Hose Down the GOP Crazy Folk

If you've been watching the news, reading political blogs, or watching YouTube video clips, you've no doubt noticed that John McCain and Sarah Palin have been whipping up their rally crowds by questioning Barack Obama's ties to Bill Ayers, insinuating that we don't know the REAL Obama, and trying to plant the seed in these pinheads that he could secretly be a terrorist himself, or at least have cocktails with them.

Sleazy campaign tricks are one thing - they've been around a long time, and I doubt they'll go away, and especially when you're losing, spending more time tearing down the other candidate instead of convincing people that you have the right ideas seems to be in Republican DNA.

The responses from these crowds, though, have become frightening - screams of "terrorist!", shrieks of "kill him", and scorn & abuse hurtled at the media present have gone beyond what is acceptable, and rather than try to reign in the crowds, McCain and Palin seem to be encouraging more of the same. It's to the point where these bloodthirsty wackos are being investigated by the Secret Service, and the campaign had better do something before actual violence ensues.

Here's a couple of passages from articles that dig more deeply into the problem:

Joe Klein - ...we are on the edge of some real serious craziness here and it would be nice if McCain did the right thing and told his more bloodthirsty supporters to go home and take a cold shower. But McCain hasn't done the right thing all year. His campaign is appalling, as the New York Times editorial board said today--and more, it is a national disgrace.

Jonathan Martin - John Weaver, McCain’s former top strategist, said top Republicans have a responsibility to temper this behavior.

“People need to understand, for moral reasons and the protection of our civil society, the differences with Sen. Obama are ideological, based on clear differences on policy and a lack of experience compared to Sen. McCain,” Weaver said. “And from a purely practical political vantage point, please find me a swing voter, an undecided independent, or a torn female voter that finds an angry mob mentality attractive.”

“Sen. Obama is a classic liberal with an outdated economic agenda. We should take that agenda on in a robust manner. As a party we should not and must not stand by as the small amount of haters in our society question whether he is as American as the rest of us. Shame on them and shame on us if we allow this to take hold.”