Is Palin playing with fire? Joe Biden seems to think so.

[IsItJustMe]

Biden calls Palin's criticism 'mildly dangerous'

WASHINGTON - Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden said Wednesday that Republican rival Sarah Palin is injecting fear and loathing into their campaign with her criticism that Barack Obama is friends with a terrorist. He called the effort "mildly dangerous."

Palin began last weekend telling supporters that Obama is close to '60s-era radical William Ayers, a founder of the violent group the Weather Underground. After first claiming that Obama had been "palling around with terrorists," she changed the thrust of the attack to say that Obama's ties to Ayers showed bad judgment.

Obama and Ayers, now a college professor, live in the same Chicago neighborhood and have served together on community boards. The Illinois senator, who was a young child when the Weathermen were planting bombs in protest of the Vietnam War, has denounced Ayers' radical views and actions. His campaign has said that Obama didn't know of Ayers' past when they first met.

In Florida on Monday, Palin's remarks about Obama and Ayers elicited waves of booing from supporters. One person at a rally shouted "Kill him!" according to a Washington Post report. A sheriff who introduced Palin at a rally referred to the Democratic candidate as "Barack Hussein Obama."

Biden, appearing Wednesday on CBS' "The Early Show," called Palin's remarks about Obama and Ayers "over the top."

"You know, the idea here that somehow these guys are once again injecting fear and loathing into this campaign is ... I think it's mildly dangerous. I mean, here you have out there these kinds of, you know, incitements out there — guy introducing Barack using his middle name as if it's some epitaph or something," Biden said, apparently confusing the words "epitaph" and "epithet."

"It's just malarkey, flat malarkey," Biden said of the Ayers criticism. "The guy Barack Obama is going to turn and ask opinion to is me, not that guy."

Biden returned to the campaign trail on Wednesday after spending the last few days mourning the death of his mother-in-law.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081008/ap_on_el_pr/biden
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Someone needs to tell Sarah to put down the matches.

[csziggy]

1. Joe is ripping McCain to pieces - and not taking the low road at all

Right now in Tampa, Florida. Excellent speech, tearing apart all of the McCain-Palin negative attacks and pointing out that they are just a distraction from the issues that are important to Americans. He said that these negative attacks do not hurt Barack or Joe, but hurt the American people. Joe also brought up that these negative ads are done by the same operatives that Bush used to attack McCain back in 2000.

Best line so far, "How can you be a maverick when you are a sidekick?" The audience loved it. :applause: :applause:

[IsItJustMe]

4. That's my Joe. You got to love him.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

6. Gotta remember, 8 years was a long time ago for McThuselah

[csziggy]

9. Yes, McCain has been kissing up to Bush and all the jerks who tore him apart in 2000

Guess it is delayed Stockholm Syndrome or something...

McThuselah :rofl:

[Dhalgren]

2. Come on. Everyone knew this was coming.

It doesn't make it right, but it was understood to be coming. Palin wants to whip these cretins into a murderous rage - it is what she is there for. When someone says "Kill him!" she winks and says "He's not like us!" The thing that I am surprised about is that McCain/Palin waited so long to try and form a lynch-mob...

[stillcool]

5. A family member lived with..

cancer for 5 years. I watched him die a little more every day. I knew it was coming, but that in no way diminished how his death rocked my world.

[Lautremont]

3. I do wish Joe would get his words right.

It's a small mistake, sure, but an unfortunate one given what he was trying to say, and so very easily avoided.

[ProfessorGAC]

7. Actually, Given The Crowd Reaction, The Word Might Have Been OK

I agree he meant something else, but this slip of the tongue is unfortunately appropriate.
The Professor

[Turk 182]

8. Biden too "mild"

Come on Joe- her remarks aren't "mildly dangerous" they're close to inciting to riot.
Look how Hitler started out. He did the same thing in Germany under very similar economic circumstances.
When people are suffering, frustrated, angry and feeling impotent, it takes very little effort to manipulate and focus those feelings by pointing at someone and associating them with whatever the loaded catch phrase of the day happens to be. Hitler pointed to the Jews among others and said they are the problem. Palin points to the "Terrorists" and links Obama with them by association. It makes no difference that Ayers did his thing 40 years ago and is now a respected member of the community and had absolutely nothing to do with our current problems. the only thing that comes through the haze of anger and frustration is "terrorist", a doubly loaded word since 9/11, and "Obama", the non-american sounding name of a ,gasp, black man.
Make no mistake. Her speech is carefully crafted to create an environment of fear, anxiety, and ultimately, hate. If it's not stopped now, the consequences could be grave indeed.









he's