Seriously--a noose around Sarah Palin's neck? Not the same as actual GOP officials sending out Obama bucks, or Sarah Palin doing nothing when someone in the crowd calls Obama a nigger. But, at the very least, an incredible waste of time--and a perfectly good manequin.
Yeah, the Palin effigy is garbage. TNC, I was hoping you'd dedicate a full post to the Palin rally N-bomb. The fact that Palin stopped, obviously heard it, and chose to pretend she didn't deserves to be noted.
It's really, really stupid, and inexcusable in my opinion. Sarah Palin can argue that her possession of a vagina makes her a feminist if she wants to, but progressives have a responsibility to stand up against misogynistic and sexist behavior no matter who it's directed at.
Not that I want to be all conspiracy theorist or anything, but has anyone discussed the possibility of a GOP plant? Why would someone pull a stunt like this when Obama is so far ahead?
I'm reading "Nixonland", and after reading about all the tricks the GOP played, I wouldn't put this past them.
Not that I want to be all conspiracy theorist or anything, but has anyone discussed the possibility of a GOP plant? Why would someone pull a stunt like this when Obama is so far ahead?
It is possible, just as it is possible that rednecks that yell shit out at Palin rallies are DEM plants. I have read parts of Nixonland as well and the author detailed plenty of scumbaggery on the part of the Kennedy's and LBJ. It seemed to me like the author was mocking his fellow liberals who have this idea that their side's shit doesn't stink.
So dirty tricks aren't the sole domain of the right. Why would Obama supporters wear "Palin is a C@#T" tshirt with a huge lead or call for her stoning? It really is possible for liberals to be intolerant and to have an "Us and Them" mentality, no matter how hard they act like they are above it.
So personally it doesn't matter to me what get's done with a manequin dressed up to look like Sarah Palin. The manequin itself looks like Elvis in a dress any damn way so meh.
I want to point out that the lack of reaction shows something about race and the history of racism in this country. Sarah Palin in a noose doesn't ring any bells or raise any flags for most of us. However if it was Obama in a noose the meaning would be completely different. I think that for this reason, the people who put Palin in a noose deserve our censure because they invite comparisons with the racist tactics of the Republican Party.
(TNC, I don't want to bring on the trolls so feel free to delete this comment if you want to.)I don't know what these people are trying to say or achieve by placing Palin in a noose. Much like the pictures of Bush as Hitler the above comparison shows a lack of intelligence and insight. However one interesting thing about the above video deserves to be noted. It does seem that as a political force Sarah Palin has become a more powerfull entity than John McCain. If I didn't know better I would almost say that the general public believes that she is running for president instead of the earstwhile old man.
This deserves to be noted, too, T. Let's call a spade a spade. Palin's effigy with the noose is as alarming as a Palin supporter yelling "hang 'em".
You don't have to like her politics. You may despise her persona. To hell with liberal vs. conversative bickering, but, this is some hateful shit and beyond the the pale.
It's not even clever, take the noose off and put on fishnets and platform f-me pumps...Then we'd have something to talk about...
"It is possible, just as it is possible that rednecks that yell shit out at Palin rallies are DEM plants."
Exactly. If we're going to write it off as GOP plants than we lose all right to say anything about the crazies at McCain rallies.
My point is simple--I never thought the crazies at the McCain rallies actually helped McCain. I thought they repelled swing voters. Ditto for this sort of thing. It doesn't help the progressive cause in any way. It's just stupid, mean and juvenile.
Also good points Sorn. It's interesting how Palin has become the focal point.
Palin's effigy with the noose is as alarming as a Palin supporter yelling "hang 'em".
----
I think the act deserves condemnation, and these goons should be derided as the attention mongering shitbags that they are. However, its certainly no cause for the alarm associated with your alternative scenario. The reason for this is obvious to anyone with an awareness of US history...
I want to go to a Palin rally and yell "kiss him!!!!" when she starts talking about Obama. I'm a fairly large dude with a deep voice. Its really going to freak the homophobes out.
I heard about this effigy while I was on my way to work this morning, which is about five minutes away from West Hollywood. I was appalled; like Angelica, I think that hating Sarah Palin's policies and thinking she is not ready (and will probably never be ready) to lead our country are completely valid feelings, but "mocking" the death of another human being is unacceptable. Even if it is Halloween.
