Election 2008

[Jess]

Being booed is kind of small potatoes.  At least nobody was shouting "terrorist," or "kill her."

[Highlander]

Being booed is kind of small potatoes.  At least nobody was shouting "terrorist," or "kill her."

I think that is irrelevant. That's a few outlandish people at a political rally where the object of disdain was not even present.  What we are discussing is simply a biproduct of a crass society, a general no-holds-barred display of disrespect and lack of civility towards anyone we disagree with.  That's fine if you don't mind our culture sliding further down that road, excuse it if you wish.  Just try to turn off your own partisanship for a moment to see my point.   

[AllThingsKC]

I was at a Brigade game and Carl Peterson got booed at halftime.

The Philedelphia fans shouldn't waste any time booing Sarah Palin and start booing Carl Peterson!

[phxcat]

I think that is irrelevant. That's a few outlandish people at a political rally where the object of disdain was not even present.  What we are discussing is simply a biproduct of a crass society, a general no-holds-barred display of disrespect and lack of civility towards anyone we disagree with.  That's fine if you don't mind our culture sliding further down that road, excuse it if you wish.  Just try to turn off your own partisanship for a moment to see my point.   

Its also a byproduct of being in Philadelphia.

Yes.  I guess we'll also have to stop mayors from throwing out the first ball at baseball games too.

A brief appearance is not politicizing the event, it's just dropping the puck.  Period.  The fans were not booing because a politician showed up at a sporting event, they booed because they were obama supporters.  I have no doubt Obama would have been booed by Palin supporters.  I agree with MD that people just cannot turn off their partisanship, it's rude, it's crass and it says a lot about our nation and what it says is not flattering.   

Four weeks from the election in a swing state makes it a political event.  Period.  Dropping the puck as a mayor or as an ex-vice presidential candidate would be different.

[AllThingsKC]

Dropping the puck as a mayor or as an ex-vice presidential candidate would be different.

So, you don't think Funkhouser would be booed if threw out the first pitch for the Royals?

[phxcat]

So, you don't think Funkhouser would be booed if threw out the first pitch for the Royals?

OK, but then we will have to have a discussion on whether that is OK!

[TheBigChuckbowski]

Are we forgetting this was in Philadelphia? It may not be partisan at all. Philly fans boo EVERYONE including Santa Claus. Maybe Santa is a republican and only Philly fans know it.

[NDTeve]

You're right Chuck. I remember hearing that they booed handicapped kids at the Vet because they wanted showdogs at halftime.

[advocrat]

Your indignation is really misplaced, MD is exactly on the mark.  Regardless of her purpose there, let's turn off the politics for a few minutes and show a little courtesy.  I am no fan of Obama, but I am certainly not going to treat him with disrespect regardless of the venue he appears in. 

We live in an increasingly crass society and it showed in Pennslyvannia with the boo's.  I am actually embarrassed to be an American when I see how uncivil we have become towards each other.   Showing up at a sporting event is no different than Saturday Night Live appearances, Letterman appearances, appearing on stage with rock stars etc....   Politics was once separate from pop culture but, unfortunately, they've become one in the same.

Reminds of the insulting crap Kerry had to endure back in '04 with people standing out in the crowd waving their arms back and forth shouting "flip-flop, flip-flop." And he took it with dignity. And it still didn't let up.

No wonder it has become a standard behavior today. Much like the rhetoric on this board; with the ridiculous labeling of Obama as "Messiah." I find it hard to believe that any normal person would stoop to such juvenile expression in public view.

[OPIchabod]

I think the main point with Palin dropping the puck is this: if she's not running for VP, she's not dropping that puck.

As a result, her dropping the puck is a political event, because if it wasn't a political event, there'd be no reason for her to be there.

Certainly, it would have behooved the crowd just to bite their tongues and clap or just sit silently, but it was political, and anytime you bring politics into an equation, anything can happen.

[NDTeve]

Reminds of the insulting crap Kerry had to endure back in '04 with people standing out in the crowd waving their arms back and forth shouting "flip-flop, flip-flop." And he took it with dignity. And it still didn't let up.

No wonder it has become a standard behavior today. Much like the rhetoric on this board; with the ridiculous labeling of Obama as "Messiah." I find it hard to believe that any normal person would stoop to such juvenile expression in public view.

