The Secret Service Should Act Now!
If the Secret Service is not--behind closed doors--smacking John McCain and Sarah Palin about the head and shoulders over their insane incitement rallies... they damn well should be! Stating the obvious, it doesn’t take much for certain individuals, who under normal circumstances remain precariously on a semi-even keel, to leap over that fine line into irrational, righteous violence.
The men and women in charge of protecting Barack and Michelle Obama are literally in the line of fire. They do not have to throw themselves in front of a madman’s bullet. In most cases they only have to be nearby. They don’t even need to see it coming. Their job is dangerous enough without the help of The John and Sarah Insane Hatefest Tour. Enough is enough.
It’s time for the Secret Service to set things straight.
I heartily agree. I think the Secret Service needs to quitely tap on the Artic Hillbilly's shoulder after one of her KKK meetings, uh, I mean McCain rallies, and ask her to follow them. And then, all of a sudden, she disappears into a black limo never to be heard from again.
October 10, 2008 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
So you think the secret service should kill a VP candidate? What a moron you are. You prove the point that it is not republicans inciting violence, but idiots like you.
October 10, 2008 4:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, hateful idiot: as a citizen equal before the law with everyone else, she should be taken away and questioned as to her motives and intents. And if it is found she is too stupid to know what she is doing is dangerous, then EDUCATED to that fact.
There are also LAWS which CRIMINALIZE such conduct. That she is INTERVIEWING for EMPLOYMENT DOES NOT exempt her from personal responsibility, or the rule of law -- your drive to elect and protect exempt-from-the-norms-of-healthy-social-behaviors-and-rule-of-law socipaths -- so long as they are REPUBLICAN -- notwithstanding.
This country is not the personal property of the lunatic fringe that has taken over the Republican Party. And YOUR corrupt, America-hating Republican party does not make the rules for everyone else -- that is the Constitutional function of the Congress.
Stop defending America-hating racism, groundless rage, and utter lunacy in the name of campaign tactics: you are defending the debasing of your own country and society by behaviors which can only properly be trmed THUGISH.
October 11, 2008 6:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bulldog & Gasket,
Goodwin's law be damned, the McCain/Palin campaign and in Particular the tactics of Sarah Palin are eerily similar to the campaign of a man that was elected Head of state for a European Country in 1933.
The madness of the McCain/Palin campaign has method to it. In particular in 3 very similar ways
1. Give "the people" a reason to HATE.
2. Give "the people" a target to HATE.
3. Then fan the flames of the HATE.
Don't take my word for the BBC put out a 12 disc set on WWII and addresses this on the first disc.
I KNOW YOU ARE SCREAMING AS YOU READ THIS but if you calm down and take a look at the facts the comparisons are HARD to miss.
October 11, 2008 9:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree that the tenor of the McCain campaign has become quite disturbing (so much so that the glacial MSM has even taken notice). However, what is to be done? To my knowledge, there's no specific threat at this time. Political speech is protected, unless it truly becomes 'fighting words'. Even so, do you really see the McCain and/or Palin being arrested by the Secret Service? This is a very precarious situation, both politically and legally.
October 10, 2008 1:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, it wouldn't be in the form of a threat to arrest. It would just be a meeting, a discussion, one that President Bush, if he were anything but a spineless piece of shit, should have had with McPalin days ago. Bush is the leader of this party. He is responsible for the actions of those below him.
It has gotten so bad that if I were forced to choose between Bush or McCain on a ballot, I would vote for Bush. Seriously.
October 10, 2008 2:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
No arrest, no threat. The Secret Service (and they should drag the Republican leadership along) should point out how dangerous this is. AND they should point out that it is not working. The data is there. It is not generating the numbers. McCain needs a new tack. And Sarah just needs to stop her "not like you and me" shtick. It is beyond offensive.
October 10, 2008 2:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
@ libgirl and Iclaudia.... exactly so. A thorough talking to buy the head of the Secret Service is in order.
October 10, 2008 2:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
You people are insane if you think the ss can lecture a party on how they can campaign, or that their is anything wrong with pointing out that Obama hangs with terrorists and racists. You libs are in a frenzy over nothing, except that it is obviously your strategy to try to prevent McCain from discussing Obama's shady connections, because you know it will hurt Obama. So you create this bogus controversy. I don't recall liberals screaming when Bill Maher said it would be good if Cheney were killed in a terrorist bomb blast.
October 10, 2008 4:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
You have a bad memory. I wrote a letter to the Times over Mahar's represensible comments. You must not have read it. Maybe you don't read the Times. Maybe you just listen to Rush Limbaugh. And Sarah Palin hangs around with anti-semites and terrorists. She even addresses their venues. And she abused her authority as Governor.
