Lubbock Left

Be warned — the following videos are not easy to watch.

Outside a Palin rally in Strongsville, Ohio, one guy with a camera asks attendees “Is Barack Obama a terrorist?”

And insults are the order of the day outside a McCain/Palin rally in Bethlehem, PA:

These videos are scary.

If this is what the Republican base is like across the nation, then I worry even more for this country. How can they be so hateful?

How have we gotten to a point in our political discourse where people who are engaged in the political process actually believe that a major Party presidential candidate could be a terrorist?

“He’s got the bloodlines.”

“Just look at his name!”

How have we gotten to a point in our political discourse where one candidate’s supporters shout epithets at another candidate’s supporters like it’s 1950?

“Commie faggots!”

“Get a job!”

“Go to Russia!”

The Republican Party has a serious problem: they have let hatred and intolerance into their national platform and into their national leadership.

I urge Republicans of conscience to oppose this kind of behavior in their own Party. I know there are reasonable Republicans out there, and this election is making it clear that they need to reassert themselves before it’s too late.

Remarks of the Palin apologists ring hollow exactly because the GOP and its surrogates have been employing every kind of attack they can come up with for a year and a half already.

After nearly a week of getting to know who Sarah Palin is through research, I’m almost ready to spell out exactly why she’s a poor choice for VP in one big honking mega-post.

It must be so easy and so fun to make these videos. I mean no offense to the BNF crew — y’all do great work as always — but there are so very very many McCain gaffes out there to work with. He’s got flip-flops on major issues, deer-in-the-headlights looks, outright lies, and enough just-plain-wrong statements to make 2008 the biggest landslide Republican loss in decades.

But the thumping that the Republicans will receive does not mean we Democrats can rest on our laurels. Spread this video around so everyone can see how McCain and the Republican Party have lost their way.

Onward!

Sometimes one picture says it all.

I was driving to work this morning, and I noticed a funny sign-cube that said “Republican” on it. Later in the day I saw a second one, and I stopped to get a closer look:

Turns out these borg cube things are Chris Winn’s signs. Chris is a former Lubbock radio personality who is running for Republican County Chair.

I got to wondering who is supporting Chris, and who is the “establishment candidate” for the Republican Party this time around. I got my answer by noticing which empty lot in which bulldozed neighborhood held the sign:

Yup.

In case you’ve ever wondered how the other side lives, here are the contested local/regional races in the 2008 Republican Primary:

State Representative District 83
Delwin Jones
Joe D. Hnatek

Lubbock County Constable, Precinct 1
Paul Hanna
Ken Mull

Lubbock County Tax Assessor-Collector
Molly Ramos
Veronica Lujan
Ronnie Keister

Lubbock County Republican Party Chairman
Clif Burnett
William A. (Bill) Franklin
Chris Winn

Precint 8 Chair
Mike McDougal
Roger Quannah Settler

Precinct 13 Chair
Rose Leftwich Day
George W. Schoner

Precinct 15 Chair
Brian T.H. Thornton
Dustin R. Burrows

Precinct 16 Chair
Andy Harris
Robert W. Pratt

Precinct 46 Chair
Rick A. Uhlig
Louis Constancio

Precinct 57 Chair
R.V. Guynn
Tamera Rickman

Precinct 111 Chair
Scott Parker
Rick Bennett

Precinct 121 Chair
Joe Grimes
Aurora Farthing

Precinct 129 Chair
Ruth Corry Schiermeyer
Reace A. Bennett

It’s interesting to see which contests are joined at the precinct level, especially.

Tomorrow night (Thursday 10/25) the Republican Party of Lubbock is having their third quarterly Executive Committee meeting of 2007 at conflict-of-interest central, aka McDougal Conference Center. It’s scheduled for an hour and a half with Carl Isett as a speaker.

To me, the circumstances of their meeting suggest that the Lubbock Republicans are in a holding pattern and not really engaged in serious work. An hour and a half for a whole quarter’s worth of business in addition to a speaker suggests that the Republican Party of Lubbock is in theater mode right now. Their Chairman, John Steinmetz, is even sporting a Carson Tucker style bowtie on their website.

Of course, this is no reason for Lubbock progressives to let their guard down. Other, more active groups like the Lubbock Area Republican Women are probably getting things done, judging by the frequency of their meetings and the number of elected officials among their members and officers.

So the real question is: what are you doing to take advantage of the lull before campaign season hits?