Day: October 19, 2008

Hatred, Ignorance and Racism on Display Outside a Palin Rally in Ohio

Jon Ponder

Ohioans on their way to a Sarah Palin rally were only too happy to express their views of Barack Obama to a reporter from Al Jazeera. Transcription via Gedblog:

“I’m afraid if he wins, the blacks will take over. He’s not a Christian! This is a Christian nation! What is our country gonna end up like?”

“When you got a Negra running for president, you need a first stringer. He’s definitely a second stringer.”

“He seems like a sheep – or a wolf in sheep’s clothing to be honest with you. And I believe Palin – she’s filled with the Holy Spirit, and I believe she’s gonna bring honesty and integrity to the White House.”

“He’s related to a known terrorist, for one.”

“He is friends with a terrorist of this country!”

“He must support terrorists! You know, uh, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. And that to me is Obama.”

“Just the whole, Muslim thing, and everything, and everybody’s still kinda – a lot of people have forgotten about 9/11, but — I dunno, it’s just kinda … a little unnerving.”

“Obama and his wife, I’m concerned that they could be anti-white. That he might hide that.”

And this gem:

“I don’t like the fact that he thinks us white people are trash — because we’re not!”

A white Obama supporter outside the rally says he is starting to fear the rising hatred among his neighbors. “I’ve been called the N-word. I’ve been called a Muslim. I’ve been called a — ah — un-American. I’m worried. These people… The tension’s getting thicker and thicker. People like that. It’s starting to scare me … To be specific, I’m afraid some of these people might try to hurt Obama.”

This report and others underscore that Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi was prescient when he described witnessing Palin’s speech at the GOP convention in St. Paul as like watching Gidget address the Reichstag.

Powell Endorses Obama For All the Right Reasons

Trish

Powell gets down at England’s Africa Rising Festival (Photo by Joel Ryan/AP)

FOX News was right — for once — that former Secretary of State Colin Powell intended to endorse Sen. Barack Obama. But they were wrong — as usual — about the reasons.

FOX prophesied a Powell endorsement based solely on the race of the two men, which reflects what FOX sees when it looks at Powell and Obama

“I think he is a transformational figure, he is a new generation coming onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason I’ll be voting for Sen. Barack Obama,” Powell said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Powell said he was concerned about what he characterized as a recent negative turn of Republican candidate Sen. John McCain’s campaign, such as the campaign’s attempts to tie Obama to former 1960s radical Bill Ayers.

“I think that’s inappropriate. I understand what politics is about — I know how you can go after one another, and that’s good. But I think this goes too far, and I think it has made the McCain campaign look a little narrow. It’s not what the American people are looking for,” he said.

Amen. But FOX prophesied a Powell endorsement based solely on the race of the two men, which says more about what FOX sees when it looks at Powell and Obama than it does about Powell’s decision-making process.

Fox News sees ominous signs in the general’s impromptu boogie. It posits that because Powell not only “showed off hip hop moves,” but audibly referred to himself as “African American” while on stage in London, all the signs are present for him to soon endorse Barack Obama for president.

As is his wont, Powell expressed some remorse at his announcement.

“It isn’t easy for me to disappoint Sen. McCain in the way that I have this morning, and I regret that,” Powell said.

Speaking on Fox News Sunday, McCain said he respects and admires Powell, and the announcement “doesn’t come as a surprise.”

Obama Raised $150 Mil in September

Jon Ponder

ABC News:

ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos reports: Barack Obama’s presidential campaign shattered all records in September by raising more than $150 million, the campaign announced in an e-mail to supporters this morning.

Obama’s haul more than doubles his previous monthly best of $67 million, which came during August of this year, and will further fuel his financial advantage over John McCain.

Since accepting public funds after being nominated for president at the Republican Convention in early September, McCain has been limited to spending $84 million, although the Republican National Committee has raised additional money on his behalf.

Obama has been putting his financial advantage to good use, and in recent weeks has massively outspent McCain on television ads. During the second week of October, Obama spent $32 million blanketing the airwaves in the key battleground states, while McCain and the RNC combined to spend only $16 million.

Obama’s campaign says its September fundraising was fueled by 632,000 donors, giving the campaign a total of 3.1 million since launching early last year.