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I have fears that these Palin/McCain experiments with inciting mobs to violence could be the prelude to something unspeakably ugly. Consider what might happen if, in the next 2 weeks or so, that dark-skinned thugs appeared at Republican rallies and started scuffling with GOP nutbags in order to "defend" Obama. Those thugs would certainly be what the French call "agents provocateurs", and they would somehow, indirectly as hell, be on the payroll of some very, very bad people who have a very keen interest in making sure that Obama never sets foot in the White House.
It would create a public atmosphere ripe for backlash against Obama, not to mention much more sordid or violent potential impacts. The corporate media would be the enablers. I'm not saying it would even work. But think about how heinously effective such an idea could seem to desperate, criminal white men.
Update: in acknowledgment of anon in my comments section, here's a shot of actual paranoia ripped from the comments section of this Politico post:
Between 8:45 PM and 9:15 PM tonight (Oct 8) on Intrade, someone just bet a LOT of money against Obama winning the presidency. And I mean a LOT. His stock, which has been over 70 for a couple of days now and at 76 most of the time today dipped down to 64 or so in those 20 minutes under heavy betting before recovering immediately after 9:15 to 73... Very strange.. is there something someone knows?? What is the news tomorrow, JMart?" Posted By: intrade | October 08, 2008 at 11:54 PM
If you need me tomorrow, I'll be in the bunker with my 50 bottles of wine.
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paranoia strikes deep,
ReplyDeleteinto your life it will creep.
It starts when you're always afraid,
step outta line the man come and take you away...
But then again, you're probably right. Next week could be "the big one". Unless everyone is out of town for Columbus Day.
Anon: My fear doesn't arise from paranoia. I'm apprehensive because I consider it a potential tactic that could be used by criminally insane people who have a lot to lose during an Obama administration. It's been awhile since I read about the 1968 Democratic Convention, but I think it's common knowledge (published in the Walker Report) that provocateurs were used to (uh) provoke demonstrators into attacking police. From that point, the cops had carte blanche, violence-wise. Made Democrats look like a very bad choice to Nixon's "silent majority." I'll have to acknowledge that if I were a rich lunatic bigot right-wing extremist who could end up broke and/or in prison during an Obama administration, I'd have set this train in motion months ago. I had mixed feelings about posting this, but if it's going to happen then the wheels have been in motion for awhile. And if it happens, the candidate responsible for whipping up the crowd should be investigated with extreme prejudice.
ReplyDeletea rich lunatic bigot right-wing extremist-- that kinda sounds like Richard Mellon Scaife. It would be interesting to know what a guy like that really does fear most at this point. If it's for his money then a McCain presidency can't be reassuring at all, in which case he'd opt for the "replace McCain at the last minute" ticket. If the scheme you posited here (squeezed from your fleshy, oozing scheme-positer) is to occur it would have to be cooked up by those more afraid of being investigated than being financially ruined. The stakes may actually be too high for primitive bigotry alone to fuel this.
ReplyDeleteOne scenario probably is far-fetched: a smooth, unexceptional election held without incident and an orderly transfer of power, as in 1976.
BO: what the hell are you doing, sounding like the voice of reason? The transition, if orderly, might just be more like 1933. The critical factor, though, is which 1933 country we're referring to. My point about the provocateurs is that some racial scuffling at campaign sites could, if someone was seriously hurt, get contagious real fast. A few city neighborhoods in flames would be a fairly simple accomplishment for primitive bigotry, cunningly applied.
ReplyDeleteLe Grand Schema Positeur, dan tour le monde. Bon mots to all and many happy returns to all the ships at sea. If measured in blood (or lives) lost per real change in power, and of course normalized to time and population, we're not doing too badly as measured against history. Of course it could all be a dodge and no real transfer of power occurs at all. Why help "Them" by expousing flashy theories, when the subtler and deeply engrained slime flows silently and runs deep?
ReplyDeleteanonymous: I'm not espousing flashy theories; I believe I'm expressing a rational concern that others should maybe keep in mind as they consider the implications of racist hooliganism at presidential political rallies.
ReplyDeleteIf you were desperately trying to keep the Executive Branch out of Democratic hands, how many options would you still have this late in the game? It's hard for me to think of anything within the bounds of legality and probability that could turn the tide toward McCain at this point; even Republican "thought leaders" now accept this, so they're now ramping up the voter suppression strategy.
The scenario I fear would just be an extension of the 1972 Republican "southern strategy," except this time no racist presidential candidate from the deep south would end up with five bullets lodged in himself. [Yes, yes, we all know Art Bremer was another one of those Lone Gunmen. Funny how our political culture breeds so many of those guys.]