Sorry America, its not new to us. (on the mcCain/Palin smear events)

Written by: Jim Nichols on Oct 10, 2008 1:35 PM EDT

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Being Chairman of the Henry County Democratic party has taught me a lot about organizing. But it is not surprising to watch the tone and invective that has appeared in the past week. Fear tactics, intimidation, and personal threats that lie just below the surface of far too many Republicans is something Democrats here in the South find to be quite common. I saw it as a human rights organizer after 9/11, as an anti-war organizer in the run up to the war, and have watched it grow during this campaign.

After the conservative take over of the Republican party, the base of that party is fixated on beliefs that have no bases in reality. They hold these beliefs very strongly and it resonates within the culture here at a near pathological state.

Its important to note the pathology--these are good people, they work hard and try to live upstanding lives. But in the midst of fear, and lacking the security of knowing things are going to be okay, that pathology starts to surface. Traitor, Communist, unamerican, the devil, satanist, f---'in coward; I've been called all these things right to my face by men far larger than myself swinging their arms in an erratic style. The aggressive postures, the tone, lack of any valid reasoning's for their beliefs has caused many who support getting affordable health care, a sane foreign policy, or books in our schools, to stay silent. I have citizens who want to volunteer for the Democrats but are terrified that their neighbors will find out they are a democrat and will therefore not do anything that can connect them to the party or Obama.

Haven't you seen the emails-- Obama is a terrorist, Obama is a socialist... why haven't you heard Obama Osama, isn't that clear enough! Our way of life is at risk, it reads. I knew the "kill him," "terrorist" screams at recent events were on their way when my nephew sincerely asked me what I thought about people saying Obama is the anti-christ. He truly wanted to know what to think of this, you could see it in his eyes. And the reason he was curious was because kids can see when people are serious in their beliefs. Just below the surface of every smear email, or chuckle from a joke at a dinner party is someone who at some subconscious level is fearful and doesn't know how to protect their families from the outside world. I responded without blinking an eye and in a very serious tone said, "they have no integrity."

After I said it I regretted it because as I mentioned before, these are all good people. But when fear gets mixed in with lack of education, lies, and incendiary language that pathology starts coming to the surface. In times of crisis people follow the herd. But you start to see those who are a little unbalanced--or a lot--come to the surface. The scary thing is they become the leaders, because they set the example and the tone. When people who need to be on medication, or in serious long term therapy start leading the crowd it takes the rest of us to stand up and say not on our watch. The majority of Republicans are Americans who want the same things as everyone else. But the move away from "intellecualism" and the evils of academia in the base of the Republican party has undermined what was and can still be great about Republicans.

But leaders within the Republican party need to be held to task for not actively speaking out. I watch leaders in our local community; friends, family, elected officials sit in silence as some individual rants and raves. When the subject is on African Americans or just poverty in general its quite common to hear n---ger this, n---ger that. The conservatives around him sit and stare at the floor, cringe, or smile the awkward smile. The embarrassment often is more about someone saying what they too are feeling. With the economic crisis and the deterioration of our social safety net since the Reagan years; people are feeling fearful, angry, and humiliated.

The silence of the media thus far is like the silence of local officials, community leaders, and friends who do know better but exploit this fear for their own personal gain, power, and economic incentive. This isn't a game and when a mass mailed email just crossed my path from a fellow chair here in Lynn Westmorelands district I was appalled but not shocked...

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My name is Melissa Wade and I'm the chair of the Pike County Democrats in Pike County Georgia and we hold our meetings at Ruth's Restaurant in Zebulon Georgia. Today upon exiting/paying bill (for food I bought to go) the owner preceded to spat at me about how awful it was that I registered gutter scum and those people do not deserve the right to vote. He went on and on and I paid my bill and told him it was a free country and we all have the right to vote and I couldn't take 8 more years. I took my meal home (to go - it was really for my republican husband who was sick at the Doctor). I get home, then he gets home and goes to eat it and it has a mouse head in it, cooked and placed on top of the green beans. This is absolutely horrible! They must have assumed that the meal was for me.

We have filed a report with the police department, health dept., local paper, AJC, CNN, MSNBC.
And no, we will never have a meeting there again.


Sincerely,

Melissa Wade
Pike County Democrats
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Remember this is the 3rd Congressional District. Lynn Westmoreland recently called Obama "uppity" and then refused to apologize. He smiled his classic ahh shucks smile and said he didn't know that's what that word meant. A local editorialist at a small paper received a barrage of hate speech and emails to her editor calling for her to be fired because of her obvious bias when she criticized his statement.

The "Liberal Media" make peoples eyes fume here. People don't trust the New York Times, Washington Post, or any major outlet. They truly believe the media is lying to them and trying to destroy their way of life here in their local community. A lack of education, basic understanding or issues, or information about what goes on up in Washington D.C. or the State House here in Atlanta is untutored and ill-informed. The right wing smear machine on right wing radio and TV feed these fears and frustrations. Lynn Westmoreland feeds these fears and frustrations when he calls the SCHIP bill socialism, "Hillary Care," and another example of the liberals being big spenders who want to take away your freedom. But what does any of that have to do with a program that would have gotten millions of low income children health care at the cost of about $23 a year per person?

Don't get me wrong Lynn Westmoreland is a nice man, I've met him was and he does seem to be a good person. If he was hungry, I'd give him half my sandwich, but he is not qualified to be a congressman, he is not educated on the issues, and lacks the judgement to be in Congress. In short he is not a leader, and in tough times we need leadership.

In the end its going to be the good people who remain silent that will be to blame if someone gets hurt from someone leaving one of these fear-monger "Country First" rallies. They'll be just a little chemically off, or have had recent traumatic events in their lives and they will explode. We are now watching the repercussion of 30 years of conservative economic policy, media smears, and individual intimidation.

I've learned a lot this election. I've seen the best and worst of our society. Watching so many young men and women ask me if the felony on their record will keep them from voting. The excitement of a young mother, who fills out the voter registration form for her son (who looks like a younger brother) because, "he can't write too well." I've watched men and women who have never participated start to organize their neighborhoods and fight for their own interests with a sense of dignity and pride. For that you get jeers that Obama is a celebrity, that he's the Messiah, that he's an uppity n--ger. So welcome to our world America, we're glad its finally on your radar.

In the end its going to be resolved by coming together as a community, state, and nation; and saying no to the fear. In the short term leaders in the Republican party should speak out against such invective, John McCain and Sarah Palin need to stop being the pep-squad, and the media needs to be vigilant in exposing every single event. In the long run its about better quality of life for working Americans--better education, better health care, better opportunity. These aren't bad people and I hate watching my left-er than thou friends gloat as the authoritarian impulse comes to the surface as if they are hoping for the lynch mobs to appear again just so they can be right.

Finally we need entertainers such as Boortz, Hannity, and O'Reilly; to admit just that--they are entertainers and get paid for hyperbole and invective. Politics isn't a game, it isn't a Marylin Manson concert. At least Marylin Manson is man enough to admit he's just an artist and entertainer. Maybe with time they will learn to grow up as well.

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Location: Stockbridge, GA 30281