Ain't No Time for Hate

[Etoile]

The comments Mr. Buckley received remind me of what's been happening a few blocks from my house, on the main artery through our not-so-little suburb, Vienna, VA. The sign wars are picking up like crazy. Here's the play-by-play.

1. House #1 sets up giant "Virginia is McCain Country" sign, about 8 ft long and 4 ft high.
2. House #2, next door, sets up giant "Vote for Change" sign, same size, but closer to the road and more easily visible. Also smaller Obama 08 signs around the big sign.
3. House #1 moves McCain sign closer to road so it's right beside the Vote for Change sign.
4. House #3, across the street and down one from House #2, sets up giant McCain sign.
5. House #2's small Obama signs disappear completely, along with all the Obama signs on the median between houses 1/2 and 3.
6. House #1's McCain sign is moved back to its original position, further from the road.
7. House #2's Obama sign is spray-painted with "SOCIALIST DANGER" and "NO EXPERIENCE, NO OBAMA" along with other colorful-but-not-profane sayings.
8. House #3's McCain sign disappears completely; #2's Obama sign remains in place with spray paint on it.
9. House #2 gets another giant sign, this time saying "Eight Years is Enough, Vote for Change" - it goes right up by the road like the last one. House #1's McCain sign remains further back in the yard.
10. At no time were McCain signs touched by anyone other than their owners. Obama signs were stolen and vandalized.

People are calling Obama a Muslim, a terrorist, everything short of towel-head. The Republicans are SCARED. And they're acting out.

Now one of their own, Buckley, has "defected" and they chew HIM out. During the debates, Obama focuses mostly on the issues, but McCain focuses mostly on painting Obama as the bad guy.

This brings me back to the original post. These people hate Obama. They hate people who don't agree with them. Sign wars may be innocuous, but they represent a bigger problem.

Or I could just be tired and babbling.

 

[midwestyankee]

Etoile, you are not merely babbling from fatigue. The hatred you suspect is very real. It's not ubiquitous but it's out there. I don't recall in all the 10 national elections in which I've participated anything remotely like this hatred and fear. There was some real animosity towards Richard Nixon in 1972 but by then he'd earned every bit of it. The big difference this time is that all of the "reasons" that people give for fearing Obama are fake: they were all internet-generated falsehoods whose only reason for being is to gin up hatred for the man.

That is what disgusts me the most.

 

[CutieMouse]

Apparently you're in good company, CM. Did you see this?

"While I regret this development, I am not in mourning, for I no longer have any clear idea what, exactly, the modern conservative movement stands for. Eight years of 'conservative' government has brought us a doubled national debt, ruinous expansion of entitlement programs, bridges to nowhere, poster boy Jack Abramoff and an ill-premised, ill-waged war conducted by politicians of breathtaking arrogance. As a sideshow, it brought us a truly obscene attempt at federal intervention in the Terry Schiavo case.

So, to paraphrase a real conservative, Ronald Reagan: I haven’t left the Republican Party. It left me."

- Christopher Buckley

Sigh.

I think what bothers me most, is the lack of civility. We are supposed to be above these things; capable of disagreeing and forming our own opinions and such without the hate mongering. One can disagree without threatening; one can debate without debasing one's opponent.

I would like to believe that it used to be different, but I'm not so sure anymore...

 

[midwestyankee]

Sigh.

I think what bothers me most, is the lack of civility. We are supposed to be above these things; capable of disagreeing and forming our own opinions and such without the hate mongering. One can disagree without threatening; one can debate without debasing one's opponent.

I would like to believe that it used to be different, but I'm not so sure anymore...

When I recall the political cartoons that portrayed Abraham Lincoln as an ape or the many other slanders hurled at him, I think that some of our political discourse today is actually an improvement. But I think you're right in feeling some dismay that we seem to have become somehow less polite than we were in recent memory. I sense the same thing., whether it's true or not.

 

[Homburg]

Saw a hand-drawn sign in a yard yesterday reading "BEER-DRINKIN WHITE DUDE THAT'S VOTIN FOR OBAMA!". If signs are any indication, McCain is in trouble. This area is usually republican leaning, but this time around the sign poll is not so kind towards McCain. It's not blue everywjere, but there's a lot more blue this cycle than there was for Kerry (tcha).

 

[Netzach]

Sigh.

I think what bothers me most, is the lack of civility. We are supposed to be above these things; capable of disagreeing and forming our own opinions and such without the hate mongering. One can disagree without threatening; one can debate without debasing one's opponent.

I would like to believe that it used to be different, but I'm not so sure anymore...

It's not a question of opposition even - clearly. Anyone who doesn't brandish the same hate that these people brandish is a target, and even more so on the Right. By not considering myself centrist or moderate-conservative I can safely say "hey I didn't get close enough to get any of it ON me, ugh."

