Did Someone At A McCain Rally Really Call For Obama To Be Killed? (as FRANK RICH says!)

Michael Graham ^ | October 12, 2008 @ 10:16 | Michael Graham

[Ooh-Ah]

Frank Rich of the NYTimes. Why is this man lying?

Reading the New York Times and expecting the truth is like going to a brothel and expecting to find true love. 

Reading NYTimes columnist Frank Rich and expecting anything other than dishonest, partisan hyperventilating is even dumber.

But when it comes to a serious issue like allegations of death threats against Sen. Obama, I'd like to think that Rich or his NYTimes editors might have some sense of journalistic responsibility.

That's how much of a Pollyanna I am.

In his column today, Rich writes about fears of assassination attempts against Sen. Obama and the decision of the feds to give Obama Secret Service protection earlier in the campaign season than any other candidate (well skip the fact that the primary season started earlier than any previous election year and Super Tuesday was almost in January and let Rich's point stand).  Then Rich writes:

At McCain-Palin rallies, the raucous and insistent cries of "Treason!” and “Terrorist!” and “Kill Him” and “Off With His Head!” as well as the uninhibited slinging of racial epithets, are actually something new in a campaign that has seen almost every conceivable twist. They are alarms. Doing nothing is not an option.

Now, a trusting reader would assume that these cries are all directed at the same person, Sen. Obama. The reader would also assume that the last two are direct calls for violent action against the Illinois senator.  But Frank Rich and his editors know they aren't.  Nobody yelled "Kill him" about Barack Obama.  It didn't happen.

As John Leo points out, the shout "kill him" was directed at Bill Ayers.  That doesn't make it right, but it does make the story--and Rich's column--entirely different, if you know the facts. (The NYTimes is counting on its readers only knowing what they report, and in which case the facts can be ignored without fear of contradiction.)

Leo also notes that only one reporter, the notoriously unreliable Dana Milbank, reports the "racial epithet" allegedly shouted at a Palin rally.  Nobody else covering the rally reported it.  And it should probably have been mentioned by Frank Rich that the alleged shout wasn't directed at Obama but at a member of the media--a slightly significant fact in a column alleging that the McCain campaign is whipping up dangerous anti-Obama sentiment, don't you think? (For the record, if any idiot did shout a racial epithet at anyone, he's a despicable jerk)

Not only that, but the shout of "Off with his head" was in reaction to Sen. Obama's tax-raising proposals. Is  it a call for a jihadist-style approach to politics, or an ironic reference to King George III and the tax issue that help found this nation? 

And even the shout "terrorist"--which isn't a call for violence but just an editorial opinion--was greeted with laughter from the audience. They didn't perceive it as a threat, but as a joke. 

And this is the evidence upon which the charge is being made of "the Weimar-like rage at McCain-Palin rallies."  The Partisan Press have used (to quote Joe Biden) literally one confirmed shout from one person to create a story out of whole cloth that McCain supporters are jackbooted thugs ready for a "Jim-Crow flashback" in America.

Barack Obama's campaign representative in charge of Muslim outreach met personally with representatives of two Muslim groups that have supported Hezbollah and Hamas.  One of those two men, Nihad Awad, is on the record announcing his support for Hamas and the PLO.  If I wrote in this space that this proves the Obama campaign is inciting anti-semitic violence or his supporters are a bunch of Israel-hating extremists, I would be accused of a racist attack against Obama.

This attack on McCain supporters is a slander and a slur targeting every American who won't drink the Kool-Aid and support Sen. Obama.  And by the way--they're factually incorrect.  Not that anyone in the Partisan Press cares anymore.

[SERKIT]

If no one was witnessed being hustled out of the McCain rally by the “suits”, then I'd say this was a contrived story and/or a Livingstone-grade Obama operative.

[Lazamataz]

At McCain-Palin rallies, the raucous and insistent cries of "Treason!” and “Terrorist!” and “Kill Him” and “Off With His Head!” as well as the uninhibited slinging of racial epithets, are actually something new in a campaign that has seen almost every conceivable twist. They are alarms. Doing nothing is not an option.

Every word Frank Rich writes is a lie, including the words 'and' and 'the'.

[ncfool]

I bet a OBAMA supporter who was planted to incite the crowd.

[Ulysse]

Why is this guy lying? Huuuuum i’m wondering!

Possible OSSABAMA’s trolls at McCAIN’s meetings...

[ladyvet]

Chicago politics as usual.

[ladyvet]

Chicago politics as usual.

[Texas Eagle]

In fairness to Frank Rich, he wrote a similar article denouncing Obama supporter, Sandra Bernhard, for her hate-filled diatribe directed at Sarah Palin whom she threatened to sic her black brothers in New York on to gang-rape.

I got the article right here.....ummmm....let's see....it should be right here.......errrrrr....I'm sure it's here somewhere...now where did I put that article....hmmmmm...

Uhhh...I seem to have lost the link to the article but I'm sure there's a FReeper out there who can help me find it.

