[...] Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.
Indiana: The outstanding vote is in Lake, Jasper and Allen. Jasper is more pronounced McCain right now, at 59-40. But the county is very small, and 72% precincts reporting. Allen is narrowly McCain, and not anywhere close enough to flip the roughly 23,000 votes by which Obama leads. Lake, a hugely Democratic county, still has a few precincts out.There's also a beautiful picture of a guy and some kids canvassing in Gary earlier today.
We always had a good feeling about Indiana when we saw it in our travels. This was a state where Obama had the ground game all to himself. With us predicting a slight win for McCain in the state, but no ground game taken into effect, and with a late minute canvassing push from FiveThirtyEight in Gary, Indiana looks like it'll go Obama.
Yes ... I realize it is considered poor form for me to bring up MeFites who have not (as of yet) participated in this thread. But, after two years of debate with you (and others of your ilk), please permit some of us to gloat, albeit a bit drunken, in tonight's achievement: a majority support for an African-American, liberal, Democratic President-elect to lead us forward in this 21st Century.Your thoughts, feelings and reactions to this development. Most appreciated.
The God of the Majority Has Spoken. And His Name is Obama!!!
"It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America." -- President-Elect Barack Obamaposted by scody at 12:43 AM on November 5, 2008
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.posted by caddis at 7:46 AM on November 5, 2008 [13 favorites]
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.
We cannot turn back.
There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by a sign stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."²
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!
I do not know what the Democratic Party spent, in toto, on the 2004 election, but what they seem to have gotten for it is Barack Obama. Let us savor.Heh. Indeed.
Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family—clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards. The McCain campaign found out last week when the aides sought reimbursement. One aide estimated that she spent "tens of thousands" more than the reported $150,000, and that $20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of clothing have apparently been lost. An angry aide characterized the shopping spree as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast," and said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books.Theres also a story about her running around in a towel in front of Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter when they were attempting to brief her as well as several instances of her "going rogue." The more that comes out about the behind-the-scenes stuff, the better because Sarah Palin is a diva and can't stop herself from acting like a narcissistic asshole.
On the Sunday night before the last debate, McCain's core group of advisers—Steve Schmidt, Rick Davis, adman Fred Davis, strategist Greg Strimple, pollster Bill McInturff and strategy director Sarah Simmons—met to decide whether to tell McCain that the race was effectively over, that he no longer had a chance to win. The consensus in the room was no, not yet, not while he still had "a pulse."The Washington Post recap is pretty good, but it attributes Obama's win primarily to the economic crisis and the candidates' responses to it, which I disagree with. If you look at the polls, Obama led McCain in the popular vote throughout the entire election after Obama clinched the nomination, except for McCain's spike during the Republican convention, and McCain's numbers had already started to slide before Lehman Brothers collapsed on September 15.
Palin had been on the Obama short list for a few weeks, and then had been taken off when stories about her efforts to get her brother-in-law fired from the Alaska state police broke.posted by kirkaracha at 11:04 AM on November 5, 2008 [12 favorites]
Dunn, the senior Obama adviser, had the unique perspective of having run a campaign against Palin two years earlier, as an adviser to Alaskan gubernatorial candidate Tony Knowles. She considered Palin a formidable and charismatic politician; she also had a grasp of Palin's thin record and her history on the "bridge to nowhere," and had sat through numerous Palin-Knowles debates.
That Palin expertise, shared by few in the country, would steady the Obama campaign at a moment when national Democrats embarked on what one adviser described as "two weeks of total hysteria" over the Alaska governor.
Dunn had the research staff stop putting so much energy into Palin, convinced that she could not pass the vetting process. "How was I to know that they weren't going to vet her?" she said.
Dear [Miko],posted by Miko at 1:08 PM on November 5, 2008 [3 favorites]
Yesterday was a glorious day.
Yesterday, 99 years of struggle by the members and supporters of the NAACP came to a head in a single glorious moment when the electorate surged and broke the color line that has guarded the White House since the day it was built… by slaves.
Yesterday children with foreign-sounding names learned that they too can be President of the United States, and the electoral aspiration of almost an entire generation of young American voters was realized.
On this historic day, we congratulate the President-Elect, and we honor the memory of freedom fighters like Dr. Martin Luther King, Ida B. Wells, Medgar Evers, Rosa Parks, and so many others who gave their lives so that America might truly become the land of opportunity for all people. Their sacrifice made this day possible.
Full electoral participation has always been a driving goal of the NAACP, and NAACP leaders around the country rose to the challenge.
