All of a sudden EVERY McPalin rally has mobs in a frenzy. Why now? How authentic is this?

[live love laugh]

Why now is partially because of the end of the campaign.

I ask the question though because how can peoples' BEHAVIOR change to this degree this fast?

My theory is, that their behavior cannot change this way and that these people are plants.

There is no other factor that I can see that explains this "phenomenon."

I just wish that this was apparent to the idiots who might buy into this and actually vote for McSame.

I also wish that there was an actual journalist somewhere who would ask these same questions and get to the bottom of this.

[NMDemDist2]

1. take a stroll through some rural newspaper forums

my fishwrap forum's comments are nasty nasty

[Gman]

4. Not just rural... the Houston Chronicle

(www.chron.com) is always loaded with nasty RW comments to just about every article.

[spanone]

2. they are desperate

[pdxmom]

3. I think that the frenzy is real. They are desperate and foresee losses not

just in the WH, but throughout government. And the rhetoric being thrown out by the campaign has made it okay.

[TheCowsCameHome]

5. The right stirs up these loons, and the think they are helping McCain

by showing their hatred and anger.

[live love laugh]

7. I think your answer is the most likely one--that Palin and McSame use irresponsible language

at these rallies is probably the reason.

It would be nice to get their stump speeches. Obama should be using their words against them.

[TheCowsCameHome]

8. Some of their followers are too fragile mentally to handle their rage

and I fear for the safety of Barack Obama if these crazies are stirred up over and over.

Lay a lot of the blame squarely at the feet of right wing talk radio, too.

[live love laugh]

14. Yeah I've not listened to RWTR lately but I suspected they were complicit. nt

RWTR = Right Wing Talk Radio

[RoadRage]

6. I don't think they're plants at all..

from EITHER side (repugs like to pretend everytime a freak gets up and starts ranting about killing Obama that it's actually an Obama supporter trying to make McCain look bad... what total BS).

I think that up until this week, 95% of McCain's RABID supporters seriously thought Obama was a joke. I don't think they took him seriously for one single second. They look at Obama and believe every ounce of the "He's not patriotic, he's a muslim, he's secretly working for Osama, he's STILL BLACK and NO ONE IN THE US WILL VOTE FOR A BLACK GUY memo.

Until this week, they really thought that McCain wasn't even going to have a tough time with this.. especially since he put St. Sarah on the ticket. Again.. they look at her through foggy glasses.. how can everyone not see her as the perfect VP that she really is. :puke:

And then.. over the psat week - every pundit (even some on Faux) have been crystal clear. Obama is leading. Obama is probably going to win. And there isn't much that these rabid supporters can do to spin that news, and even less they can do to stop it.

So, they go out of their minds. HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN? How can a black guy with HUSSEIN for a middle name possibly be the next President? And on.. and on.. and on.

In the steps of loss.. one of them is anger, and that's what we're seeing right now.

[TheCowsCameHome]

10. Some are as bright as potted plants..........

but beyond that, they're dangerous.

[stillcool]

21. that one black guy..

that was at a McCain town hall asking McCain to hit harder on Ayers, Wright etc., was a plant. It is interesting how the McCain campaign is blaming either the people at the rallies, or Palin for the incendiary remarks. They will attempt to deny it was they who lit the match. These people are full to the point of overflowing with bullshit. It didn't come from their own heads.

[Frumious B]

9. I think they sense defeat, which leads to panic and rage.

Keep in mind that we are talking about the people who get all of their "news" from Rush, Hannity and Fox. If you think about the kind of world view that would give someone then it really isn't much of a stretch to figure out why these folks are flipping out like this. Their rants are virtually identical to what you hear from talk radio about Obama every day. In the past the more "mainstream" and cosmopolitan elements of the Republican party have been able to keep those types sort of locked in the basement away from serious scrutiny, but I think that the weakness McCain has shown coupled with the Palin selection have caused them to come bursting into the daylight. It ain't pretty. That's for damned certain.

[salin]

11. and as they appear more looney - the former moderate repubs

stay away from these events - so a self-selection bias grows per who shows up at these events.

[live love laugh]

16. That makes sense. Only the lunatic fringe is showing up now. Wow. nt

[Lerkfish]

12. Its real: its just becoming a higher concentration as rational people can smell a loser

so the only ones left are the wingnuts.

[Blarch]

13. Simply put.

the McCain campaign is now in it's final throes.

[Berry Cool]

17. Yep. The polls have finally swung in such a way that his loss is beginning to look inevitable.

Of course, nothing's a done deal until the election, but the polls have them running scared.

Ever seen a cornered animal? Shivering and terrified, it will lash out, scratch and bite, do anything to draw blood and destroy those who it thinks have it trapped. Its brain has gone into "kill or be killed" mode.

That's what's happened to many Republican voters, the "backwash." They see a McCain loss coming like a freight train, and they see a black man becoming president--something they could realistically laugh and scoff at before as something that would just never, never happen. They are, at last, finally realizing it just might happen. And they are terrified to death. And there is NOTHING they won't do.

[alcibiades_mystery]

15. There is another factor: The "CROWD" theory is a narrative

It is a frame. The degree of "frenzy" is likely no different from what it's ever been, and more than one DUers has laughed approvingly at protest signs that say "Bush: World's Greatest terrorist." Demonizing your opponent is not restricted to McCain rallies.

What has happened is simple: the press has taken behaviors that are common at American political rallies and focused on them, making them seem like a new phenomenon. They are not. They are just showing through as a result of the frame. Last year, I thinbk it was, we were inundated with stories of mine disasters. But there were no more mine disasters last year than in other years. They just became a focus, and thus seemed to be "more frequent," or 'worse' than usual.

That's what's happening here. Which is good for us, to be sure. I'd expect that perhaps the Obama campaign has been urging the press to explore these stories of the madding crowd, etc. It's good politics. Notice that the same kind of rhetorical move was made AGAINST Obama by both Hillary and earlier by McCain (cult, celebrity, rock star). The whole goal is to make your opponents supporters seem irrational, and nothing signifies "irrational" in our culture more effectively than "the mob."

It's a rhetorical game. I'm glad we're winning it, but I wouldn't take it too seriously.

[live love laugh]

19. Signs reading: "Bush: World's Greatest terrorist." are TRUE. That's not demonizing.

OTOH, calling Obama a terrorist based on his skin color is demonizing.

But I get your point about the media focus. I also considered that and agree that it is a factor.

[frickaline]

18. I don't think the behavior of specific people did change all that much

The composition of the crowd is what changed.

[jcla]

20. Racism has a long standing hold on the American psyche

It has been fanned by the right wing nuts for over a year an a half against Obama. It is not going to stop now. These people are not plants they are fearful and racist. They are dangerous.

[Window]

22. I don't think their behavior has changed at all. It was always there,

just beneath the surface waiting for someone to push their buttons, which McCain and Palin began this past week.

[mw]

23. It's because the Xtian Reich nutballs are ALL who support her.

There are no decent, normal Americans to be found at a Palin rally. They're all angry, self-loathing members of the Christian Reich.

You know, modern-day Christ-killing Pharisee types.

[Higher Standard]

24. I think it's just the type of crowds she draws

Reasonable people see her for the uneducated, unqualified window dressing she is. I believe she is proving more adept at attracting the types of voters who only pay attention to window dressing and who are easily worked up by fiery rhetoric. And she has been picking the right rhetoric to suggest that Obama is a dark, malicious individual, thus proviking very dark responses from those crowds.