[scottinoc]

If there wasn’t one nutball in the crowd of 20K who shouted something stupid, they would simply make it up (and probably did). For the marxist tools such as Milbank at the Wash. Post or Rich at the ever credible NYT, the ends justify the means.

[kesg]

Highly recommended reading:

http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/jumping-ship

An excerpt:

“Obama, as I have said ad nauseam, has brilliantly prepped the battlefield to such a degree that a Farrakhan endorsement or surrogates calling Palin a quasi-Nazi or a bimbo, or smearing McCain as near senile is irrelevant; yet one screamer in a crowd of tens of thousands is proof of McCain’s and Palin’s racism and hatred.”

[nomad]

If someone does say something like that they need to arrest him then do a simple background check to see who he`s voted for in the past,bet you 10 to 1 he`s a rat plant.

[popdonnelly]

Rich’s column is a smear job. He’s smearing McCain, Palin, and anyone who supports them. The man should have a little more intellectual honesty.

[bray]

How can you tell the media is lying??
Their presses are running.

Pray for W, McCuda and Our Troops

[nhwingut]

[mojito]

Frank Rich is Obama’s poodle dog.

Frank Rich's dainty silk panties get into a terrible tight twist any time any one says anything bad about his master.

Frank will yip “racist, racist” on cue at his master's command. Then Frank gets a pat on the head, is called a “good boy,” and is given his dog biscuit.

Then Frank goes and curls up in a tight little ball and goes to sleep on Pinch Sulzberger’s doggie rug.

[seastay]

Thi islefts latest strategy to make up stories how McCain supporters are like terrorists. Typical strategy, they cannot come up with anything new. For example when the consertives came with the term, pro life, they react and say they invent the term pro choice as, when facts are presented to them that Obama friends and supporters endorses domestics terrorists , they change the topic and say McCain endorses terrorists. When facts are presented that Obama supported erratic and reckless financial policy, they turn it to McCain does, no matter what the topic, they cannot think of anything new, they just repeat actual allegations toward Obama and change the language to make it sound as if McCain is at fault. The left has no plans other than to counter and impede and redirect blame to those who do;

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2102971/posts

Newest Left Attack on GOP: Rallies are ‘Inflammatory’ and ‘Violent’
http://mensnewsdaily.com/2008/10/10/newest-left-attack-on-gop-rallies-are-inflammatory-and-violent/#comment-66859 ^ | 2008-10-10 | Warner Todd Huston

Posted on Friday, October 10, 2008 11:52:13 PM by seastay

For the last few days various groups like MoveOn.org, and the folks at Huffington Post, DailyKos and DemocraticUnderground have been beating the drum of a new theme to attempt to undermine the McCain campaign among the media. The newest claim from the extreme left is that McCain’s focus on the Obama/Ayers connection is responsible for fostering “threats” and “violence” to be ginned up among Republicans at McCain rallies. The left is pushing the idea that McCain is inciting riots and “hate” among GOP voters and they are pushing this theme in an email campaign to the main Old Media outlets.

On October 9, for instance, I got no less than 25 emails “alerting” me to a particular Huffington Post jeremiad that is amusing in its replication of the same behavior it pretends to condemn. In this childish bloviation the HuffPo writer uses as much name calling, guilt by association, and bald faced lies as he claims to be refuting from McCain. But, the germ of the argument is that McCain is inciting violence.

[PhiKapMom]

LOL!!! Your post made my day!

[bitt]

It could easily have been an OBAMA plant, or a Code Pinker...if I were at an Ibama rally, I’d be scamming the crowds, too.......

[gusopol3]

Nixon sent the plumbers around to steal that essay.

[Texas Eagle]

I find this highly embarrassing.

I deliberately kept Rich's article denouncing Sandra Bernhard handy right in the same folder that I keep Barack Obama's college thesis and other pertinent information in just in case they might be of some interest to people.

[SlapHappyPappy]

Honestly, I have no doubt people have done that kind of crap at McCain/Palin labels.

But I have heard the same thing said at Obama rallies about Bush and McCain.

Both sides have morons.

[snarkytart]

I bet nobody ever said it...period. And if the words, “Kill him” were shouted I bet it was used as a figure of speech, like when a coach tells his team to go out and kill, or slaughter the other team.

[Paperdoll]

If anyone did call out such a thing at a McCain rally, it was probably an Obama plant.

[kcvl]

Dear Frank & Dana,

I guess you two 'unbiased reporters' missed these:

ANGRY Oboma supporters call Sarah Palin a C*NT.

The two LEFTWING HATE FILLED OBAMA SUPPORTERS threw a Molotov cocktail at the sign and used another as a torch.

"Our whole house could have burnt down," Karen Scrutton said while thanking her neighbor for intervening.

[BunnySlippers]

I think Democrat plants are doing this. This is typical union politics, Chicago thuggery.

[gidget7]

McCain's meetings ARE open to the public. They do not scrutinize who goes in. Plant is a guarantee, and an another very real possibility, is the reporter knew about it, and was there to publicize it.

[EagleandLiberty]

IF anyone did say ‘Kill them’, I bet it was a PLANT!! (Of course DEMOCRATS do have plants, since they are DUMBER than a POTTED PLANT!)