So only Republicans are to blame...Nice open minded analysis.

[mean]

Isn't that the standard MD defense? Two wrongs make a right? It's OK if the side I support does something wrong because my opponents did it first!

[KCMax]

Troopergate Report: Palin Abused Power

The scandal centered around her firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. Monegan and others believed Palin fired him because he refused to take action against Mike Wooten, a state trooper under him who had been involved in a messy divorce with Palin's sister, Molly.

The investigator, Stephen Branchflower, found that Monegan's refusal to fire Wooten "was not the sole reason" but was "likely a contributing factor" to his firing.

Branchflower also said Palin's attorney general failed to provide him with e-mails of Palin's that he had requested as part of the probe.

The report found that Palin let the family grudge influence her decision-making, even if it was not the sole reason Monegan was dismissed.

Palin Makes Troopergate Assertions that Are Flatly False

But it finds that Palin "knowingly, as that term is defined in ... statutes, permitted Todd Palin to use the Governor's office and the resources of the Governor's office, including access to state employees, to continue to contact subordinate state employees in an effort to find some way to get Trooper Wooten fired. Her conduct violated AS 39.52.110(a) of the Ethics Act..."

The report states: "I find that Governor Sarah Palin Abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act ... Compliance with the code of ethics is not optional...

[advocrat]

So only Republicans are to blame...Nice open minded analysis.

Never mentioned the word "Republican" in my comment, just made reference to the imbecilic behavior and expression seen on the campaign trail and on this forum; ya' know, 'messiah" and "terrorist" and all that.

[NDTeve]

Didn't take much to read between those lines advocrat..

This concerning to anyone (probably not)...10,000 fraudulent voter registrations by ACORN:

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2008 ... 0/NEWS0104

[KCMax]

Our own Jack Cashill, editor of Ingram's, is making some national news asserting that William Ayers, not Obama, wrote the book "Dreams From My Father".

Just another kooky conspiracy theory from Cashill, and it appears not even Washington conservatives are buying it.

But hey, I'm sure it will help Jack move some of his other books.

[Maitre D]

That's true that it has gotten crass, on both sides, and I am not a fan of booing in general, but in that situation, when the Palin campaign made a political move by placing her in that situation, what do the fans do?  Just allow her to turn their game into a political photo opp?  If a politician shows up at any of those other events that you mentioned, the audience will react.  In that situation, their only real tool to show that they disapprove, and they do have the right to disapprove, is to boo.  Palin politicized a sporting event, and the fans reacted.

No, you're just WRONG phx.  Like you nearly always are.

[NDTeve]

Convicted felons (outnumbering Repub voters more than 2 to 1) are registered voters in FL...

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/ ... 2352.story

I doubt you'll see any crying about "stolen elections" unlike some others.

[Maitre D]

"I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors," Barack Obama told a crowd in Elko, Nev. "I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face."

[chrizow]

pretty awesome that Palin continues to try to tie Obama to the actions of Ayers (which occurred when Obama was in the second grade) while she quoted Westbrook Pegler in her RNC convention speech.

"No less disconcerting was a still-unexplained passage of Palin’s convention speech: Her use of an unattributed quote praising small-town America (as opposed to, say, Chicago and its community organizers) from Westbrook Pegler, the mid-century Hearst columnist famous for his anti-Semitism, racism and violent rhetorical excess. After an assassin tried to kill F.D.R. at a Florida rally and murdered Chicago’s mayor instead in 1933, Pegler wrote that it was “regrettable that Giuseppe Zangara shot the wrong man.” In the ’60s, Pegler had a wish for Bobby Kennedy: “Some white patriot of the Southern tier will spatter his spoonful of brains in public premises before the snow falls.”

This is the writer who found his way into a speech by a potential vice president at a national political convention. It’s astonishing there’s been no demand for a public accounting from the McCain campaign. Imagine if Obama had quoted a Black Panther or Louis Farrakhan — or William Ayers — in Denver."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/opini ... d=facebook

all this in addition to her alliance with the AIP, whose founder spews virulent separatist rhetoric - everywoman hockey mom indeed! 

McCain, of course, who used to have the integrity to stay above this sort of thing, now participates in these smear tactics.  politics certainly can bring out the worst in people.