PHILADELPHIA, PA — In a sign of increasing nastiness on the left, supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama have been booing rivals John McCain and Sarah Palin, and even screaming “liar!” — with no response from Obama.
Yesterday, at a Philadelphia hockey game, Obama supporters booed Sarah Palin — despite the fact that Palin was accompanied by her 7-year-old daughter. Some notoriously conservative news outlets, such as MSNBC, have reported that there were cheers mixed in with the boos. But it appears clear that there was significant booing, all from Democrats — and the trend towards ugliness is clear.
The emotion of anger has been distressingly present at Obama rallies. Stephen Hayes reports the disturbing details.
This morning at a McCain rally here, a bearded young man in the crowd responded to a McCain critique of Barack Obama by shouting: “You’re a liar John!” He then hoisted a young woman with an antiwar poster onto his shoulders and began yelling antiwar gibberish as McCain tried to continue his speech. When McCain supporters ripped up the woman’s sign, she unfolded another one and the spectacle continued.
Earlier, at a rally in Philadelphia, Obama praised John McCain’s service to America and called for a civil debate over the final days of the campaign. He was lustily booed by his angry supporters.
And yesterday, at a McCain rally in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, another angry heckler shouted “Liar” and other insults at McCain from the crowd.
There are indications that Obama has been spurring his crowds to anger, sometimes launching into what Reuters as described as an “attack” against the former POW and military hero, even as McCain has been cautioning his supporters to respect Obama.
In addition, reports indicate that Obama failed to bring his rallies to a grinding halt to remonstrate the hecklers. Some say that Obama must have heard the hecklers, since reporters heard them. Other experts suggest that Obama is creating an atmosphere that could well turn to violence. As James F. Treacher, Professor of Media Studies at Noesutch University, notes: “If Obama isn’t an evil, racist, fascist hatemonger of hateful hatred, why hasn’t he conceded the election?”
Syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin warns that the recent Democratic anger is part of a larger trend of death threats and other concerning behavior from the left. Malkin, who routinely receives racist attacks and death threats from Democrats, notes in a comprehensive post the hate-filled attacks on McCain and Palin, such as artwork calling Palin a “MILP” — “Mother I’d Like to Punch.” Malkin’s post is replete with examples of the left suggesting that President Bush be killed, and that McCain and Palin be attacked in violent ways.
“Holy crap,” New York Times columnist Kall Prugman said in a brief phone interview. “I had no idea we were worse than the people at the McCain rallies.”
UPDATE: Thanks to Instapundit for the link. Here is some more stuff that would be Very Significant if done by McCain supporters, but hardly merits any mention, because it was done by Obama supporters:
- Vandals spray-paint “Republican means slavery” at a local GOP Headquarters. (By the way, the linked story continues to spread the canard that someone yelled “Kill him!” about Obama at a McCain rally. That is a lie. If the phrase was yelled (a commenter of mine says the man was yelling something else), it was about murderous terrorist Bill Ayers and not about Obama.
At the L.A. Times, blogger Andrew Malcolm is asking very sensible questions: Does political restraint apply only to Republicans? And if the Democrats fail to exercise restraint, will the media notice? I hope he is asking his colleagues this question — and I hope his colleagues are listening. So far, however, his own paper seems interested only in painting Republicans as “nasty.”