This is not the spirit of Senator Obama's campaign, either. The motto, for volunteers, at least, is "Respect, Empower, Include." It's about creating an America for all citizens (including those with opinions we don't agree with). It's about tolerance, understanding, and encouraging community.
I made over 600 calls for Obama this weekend, and then I hear this. Ha, ha, guys (whoever did this) - you're so funny! You hate Sarah Palin! But why not spend your time doing things that actually improve the world?
stupid effigy... what's wrong with those people? using a noose is idiotic and doesn't exactly spread a message of inclusion. sure, you're angry but that's not the way to act.
re: nixonland - the writer is relatively liberal i think... great guy, rick perlstein. he also wrote the barry goldwater bio... great read.
i've had the worst day ever... i swear, the gop hates poor people and minorities and they're just decided to stay screw it - let's appeal to people's rank and file ignorance.
someone screams out "he's a n*gger"... 2x at a palin rally and she reacts but does nothing
the atf stop a plot not only to assassinate obama... but also to shoot and decapitate 100 black high school students in TN
the mccain campaign still has yet to denounce any of this crap, the ashley todd story, or reign in their hate-filled speeches.
so what do i see when i turn on the tv? john mccain bashing obama for being a socialist. i saw red, i'm furious. the man voices a conservative opinion and he gets bashed by mccain for being a secret radical marxist. do i see any critical interpretation of this? no! none whatsoever. do i see mccain check himself because oh hey, a grassroots economic civil rights movement that was something that was needed in the 1960s? no! i'm half angry half broken. poor+minorities = gop's favorite punching bags. eff this, i'm with john lewis, mccain's madness descent and sarah palin's hate-populism are 100% out of george wallace's playbook.
Ugh, it doesn't work. Not even past the "this is pointless inclusion of politics into the death/fear play of Halloween" point. The hair's black, plus the glasses are all wrong. Her major identifying markers are 1. Palin hair and 2. Palin glasses, and they failed at both.
Not to mention "John McCain" up there; he's too skinny and looks like he's got two pairs of ears.
If you're going to try to garner attention with shock art, at least get the "art" half down right!
"it's certainly no cause for alarm..." and "is obvious to anyone aware of US History."
Or perhaps just not to anyone that recognize women's suffrage as part of US History too. My point is this, one is no less egregious than the other. Both are historical POTUS and VPOTUS candidates. Besides Hate begets Hate. Have we not learned that from our history? So, why the hell is it just poor taste here and outrageous when it relates to Obama?
Can't really revise history to justify outrage on one and dismiss the other without ceding some moral core.
Haha, they really said "he's a redistributor"? See, this is why all the outcry over Palin and McCain not doing something when people in the crowd say something stupid is mistaken. It's hard to hear these people. As for the effigy, I just think it's hilarious that CNN's tagline says the effigy's "ruffling some feathers." That had to be a joke. Palin's announced her intentions to ruffle some feathers a couple thousand times.
While the history of KKK lynchings of black men on trumped up rape accusations would have made this more offensive if it had been an Obama effigy (the real equivalent for a white woman would be rape), this is still fucking stupid and sick. I hate Palin with a passion, but you don't pull that shit. Not only does it make our side look bad, but it's just wrong.
Or perhaps just not to anyone that recognize women's suffrage as part of US History too.
--
I'm assuming that liberal gay couples have not traditionally been perpetrators of violence and oppression against women. Maybe I should have opted for less nuance.
Not funny, not acceptable. I think Sarah Palin is a laughable excuse for a VP candidate and there are a million great ways to mock her candidacy. This is not one of them.
Exactly. If we're going to write it off as GOP plants than we lose all right to say anything about the crazies at McCain rallies.
But it doesn't work like that, Peaches. The modern Republican party has a long (and, for them, proud) history of these shenanigans, lefties are (as a rule) too fair-minded/soft to play that way. So while we lefties do deserve the benefit of the doubt, Team Red most certainly does not.
This type of "look what those horrible Democrats are doing" feint even has its own special name: Ratfucking. Ashley Todd's prob'ly aware of this stuff. Unless and until it's established that the person who did this is beyond the shadow of a doubt a leftie/Democrat/Obama supporter, I call ratfuck on that.