October 10, 2008 9:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
You are as hateful a piece of shit as your latest beyond-reach heartthrob Palin. Wake up, asshole: inciting unfounded hate and rage, and directing it at a specific individual, especially by means of LYING, is NOT protected speech.
And the LYING I point to is that YOU do: the lies with which you CONTINUE to smear Obama have been REPEATEDLY REFUTED, EVEN BY REPUBLICANS WHO SAT ON THE SAME MULTIMEMBER BOARD AS OBAMA AND AYERS.
THERE WAS NO AND IS NO RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OBAMA AND AYERS. STOP the LYING that there was. Get it through your twisted hypocrisy: LYING IS IMMORAL. LYING against Obama DOES NOT establish that you stand on a HIGHER moral ground than he -- or anyone else.
LYING IS IMMORAL. It does NOT ADVANCE a MORALITY that it VITIATES.
Either learn the meaning of DECENCY, and ADOPT that socializing behavior, or STFU, LYING RACIST THUG.
October 11, 2008 6:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
Please know that I was being hyperbolic about the smacking around bit up there. It should be a verbal smacking around. No suggestion of arrests was intended.
What's going on with the McCain/Palin campaign rallies is beyond the pale. They are desperate and flailing ridiculously in an effort to close the gap. It is not working, but it may in fact be causing serious harm.
October 10, 2008 2:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with you that what has been happening at recent McCain campaign appearances is deplorable. However, in order for any serious legal action to take place, whether by the Secret Service or by any other law enforcement organization, there has to be a law broken. This isn't Minority Report. The Supreme Court has continually rejected restricting speech on a content basis until it becomes 'fighting words', ie containing a specific threat. Unlike the UK, we don't have laws against incitement, whether or not that's what McCain and/or Palin are doing.
So, could the Secret Service have a sit down with the McCain campaign? Sure, but what would they say? Tone it down? Exactly what would this conversation look like? Don't talk about Ayers?
Also, consider this: McCain and/or Palin go on the stump immediately afterward and tell their supporters that they're being pressured by the feds to stop telling the truth about Barack Obama. Backlash.
Face it: Until such time as McCain and/or Palin actually engage in the use of fighting words, there is nothing that can be done. Supporters who yell things at their events are independent agents under the law and any specific threat against Obama or his family will be treated accordingly.
October 10, 2008 3:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
". . . . we don't have laws against incitement, . . . ."
We certainly do. Shouting "theater!" in a crowded fire is an INCITEMENT, and it is PROHIBITED. And that is a FEDERAL prohibition.
There are also STATE prohibitions against inciting violence/riots.
October 11, 2008 6:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oh my, what did they do, pray do tell us.
October 10, 2008 3:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
So you think we're overreacting? Or do I misunderstand your point?
October 10, 2008 5:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sounds like some "extreme rendition" there.
October 10, 2008 1:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
They'd take anybody else into custody!
October 10, 2008 2:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think there's a very good chance that this conversation has been conducted and McPowlin are just ignoring it. We'd never know. The Secret Service doesn't leak.
One can easily imagine McCain responding with one of his patented tantrums rather than taking the danger to heart.
October 10, 2008 3:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sadly, this could be so. Fortunately, there appears to be more conservative backlash. Gergen is pretty bothered. Others are coming over to Obama--Chris Buckley, possibly David Brooks.
But still, it's ugly, worrisome stuff.
October 10, 2008 3:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain's and Palin's crowds, stoked up, are so damn obviously, unhingedly ugly.
McCain/Palin, if they did manage to win with this, what did they win? They've never stopped to think of that. A more loathsome pair never ran, at least not in my time of political consciousness.
October 10, 2008 7:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Palin rallies are quickly taking on the atmosphere of a lynch mob.
But I fear that the Bush controlled secret service is not all that concerned about the life of the GOP's opponents. After 8 years of torture, lies and corruption, does anyone doubt the Bush-Mccain capacity for criminal and ruthless behavior?
The secret service may actually be working in concert with Palin and her lynch mob allies.
October 10, 2008 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
No. As I suggested in my OP the Secret Service have every reason to be concerned. Their people are potentially "in the way" if some nut-job goes postal.
Their motivation to keep things as cool, calm and collected as is possible is obvious.
October 10, 2008 4:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's an unnecessary and gratuitious slur on an outfit whose focus on its mission to the exclusion of politics borders on the puritanical.
They're almost as humorless and rigidly mission-focused as the North Carolina Highway Patrol. (Okay, the North Carolinians here know why that's funny because its so true, anyway.)
October 10, 2008 5:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
I would be so happy if the secret service would catch one of these shouting knuckleheads in the act and prosecute him/her . . .