In North Carolina, thanks to the work of committed NAACPers, voters were spared intimidating specters like the casket bearing a candidate's name that someone placed in front of a polling place in Craven County a few days earlier…
In Mississippi and Maine, the fieldwork of NAACP leaders meant that the number of voters surged even though they received relatively little attention from national campaigns…
In places like Florida and Ohio, thanks to NAACPers who pushed for voting reforms after the debacles of 2000 and 2004, the election ran much more smoothly…
In Alabama and Georgia, NAACP leaders led the charge to restore voting rights to thousands of former felons…
And in states like Indiana and Pennsylvania, NAACP lawsuits to protect voters paid off big time.
Because of the work of committed NAACP supporters like you, across the country we saw precincts with 95% voter registration rates, volunteers processed tens of thousands of calls to the 866-OUR-VOTE Election Protection hotline, and get out the vote efforts across the country targeted every single eligible voter.
Yes, yesterday was great day. But, it's only a glimmer of how bright our future can be when we work together.
Sincerely,
Benjamin Jealous
President & CEO
NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin's shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported...Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards. The McCain campaign found out last week when the aides sought reimbursement. One aide estimated that she spent "tens of thousands" more than the reported $150,000, and that $20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of clothing have apparently been lost. An angry aide characterized the shopping spree as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast," and said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books.Also this bit about Obama:
"I don't consider this to be a good format for me, which makes me more cautious. I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, 'You know, this is a stupid question, but let me … answer it.' So when Brian Williams is asking me about what's a personal thing that you've done [that's green], and I say, you know, 'Well, I planted a bunch of trees.' And he says, 'I'm talking about personal.' What I'm thinking in my head is, 'Well, the truth is, Brian, we can't solve global warming because I f---ing changed light bulbs in my house. It's because of something collective'."posted by delmoi at 2:46 PM on November 5, 2008 [4 favorites]
We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics who will only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks to come. We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.I'm a Gen Xer. I was one of the cynics. And I think, for the first time in my life, I finally heard someone say, without a hint or tinge of irony, that hope was not a punchline.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. For when we have faced down impossible odds; when we've been told that we're not ready, or that we shouldn't try, or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people.
Yes we can.
The world so wants to love America and now they can again.That's the message of this win. Not "We're back, bitches". For us, you never left.
According to Fox News Chief White House Correspondent Carl Cameron, there was great concern within the McCain campaign that Palin lacked "a degree of knowledgeability necessary to be a running mate, a vice president, a heartbeat away from the presidency," in part because she didn't know which countries were in NAFTA, and she "didn't understand that Africa was a continent, rather than a series, a country just in itself."Truly a moran. And to think she could have been a heartbeat away from the Presidency.
Carl Cameron talking to Bill O'Reilly just now on Fox reveals that McCain aides were truly "shocked" at the lack of knowledge Sarah Palin displayed once they were stuck with her. He said that, in the most startling shortcoming, she actually "thought Africa was a country, not a continent." This led, among other things, to her asking how, in that case, South Africa could be a separate country. She also could not name all of the countries in North America, he said, not even the NAFTA partners. And she did not know many of the basics of civics and local/state/national duties.posted by ericb at 6:27 PM on November 5, 2008 [3 favorites]
That explains, he said, why tensions erupted as McCain aides were truly alarmed by all of this -- yet Palin wanted to speak out freely. So in the closing week or so, they reveal, she took to yelling and screaming at aides over her press clippings, even "tossing papers" around. She was so out of touch she actually refused coaching before the Katie Couric interviews, then yelled at staffers for not preparing her better or warning her off the interviews.
We're still afflicted with the curse of religiosity as a political prerequisite, and Obama has strengthened it. That is a poison that will harm us over the long term; we may have made the more rational choice in this one election, but reinforcing the potency of irrationality will come back to bite us over and over again.I didn't want to go as far as him in raining on the parade, as something happened last night that a whole lot of us have been longing for, for a very long time. But like someone said upthread, the work is only just beginning.
Fox News reports Palin didn't know Africa was a continent.There are going to be many more juicy revelations like this.
As in the previous editions, “How He Did It, 2008″ is an inside, behind-the-scenes account of the presidential election produced by a special team of reporters working for more than a year on an embargoed basis and detached from the weekly magazine and Newsweek.com. Everything the project team learns is kept confidential until the day after the polls close.WTF?
That Sarah Palin does not understand her First Amendment rights doesn't surprise me at all. I'm sure she is equally uneducated about literature, science, art, geography, and American history. The vast ocean of her stupidity will take awhile for us to explore.posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:20 AM on November 6, 2008 [3 favorites]
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:14 PM on October 31
A generation ago, what North Carolinian would imagine that a black man could carry the state in a presidential election?
But Wednesday, Tar Heels began considering what it means that Barack Obama seems to have won North Carolina, along with her sister Southern states Virginia and Florida.