I used to think, fuck it, it's people like this that are YOUR responsibility if you're a centrist or can embrace the POV without being a nutjob yourself. I now feel they're everyone's problem - the attacks on Buckley and Kathleen Parker are a new and very sinister trend. Maybe they will be a wake up of sorts.

I'm still having a hard time getting out my hankies when it comes to the Republican party. If you seriously can cozy up to the violent, virulent overt homophobia and sex phobia of this party and then go spankin' on each other at your weekend sex parties, you do not get to claim to be on my side of the culture divide, sorry.

 

[Netzach]

Saw a hand-drawn sign in a yard yesterday reading "BEER-DRINKIN WHITE DUDE THAT'S VOTIN FOR OBAMA!". If signs are any indication, McCain is in trouble. This area is usually republican leaning, but this time around the sign poll is not so kind towards McCain. It's not blue everywjere, but there's a lot more blue this cycle than there was for Kerry (tcha).

Have you see the "rednecks for Obama" guys?

 

[rosco rathbone]

Beer drinking, union construction working, male-dominant-household-having, NRA membership card carrying Obama voter here.

 

[Netzach]

Beer drinking, union construction working, male-dominant-household-having, NRA membership card carrying Obama voter here.

You are in NYC, we've already written you off as some kind of elitist freak.


ETA: liberal elites who carry, do NRA, pro-second are hawt.

 

[midwestyankee]

Have you see the "rednecks for Obama" guys?

Here you go:

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g68/mwy_photos/610x.jpg


Also check out the Rednecks for Obama website.

 

[JMohegan]

People are calling Obama a Muslim, a terrorist, everything short of towel-head.

Traitor, abomination, Karl Marx. Baby-murderer is a favorite too.


http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa78/johnmohegan/scum.jpg

Republicans are SCARED. And they're acting out.

Now one of their own, Buckley, has "defected" and they chew HIM out. During the debates, Obama focuses mostly on the issues, but McCain focuses mostly on painting Obama as the bad guy.

This brings me back to the original post. These people hate Obama. They hate people who don't agree with them. Sign wars may be innocuous, but they represent a bigger problem.

Or I could just be tired and babbling.

No, you're not babbling.

What's remarkable is the extent to which the McCain campaign has been actively encouraging this crap.

Since you're in Virginia, did you see this? "With so much at stake, and time running short, [Virginia Republican Party Chairman] Frederick did not feel he had the luxury of subtlety. He climbed atop a folding chair to give 30 campaign volunteers who were about to go canvassing door to door their talking points — for instance, the connection between Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden: 'Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon,' he said. 'That is scary.' It is also not exactly true — though that distorted reference to Obama's controversial association with William Ayers, a former 60s radical, was enough to get the volunteers stoked. 'And he won't salute the flag,' one woman added, repeating another myth about Obama. She was quickly topped by a man who called out, 'We don't even know where Senator Obama was really born.' Actually, we do; it's Hawaii."

 

[Netzach]

Traitor, abomination, Karl Marx. Baby-murderer is a favorite too.


http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa78/johnmohegan/scum.jpg



No, you're not babbling.

What's remarkable is the extent to which the McCain campaign has been actively encouraging this crap.

Since you're in Virginia, did you see this? "With so much at stake, and time running short, [Virginia Republican Party Chairman] Frederick did not feel he had the luxury of subtlety. He climbed atop a folding chair to give 30 campaign volunteers who were about to go canvassing door to door their talking points — for instance, the connection between Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden: 'Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon,' he said. 'That is scary.' It is also not exactly true — though that distorted reference to Obama's controversial association with William Ayers, a former 60s radical, was enough to get the volunteers stoked. 'And he won't salute the flag,' one woman added, repeating another myth about Obama. She was quickly topped by a man who called out, 'We don't even know where Senator Obama was really born.' Actually, we do; it's Hawaii."

That's kind of a sad-sack icon of hate. He's probably ex-gay.

 

[JMohegan]

Saw a hand-drawn sign in a yard yesterday reading "BEER-DRINKIN WHITE DUDE THAT'S VOTIN FOR OBAMA!".

Haha - that's awesome.

 

[BiBunny]

Here you go:

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g68/mwy_photos/610x.jpg


Also check out the Rednecks for Obama website.

Holy shit.

I love it. I absolutely love it. I've half a mind to actually register to vote now, just so I can be a Redneck for Obama, too.

 

[JMohegan]

Sigh.

I think what bothers me most, is the lack of civility. We are supposed to be above these things; capable of disagreeing and forming our own opinions and such without the hate mongering. One can disagree without threatening; one can debate without debasing one's opponent.

I would like to believe that it used to be different, but I'm not so sure anymore...

This might make you laugh - or at least appeal to your inner geek.

 

[JMohegan]

Holy shit.