[Texas Eagle]

I think Democrat plants are doing this. This is typical union politics, Chicago thuggery.

You may be right. If this guy was an authentic hate-filled Republican, you can bet your bottom dollar the MSM would've found him by now and plastered his name all over radio, television and newspapers.

But, mysteriously, the people who alllegedly said these things have completely and utterly disappeared.

You know there had to be media types at these rallies, so how come they didn't track these people down and identify them?

[sofaman]

the words “intellectual” and “honesty” cannot and do not apply to Frank Rich. Rich is a Democrat shill with no pretense at honesty.

[PhiKapMom]

Know I am disgusted with all the throwing of the word racism around if anyone dares take on Obama. How many other whites are just as disgusted that won’t tell a pollster they are not voting for Obama for fear they have their name and phone number?

Why is it racist to demand is birth certificate?

Frank Rich and others are inciting riots with these type articles which are LIES! Even Castro calls us racist.

[sofaman]

Hi gidg.

Milbank is the only person to claim that he heard someone shout "Kill Him".

The Secret Service didn't hear it, local law enforcement didn't hear it, people at the rally didn't hear it. But Milbank did.

The man's a liar. Period.

[fso301]

McCain/Palin can’t speak anywhere without being disrupted by leftists. Why doesn’t anyone suspect these leftist infiltrators aren’t the ones shouting for racial violence?

[doug from upland]

[Tony in Hawaii]

Know I am disgusted with all the throwing of the word racism around if anyone dares take on Obama. How many other whites are just as disgusted that won’t tell a pollster they are not voting for Obama for fear they have their name and phone number?

And why is it not racist that some liberals will be voting for 0bama just because he is black?

[mel]

It is probably with that article where the celebrity (who is such a big celebrity I can’t remember his name) said desimate Palin.

[JimSEA]

It's likely that the Rich column was largely written this past Summer and scheduled for release in October with only time and date for the offending comments. Now, next week, someone will interview a “randomly selected” man on the street who will spew racist comments in support of McCain and another “lifelong Republican” who will disown McCain/Palin for their racist campaign and urge everyone to vote for Obama.

[driftless2]

I read a story in my local rag this morning that commented on the McCain campaigns appearances in various mid-west localities including my hometown of La Crosse, Wisconsin. The story reported how McCain was doing nothing to still the rage that was being directed at Obama. They mentioned the La Crosse rally where supposedly there was also "rage" directed at Obama by the audience.

I was in the audience in La Crosse. There were absolutely no shouts from the crowd directing rage or hateful remarks or any slanderous nonsense towards Obama. The only disruption in the crowd was from an anti-McCain person in the audience who shouted at McCain calling him a liar. The crowd immediately began chanting USA,USA. The media is making these "hateful rallies" stories up out of whole cloth.

[sciencefreeper]

BTTT

FIGHT COMMUNISM! FIGHT TERRORISM!

TIME TO STAND UP AND DO SOMETHING!

(but, of course, with all due RESPECT)

[hinckley buzzard]

Where do you go to do a "simple background check" on who someone voted for?

[stylin19a]

a couple of days ago, an article ran here @ FR where it said just that. Obama is sending operatives to McCain rallies to stir it up. I'll see if I can find it

[floriduh voter]

I watched local coverage from Clearwater and there was "drill baby drill" type stuff and "USA" chanting. If somebody said "kill", it was probably an Obama operative trying to kick off the race baiting by Camp Obama. Obama mentions race baiting as a tool in his book "Dreams of My Father".

His creepy dad's dreams: our nightmare.

People from Clearwater don't ever yell kill. We have a great baseball team, football, hockey. There's more passion about sports here than anything.

Pinellas people are not outspoken like that. Drill, yes, kill, no.

[floriduh voter]

The crowd was too sleepy to act out of character. This is the south - it’s hot and humid. Nope, didn’t happen.

[floriduh voter]

Yeah, Obama’s calling McCain supporters enraged and raging. It’s b.s. Obama’s tryin’ to scare voters to his side (he’s a liar and dangerous).

[festus]

First time I heard it reported the holler was directed at Ayers. And frankly I support such rhetoric in that case.

Later it morphed to being directed toward Barak Osama.

[MSSC6644]

The man should have a little more intellectual honesty.

He should have ANY intellectual honesty; he doesn't.

[onevoter]

Thank you - you are funny! An injection of humor is a good thing ~

[RandallFlagg]

HEY!! You’re back!!

I don’t piss you off anymore? Now, I sad again....

Glad to see ya here, Laz!

[BobS]

Well, that's a pretty nasty habit you have going on there. Reading the NYT. They are going to be bankrupt in 6 months.

You are reading the last few gasps of air before a body dies.

[LeonardFMason]

Someone please send this to Rush, Hannity, Beck, Fox, etc.. Obama needs to be asked if he supports this despicable display by his supporters. This could piss off a lot of women.

[Bratch]

Interesting how all this is breaking on the weekend when talk show hosts are unavailable to point out the obvious holes in the narrative.

Coincidence?