Well I suppose we could have seen this coming. It was all headed towards this. Except this time when someone yelled out the N-word during Palin’s speech she clearly hears it, pauses, and continues her speech. No “wait a second”. No “Security, please remove that person”. No “excuse me but that is offensive and inappropriate and I want you out of here now!”
Sarah Palin heard it, paused, and continued her speech.
There are arguments for both sides of this. Sure it would have been appropriate to ask for that person to be removed – or maybe address the comments made. At the same time – I do not fault her for not acknowledging that person or their comments. I personally think she did just fine – and I would leave it up to the other members in the crowd to correct the bigoted scumbag who took it upon themselves to make their racism public. Or at least make it so uncomfortable for them that they must leave. I think it’s the few racist republicans that give a lot of republicans a bad name (I dont have actual numbers, but I am confident that the majority of republicans are NOT racist) – that said – when will republicans stand up for their party and kick those fucking crazy people out?
Kick the racists and extremists out of the party – tell them to make their own political party and see how far they get running on a platform of racism. At least we’ll know when someone says they’re a part of the ‘racist’ party, that they don’t deserve a second thought.
Shaun I agree with you that of course the majority of Republicans are NOT racists.
I disagree with you that she handled it well. This kind of things has been going on at her rallies for WEEKS. she had an opportunity to stand up against it and she decided that finishing her speech was more important. I think it speaks to her character.
Oh please give me a break Shaun.
I’m not going to say that all Republicans are racist, but a good majority are.
Asking for the crowd of 95% whites to remove a person calling Obama the N word is not going to happen. Especially in a place like Des Moines. Their political socialization is different from someone living in Los Angeles or New York.
As for bonehead Palin, she should have stepped in and had her removed. Remember when the lady called Obama a muslim? McCain immediately stopped her. This is another example of why Palin should not be our vice-president. McCain showed poor judgment by picking this woman. Instead of going Country first, he chose politics first.
McCain is not who he use to be and it is why I wont vote for him.
Disgusting… between this, the hoax, the ‘Obama Bucks’, and the general cloud of ignorance and hate being spewed at McCain and Palin rallies by both on the stage and in the crowd, you would think somebody would on that ticket would say enough is enough. Just shows the characters of these two individuals…. their ‘in-action’ on this issue speaks volumes…
i’d like to add this to the discussion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvGI2pTDcvw&feature=related
that’s a clip of Palin stopping her speech to address a heckler. when a criticism of Palin was shouted, Palin had NO problem stopping her speech and addressing him. but of course criticizing Palin is a far more serious offense than blatant racism…
Ugh. Matt, the video posts that you have put up here have to rank as some of the most disgusting things I have ever seen. I am depressed and terrified at the same time.
And the idiot in the crowd choses to shout this as she is talking about compassion? This is chilling and just awful. I’m sufficiently nauseated to skip lunch today…
I gotta say though,I love Sarah Palin. The more she speaks, the more rural the GOP becomes, while the nation is becoming more ethnically diverse and urbanized. If she and her crowds and her “real america” talk keep on going, the GOP should be sunk for the next decade.
Palin is definitely my favorite. Hopefully, she will become the de facto leader of the GOP in the future so as to ensure the dems get 60 senate seats in 2010. Then, we would finally get some work done.
Her approval ratings are bush-like for the general public, but it is clear that the GOP base loves her. So, I think her chances of destroying that party are pretty good, so long as that base keeps on being really noisy.
Ares, Palin is already breaking away from McCain and essentially starting her ‘12 bid. she is very popular amongst the far right base of the Republican Party. That doesn’t translate anymore.
I think if this were another time, say 4 years ago, the smears against Obama would work. they worked against Kerry. people are tired of it and if Palin is indeed the future face of the party…then the party is in big, big trouble.
“Oh please give me a break Shaun.
I’m not going to say that all Republicans are racist, but a good majority are.”
I’m going to disagree with that too – unless you have actual numbers to back it up (good luck getting those hehe). Seriously though, I think that’s somewhat of an unfounded statement there. I would wager that there are an equal number of racists within the dem party – remember it can go every which way – and to quote my favorite musical Avenue Q: “Everyone’s a little bit racist”.
Name calling gets us nowhere. Holding people accountable for their actions does (whether or not Palin did the right thing with the ‘nigger’ comment I am still not decided on). I guess I would have liked to hear her say ‘Sorry sir, I don’t support your racist views and I would like you to leave’ or something on those lines. Then again – the GOP is fighting dirty and they’re making sure not to lose any possible votes.
I hope the GOP gets their act together after this election. They need someone to stand up and put their foot down to end all the extremist hate, or at least publicly denounce it and let it be known that the republican party is NOT a dinosaur and does not stand for those things. (Palin is not the one to do this).
I do not want to see the GOP burn in flames – why? That just means we will have another 4, 8, 12, 16+ years of a critically divided nation. We won’t get anything accomplished that way. We basically need to fulfill Bill Mahers’ wet dream at the end of religulous