In the instance of people yelling shit at the McCain/Palin rallies, the real problem isn't so much the shit yelled, but the wild support for the epithets and whatnot. The entire crowd isn't some massive, elaborate liberal plant. At smaller rallies, Republicans are notoriously careful about whom they admit.
Yeah, poor taste. But as with T-shirts and rude bloggers, inevitable and not a death threat. Doesn't implicate a Democratic state office, official spokesperson, or candidate.
That said, Arizona FTW?!! Arizona! Following Georgia and Montana! I'm seriously wondering if the team of Obama, Obama, Biden, and Biden could work up to hitting all these states--get Joe in AZ, Jill in AK, Barack in MN, Michelle in GA....
As usual, the idiotic Tennessee state GOP has taken things to the ridiculous extreme, and made the moral choices easy for everyone -- yep, she equated the skinhead assassination/mass murder plot with the manequin:
"Hate is not a political party, policy statement, agenda or ideology - it is a pure evil that no place in civil society," said Robin Smith, Chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party. "Whether it is neo-Nazi skinheads plotting a racist shooting spree targeting Sen. Obama, or West Hollywood liberals hanging Gov. Sarah Palin in effigy and calling it 'art,' or unknown anarchists tossing bricks through the windows of a county Republican headquarters in Murfreesboro, Americans of all political views should be outraged."
So, the person in the crowd yelled "redistributor" and not "he's a n-igg-r". Hard so say I guess, but this election really is turning into Blazing Saddles Part II, the Return of Sheriff Bart.
Im waiting for some clever prankster to yell:
"THE SHERIFF IS NEAR!"
Or maybe they'll save it for his acceptance speech.
lefties are (as a rule) too fair-minded/soft to play that way. So while we lefties do deserve the benefit of the doubt
Have you ever seen how democrats run things in big cities and in some states? Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore, the State of New Jersey all have democrats who are very corrupt and fight ugly. Labor unions also don't have a reputation of being fair-minded and playing by the rules. Hell, a bunch of hippies at ACORN cann't even get its people to follow the rules.
I know the election is a week away, but don't believe every bit of propaganda given to you.
The McCain campaign is campaigning for a narrower loss and not the win. McCain doesn't want his legacy to be a Mondale and his people don't want Mondale on their resume. Would McCain prefer to remembered as a blow out loser or a race baiting politician? What he doesn't realize is that the latter assures the former.
Sarah Palin's politics appear to be beyond redemption, and there's little to admire in her, but this kind of treatment of her is simply deplorable, with no excuse possible, and the guys' sunny, clueless insensitivity in the face of the controversy just compounds it. It has the great failing of being massively counterproductive, as well, but more than that, it is simply wrong.
America's political culture has to go in the opposite direction, and fast. The problems may be worse among conservatives and traditionalists, but we cannot be blind to them among our own. One reason to hope: my guess is that a President Obama would set a tone that would nudge us back toward moderation, calm, and kindness.
TNC has given us something valuable and all too rare of late: a web presence where that tone of humanity prevails. I really appreciate that.
Have you ever seen how democrats run things in big cities and in some states? Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore, the State of New Jersey all have democrats who are very corrupt and fight ugly. Labor unions also don't have a reputation of being fair-minded and playing by the rules.
I'm getting wicked tired of these example-free assertions; you got any, or are you just repuking accepted wisdom? I did use the phrase "as a rule" for a reason. Sure, Dems in those spots (lefties, though?) play hardball and play to win, but do you have any concrete examples which exceed what we've seen from the modern Republican party (at all levels, from Ashley Todd to phone jamming to Monica Goodling)? No? Well OK, then.
I find it interesting how the extreme oppression of women throughout history and continuing into the present in most parts of the world is disappeared like this. A woman hung? Who cares? It's not as if witches weren't hung and burnt and executed. It's not as if women aren't slaughtered every day by husbands and fathers and brothers.
Of course it's not as significant when it happens to a woman - women's suffering and oppression is simply invisible to most people, especially men.
And no, women don't feel at all threatened by creepy visual displays of violence against their persons. Why would they? It's not like they ever experience it.
