If You Think They're Just Jawing At You

Hey, Kathleen Parker, check it out:

In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy."

Via Attaturk at the Crack Den.

You know why this shit isn't cute? You know why it isn't harmless? You know why I get so completely pissed off at it every goddamn time?

Because you get here. You always get here, eventually.

The protesters forced their way into the municipal building and broke down the door to the government-run Radio Municipal. Witnesses told radio station Onda Local that demonstrators destroyed station equipment and identified Quispe as “the mouth on the radio.” Protestors wielding whips and metal rods beat Quispe in the head and chest, said an official from the mayor’s office who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity.

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A journalist with the opposition-aligned Khmer-language daily Moneaseka Khmer, Khem Sambo was shot twice while riding his motorcycle with his 21-year-old son on July 11 in the capital, according to international and local news reports. He died later in the hospital. His son was also shot and killed. The gunmen were on a motorcycle and sped away after the shooting, news reports said.

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Security forces shot and killed Javed Ahmed Mir while he was covering protests during a spate of violence in the northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, according to the BBC and local journalists. A BBC report said the cameraman, who had two other jobs to support his wife and three children, was called from a wedding to cover a growing protest rally on a main road in the state's summer capital, Srinagar, and was shot in the head while waiting for equipment to arrive from the news channel.

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Mama Hama, 23, a reporter with the Sulaymania-based Livin magazine, was shot by unidentified gunmen in front of his home. He had received threatening messages before the slaying, local journalists told CPJ, and had written articles critical of local authorities.

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An unknown gunman killed Mujahid, a veteran columnist for the weekly, in a targeted attack outside his home in Quetta. Mujahid, who was also a photographer, was struck in the head and chest as he left his house, according to the Pakistani Federal Union of Journalists and local news reports. The spokesman for a banned insurgent group, the Baluch Liberation Army, claimed responsibility for the murder in a phone call to the Quetta Press Club, saying Mujahid was “against” the Baluch cause, local news reports said.

How long before somebody takes it upon himself to defend Sarah Palin's honor? Against some "boy" she's told her fans is the enemy?

A.

Comments

[BuggyQ]

Will the MSM call Palin and McCain on this stuff? Will they let this slide, or will the ask the candidates if they support this kind of behavior?

This is one of those moments that define character. If McCain and Palin are let off the hook for this stuff, if they aren't forced to publicly denounce, in no uncertain terms, this kind of statement, then Steve Schmidt needs to shut his fucking trap for all eternity. (As tempting as that prospect is, I'd rather not see it come to pass in this fashion...)

[hoppy]

McCain has gotten by all his life by behaving like a spoiled brat, which he is, so expecting him to change at age 72 is a real stretch. Palin apparently lacks the basic decency to even realize what she is doing, so she won't change either.

Unfortunately the format for tonight's debate is a "townhall" format, where the audience asks the questions, but no followups are allowed by the moderator. It isn't likely that McCain will be challenged tonight. Our best hope is for Obama to gently prod him until he goes postal. He seems to already be about on the verge of doing just that.

If he can be pushed over the brink it isn't going to matter much what he says or does for the next few weeks.

[leinie]

Combine this with the reports that they are actually shouting "KILL HIM" at her rallies when she mentions Obama.

No denunciations from McCain over it.

Someone, somewhere is going to get hurt. This isn't leadership. Leadership says, hey, no, that's not necessary. We disagree about the ideas, but we are all Americans, and we don't do this. We are better than this.

The deeply cynical, should-be-wearing-a-tin-foil-hat part of me thinks this is by design. They are ramping this up on purpose - because they either want someone to take a shot, or because they want to use the unrest as an excuse to suspend the elections or something along that line.

[Sue]

Where is the video of this? These people need their faces splashed all over the internet while they scream these things. Their neighbors and friends need to see them threatening journalists and candidates. If video cameras aren't allowed at these rallies, can't someone sneak in a camera phone? Can someone expose this to the light of day, for all the world to see, like the still photos of the idiots with their misspelled signs?

[dan mcenroe]

How long before somebody takes it upon himself to defend Sarah Palin's honor? Against some "boy" she's told her fans is the enemy?

This reminds me of the post you had about a year ago about the guys trying to form an "honor guard" to protect Michelle Malkin. It all gets so weirdly sexual with these guys, this bizarre notion of masculinity that forces them to at least fantasize about going to the mattresses for a woman they don't know and will never meet.

[Athenae]

dan, I'm kicking something around again about the pathetic neediness of conservatives as evidenced by the liberal conspiracy to keep rich assholes out of Hollywood, a place known for its aversion to wealth and dickwaddery, but every time I try to write it the shrieking hunger for attention from these people makes me so tired I have to go lay down. God. Just ... learn to knit or something. Become useful.

A.

[pansypoo]

who's the nazi now?

[MapleStreet]

Even if it doesn't get to breaking down doors and killing reporters, just that the crowd is shouting "BOY" is egregious enough.

But add to it that the crazies are out there. Check my memory but didn't the guy that shot Reagan do so over Jodie Foster ? And Olberman has been talking a lot about the guy who takes Palin's winks personally (in a sexual kind of way).

I doubt that any statment by McCain would influence the vote of the bigots. Even if McCain revealed that his parents were black, he is still white against Obama and that would be enough that the bigots would choose McCain over Obama. So why doesn't McCain show at least a smidgen of class ?

[Elspeth Ravenwind]

Ugh, just saw link from Gentilly Girl that La Palin is going to New Orleans later this month...!?!?!?! AUUUGGH! I may have to go there for Samhain afterall budget allowing or not... Circle my NOLA Witch peeps and ward the city against her!
Elspeth

[leinie]

Els, she'll just bring her pastor along. Remember, he can determine where the witch is in town, and then exorcise her. He'll just be doing some casting out of you and your peeps - aided by the SS I'm sure.