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Who Was The “Kill Him!” Guy?

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October 9, 2008

It was Monday, October 6, 2008.  Sarah “The Gumball” Palin was speaking before a crowd in Clearwater, Florida.  She was dressed in white.  Behind her, stood a predominately female group of individuals, similarly dressed in Klan white.  Palin stood before the crowd and launched into the long-discredited attempt by the McCain campaign to assert that Barack Obama “pals around with domestic terrorists”.

As many have learned by now, Obama’s involvement in the Annenberg Foundation’s program to assist public education (The Annenberg Challenge Project) placed him in contact with a former radical activist of the 1960s, William Ayers.  Both Obama and Ayers live in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, near the University of Chicago.  In 1995, Ayers hosted an informal fundraising event for Obama’s first run for the Illinois State Senate.  During the years 2000-2002, Obama and Ayers served on the board of an anti-poverty group, The Woods Fund of Chicago.  Bill Ayers is the son of Thomas G. Ayers, the former Chairman and CEO of Chicago’s electricity monopoly, Commonwealth Edison Company.  Having such a background in the 1960s, resulted in the political radicalization of many similarly-situated young people.  Bill Ayers became part of a militant faction of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) called The Weathermen.  They eventually changed the name of the organization to the gender-neutral Weather Underground.  In 1969 (when Obama was 8 years old) Bill Ayers felt outraged by the fact that there was a statue in Chicago (not far from where Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Studios are now located) commemorating the deaths of seven police officers involved in suppressing the “Haymarket Riot” of 1886.  An untold number of protesting laborers were killed during that chaos.  This event resulted from the original “May Day” celebration of the rights of laborers (May 1, 1886).  Ayers decided to participate in a successful plot to destroy the statue with a bomb.  No live humans were injured in that event.  Although the statue was rebuilt two years later, the Weathermen blew it up again within a few months.

Dana Milbank reported in the Washington Post, what many of us saw on the news concerning Palin’s remarks about Obama at the October 6 rally in Clearwater:

“Now it turns out, one of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers,” Palin said.

“Boooo!” said the crowd.

“And, according to the New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, ‘launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and our U.S. Capitol,'” she continued.

“Boooo!” the crowd repeated.

“Kill him!” proposed one man in the audience.

As a result of this incident, many commentators have expressed their outrage that the current rhetoric of the McCain campaign could motivate someone to call for the assassination of Barack Obama.  Others have suggested that it cannot be discerned as to whether this man was calling for the killing of Obama or Bill Ayers.  In either event, I would expect (and as a taxpayer – demand) at this point, that Barack Obama’s Secret Service detail would be contacting Palin’s Secret Service detail to request any and all photographic and video information that might depict the man yelling “kill him!” at that rally.  I would also like to believe that the Secret Service is in the process of identifying this individual.  One would expect them to have a few things to discuss with him.  Once this maniac is identified, the Secret Service should let us know who he is (or, at least, see what he looks like) if they cannot locate him.  If he turns up in my area, I and many of my friends, would like to be able to advise the Secret Service of his current whereabouts, should we spot him.

The Gumball vocalizes indignation over “domestic terrorism”.  Shouldn’t that fury result in some sort of response to her audience member who proposed such an act to her very face?

The Gumball Gets Obnoxious

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October 6, 2008

In the days before the Vice-Presidential debate, many wise Republicans were calling for Sarah “The Gumball” Palin to be “thrown under the bus” and off the Republican ticket.  As I discussed on September 15, Sarah Palin has a limited skill set to fulfill her role as Vice-Presidential candidate.  (This became painfully obvious during the interviews with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric.)  The Gumball can recite a small number of memorized answers very well, while looking directly into the TV camera to “connect” with her like-minded audience.  She can follow instructions from her handlers and recite the correct answer number as necessary.  She can read speeches, written by her handlers and deliver them in an enthusiastic way.  At the Vice-Presidential debate, she again demonstrated the ability to work from within her limited skill set to connect with the disappointed Republican “base”.  Nevertheless, at the debate, we saw her include another talent in her repertoire: the ability to read answers from cards.  Her “say it ain’t so, Joe” talking point was read from a card and delivered too quickly to have the full impact intended by the writers.  As she reached the following passage, we could see her reading it off a card:

Now, doggone it, let’s look ahead and tell Americans what WE have to plan to do for them in the future.

Because she avoided catastrophe at the debate, her performance was considered a “success” by many.  This inspired the strategists and handlers to give The Gumball a new role:  carrying the “dirty” water for the campaign – to deliver the negative attacks against Obama – Biden, in accordance with the latest game plan.  Palin’s debut in this role, following on the heels of yet another, scathing Tina Fey send-up of this fool, has made her appear as an individual whose ignorance is exceeded only by her obnoxiousness.  It makes me wonder what the campaign really has in mind for her.  Is this just another way of throwing her under the bus?  In this role, she has changed from “goofy” to actually detestable.  Let Palin sling the mud and if it doesn’t work, the guy at the top of the ticket can disown it.

What really gave me the creeps about the mainstream media’s analysis of the VP debate was best exemplified by the remarks of NBC’s White House correspondent, David Gregory, during NBC’s Meet The Press on October 5:

She made a decision that she was going to be rhetorical and not substantive on the issues.

*   *   *

I think she took herself off the table as an issue that could bring down the McCain Campaign.

*   *   *

She chose to ignore a lot of the substantive aspects of the debate and speak right to the American people.

