Video interviews by confrontational Barack Obama supporters at John McCain rallies are shooting up the YouTube charts, revealing angry and nasty anti-Obama sentiment that is in turn motivational for the Democratic presidential contender’s supporters. . . .

. . . A video titled The McCain-Palin Mob is the No. 3 most-discussed video on YouTube today, with more than 675,000 views since it was posted Wednesday. In the clip, Ohio rally-goers tell blogger Tim Russo (who’s behind the camera) they have reason to believe Obama is a terrorist.

http://www.nytimes.com/external/gigaom/2008/10/10/10gigaom-mccain-palin-supporte rs-gone-wild-9806.html

Man, look at all those old fat white guys and gals. Not a person of color in sight. Geez, I almost wish I was of a different race.

If you were a person of color, would you be anywhere near these nitwits? They are scary.

If you were a person of Intelligence, would you be anywhere near these nitwits? They are scary.

This is why Ohio is in the shitter. It's filled with idiots like these.

That video looks VERY familiar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjxzmaXAg9E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhRCVm-1r2k

Sarah Palin must be very proud of herself. Thanks to her efforts -- and the efforts of her political allies and fellow travelers -- hate crimes have increased in proportion to the rhetoric of the campaign.

Here are a few incidents that were reported in communities around the country just this last week:

In upstate New York, someone set fire to an Obama sign on the lawn of the only black family on the block.

At a Christian college, a teenage Muslim girl was attacked and pistol-whipped by a gunman in a basement bathroom.

For the fourth time in less than two months, someone tried to fire bomb a school in Illinois.

There was also a report of vandalism at a mosque in Dallas, Texas.

I refuse to believe that all of this is pure coincidence.

The media glossed over a gas attack on a little girl and the families gathered at a mosque in Ohio a couple of weeks ago, as well as the KKK attending the Mississippi debate incognito.

By and large, these stories did not cross the radar of our nation. In the national economic panic, the shift to a consistent underlying message of bigotry is largely ignored. McCain and Palin continue to get free passes for being such mediocre candidates.

I recognize that some outlets sensationalize, drawing a very fine line between tough hard-hitting reporting and the kind of veiled glorification that leads to copycats. One can disarm the mob with a consistent presentation of facts about the four candidates, but truthiness keeps them on the couch, wound up and steeped in crazy thoughts. Any given network sells more spots by pretending the election is close, and being unclear, oblique and amoral when providing information.

In spite of the diversity dance and duplicitous pleas of their so-called leader, the G.O.P. machine continues to sow the seeds of fear. Watching the polls tank, one can almost imagine them praying fervently for a bumper crop of xenophobia. It should not take a serious tragedy for the big news outlets to finally recognize the ripening fruits of animosity and hate.

Senator McCain voted against honoring Dr. Martin Luther King with a holiday. In his long career, he has been opposed to almost everything that might benefit or pay tribute to people of color. When this election looked more and more like it would be the ultimate realization of the vision of Abraham Lincoln, he suddenly changed his tune and stopped whistling Dixie so often.

Along with exploiting New Orleans and the anniversary of the King assassination, McCain used the backdrop of the bridge in Selma, Alabama as a photo-op early in the campaign. One of the men who was almost beaten to death on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965 is a friend to McCain, Rep. John Lewis. Now, the McCain camp has the gall to defend the race baiting by Palin after being called out by Lewis and two other members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

When confronted with the ugly side of the mob that carries what Frank Rich astutely called, "Weimar-like rage," the Senator is tentative and unsure of his course of action. Ask any veteran punk band what they do when a crowd gets violent and most will say, "stop playing, take control and tell 'em to chill the fuck out." McCain is an old man familiar with many poison ideas, but certainly not Poison Idea.

Because the McCain/Palin campaign has stirred this nest of hornets, when anything bad happens, they own it.

Absolutely they do!

That is exactly why doing that kind of thing is not a good idea. It never is, never will be.

McCain knows this and is trying to backpedal. He's taking crap for it too. Good on him actually! Shouldn't have gone there, but at least he sees the potential for harm.

Palin?

Let's just say that's a disqualifier, if the other crap attached to her isn't good enough.

Bill Kristol wants McCain to fire his Campaign staff and get a new one, quit going after Obama on Ayers and the like negative association stuff , and get handlers to " let McCain be McCain"....( What ever that means )

That kind action served him once before.

Yet another lunatic shouted "kill him" today at a rally in Pennsylvania. It is past time to call out John McCain and Sarah Palin. Let them know how you feel about the tenor of the campaign.

Done.

And done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itEucdhf4Us

Personally I am enjoying this very much and hope it continues.

Funny how you never hear black people complain about this, just the white middle class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYxG0F3xubo

More proof of why the rust belt is in the crapper. Too many old, white, bigots, who are uneducated and misinformed. I know they all really want to scream the word nigger as loud as they can but for some reason they don't have the balls to do it.

It's because there are more decent, educated enough people. They are a minority. 23 percent minority, and they know it.

The only difference between a few years ago and now is the Republicans courting them, promising to help keep them relevant and feeling they actually matter in return for a vote.