So . . . hanging someone (especially a political figure) in effigy is now crossing the line? Or a line? When did that happen?
I realize that there's the specter of racial lynching in the Bad Old Days involved in racially-imbued effigy hanging, but then sometimes there isn't. Given that she's a white politician, and hung in effigy by white (gay?) guys, I would think this falls into the "not" category.
I admit, though, that I may be inured to the inherent symbolic violence in this form of protest, given the seemingly endless images of burning effigies from the Middle East of Bush, Cheney, and Rice, by people who've experienced real and immediate violence because of the actions of this administration.
TNC's collleague, Ross, was just pointing out some hypocrisy with the seeming pass two reporters have given to depictions of "left-wing hate" vs depictions of "right-wing hate." His snark-u-ment (like an argument, only more snarky and less sound) was:
anonymous hecklers at massive rallies, or when it involves booing the press - is fascism come round again, but left-wing hate is just, well, kitschy and adorable.
But I really wanted to point out to him that depictions of Palin as a vampire or Reagan with devil horns on a New York street was a different beast from Obamabucks and Obamamonkey and Obama-with-a-noose. Vampires and devils are, y'know, imaginary and stuff, but racists are actually real.
Here's a piece no one cared about. Meh, whatever, probably the most enjoyable article I did during my stint at TIME. Premiered a month before I got laid-off. The nail in the coffin? Ya think?
Here's me going after Al. I didn't so much have a problem with him, as I had a problem with media acting like this dude was the go-to guy for everything black.
This was my first real story at time. I was writing for the Business section, a real change of direction for me. At any rate, it's about Wal-Mart's attempts to colonize the inner-city. As much as I enjoyed this piece, I mostly enjoyed going out to Chicago, which is a beautiful, beautiful city.
This a piece I did about the cops just outside our nation capitol, in Prince George's County, a few years back. I wanted to offer a counter to the dumb, conventional wisdom that if you paint your police force black, you could eradicate police brutality. In fact, Prince George's--one of the richest, blackest counties in the country--also had one of the most brutal police force's in the country.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
Those guys are crappy "artists".
Looks more like Donny Osmond.
Yeah, the Palin effigy is garbage. TNC, I was hoping you'd dedicate a full post to the Palin rally N-bomb. The fact that Palin stopped, obviously heard it, and chose to pretend she didn't deserves to be noted.
Jack,
I thought about it. But I've noted it so much that it's starting to feel like saying "the sky is blue." I mean, we know what they are right?
It's really, really stupid, and inexcusable in my opinion. Sarah Palin can argue that her possession of a vagina makes her a feminist if she wants to, but progressives have a responsibility to stand up against misogynistic and sexist behavior no matter who it's directed at.
Not that I want to be all conspiracy theorist or anything, but has anyone discussed the possibility of a GOP plant? Why would someone pull a stunt like this when Obama is so far ahead?
I'm reading "Nixonland", and after reading about all the tricks the GOP played, I wouldn't put this past them.
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that racism and idiocy are alive and well.
Also: I meant that in reference to the skinheads. That's what I get for having too many blog posts open.
Not that I want to be all conspiracy theorist or anything, but has anyone discussed the possibility of a GOP plant? Why would someone pull a stunt like this when Obama is so far ahead?
It is possible, just as it is possible that rednecks that yell shit out at Palin rallies are DEM plants. I have read parts of Nixonland as well and the author detailed plenty of scumbaggery on the part of the Kennedy's and LBJ. It seemed to me like the author was mocking his fellow liberals who have this idea that their side's shit doesn't stink.
So dirty tricks aren't the sole domain of the right. Why would Obama supporters wear "Palin is a C@#T" tshirt with a huge lead or call for her stoning? It really is possible for liberals to be intolerant and to have an "Us and Them" mentality, no matter how hard they act like they are above it.
So personally it doesn't matter to me what get's done with a manequin dressed up to look like Sarah Palin. The manequin itself looks like Elvis in a dress any damn way so meh.
I want to point out that the lack of reaction shows something about race and the history of racism in this country. Sarah Palin in a noose doesn't ring any bells or raise any flags for most of us. However if it was Obama in a noose the meaning would be completely different. I think that for this reason, the people who put Palin in a noose deserve our censure because they invite comparisons with the racist tactics of the Republican Party.