“Friends,posted by ericb at 7:42 AM on November 6, 2008 [7 favorites]
Who among us is not at a loss for words? Tears pour out. Tears of joy. Tears of relief. A stunning, whopping landslide of hope in a time of deep despair.
In a nation that was founded on genocide and then built on the backs of slaves, it was an unexpected moment, shocking in its simplicity: Barack Obama, a good man, a black man, said he would bring change to Washington, and the majority of the country liked that idea. The racists were present throughout the campaign and in the voting booth. But they are no longer the majority, and we will see their flame of hate fizzle out in our lifetime.
There was another important ‘first’ last night. Never before in our history has an avowed anti-war candidate been elected president during a time of war. I hope President-elect Obama remembers that as he considers expanding the war in Afghanistan. The faith we now have will be lost if he forgets the main issue on which he beat his fellow Dems in the primaries and then a great war hero in the general election: The people of America are tired of war. Sick and tired. And their voice was loud and clear yesterday.
It's been an inexcusable 44 years since a Democrat running for president has received even just 51% of the vote. That's because most Americans haven't really liked the Democrats. They see them as rarely having the guts to get the job done or stand up for the working people they say they support. Well, here's their chance. It has been handed to them, via the voting public, in the form of a man who is not a party hack, not a set-for-life Beltway bureaucrat. Will he now become one of them, or will he force them to be more like him? We pray for the latter.
But today we celebrate this triumph of decency over personal attack, of peace over war, of intelligence over a belief that Adam and Eve rode around on dinosaurs just 6,000 years ago. What will it be like to have a smart president? Science, banished for eight years, will return. Imagine supporting our country's greatest minds as they seek to cure illness, discover new forms of energy, and work to save the planet. I know, pinch me.
We may, just possibly, also see a time of refreshing openness, enlightenment and creativity. The arts and the artists will not be seen as the enemy. Perhaps art will be explored in order to discover the greater truths. When FDR was ushered in with his landslide in 1932, what followed was Frank Capra and Preston Sturgis, Woody Guthrie and John Steinbeck, Dorothea Lange and Orson Welles. All week long I have been inundated with media asking me, ‘gee, Mike, what will you do now that Bush is gone?’ Are they kidding? What will it be like to work and create in an environment that nurtures and supports film and the arts, science and invention, and the freedom to be whatever you want to be? Watch a thousand flowers bloom! We've entered a new era, and if I could sum up our collective first thought of this new era, it is this: Anything Is Possible.
An African American has been elected President of the United States! Anything is possible! We can wrestle our economy out of the hands of the reckless rich and return it to the people. Anything is possible! Every citizen can be guaranteed health care. Anything is possible! We can stop melting the polar ice caps. Anything is possible! Those who have committed war crimes will be brought to justice. Anything is possible.
We really don't have much time. There is big work to do. But this is the week for all of us to revel in this great moment. Be humble about it. Do not treat the Republicans in your life the way they have treated you the past eight years. Show them the grace and goodness that Barack Obama exuded throughout the campaign. Though called every name in the book, he refused to lower himself to the gutter and sling the mud back. Can we follow his example? I know, it will be hard.
I want to thank everyone who gave of their time and resources to make this victory happen. It's been a long road, and huge damage has been done to this great country, not to mention to many of you who have lost your jobs, gone bankrupt from medical bills, or suffered through a loved one being shipped off to Iraq. We will now work to repair this damage, and it won't be easy.
But what a way to start! Barack Hussein Obama, the 44th President of the United States. Wow. Seriously, wow.”
"According to ABC News [video], Palin dismissed the internal criticism and refused to comment on the specific allegations [that she didn't know that Africa is a continent, etc.]:posted by ericb at 8:37 AM on November 6, 2008PALIN: 'That’s kind of a small, evidently bitter type of person who would anonymously charge something foolish like that, that I perhaps didn’t know an answer to a question. So until I know who is talking about it, I won’t have a comment on false allegations.'"
MARK NDESANDJO, Barack Obama’s half brother and six-year resident of Shenzhen, sent his congratulations to Obama yesterday immediately after the U.S. Democratic senator won the 2008 presidential election.posted by Abiezer at 11:44 AM on November 6, 2008
"Rosa Parks sat in 1955. Martin Luther King walked in 1963. Barack Obama ran in 2008. That our children might fly."First black President of the USA. Fuck all the trimmings and even what happens next, that's just awesome, isn't it?
I left a message, but it was probably not in the spirit Malkin intended. Okay, it was kind of the opposite spirit.
