Climate of Fear

Again today were are hearing about supporters at a Palin rally yelling "Kill Him!" at the mention of Barack Obama. This is just sad and scary.

I was talking the other day with my uncle about the scary state of the election and the violent vitriol coming out of the McCain rallies. He mentioned to me, because I was in elementary school at the time, how it was this same kind of fear that, in his opinion, caused the Oklahoma City bombing. When Bill Clinton won the election in 1992, the Republican party and the conservative movement went into a panic. They created an environment, with the help of rising stars like Rush Limbaugh, in which people were encouraged to mistrust and hate their government. Indeed, in 1994 when the Republicans won Congress, Newt Gingrich at times even went so far as to shut the government down. This climate of disgust, disdain, and suspicion of the federal government fed unstable personalities like Timothy McVeigh, who purposefully chose a federal building as the target of his heinous attack in 1995.

We are seeing this same kind of emotion now. The Republicans are drumming up without restraint a personal hatred for the other party, and specifically, their very popular candidate. It is no accident that many leaders who introduce McCain or Palin at their rallies talk about Barack Hussein Obama. It is no accident that my own mother is convinced that Michelle Obama hates white people and that they are friends with terrorists. And it is certainly no accident that angry shouts of "Kill Him!," although not unnoticed, are going almost unchecked at these rallies. This kind of environment is dangerous for Republicans and Democrats alike, not just because it could cost votes, but it could ultimately cost lives.

The Deal with ACORN

Gawker does a good job today of explaining the issues with ACORN and the so-called voter registration fraud. Most important sentence of this post: "Quite honestly the very heart of the utter bullshitness of this anti-ACORN campaign can be found in one incredibly telling quote from a spokesman for the RNC: "Cairncross accused ACORN of engaging in a 'systematic effort to undermine the election process' through its voter-registration drives." Do you see the problem with that statement?"

My question is this: Voter turnout in this, the "best" democracy in the world, is hovering around 50% during major election years. And they're worried about voter fraud? Maybe they should concentrate on actually getting the other 50% out to vote.

Update: I should clarify. This story is about voter registration fraud. Not people actually casting votes that, you know, actually count. This is about people signing up to vote. The actually voting part is a whole different story. So what if some jerk wrote Mickey Mouse on a registration card? Do you really think the Mouse is going to show up on Nov 4th, be escorted to a booth, and be allowed to pull a lever? The point is, and TPM makes an excellent connection between the ACORN story and the US Attorney firing scandal, that Republicans are trying to preemptively sow the seeds of a compromised election because they are losing.