American Bund

By Baxter

The mainstream media are just starting to notice a phenomenon that we cats have observed for about a week now and not liked one bit. (Of course, bloggers have been way ahead of the MSM on this, but never mind.)

McCain-Palin campaign events have become gatherings of surly mobs.

From the disturbing Palin rally in Clearwater, Florida — at which attendees yelled "Treason!", "Terrorist!" and "Kill him!" — to the Waukesha, Wisconsin crowd described by today's Washington Post, we cats expect Republican riots to break out any minute now.

Are these people angry because they're scared? We can understand that. Heck, we're scared, too, what with the world's financial markets imploding and our retirement accounts plummeting to zero. But — whoops. Somehow we don't think that we and the Republican faithful are scared of the same thing.

Said one Waukesha attendee of Senator Obama, "I can't stand to look at him, I don't trust him. I don't like the circle of friends he keeps, I don't like his policies. I'm pissed off by it. I'm beyond mad. How is he climbing up in the polls?"

Gee, Madam, where do we start? Had a look at your 401(k) lately? However, from the personal nature of your comments, we suspect that something more than money is motivating you.

And faced with this roiling crowd, what did the candidates do — try to tamp down the emotions, assure their supporters of better days ahead? No, they continued to stoke the flames against Senator Obama, "[drawing] on the crowd's energy," according to the Post.

Behavior like this makes us want to hide under the bed. It's frightening. And by encouraging it, McCain and Palin are proving what we've always thought — they are unfit to run the country.

As Senator Obama has said, "This isn't a time for fear or panic. This is a time for resolve and steady leadership."

We're not seeing it in the Republican ticket.

(Photo: U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum / University of Southern California)