Obama rap song came blaring out of the windows of a dorm building. We all turned our heads to see Obama signs in the windows.

This was met with curses, screams and chants of “U.S.A” by McCain-Palin folks who crowded under the windows trying to drown it out and yell at the person playing the stereo.

It was a moment of levity in an otherwise very tense situation and so I let out a gentle chuckle and shook my head.

“Oh, you think that’s funny?!” the large bearded man said. His face was turning red. “Yeah, that’s real funny…” he said.

And then he kicked the back of my leg, buckling my right knee and sending me sprawling onto the ground.

This is not the first time the press have been threatened or harassed at a Palin rally.

Dana Millbank of the Washington Post reported that, at a Palin rally in Clearwater, Florida just a couple of weeks ago:

Worse, Palin's routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that point, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy."

As someone who regularly attends campaign rallies and events while wearing a press pass (one bearing an organization name— MOMocrats— that pretty much unequivocally announces me as a biased liberal, no less), of course I find the recent reports of violent behavior unsettling on a personal level.

But as an American, as a citizen, as a patriot, as a lover of free speech and a firm believer in the value and necessity of a free press, the violent atmosphere recently evident at McCain-Palin rallies, which has clearly been exacerbated by provocative statements made by representatives of the McCain campaign, including Sarah Palin herself, fills me with anxiety and and dismay at the state of our nation.

Living in a Midwestern state, I have spent my whole life alongside neighbors who are conservatives. I have gone to school with, worked with, been friends with and lived with conservatives.  I have certainly had strong disagreements with many of them. But I've never forgotten the ties of culture and history that bind us together as Americans, nor have I ever considered less than utter fallacy the idea that our core values were so different we could never find a scrap of common ground. I know conservatives and liberals can work together to solve problems. It happens in my own life every day.

With our nation, and in fact the whole world, facing a terrible financial crisis, an impending global energy crisis, and global climate change, THIS IS NOT A TIME when we as a culture can afford to those who claim they want to lead us out of crisis divide us against one another so bitterly. THIS IS NOT A TIME when we can afford to let racism, isolationism, provincialism or xenophobia undermine the cooperation we so desperately need.

Those who deliberately sow division, distraction and misinformation to win a political race at a time like this will not be forgiven their foibles by history.

The McCain-Palin campaign needs to come out and publicly tell their supporters to stop threatening their fellow Americans. Now.

Before something worse happens than a reporter being kicked to the ground. 

Comments

[cynematic]

Signs aren't good that the McCain-Palin campaign will see the error of its ways anytime soon. At the final debate the other night, John McCain's disgusting whine-filled embrace of false and hollow "victimization" at Congressman John Lewis' warning told me he's completely unrepentant.

Here's what Lewis actually said: "As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all. They are playing a very dangerous game that disregards the value of the political process and cheapens our entire democracy. We can do better. The American people deserve better."

The entirety of Lewis' comment is here: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/10/11/john_lewis_condemns_gop_campai.html

Elected officials, by virtue of their high profiles as public figures, absolutely should be mindful of inciting their supporters to violence with their rhetoric. NO ONE needs to give a nutjob an opening--and it's troubling to speculate why McCain-Palin see themslves as possibly exempt from the need for reasoned, civil discourse.

[Shea]

I truly believe that while McCain/Palin do not encourage those sorts of outbursts or violence. I think if the people in my crowd were acting in that manner, however, I would question who I was being elected by and whether that was a good thing. What would be wrong with my message in order to attract violence?

[Miss Britt]

And without the cushioning of "a few fringe people" and "I'm proud of the people at my rallies".

[Angry Mom]

Umm. have you seen college campuses when conservative speakers try and speak there? Do you see the vandalism done to republican headquarters, houses and cars (with stickers) Do you? Do you think that the fringe left lunatics don't result to intimidation or violence. Once again you people selectively see. People are beginning to resent the press in this country because it is no longer a "reporting press" but a propaganda machine so clearly in the left's pocket. It is absolutely disgusting what is going on with the press and the once great democratic party. Your party continues to slide towards socialism with a penchant for wanting to drown out any opposing speech.

[jaelithe]

Angry Mom, your aggressive, falsehood-laden response, sadly, only proves my point that people on the right are being mislead and provoked by their leaders into unreasonable hatred of their fellow Americans. I'm curious: which group of "You People" do think I belong to?

The only reason voices on the Left are now beginning to drown out the Right is that the majority of educated people in this country are sick of extreme right-wing policies after the last eight years.

