Published: October 11, 2008
Op-Ed Contributor
At Sarah Palin Rally Man Holds Up "Obama Monkey Doll"
By Robert Paul Reyes
"As the crowd cheered at a Sarah Palin rally this morning in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a man in the audience grinned as he held up a stuffed monkey doll with a Barack Obama bumper sticker wrapped across its forehead.
The incident came at a time when McCain and Palin's events have increasingly been fueled by angry crowds, since Palin began drawing a connection between Barack Obama and 1960s radical William Ayers, claiming that the Democratic nominee has a history of 'palling around' with a terrorist." CBS News/Scott Conroy
This joker would not have pulled his stunt at Palin's rally if she treated Sen. Barack Obama with respect and didn't dehumanize him by portraying him as "someone who doesn't think like us." In Palin's crowds (mobs?) idiots feel emboldened to shout "kill him" and "terrorist" (in reference to Obama).
Throughout our history racists have portrayed blacks and other minorities as dubious characters who are out of the mainstream. It's sad that Palin is continuing this discredited and despicable tactic in a futile effort to make Obama unpalatable to the middle America.
No wonder Rep. John Lewis, felt compelled to make the following statement:
"As one who was a victim of violence and hate during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, I am deeply disturbed by the negative tone of the McCain-Palin campaign. What I am seeing reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history. Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse."
During the Saddleback Church Forum McCain mentioned Rep. Lewis as a wise man that he would consult if he became president. Lewis has offered some unsolicited advice to McCain, and I hope that the Republican presidential nominee responds by forsaking the divisive, racist and hateful rhetoric emanating from his campaign.
If McCain refrains from engaging in the politics of divisiveness and distraction racist clowns won't have the guts to hold up a monkey that represents Obama.
Robert Paul Reyes is a NewsBlaze writer on Politics, Pop Culture and Pointless Pontificating. Contact him by writing to NewsBlaze.
* The views of Opinion writers do not necessarily reflect the views of NewsBlaze
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