October 10, 2008 3:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
If the Secret Service is aware of some of the happenings at the McCain-Palin ralleys, shouldn't there be agents in position to apprehend or at least identify individual(s) responsible for such statement(s) which seems to be on the surface a violation of Federal Law...I understand freedom of speech, you know, but I also understand there are limitations...just a thought
October 10, 2008 4:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Indeed.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/223483.php
October 10, 2008 4:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Observer:
Perhaps you have answered my question, which is: under whose authority does the Secret Service act? Is it the Legislative, or the Executive branch?
During the primaries, wasn't there an incident in Texas in which it was alluded to, after the fact, that the Secret Service was remiss in covering Obama? I'm not a conspiracy fan, but I am concerned about who is responsible for setting the agenda for Secret Service teams. Someone -- was it Rolling Stone, or Vanity Fair? -- wrote a disturbing piece about racism within the ranks of the Secret Service, with troubling examples.
Caveat Emptor in these remaining, pre-election days.
October 10, 2008 5:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Listen... don't do that. Don't get all conspiratorial on us. The secret service protected Clinton and his entire family with vigor for eight years. One of the most hated politicians of our time. They did it because they take their job seriously and they themselves do not want to die. They didn't do it because they loved the man. The better they do their job the safer the president and they will be.
They don't have to love Obama. They have to protect him. If some random idiot--jazzed up by McCain suggesting Obama is a terrorist--decides to take matters into his own hands, the Secret Service is at risk. The local police are at risk. Everyone around the candidate is at risk. The notion that the SS would be lax on purpose or is in league with McCain or anyone else is patently absurd.
Self preservation. That's a powerful motivator.
October 10, 2008 5:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Co-sign.
Look, the first post I ever did here was because I was upset about the very incident you're referencing, but in hindsight I think the press reports were misleading.
The Secret Service is a branch of the Treasury Department but there are no political appointees. They are consumate professionals and very, very. very serious people. They're literally trained and committed to taking a bullet for their protectee if that's what it takes and they've done it.
And they know what they're doing. Sometime, if the opportunity arises, you should watch them covering Obama's when he's working a crowd and compare it to the way the cover McCain. Let's just say they know who's under greater threat and they're doing everything they can.
The people on McCain's detail are there to protect McCain, not anyone else, and that's a task that requires 100% of their attention. If they hear someone shout "kill him!" that's going to get their attention, but only because they'll perceive it as a threat to their own protectee, not to another candidate.
That said, the atmosphere in these Republican rallies of late must be a nightmare, both for McCain's detail and the agency as a whole.
October 10, 2008 5:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'll Co-Sign this along with NCSteve. There may be racism in the SS's ranks. Nevertheless, they are professionals about the people they protect. Let's not besmirch that professionalism.
October 10, 2008 7:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey you!
Yes... professionalism.
Crappy people exist in all walks of life, all professions. But when it comes down to it, when it's us against them doesn't matter about color, creed, sexual orientation. All that matters is professionalism, survival, brother/sisterhood.
October 10, 2008 9:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
As you say, Norse God. ;-)
Good to see you post again.
October 10, 2008 11:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Behold the hypocrisy.
McCain Already Scheming to Play Bush-Style Politics
http://thetruthburns.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/mccain-already-scheming-to-play-bush-style-politics/
October 10, 2008 5:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dear Clever Bulldog:
I never said that I wanted Palin killed, although someone at HER rally did scream "Kill Him". Were they talking about McCain? I don't think so. And she was making reference to Obama when the guy yelled it. By the way, there ARE NO SHADY CONNECTIONS with Obama, these Ayers "connections" have all been fabricated to take the focus off crappy economy.
Sara Palin is a walking down a slippery slope. I hope that she realizes that she may work the crowd up and some nutjob is going to take her words seriously and then someone gets shot. It seems to me that there are some people in her crowd that are really unhinged. Does her audience sound rational? No they sound really angry and Sara and McShame are working them into a frenzy and focusing the crowd's anger on Obama. I personally would just like for the public to ignore her so she would just fade away, but now someone has yelled "Kill Him" and that has to be taken seriously.
All I want is for Palin to go back to her salmon fishing and making babies and disappear into the background from where she came.
October 10, 2008 7:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think they did.
Meet the base.
This is why McCain did not want the media to talk his kooks.
No wonder he had to wave the white flag.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itEucdhf4Us
October 10, 2008 8:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey... maybe the Secret Service is/are? reading my posts! Heh-heh!
October 10, 2008 8:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, probably. Loser.