I am well aware that there are crazy people of all political stripes who do stupid and threatening things. However, Barack Obama and Joe Biden are not going around calling John McCain a terrorist sympathizer to deliberately stir up resentment among crazy people. Sarah Palin, and McCain campaign surrogates Nancy Pfotenhaur and Michele Bachman have ALL recently said things that imply that Barack Obama, AND his supporters, are anti-American and dangerous.

By the way, Angry Mom: You need to do some more reading on socialism before you start bandying that word about. Most Europeans think the American Democratic Party is only slightly less right-wing than the Republican Party. Go ask someone in Europe what they think of "American socialism."

[a parent reason]

jaelithe - Lucky for us, we live in the United States of America, and Europe's opinion of us doesn't really matter, nor does their definition of socialism.

On the other hand, the Encyclopedia Brittanica's definition of socialism is as follows:
"social and economic doctrine that calls for public rather than private ownership or control of property and natural resources. According to the socialist view, individuals do not live or work in isolation but live in cooperation with one another. Furthermore, everything that people produce is in some sense a social product, and everyone who contributes to the production of a good is entitled to a share in it. Society as a whole, therefore, should own or at least control property for the benefit of all its members."

If I recall Mr. Obama's conversation with Joe The Plumber correctly, he did say, "I want to spread the wealth around." That sounds exactly like, "Society as a whole, therefore, should own or at least control property for the benefit of all its members."

Although I grant you there are crazies on both sides, the reason Obama and Biden are not going around calling McCain and Palin terrorist sympathizer is because there is not even a hint of evidence McCain and Palin have associated with a former terrorist or people having anti-American beliefs. Not only has Obama associated with these kinds of people, there are many shady people in his past. You can bet on this though, if there were people like this in either McCain or Palin's past, don't kid yourself that Obama and Biden wouldn't be doing exactly the same thing.

[Kate]

"A parent reason" (and that other troll Angry Mom, who are both probably paid to leave vitriolic talking points posts such as theirs on progressive blogs such as this one) --

Sarah Palin IS MARRIED TO A PERSON WHO HOLDS ANTI-AMERICAN BELIEFS -- Todd Palin was a member for many years of the AIP, which agitated for Alaska to secede from the US. Sarah Palin herself as recently as a year ago addressed the annual convention of the AIP. There is nothing more anti-American than belonging to a political party that promotes tearing the union via secession!

But, to kick your last stupid statement to the curb -- Obama and Biden would be well within their rights, given the disgusting gutter tenor of the campaign McPain is running, to scream about Sarah and Todd Palin's secessionist shenanigans from the mountaintops, but THEY HAVE NOT. Why? Because they are gentlemen who truly put "country first", rather than throw around stinkbombs of slander that only serve to divide the country.

[a parent reason]

Obama and Biden are doing plenty to divide the country in their own way. If you'd like me to discuss them I will.

[Pamela]

@ a parent reason: The tenor of your comments leads me to believe that discussion might be difficult for you.

If you're going to discuss something, maybe it could be how permitting aggressive, violent behavior and rhetoric at the McCain/Palin rallys and speeches is at all Presidential, American, and good for the current state of our country.

Because the way I see it? Attacking people is not the way to get elected.

[Daisy]

My worry is more personal; my daughter is a budding journalist. I fear for her safety in cases like this. The last time she covered a McCain/Palin rally, she walked in without a campaign button and was heavily criticized for saying, "No, thanks, I don't need one." (She wasn't wearing her Obama button, either, by the way).

[Gina.Maria]

Daisy, I understand your concern. (and WHY would a reporter covering an event be expected to wear a campaign button?)
I have a problem with the conservatives calling our media liberal because I honestly don't see it that way. I'd wager a year's salary that Cronkite's coverage of this election would not be any different than what we see on CNN, with the exception that his delivery wouldn't be as rapid-fire as the current staffers'. What I've seen is a gradual shift in the right to an extreme position and a right-wing media counterpart that makes MSNBC and CNN look liberal by comparison.

[Julie Pippert]

Dear Republican Commenters:

I'd like to point out that G.W Bush lead the charge for the US government to seize private banks and lenders. And McCain was one of the most vocal supporters.

Who is sliding towards socialism? The business-government party aka Republican?

The socialism you speak of wrt Democrats is social assistance. I find that positive, not nefarious.

Anyway, I feel nauseated when I hear Republicans bandy "socialism" in the same way they recently croaked out "liberal" and prior to that, the way McCarthyists cried "communism." Shall we create a new term? Bachmannists?

It all reeks of trampled civil rights and liberties.

Yuck.

Sincerely,

A person who still believes in "live free" mottos and the US Constitution, which is intended to grant freedom and liberties, rather than TAKE THEM AWAY