Now that vote is worthless because the rest of us have had enough.

All they have left is to just sit around and bitch while the rest of us help get things on track and live happy lives.

Don't you just see Broadway in that crowd on "The Sidewalk To Nowhere" video?

It pains/worries me greatly to see those (mostly) old white people and hear their ugly ignorant opinions and their silly "shout outs" to the people across the street.

However, I do love the irony of these morons shouting "Get a job" to the people across the street while they're NOT at work either! D'oh!

Some people just don't get it.

Personally I am enjoying this very much and hope it continues.

The disturbing fact is that this behavior has hurt children already and you advocate for more. Violence has shaken communities to their core and you are amused that they fan the flames of bigotry and hate.

Doc, at least have the class to impersonate a character not played by a locally born liberal -- with roots in radio -- who happens to be a legendary actor. I hope the real Howard Hesseman rings in and calls you a quack.

Like that guy holding up the "Morans" sign.

Too perfectly ironic, not to laugh and cry at the same time. We laugh because it's just totally funny.

We cry, because they don't get it, and there are plenty of powerful people, who know they don't get it, are happy to exploit them for their own gain, and enable as many of them to not get it as they can.

Vitalogy--did you take a poll. Or is that your liberal bigoted assumption, that the people wanted to use a racist remark. Please back-up your statement with facts.

No need to take a poll, Steve. You can read it on their faces. A portion of their anger is because Obama is black. Put a secret camera in every one of those people's houses and you'll here the word used and used a lot.

And, the true bigots are the ones like you who support the bigotry Sarah Palin and the Republicans are using against Obama.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/15/us/politics/15biracial.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The McCain campaign’s depiction of Barack Obama as a mysterious “other” with an impenetrable background may not be resonating in the national polls, but it has found a receptive audience with many white Southern voters.

In interviews here in the Deep South and in Virginia, white voters made it clear that they remain deeply uneasy with Mr. Obama — with his politics, his personality and his biracial background. Being the son of a white mother and a black father has come to symbolize Mr. Obama’s larger mysteries for many voters. When asked about his background, a substantial number of people interviewed said they believed his racial heritage was unclear, giving them another reason to vote against him.

“He’s neither-nor,” said Ricky Thompson, a pipe fitter who works at a factory north of Mobile, while standing in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart store just north of here. “He’s other. It’s in the Bible. Come as one. Don’t create other breeds.”

“I would think of him as I would of another of mixed race,” said Glenn Reynolds, 74, a retired textile worker in Martinsville, Va., and a former supervisor at a Goodyear plant. “God taught the children of Israel not to intermarry. You should be proud of what you are, and not intermarry.”

Mr. Reynolds, standing outside a Kroger grocery store, described Mr. Obama as a “real charismatic person, in that he’s the type of person you can’t really hate, but you don’t really trust.”

“He’s going to tear up the rose bushes and plant a watermelon patch,” said James Halsey, chuckling, while standing in the Wal-Mart parking lot with fellow workers in the environmental cleanup business. “I just don’t think we’ll ever have a black president.”

These are your McCain/Palin supporters you're seeing on video.

And to think I just spent $9.99 on a book of ghost stories for my kids. If I wanted something really scarey, I should've just printed out that article.

Unless the rally depicted in the video took place on a weekend or a holiday, why weren't all these people, on both sides of the street and the guy behind the camera, at work? The older people probably were legitimately retired. I just hope that none of the folks yelling "get a job" were on disability benefits (I don't recall seeing a single one of them in a wheelchair or walking with a cane).

One note of caution about the above video is that it seems to me that it was likely associated with the protest group across the street, and I think that the producers only used some of the reactions by McCain supporters in the video. It is too bad that a real journalist couldn't have been there to ask questions of people on both sides of the street. Where is Edward R. Murrow when you need him??

Secret cameras in our houses is it? So if it isnt bigotry its Big Brother.

I agree KW. I think that secret cameras are far less effective and much more expensive than a fully funded educational system. The bigotry that these people display is rooted in deep seeded ignorance.

Alfredo, I concur with your analysis. If someone wants to play media, they had better go the full distance. At the same time, some folks would rather not get killed over a viral video. I guess we need a modern combination of Ed Murrow and a tornado chaser.

C'mon people, I'm not advocating secret cameras to combat ignorance. I'm saying that if you DID put secret cameras in place, we would see their true colors on what they think of Obama.

I know what you meant Vitalogy.

If those videos are any indication, I think that plenty of racists adore the camera already. Heck, people can sing hit tunes about lynchings and sell that message on the airwaves of the Colbert Report. I wonder if there is a "White Sheet Doritos" in the offing with a little cross scorched into each chip.

Yes, Mr. Stephen Colbert, that is a Wag Of My Finger.

Vitalogy-- in Las vegas, I live in a mostly hispanic neighborbood. I love it, real nice people. So you caught a few goobers on camara, acting like a fool. I bet it cuts both ways for both sides. Like you assuming everyone who isn't as liberal as you is a drooling baffoon.