The angry mobs at McCain/Palin rallies

October 10, 11:51 AMProgressive Politics ExaminerJay McDonough

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The ugliness and hate being spewed at John McCain and Sarah Palin rallies is beginning to be noticed.  Commentators are expressing alarm at the frequency and ferocity of the rhetoric and that neither McCain or Palin are doing anything to quell the outrageous behavior.  Some have begun to question whether the candidates are now encouraging it.

David Gergen commented last night on CNN's Anderson Cooper show:

COOPER: There’s also the question of ruling after this, and bringing the country together. It’s going to be all the more harder to do that whoever wins with all this anger out there.

GERGEN: This—I think one of the most striking things we’ve seen now in the last few day. We’ve seen it in a Palin rally. We saw it at the McCain rally today. And we saw it to a considerable degree during the rescue package legislation. There is this free floating sort of whipping around anger that could really lead to some violence. I think we’re not far from that.

COOPER: Really?

GERGEN: I think it’s so—well, I really worry when we get people—when you get the kind of rhetoric that you’re getting at these rallies now. I think it’s really imperative that the candidates try to calm people down. And that’s why I’ve argued not only because of the question of the ugliness of it.

The Washington Post reports today on the growing ferocity of the McCain/Palin crowds:

In recent days, a campaign that embraced the mantra of "Country First" but is flagging in the polls and scrambling for a way to close the gap as the nation's economy slides into shambles has found itself at the center of an outpouring of raw emotion rare in a presidential race.

"There's 26 days and people are looking at the very serious possibility that there's a chance that Obama might get in, and they don't like that," said Ian Eltrich, 28, as he filed out of the crowded sports complex.

The crowds that show up for his rallies these days appear to have little appetite for the talk of bipartisan compromise that had been at the heart of his message around the Republican National Convention. During a rally outside a small airport in Mosinee, Wis., on Thursday, McCain said that "it's time we come together, Democrats and Republicans to work together. That's my record. I'll reach across the aisle."

The crowd stood silent.

On November 5th this will be over.  One candidate will have won and one will have lost.  As I write this, the Dow is down another 400 points today and the rest of the worlds economies are in shambles.  Just like ours.  Climbing out of this big hole will take a long time and require great patience and will. 

Or will we be paralyzed by blinding hatred and rancor?  God help us.