(TNC, I don't want to bring on the trolls so feel free to delete this comment if you want to.)I don't know what these people are trying to say or achieve by placing Palin in a noose. Much like the pictures of Bush as Hitler the above comparison shows a lack of intelligence and insight. However one interesting thing about the above video deserves to be noted. It does seem that as a political force Sarah Palin has become a more powerfull entity than John McCain. If I didn't know better I would almost say that the general public believes that she is running for president instead of the earstwhile old man.
This deserves to be noted, too, T. Let's call a spade a spade. Palin's effigy with the noose is as alarming as a Palin supporter yelling "hang 'em".
You don't have to like her politics. You may despise her persona. To hell with liberal vs. conversative bickering, but, this is some hateful shit and beyond the the pale.
It's not even clever, take the noose off and put on fishnets and platform f-me pumps...Then we'd have something to talk about...
"It is possible, just as it is possible that rednecks that yell shit out at Palin rallies are DEM plants."
Exactly. If we're going to write it off as GOP plants than we lose all right to say anything about the crazies at McCain rallies.
My point is simple--I never thought the crazies at the McCain rallies actually helped McCain. I thought they repelled swing voters. Ditto for this sort of thing. It doesn't help the progressive cause in any way. It's just stupid, mean and juvenile.
Also good points Sorn. It's interesting how Palin has become the focal point.
Palin's effigy with the noose is as alarming as a Palin supporter yelling "hang 'em".
----
I think the act deserves condemnation, and these goons should be derided as the attention mongering shitbags that they are. However, its certainly no cause for the alarm associated with your alternative scenario. The reason for this is obvious to anyone with an awareness of US history...
I want to go to a Palin rally and yell "kiss him!!!!" when she starts talking about Obama. I'm a fairly large dude with a deep voice. Its really going to freak the homophobes out.
I heard about this effigy while I was on my way to work this morning, which is about five minutes away from West Hollywood. I was appalled; like Angelica, I think that hating Sarah Palin's policies and thinking she is not ready (and will probably never be ready) to lead our country are completely valid feelings, but "mocking" the death of another human being is unacceptable. Even if it is Halloween.
This is not the spirit of Senator Obama's campaign, either. The motto, for volunteers, at least, is "Respect, Empower, Include." It's about creating an America for all citizens (including those with opinions we don't agree with). It's about tolerance, understanding, and encouraging community.
I made over 600 calls for Obama this weekend, and then I hear this. Ha, ha, guys (whoever did this) - you're so funny! You hate Sarah Palin! But why not spend your time doing things that actually improve the world?
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that a GOP plant probably wouldn't be (I assume) a gay couple in West Hollywood. Probably wouldn't.
Also, have these guys ever heard of carving a pumpkin? Stupidity knows no ideology.
stupid effigy... what's wrong with those people? using a noose is idiotic and doesn't exactly spread a message of inclusion. sure, you're angry but that's not the way to act.
re: nixonland - the writer is relatively liberal i think... great guy, rick perlstein. he also wrote the barry goldwater bio... great read.
i've had the worst day ever... i swear, the gop hates poor people and minorities and they're just decided to stay screw it - let's appeal to people's rank and file ignorance.
someone screams out "he's a n*gger"... 2x at a palin rally and she reacts but does nothing
the atf stop a plot not only to assassinate obama... but also to shoot and decapitate 100 black high school students in TN
the mccain campaign still has yet to denounce any of this crap, the ashley todd story, or reign in their hate-filled speeches.
so what do i see when i turn on the tv? john mccain bashing obama for being a socialist. i saw red, i'm furious. the man voices a conservative opinion and he gets bashed by mccain for being a secret radical marxist. do i see any critical interpretation of this? no! none whatsoever. do i see mccain check himself because oh hey, a grassroots economic civil rights movement that was something that was needed in the 1960s? no! i'm half angry half broken. poor+minorities = gop's favorite punching bags. eff this, i'm with john lewis, mccain's madness descent and sarah palin's hate-populism are 100% out of george wallace's playbook.