I love it. I absolutely love it. I've half a mind to actually register to vote now, just so I can be a Redneck for Obama, too.

So easy.

 

[BiBunny]

So easy.

I swear, between you and MWY....*Grumble*

 

[Netzach]

I swear, between you and MWY....*Grumble*

Hey if someone's calling North Dakota a "swing state" it's hell in a handbasket officially.

 

[CutieMouse]

This might make you laugh - or at least appeal to your inner geek.

Yes, but did you notice that the insults/mudslinging was at least eloquent?

"John Adams, the sitting president, got hit with his share of slung mud that year. James Callender, a journalist who was in league with Jefferson, told the country that Adams was a rageful, lying, warmongering fellow, a "repulsive pedant" and "gross hypocrite" who behaved neither like a man nor like a woman but instead possessed a "hideous hermaphroditical character." There was also a nasty rumor that Adams had sent his veep to Europe to bring back four mistresses, two for each of them. "

*linguistic-lust-mode*

 

[JMohegan]

Yes, but did you notice that the insults/mudslinging was at least eloquent?



*linguistic-lust-mode*

Like George Will on steroids.

 

[Etoile]

Hey if someone's calling North Dakota a "swing state" it's hell in a handbasket officially.

A dear friend of mine is a senior aide to one of the ND senators. It's definitely up in the air there.

 

[00Syd]

The comments Mr. Buckley received remind me of what's been happening a few blocks from my house, on the main artery through our not-so-little suburb, Vienna, VA. The sign wars are picking up like crazy. Here's the play-by-play.

1. House #1 sets up giant "Virginia is McCain Country" sign, about 8 ft long and 4 ft high.
2. House #2, next door, sets up giant "Vote for Change" sign, same size, but closer to the road and more easily visible. Also smaller Obama 08 signs around the big sign.
3. House #1 moves McCain sign closer to road so it's right beside the Vote for Change sign.
4. House #3, across the street and down one from House #2, sets up giant McCain sign.
5. House #2's small Obama signs disappear completely, along with all the Obama signs on the median between houses 1/2 and 3.
6. House #1's McCain sign is moved back to its original position, further from the road.
7. House #2's Obama sign is spray-painted with "SOCIALIST DANGER" and "NO EXPERIENCE, NO OBAMA" along with other colorful-but-not-profane sayings.
8. House #3's McCain sign disappears completely; #2's Obama sign remains in place with spray paint on it.
9. House #2 gets another giant sign, this time saying "Eight Years is Enough, Vote for Change" - it goes right up by the road like the last one. House #1's McCain sign remains further back in the yard.
10. At no time were McCain signs touched by anyone other than their owners. Obama signs were stolen and vandalized.

People are calling Obama a Muslim, a terrorist, everything short of towel-head. The Republicans are SCARED. And they're acting out.

Now one of their own, Buckley, has "defected" and they chew HIM out. During the debates, Obama focuses mostly on the issues, but McCain focuses mostly on painting Obama as the bad guy.

This brings me back to the original post. These people hate Obama. They hate people who don't agree with them. Sign wars may be innocuous, but they represent a bigger problem.

Or I could just be tired and babbling.

This could be in your neighborhood:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ivy_windchaser/2939110809/

 

[intothewoods]

ETA: liberal elites who carry, do NRA, pro-second are hawt.

Liberal elites who do NRA are something all right!

I know, I know, you love 'em. Some of my best friends are hunters, actually. I tell them all the time, I don't get what you are talking about. I don't understand your lifestyle. But I admit your bacon is quite tasty. (Sorry, JM, , they were raised somewhat humanely if that helps).


Back to the OP.

After seeing so many clips from the McCain-Palin rallies on the news, there is no way in hell I will say that there is just as much hate on the left. Hey, I'm probably the hateful, intolerant left and the worst I've said about McCain is to repeat the Gawker nickname, Walnuts. What concerns me is what will happen if Obama wins? How is that intense hatred going to dissipate?

 

[Homburg]

After seeing so many clips from the McCain-Palin rallies on the news, there is no way in hell I will say that there is just as much hate on the left. Hey, I'm probably the hateful, intolerant left and the worst I've said about McCain is to repeat the Gawker nickname, Walnuts. What concerns me is what will happen if Obama wins? How is that intense hatred going to dissipate?

And, at this point, I'd agree. As I said in another post, the republicans are living up to the caricature painted by the left. In years previous, it was a caricature. Now, no, the mask has been removed and the face beneath is the same.

 

[JMohegan]

Some of my best friends are hunters, actually. I tell them all the time, I don't get what you are talking about. I don't understand your lifestyle. But I admit your bacon is quite tasty. (Sorry, JM, , they were raised somewhat humanely if that helps).

No hard feelings.



What do they hunt for bacon? Wild boar?