Tim Russo recently showed you the hate-filled ignorant base of support for McCain/Palin in Ohio. Make no mistake, that was no anomoly. The kind of conservatives drawn to Grampy and Bible Spice rallies in Bethlehem, PA look and sound as if they are playing from the same disgusting playbook of bigotry, ignorance and anger. They are proud to hold non-reality-based views, and attend rallies where these false messages are stoked for them by the two people on the ticket running for the highest offices in the land who know better. (KeystoneProgress.org)

Man #1: “That guy gets elected, he hangs around with terrorists.”
Filmmaker: “Who are the terrorists?”
Man #1: “Obama.”

Man #2: “Obama’s a terrorist! You know that?!”

Man #3: “Obama’s a Muslim, he’s a terrorist himself!”
Filmmaker: “Do you really believe that, sir, that Senator Obama is a terrorist?”
Man #3: “I believe that he supports terrorism.”

Man #4 (walks by, randomly screaming): “Commie faggots!”
Woman #1: “Socialism! Communism!” (random people yell “Go to Russia!” “socialist swine” and “European socialist!”)

Filmmaker: “You think they should die?”
Man #5: “Everyone dies, don’t they?”

Protestor: “Palin voted to have women pay for their own rape kits. My friends shouldn’t have to pay for their own rape kits. How would you feel about that?”
McCain supporter: “She should die!”
McCain supporter #2: “She should pay double!”

These chickens have now come home to roost, and today John McCain acknowledged the now out-of-control problem, tried to ratchet the vitriol back, and quickly felt the bites of the flea-ridden mad dogs he and Sarah Palin have bedded down with:

McCain changed his tone Friday when supporters at a town hall pressed him to be rougher on Obama. A voter said, “The people here in Minnesota want to see a real fight.” Another said Obama would lead the U.S. into socialism. Another said he did not want his unborn child raised in a country led by Obama.

“If you want a fight, we will fight,” McCain said. “But we will be respectful. I admire Sen. Obama and his accomplishments.” When people booed, he cut them off.

“I don’t mean that has to reduce your ferocity,” he said. “I just mean to say you have to be respectful.”

...”I don’t trust Obama,” a woman said. “I have read about him. He’s an Arab.”

McCain shook his head in disagreement, and said: “No, ma’am. He’s a decent, family man, a citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with (him) on fundamental issues and that’s what this campaign is all about.”

He had drawn boos with his comment: “I have to tell you, he is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States.”

The article also notes that the hate-based ignorance peaks when McCain appears with Palin, who draws the most radical fringe of the GOP social conservative base. Bible Spice’s crowd has now shown its face, and the blowback for McCain, in his desperation to hold on to that base, has been to turn off the very independents he sought to attract.  The crazies and the Freepers are out of the closet and enjoying their time in the sun.

Amanda mulled about possible theories as to what the real purpose of awakening this angry underbelly and drawing it out into the open might be:

* McCain has just lost his shit.
* They actually think this will win them the election.
* They’re hoping to incite some violence that will change everything, even perhaps stopping the election.
* Sabotaging Obama’s Presidency.
* Palin’s running the show now.

It could be any or all of these reasons or even more, but the bottom line is that someone in the McCain/Palin campaign thinks that public toxic wingnuttery of this nature doesn’t need to be stopped. That should scare us all.