Ugh, it doesn't work. Not even past the "this is pointless inclusion of politics into the death/fear play of Halloween" point. The hair's black, plus the glasses are all wrong. Her major identifying markers are 1. Palin hair and 2. Palin glasses, and they failed at both.
Not to mention "John McCain" up there; he's too skinny and looks like he's got two pairs of ears.
If you're going to try to garner attention with shock art, at least get the "art" half down right!
According to Sully it was 'redistributor' not the n-bomb. As for the mannequin - disappointingly uncreative.
"it's certainly no cause for alarm..." and "is obvious to anyone aware of US History."
Or perhaps just not to anyone that recognize women's suffrage as part of US History too. My point is this, one is no less egregious than the other. Both are historical POTUS and VPOTUS candidates. Besides Hate begets Hate. Have we not learned that from our history? So, why the hell is it just poor taste here and outrageous when it relates to Obama?
Can't really revise history to justify outrage on one and dismiss the other without ceding some moral core.
Haha, they really said "he's a redistributor"? See, this is why all the outcry over Palin and McCain not doing something when people in the crowd say something stupid is mistaken. It's hard to hear these people. As for the effigy, I just think it's hilarious that CNN's tagline says the effigy's "ruffling some feathers." That had to be a joke. Palin's announced her intentions to ruffle some feathers a couple thousand times.
Always worth a visit when the subject of hanging/lynching comes up:
http://withoutsanctuary.org/
While the history of KKK lynchings of black men on trumped up rape accusations would have made this more offensive if it had been an Obama effigy (the real equivalent for a white woman would be rape), this is still fucking stupid and sick. I hate Palin with a passion, but you don't pull that shit. Not only does it make our side look bad, but it's just wrong.
Or perhaps just not to anyone that recognize women's suffrage as part of US History too.
--
I'm assuming that liberal gay couples have not traditionally been perpetrators of violence and oppression against women. Maybe I should have opted for less nuance.
Not funny, not acceptable. I think Sarah Palin is a laughable excuse for a VP candidate and there are a million great ways to mock her candidacy. This is not one of them.
Exactly. If we're going to write it off as GOP plants than we lose all right to say anything about the crazies at McCain rallies.
But it doesn't work like that, Peaches. The modern Republican party has a long (and, for them, proud) history of these shenanigans, lefties are (as a rule) too fair-minded/soft to play that way. So while we lefties do deserve the benefit of the doubt, Team Red most certainly does not.
This type of "look what those horrible Democrats are doing" feint even has its own special name: Ratfucking. Ashley Todd's prob'ly aware of this stuff. Unless and until it's established that the person who did this is beyond the shadow of a doubt a leftie/Democrat/Obama supporter, I call ratfuck on that.
In the instance of people yelling shit at the McCain/Palin rallies, the real problem isn't so much the shit yelled, but the wild support for the epithets and whatnot. The entire crowd isn't some massive, elaborate liberal plant. At smaller rallies, Republicans are notoriously careful about whom they admit.
Yeah, poor taste. But as with T-shirts and rude bloggers, inevitable and not a death threat. Doesn't implicate a Democratic state office, official spokesperson, or candidate.
That said, Arizona FTW?!! Arizona! Following Georgia and Montana! I'm seriously wondering if the team of Obama, Obama, Biden, and Biden could work up to hitting all these states--get Joe in AZ, Jill in AK, Barack in MN, Michelle in GA....
As usual, the idiotic Tennessee state GOP has taken things to the ridiculous extreme, and made the moral choices easy for everyone -- yep, she equated the skinhead assassination/mass murder plot with the manequin:
"Hate is not a political party, policy statement, agenda or ideology - it is a pure evil that no place in civil society," said Robin Smith, Chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party. "Whether it is neo-Nazi skinheads plotting a racist shooting spree targeting Sen. Obama, or West Hollywood liberals hanging Gov. Sarah Palin in effigy and calling it 'art,' or unknown anarchists tossing bricks through the windows of a county Republican headquarters in Murfreesboro, Americans of all political views should be outraged."
(Hat tip Ben Smith/Politico)
So, the person in the crowd yelled "redistributor" and not "he's a n-igg-r". Hard so say I guess, but this election really is turning into Blazing Saddles Part II, the Return of Sheriff Bart.