The debates unnerved both candidates. When he was preparing for the Democratic primary debates, Obama was recorded saying, "I don't consider this to be a good format for me, which makes me more cautious. I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, 'You know, this is a stupid question, but let me ... answer it.' So when Brian Williams is asking me about what's a personal thing that you've done [that's green], and I say, you know, 'Well, I planted a bunch of trees.' And he says, 'I'm talking about personal.' What I'm thinking in my head is, 'Well, the truth is, Brian, we can't solve global warming because I f---ing changed light bulbs in my house. It's because of something collective'."posted by jessamyn at 5:22 PM on November 6, 2008 [4 favorites]
Ninety percent of McCain's voters and 61 percent of Obama's were white.Having 90% of its support come from a group that is declining in share of the population is not a good sign for the future of the Republican party.
The same commentators who dismissed every conceivable American demographic as racist, lazy or both got Sarah Palin wrong too. When she made her debut in St. Paul, the punditocracy was nearly uniform in declaring her selection a brilliant coup. There hadn’t been so much instant over-the-top praise by the press for a cynical political stunt since President Bush “landed” a jet on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln in that short-lived triumph “Mission Accomplished.”And so to shamelessly toot my own horn:
The rave reviews for Palin were completely disingenuous. Anyone paying attention (with the possible exception of John McCain) could see she was woefully ill-equipped to serve half-a-heartbeat away from the presidency. The conservatives Peggy Noonan and Mike Murphy said so on MSNBC when they didn’t know their mikes were on. But, hey, she was a dazzling TV presence, the thinking went, so surely doltish Americans would rally around her anyway. “She killed!” cheered Noonan about the vice-presidential debate, revising her opinion upward and marveling at Palin’s gift for talking “over the heads of the media straight to the people.” Many talking heads thought she tied or beat Joe Biden.
The people, however, were reaching a less charitable conclusion and were well ahead of the Beltway curve in fleeing Palin. Only after polls confirmed that she was costing McCain votes did conventional wisdom in Washington finally change, demoting her from Republican savior to scapegoat overnight.
I'm not sure I buy that McCain peaks at all the right times. This feels like an early peak to me. The Palin contribution to his ticket ain't getting any stronger over time.I'm still feeling damn good about "actual real" America today. Awfully damn good.
posted by NortonDC at 11:43 AM on September 14
The post-Bush-Rove Republican Party is in the minority because it has driven away women, the young, suburbanites, black Americans, Latino-Americans, Asian-Americans, educated Americans, gay Americans and, increasingly, working-class Americans. Who’s left? The only states where the G.O.P. increased its percentage of the presidential vote relative to the Democrats were West Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana and Arkansas. Even the North Carolina county where Palin expressed her delight at being in the “real America” went for Obama by more than 18 percentage points.posted by NortonDC at 11:16 AM on November 9, 2008 [2 favorites]
The actual real America is everywhere.
"The Republican vice presidential candidate attracted criticism for accusing Mr Obama of 'palling around with terrorists,' citing his association with the sixties radical William Ayers.posted by ericb at 10:11 AM on November 10, 2008
The attacks provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling 'terrorist' and 'kill him' until the McCain campaign ordered her to tone down the rhetoric.
But it has now emerged that her demagogic tone may have unintentionally encouraged white supremacists to go even further.
The Secret Service warned the Obama family in mid October that they had seen a dramatic increase in the number of threats against the Democratic candidate, coinciding with Mrs Palin's attacks."
"During his campaign, Obama was the target of a few threats that attracted considerable press coverage but in the end didn’t amount to much. Press portrayals aside, reviewing the facts establishes that these incidents were certainly not viable threats to Obama."There are some interesting comments in the report about the attitudes of white supremacist groups. Stratfor says they are under such good surveillance that they see the greatest threat to Obama as that of the "lone wolf." This report, at least, doesn't mention Palin. The Newsweek story doesn't draw a direct connection, either. I think the Telegraph is going out on a limb in its interpretations of facts which have been known for some time.
"Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin spent part of the weekend going through her clothing to determine what belongs to the Republican Party after it spent $150,000-plus on a wardrobe for the vice presidential nominee, according to Palin's father.Nothing like having to paw through roughly $200,000 of clothing, accessories, luggage and paraphenalia that the Wasilla Hillbillies splurged on while using the credit cards of a wealthy RNC donor and those of various Palin aides.
...Palin's father, Chuck Heath, said his daughter spent the day Saturday trying to figure out what belongs to the RNC.
'She was just frantically ... trying to sort stuff out,' Heath said. 'That's the problem, you know, the kids lose underwear, and everything has to be accounted for.'
'Nothing goes right back to normal,' he said.
Heath dismissed the clothes controversy as 'ridiculous,' and said his daughter told him the only clothing or accessories she had personally purchased in the last four months was a pair of shoes.
...Heath said he brought a pot of moose chili to Palin's house this past weekend.
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posted by PeterMcDermott at 8:02 PM on November 4, 2008 [4 favorites]