At this point, most people with an I.Q. above 80 realize that The Gumball doesn’t decide anything about this campaign or what her statements will be in the pursuit of victory in this election.  Her job is to follow instructions —  to read or recite what she is told and nothing more.  The fact that someone of Mr. Gregory’s stature would expect the viewing public to believe the myth that The Gumball, herself, has anything substantive or strategic to contribute to this campaign is insulting to our intelligence.  Mr. Gregory:  Do you really think we are all so stupid as to believe that The Gumball can do anything other than recite prepared “talking points”, read scripted speeches and follow instructions?  Why is it so important for you to have us pretend that this numbskull can make important campaign decisions?  Do you have “handlers” directing you to deliver such absurd propositions to us?

On the other hand, Peggy Noonan’s remarks during that same panel discussion on Meet The Press, provide a candid view of the ugly truth about the current campaign:

We live in the age of political strategists.  We live in the age of “The Guys on the Plane”.  We live in the age of “The Blackberry Guy” saying:  “Let’s get ’em this way –  Let’s get ’em this way!”

*  *  *

I have the sense sometimes, lately, that these “Guys on the Plane” think history is their plaything.  History is not their plaything.

*  *  *

This is not a time for playfulness and mischief.  It ain’t right!

Rest assured that The Gumball will be spat out by “The Guys on the Plane” as soon as she loses her flavor.  This is likely to happen by November 5.  After that:  Watch what happens to her political career.

Stupidity As A Virtue

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September 15, 2008

The initial interview Charlie Gibson had with Sarah “The Gumball” Palin, televised on Thursday, September 11, displayed her ability to rattle off scripted answers to Gibson’s questions.  At times, I wondered whether there might have been a “handler” on the set, giving Palin signals as to what answer to recite.  Perhaps by running his hand through his hair and patting his stomach after one of Gibson’s questions, such a handler may have given Palin the signal:  Answer #6.  Later in the interview, when Gibson asked her about a possible invasion of Iran by Israel to bomb nuclear facilities, the “handler” may have scratched his ear and rubbed his right eye: a signal to use answer #4.  After Gibson pressed for a real answer to that question, the handler may have placed his hand to his forehead, palm out, with four fingers extended, meaning:  Repeat answer #4.  When Gibson pressed on for an answer to his question, the hand would have risen in front of the forehead once again, with the four fingers extended.  Although The Gumball may have been able to decide for herself, which question required which answer number, she was obviously reciting canned responses prepared by McCain’s strategists.  Curiously, there was no answer praising the merits of the “Bush doctrine” of pre-emptive warfare.  After the interview, Palin’s apologists explained away The Gumball’s ignorance about the issue, as confusion resulting from some sort of trick question.

In this Presidential campaign, the word “elite” has become a code word for “smart”.  Hillary Clinton used that word to describe Barack Obama, probably because he made Law Review while attending law school, although she never made law review.  (She did serve on the editorial board of a publication called Yale Review of Law and Social Action, which existed only while she was there.)  Obama not only made Law Review at Harvard; he was the President of the Harvard Law Review – an executive position Sarah Palin could never achieve in this or any other lifetime.  The term “elite” is continuously used by McCain supporters in reference to (smart) politicians, news outlets (that employ only smart people), publications (requiring that one be credentialed as “smart” to write for them), as well as educational institutions that would never admit the likes of Sarah Palin or John McCain.  John McCain graduated sixth from the bottom of his class at Annapolis.  He was accepted there because both his father and grandfather graduated from the Naval Academy.  If that doesn’t sound like a familiar pattern, you may want to do some reading about a man named Prescott Bush.

There is an apparent attempt by the McCain camp to manipulate as much of the voting public as possible, into believing that anyone who is “smart” is an “elite” and therefore, somehow “bad”.  This is an easy sell to those who feel jealous of, and intimidated by, people they believe to be smarter than themselves.  The question is:  are there enough of those people out there for this strategy to work?  In twelve years, have we gone from Beavis and Butthead Do America to Beavis and Butthead are America?  The lobbyists who run the McCain campaign are counting on it.  Meanwhile, Palin can continue to say dumb things (including the lie about Iraq as responsible for the attacks of September 11) and McCain can say even dumber things.  In a Portland, Maine TV interview, McCain was asked to explain what experience Palin had in the area of national security.  McCain responded:  “Energy.  Sarah Palin knows more about energy than anyone else in the United States of America.”  Part of McCain’s comfort about saying something so inane, is based on his failure to realize that in the age of YouTube.com, he will be accountable for this statement to a world-wide audience.  Second, he probably lacks the insight to realize what a bombastic claim that was.  Finally, his campaign strategists probably realize that such stupidity will actually endear McCain to a large number of voters. This makes me wonder whether they actually instructed The Gumball to deliberately mispronounce the word “nuclear” based on similar strategy.

The important point to keep in mind is that a significant percentage of American voters do not base their Presidential preferences on any rational thought process.  They decide “from their gut”.  McCain’s campaign staff knows this, because it’s how George W. Bush got elected.  If the Obama campaign wants to stay in this fight, they are going to have to tailor a message that will reach this population.  One way to accomplish this would be to base their ads on proven, successful, commercial TV ad campaign themes.  Obama will never “dumb down” to the level of McCain, Bush or Palin to win over the hearts of mindless voters.  Nevertheless, he should not overlook an appeal to the consensual mentality of that large population, referred to as “the masses”.  He should always remember that sage advice from comedy movie legend, Stan Laurel:  “You can lead a horse to water … but a pencil has to be lead.”