http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpE6ljPjSAk

10/13/2008 11:23:45 AM

10/13/2008 11:25:23 AM

OH SHIT


EPIC EMBARASSMENT

10/13/2008 11:53:37 AM

i agree. its amazing how many people think dumb shit is true like the woman in the video

10/13/2008 11:56:13 AM

i disagree, not particularly on this comment but earlier in this same town hall meeting, the one where Mccain says that obama is a good man. McCain needs to be attacking obama not praising him. Obama wouldn't say that about McCain. That is McCains problem he does not want to attack obama and this could lose him the presidency. I am still voting for the lesser of two evils.

I hope McCain wins. If it wasn't for palin i don't think McCain would be where he is now in the polls.

10/13/2008 12:09:13 PM

Quote :

"McCain needs to be attacking obama not praising him. Obama wouldn't say that about McCain. "

Obama would and he has, on several occasions.

10/13/2008 12:11:47 PM

Yeah, it just about breaks my brain how many people think Obama is a Muslim A-rab terrorist

10/13/2008 12:12:29 PM

BREAKING NEWS:

OBAMA IS NOT AN ARAB

10/13/2008 12:14:37 PM

http://www.freep.com/article/20081013/OPINION05/81013036/1068/OPINION

Quote :

"McCain's insinuation, intentional or not, that Arabs are not decent and not family-oriented and not citizens is obscene. More obscene, though, is the silence about it. As an Arab American, I can understand hate based on ignorance. But I find it very offensive when a population or group is scape-goated in a presidential campaign."

glad I'm not the only one who noticed this

10/13/2008 12:18:41 PM

McCain actually made a gaffe in this video

"Hey guyz don't worry... he's not an Arab. Rather, he's an upstanding citizen who loves his family!"

[Edited on October 13, 2008 at 12:29 PM. Reason : Edit: fuck, beaten ^ ]

10/13/2008 12:19:27 PM

He's a terrorist, it in his blood!

10/13/2008 12:21:12 PM

Quote :

"Yeah, it just about breaks my brain how many people think Obama is a Muslim A-rab terrorist"

Brain, and heart.

Quote :

"McCain's insinuation, intentional or not, that Arabs are not decent and not family-oriented and not citizens is obscene."

I don't think that's what he was aiming for, though. Rather than address the Arab issue at all, he elected to sidestep it, in favor of something that's a big issue for conservatives: family.

10/13/2008 12:25:08 PM

I do think McCain handled it the best he could. It's not like he can call the lady a dumb racist.

But the moment reflects the overall attitude that Arab = Muslim = terrorist. Nobody seems to be speaking up for Arab Americans.

10/13/2008 12:29:51 PM

^^ I don't think he was trying to bash arabs either.

10/13/2008 12:31:08 PM

Quote :

"ody seems to be speaking up for Arab American"

That's because there are FAR too many voters with this mindset:

Quote :

"Arab = Muslim = terrorist"

[Edited on October 13, 2008 at 12:40 PM. Reason : lakjgf]

10/13/2008 12:40:08 PM

GOOD THING WE LET WOMEN VOTE

I'm walls1441 and i approved this message.

10/13/2008 12:42:00 PM

Quote :

"McCain needs to be attacking obama not praising him. Obama wouldn't say that about McCain. That is McCains problem he does not want to attack obama and this could lose him the presidency."

What? All McCain's been doing up until that Town Hall was attack Obama.

10/13/2008 12:43:55 PM

^agreed

he seems to even go a little overboard on the attacks for no good reason

10/13/2008 1:00:49 PM

Not an arab - but he is a commie.

10/13/2008 1:30:34 PM

^ Are you the old lady in the video?

10/13/2008 2:20:34 PM

Not an arab - but he is a socialist.

10/13/2008 2:29:06 PM

i'd move to canada, but i don't have any ice fishing tackle.

10/13/2008 2:30:01 PM

^^ Well so is Bush and the entire current government so...

[Edited on October 13, 2008 at 2:30 PM. Reason : ^ it's ok. with global warming you won't need any]

10/13/2008 2:30:10 PM

if the lady called im a coon then mccain would be forced to agree

and for some reason everyone would hate on him


probably because hes not really a coon, hes an arab

10/13/2008 2:30:40 PM

fuck McCain I just live

10/13/2008 2:34:46 PM

10/13/2008 2:38:19 PM

Quote :

"Obama wouldn't say that about McCain."

yet another reason why i don't really like Obama

10/13/2008 2:38:31 PM

arab arent you an arab?