Im waiting for some clever prankster to yell:
"THE SHERIFF IS NEAR!"
Or maybe they'll save it for his acceptance speech.
Seriously - now a moose I could understand...
seriously the town council scene from blazing saddles comes to mind. The schoolmarm even looks like Sarah Palin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On73aHpgdSQ
Hey TNC --
You've probably already seen this D+D campaign smackdown, but it's pretty hilarious:
http://somehedgehog.livejournal.com/245807.html
It's been 30 years since I rolled a 4 sided dice, but that was still fuggin funny.
lefties are (as a rule) too fair-minded/soft to play that way. So while we lefties do deserve the benefit of the doubt
Have you ever seen how democrats run things in big cities and in some states? Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore, the State of New Jersey all have democrats who are very corrupt and fight ugly. Labor unions also don't have a reputation of being fair-minded and playing by the rules. Hell, a bunch of hippies at ACORN cann't even get its people to follow the rules.
I know the election is a week away, but don't believe every bit of propaganda given to you.
The McCain campaign is campaigning for a narrower loss and not the win. McCain doesn't want his legacy to be a Mondale and his people don't want Mondale on their resume. Would McCain prefer to remembered as a blow out loser or a race baiting politician? What he doesn't realize is that the latter assures the former.
Do you really think this was done by Democrats? I think it's a set up by her supporters.
Sarah Palin's politics appear to be beyond redemption, and there's little to admire in her, but this kind of treatment of her is simply deplorable, with no excuse possible, and the guys' sunny, clueless insensitivity in the face of the controversy just compounds it. It has the great failing of being massively counterproductive, as well, but more than that, it is simply wrong.
America's political culture has to go in the opposite direction, and fast. The problems may be worse among conservatives and traditionalists, but we cannot be blind to them among our own. One reason to hope: my guess is that a President Obama would set a tone that would nudge us back toward moderation, calm, and kindness.
TNC has given us something valuable and all too rare of late: a web presence where that tone of humanity prevails. I really appreciate that.
I reject and denounce the portrayal or discussion of violence against any candidate, whether male or female, Democratic or Republican.
Have you ever seen how democrats run things in big cities and in some states? Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore, the State of New Jersey all have democrats who are very corrupt and fight ugly. Labor unions also don't have a reputation of being fair-minded and playing by the rules.
I'm getting wicked tired of these example-free assertions; you got any, or are you just repuking accepted wisdom? I did use the phrase "as a rule" for a reason. Sure, Dems in those spots (lefties, though?) play hardball and play to win, but do you have any concrete examples which exceed what we've seen from the modern Republican party (at all levels, from Ashley Todd to phone jamming to Monica Goodling)? No? Well OK, then.
I find it interesting how the extreme oppression of women throughout history and continuing into the present in most parts of the world is disappeared like this. A woman hung? Who cares? It's not as if witches weren't hung and burnt and executed. It's not as if women aren't slaughtered every day by husbands and fathers and brothers.
Of course it's not as significant when it happens to a woman - women's suffering and oppression is simply invisible to most people, especially men.
And no, women don't feel at all threatened by creepy visual displays of violence against their persons. Why would they? It's not like they ever experience it.
So . . . hanging someone (especially a political figure) in effigy is now crossing the line? Or a line? When did that happen?
I realize that there's the specter of racial lynching in the Bad Old Days involved in racially-imbued effigy hanging, but then sometimes there isn't. Given that she's a white politician, and hung in effigy by white (gay?) guys, I would think this falls into the "not" category.
I admit, though, that I may be inured to the inherent symbolic violence in this form of protest, given the seemingly endless images of burning effigies from the Middle East of Bush, Cheney, and Rice, by people who've experienced real and immediate violence because of the actions of this administration.
TNC's collleague, Ross, was just pointing out some hypocrisy with the seeming pass two reporters have given to depictions of "left-wing hate" vs depictions of "right-wing hate." His snark-u-ment (like an argument, only more snarky and less sound) was:
But I really wanted to point out to him that depictions of Palin as a vampire or Reagan with devil horns on a New York street was a different beast from Obamabucks and Obamamonkey and Obama-with-a-noose. Vampires and devils are, y'know, imaginary and stuff, but racists are actually real.