October 10, 2008 10:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
I was at the Obama rally in Española, NM last month. Near the end of Obama's talk, someone fainted. He stopped his talk and asked the people to stand back while someone held the person's head. He directed EMT's to come and assured everyone that the paramedics would take good care of the person. When he was satisfied all was well, he finished his speech. Contrast his actual example of leadership here to those who pretend not to know what their supporters are up to. It's called r u n n i n g a campaign.
October 10, 2008 9:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
One word: Class
Two words: Social Responsibility
October 10, 2008 10:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think they're on it. They've got our guy's back.
October 10, 2008 10:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ohmygod. You people are as fucking insane as the people in gotalife's video clip.
Yes. You. Are.
Get a grip. Stop watching TV, it's rotting your undersized paranoid puny brains.
No wonder the right calls us moonbats. You're all batshit crazy.
October 10, 2008 10:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
How about the person at the Palin rally who yelled, "Kill him!" when she was smearing Obama? Batshit crazy?
Those are the issues -- not the concern about those issues.
October 11, 2008 6:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
How about Jesse Jackson's widely aired comment about cutting Obama's nuts off? Do you think Jesse Jackson inspired some wacko to castrate Obama?
If you do, you're a hysteric.
If you don't, we can have a conversation.
October 11, 2008 10:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
I recently purchased the John Adams miniseries on DVD to watch since I did not subscribe to HBO. I just watched part 1 with my teenagers.
During the trial of the soldiers, my sons were amazed that the mob outright lied in trial to try and get the redcoats convicted.
My boys were even more shocked at the brutality of the angry mob who grabbed the customs inspector of tea, ripped his clothes off and brutally covered him in scalding tar and feathered him.
Angry mobs are not a thing of the past. All too easily can mob rule overtake even the most civilized.
What is that line from Men in Black? - A person is smart. "People" are unpredictable, panicky and dangerous.
If you have not viewed it - John Adams HBO, an absolute must have for the political junkie. I can't wait to watch the rest. Its parallels to modern times is uncanny.
October 10, 2008 11:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
PALIN = STALIN
or would if she could
October 11, 2008 12:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
Many of us have not forgotten those fateful days when good and outstanding leaders like President John Kennedy, Rev Martin Luther King Jr and Robert Kennedy were blown away by madmen who were incited and instigated by hatemongers like Sarah Palin and tacitly encouraged by hypocrites like John McCain.
And scumbags like you, theCleverBulldog, get excited to the point of spewing mindless hatred that lead to mob violence.
I fully agree that Secret Service should step in and haul this hate-peddlers, including the "Hockey Mum" and be tried for incitement.
October 11, 2008 12:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe McCain's attempt to calm the crowd means that he is conceding the election. Considering the polls, and now the Palin report -- the nail in the McCain coffin -- concession seems realistic.
October 11, 2008 1:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
Not a chance. He is only trying to keep his hems clean of the mud that is be slung IN HIS NAME AND BEHALF.
October 11, 2008 6:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
This is ridiculous. I've been in groups where violence could have broken out at any moment with the crowd and police just a hair trigger away from open warfare. Most of you haven't got a clue.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hAx5G0I9mU
I watched the McCain and Palin videos and I saw a bunch of bored people no where near incited to riot. This was no lynch mob just a bunch of middle class republicans all but one shouting nothing more than "boo" with out any anger, energy or excitement, just like people shout boo at a democratic rally over some insult to republicans.
Yes there was one wingnut at a few rallies that went over board. That should not be condoned, accepted, or tolerated. But I didn't hear anyone cheering that wingnut on or joining in. And all the articles I've read said it was one person and never mentioned the crowd joining in. I suppose its a good strategy to spread the meme that republicans are turning into a lynch mob, if you can sell it to the public, but its just a load of crap.
October 11, 2008 7:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
John Santiago and wwstaebler are on point: Secret Service agents assigned to protect Senator Obama at a Dallas rally stopped performing weapons checks because the crowd "looked friendly". Couple that fact with the ongoing federal discrimination lawsuits filed by former and current African-American agents alleging blatant discrimination and harrassment within the Secret Service and there is a problem.
October 11, 2008 9:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
Goldspinner: can you give me a link to that blatant discrimination and harrassment within the Secret Service, please? I would like to research that a bit more.
October 11, 2008 10:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
Do you not read the news? the Secret Service is investigating the allegation that a man yelled "kill him" in apparent reference to Obama in the McCain/Palin rally.
October 11, 2008 11:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
Fuck!!!!!
G'mornin' Loki. Just checkin' in.
October 11, 2008 11:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
nethead and truthseeker77,
Since you're either too inept or intellectually lazy to research topics you automatically disagree with, here's a few simple links for you:
http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/FedCrimes/Story?id=4866932&page=1
http://www.minnesotamonitor.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3996
Pathetic.
October 12, 2008 8:29 AM | Reply | Permalink