10/13/2008 2:41:00 PM

BREAKING NEWS:

ARABS ARE NOT DECENT FAMILY MEN

10/13/2008 2:42:11 PM

Quote :

"McCain's insinuation, intentional or not, that Arabs are not decent and not family-oriented and not citizens is obscene. More obscene, though, is the silence about it. As an Arab American, I can understand hate based on ignorance. But I find it very offensive when a population or group is scape-goated in a presidential campaign."

What?

I feel sad for people who perceive the world this way.

Quote :

"Well so is Bush and the entire current government so..."

Bush is more fascist than socialist.

10/13/2008 3:26:03 PM

Quote :

"arab arent you an arab?"

not quite

Quote :

"Not an arab - but he is a socialist."

yes.

Quote :

"and the entire current government so"

is run by democrats

[Edited on October 13, 2008 at 3:29 PM. Reason : s]

10/13/2008 3:29:13 PM

Quote :

"yet another reason why i don't really like Obama"

Uh...

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/11/obama-thanks-mccain-for-toning-down-supporters/?hp

Quote :

"“I want to acknowledge that Senator McCain tried to tone down the rhetoric in his town hall meeting yesterday,” Mr. Obama said, speaking at an early-morning rally in North Philadelphia. “I appreciated his reminder that we can disagree while still being respectful of each other. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – Senator McCain has served this country with honor, and he deserves our thanks for that.”"

10/13/2008 4:26:08 PM

Quote :

""McCain's insinuation, intentional or not, that Arabs are not decent and not family-oriented and not citizens is obscene. More obscene, though, is the silence about it. As an Arab American, I can understand hate based on ignorance. But I find it very offensive when a population or group is scape-goated in a presidential campaign.""

you are reaching pretty damn hard to come up with that "insinuation"

lack of trust now = hate?

If you find our country so offensive, gtfo. I find it offensive that I have to alter my rhetoric so that you don't get butthurt over some stretch of an insinuation.

10/13/2008 6:07:57 PM

i dont like obama because he hates the country and thinks it sucks...but i guess if i was trying to get the democratic vote i'd play that angle too..."the last 8 years have been the worst 8 years in the history of mankind...this country is garbage...only i can clean it up"...gimme a fucking break

10/13/2008 6:12:51 PM

Quote :

"McCain actually made a gaffe in this video "Hey guyz don't worry... he's not an Arab. Rather, he's an upstanding citizen who loves his family!" "

that is a flat-out misrepresentation of his statement.

Quote :

"McCain's insinuation, intentional or not, that Arabs are not decent and not family-oriented and not citizens is obscene."

and that is a major stretch.

10/13/2008 6:14:17 PM

I can see how what McCain said can easily be taken out of context, but it's silly to do so, since you'd have to ignore what the woman was implying when she called him an Arab.

And that'd just be dumb.

10/13/2008 6:18:12 PM

im shocked that people would actually try to construe something out of this video other than mccain praising his opponent for being a decent human being

10/13/2008 6:19:12 PM

^partisan politics are horrible and provide for such nonsense

10/13/2008 6:22:15 PM

Barack has done more than his fair share of praising McCain's service to this country.


I was really glad to see McCain step up and make some of those statements after people made those stupid comments at that rally.


However....its too little too late. His campaign is responsible for allowing stuff like that to spread. People have been chanting crap and getting fired up over insane accusations about obama for weeks/months at McCain/Palin rallies, and they have done nothing to stop it until friday.

Its not all on McCain, but a statement like that would have gone a lot further for getting my respect about 2 months ago....before repeatedly implying that he was a terrorist (thx palin)

10/13/2008 6:23:28 PM

Quote :

"that is a flat-out misrepresentation of his statement."

Obviously it is -- it's an unintended implication of what he said. Once you place it in context (given the beliefs of his supporters that he was challenging) it makes sense.

But it's placing it in that context that's particularly scary.

10/13/2008 6:26:36 PM

Fuck the Muslims (and Arabs)

there, I said it.

10/13/2008 6:36:51 PM

Quote :

"McCain's insinuation, intentional or not, that Arabs are not decent and not family-oriented and not citizens is obscene. More obscene, though, is the silence about it. As an Arab American, I can understand hate based on ignorance. But I find it very offensive when a population or group is scape-goated in a presidential campaign."

While this quote is a little on the extreme, this reminds me of my father's response to McCain's comment about Obama. He's Palestinian, and when he saw that clip, he did laugh at how McCain said Obama's 'not an Arab, he's a decent man, blah blah blah'. He took it more in jest than this quote, but I could tell he was offended by it. But he's also hyper-sensitive to any belittlement of Arabs.

10/13/2008 6:43:19 PM

I'm glad McCain/Palin have toned down their character attacks. But it's too late. The GOP smear tactics have convinced thousands of people that a US Senator is actually a terrorist.

Quote :

"#5. Slipping Bullshit Into Your Subconscious The rise of the internet news portal has given birth to a whole new, sly technique of bullshit insertion. What They (and from here on, "They" with a capital T means anyone who draws a paycheck by manipulating your opinion) have figured out is that most of you don't read the stories, you just browse the headlines. And there's a way to exploit that, based on how the brain stores memories. The Drudge Report lives off this. A single anonymous source will report to some news blog that, say, Senator Smith runs a secret gay bordello in New Orleans. Drudge will run the headline: NEW QUESTIONS ABOUT SMITH'S SECRET GAY BORDELLO Or perhaps there'll just be a question mark on the end: SMITH: SECRET GAY BORDELLO ASS MASTER? It doesn't matter that the headline merely involves "questions" about the bordello. The idea has been planted, and two months later when somebody mentions Senator Smith around the water cooler you'll say, "The gay bordello guy, right?" Sounds like: "WHAT IS OBAMA'S CONNECTION TO LEFT-WING EXTREMISTS?" "TOYOTA PRIUS - MORE WASTEFUL THAN A HUMMER?" "OFFICIAL SAYS WTC COLLAPSE 'UNEXPLAINED'" Why It Works: They call it "Source Amnesia." For instance, you know what a wolverine is, but probably don't remember exactly how you learned that piece of information. The brain has limited storage, so it stores just the important nugget (that a wolverine is a small, ferocious animal) but usually discards the trivial context, such as when and where you learned about it (the movie Red Dawn, probably). In the era of the web and information overload, that's a mechanism They can exploit very easily. What They have found is that a piece of information--say, an ugly rumor about a politician--can be presented with all sorts of qualifiers (a question mark, attribution to a shitty source, the word "unconfirmed") but often the brain will only remember the ugly rumor and completely forget the qualifier. And get this: it happens even if the headline we read was specifically about the rumor being untrue. You'll see this daily, in every election cycle. The entire point of putting a shaky rumor into the press is to force your opponent to deny it. Why? Because They know that the denial works just as well as the accusation. Thanks to Source Amnesia, for millions of people all three of these ... SMITH DENIES GAY BORDELLO RUMORS SMITH REFUSES COMMENT ON GAY BORDELLO RUMORS SMITH ADMITS GAY COCK BORDELLO ... register as the exact same headline. Recently Seen: During the presidential primaries, Drudge ran a huge photo of Barack Obama wearing a turban. Under it was an inflammatory headline about how disgusting it was that Clinton staffers were circulating such a picture. But a huge number of people who saw it only remembered the picture (months later, 13% of voters still thought he was a muslim). That's the idea. "

10/13/2008 7:05:36 PM

Quote :

"For instance, you know what a wolverine is, but probably don't remember exactly how you learned that piece of information. The brain has limited storage, so it stores just the important nugget (that a wolverine is a small, ferocious animal) but usually discards the trivial context, such as when and where you learned about it (the movie Red Dawn, probably). "

Amusingly, ^ and I talked last weekend about this (not only remembering pieces of information, but remember WHERE we learned them, so as to be able to draw on them for a wider point of reference in the future), in the context of what intelligence (just regular, non-musical, 'smarts') is.

10/13/2008 7:09:10 PM

But it is a good point. Even smarty pants like ourselves don't remember where we learned every piece of information. hopefully I'd do better on something important like Senator Smith's gay bordello

10/13/2008 7:13:13 PM

Dude

I remember where you learned shit.

Speaking of - I've been meaning to send you this. The elder kid's shirt.

10/13/2008 7:20:36 PM

Quote :

"The GOP Political smear tactics have convinced thousands of people that a US Senator is actually a terrorist."

This is universal.

Politics rarely has anything to do with ideas, positions, policies, character, or morality. More accurately, it is about selling a product, the politician, to the public. How you package that product is what campaigns are all about. Politicians don't run their campaigns, campaign managers do. Politicians don't speak what is on their mind, or address questions of average Americans, they say what their pollsters tell them to say and answer the questions they want to answer.

10/13/2008 8:46:23 PM

mccain definitely deserves your respect for his imprisonment by the viatnemese and his military service. what the heck has obama done for this country?

10/13/2008 8:47:32 PM

too little too late....it's over

^ what has McCain done besides that? That's all he is running on. "I WAS IN A VIETNAM PRISON CAMP". So being in a war means you are a better American than someone who, let's say, worked to help inner city youth?

[Edited on October 13, 2008 at 8:49 PM. Reason : a]

10/13/2008 8:48:07 PM

set 'em up

10/13/2008 9:11:08 PM