WTF is this BS, I believe Rudd had few ties to Michigan and Ann Arbor. Rudd grew up in NJ and went to college in NY. Exactly how does Dave know Rudd, or is he just doing a cut and paste with the WUO names.

So Dave, are you saying you palled around with terrorists too then? Lordy! Maybe you need to be investigated!!!

If we all need to tone down the rhetoric and stop the witch hunt mentality, then isn't it time to start calling out the formerly moderate people who've gone off the deep end like that, on both sides of the political spectrum?

John Lewis is a very respectable guy as far as I know, and I won't condemn him for this one remark although I definitely think the remark itself was over the line. I assume he just got caught up in the moment (which I see a lot of people doing right now because of the way the anti-Obama sentiment at McCain/Palin rallies is being completely exaggerated by the media and bloggers- people are reacting to what they think is going on there rather than what is reallly going on.) And that's the point really- we all need to step back and take some deep breaths and think about what is fact and what is 'scary' spin on both sides.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/opinion/12ric...

The MSM have carried a lot of water for Obama in this election, that is undeniable. McCain has one attack dog in Palin, to the media's legion.

Of course, the eminent Media Matters for America still attempts to push the meme that the media is totally in the tank for McCain. I think MMA feel obligated to trot that one out. But even liberals no longer buy it.

Saturday Night Live in September had a great skit on the extraordinary MSM bias against the GOP in this election, and on the slanders of the New York Times & Co. against Palin (how many reporters went to Wasilla versus how many to Chicago to read the Annenberg Challenge files?).

Some conservatives were outraged about the “incest” angle, but considering Sullivan's Ahab-like pursuit of Baby Trig at “The Atlantic” the SNL parody of MSM “objectivity” is not far off.:

SNL Transcript.
(NEW YORK TIMES NEWSROOM)
Now, you all know why you’re here. You are, quite simply, the fifty finest investigative reporters in journalism today. Thanks to your work, it was The New York Times that broke the story about our government’s secret program to track terrorist finances overseas. A program so secret that, until our series, even Al Qaeda didn’t know about it! Great work on that one, Dennis.
(GROUP APPLAUDS)
But we don’t coast on reputation here. We are The New York Times. And in Sarah Palin, we’ve got a Vice Presidential candidate about whom we know virtually nothing.
KRISTEN
I’d like to know if she’s ever been a member of a golf club that doesn’t admit women. No wait, forget that. That makes no sense.
JAMES
Quite alright, Tandalea.
Yes? Stephen?
BOBBY
What about the husband, Todd? You know he’s doing those daughters. Come on! It’s Alaska!
(MURMURS OF AGREEMENT IN THE ROOM)
JAMES
He very well could be. Admittedly, there is no evidence of that. But significantly, there is no convincing evidence to the contrary. And these are just some of the lingering questions about Governor Palin. That’s why, in a few days, all fifty of you are going to Alaska!
(THE GROUP CHEERS AND APPLAUDS)
KENAN
Peter, do you really need me on this? I’m still working on the sub-prime mortgage piece.
JAMES
James, that piece can wait. Lehman Brothers isn’t going anywhere.

And the MSM has insulted McCain with a totally baseless front-page article that hinted he was having an affair with a lobbyist last Feb., and Palin was demonized as having pretended to be pregnant and subjected to all sorts of ridiculous guttersnipe garbage and continues to be attacked baselessly.

The evidence that Obama and Ayers had more than a decade–long relationship that included Ayers' selection of the then-unknown State Senate candidate to chair a $150 million Annenberg education project that was a cover for radicalizing and politicizing primary school education.

I knew Bill Ayers, Mark Rudd, and other radical SDSers in Ann Arbor in the late sixties and Bill Ayers was a terrorist as a Weatherman and remains unrepentant to this day. To say Obama “pals around with terrorists” isn't much of a stretch, since Ayers has switched to subversion via Saul Alinsky—-read “Rules for Radicals” and get a clue. Ayers wants to subvert the constitution by a lot of different means, some of which are illegal—I doubt he is a bomb-maker [I met his then-girlfriend Diana Oughton who exploded herself in Greenwich Village a few months later.] Too bad Ayers wasn't there while his four friends were blown to smithereens making a bomb to terrorize a Fort Dix dance for GIs.

I also met John Lewis at the '68 Chicago Convention when he was part of the Poor People's March. The guy is about three miles around the bend and no longer capable of lucid thought.

I personally believe that Obama used Ayers and ACORN more than vice-versa, so there's merit in not pushing any panic buttons if he is elected. I think he has done it under false pretenses in some respects and has been given a free ride by the media—just ask Hillary Clinton.

And the MSM has insulted McCain with a totally baseless front-page article that hinted he was having an affair with a lobbyist last Feb., and Palin was demonized as having pretended to be pregnant and subjected to all sorts of ridiculous guttersnipe garbage and continues to be attacked baselessly.

The evidence that Obama and Ayers had more than a decade–long relationship that included Ayers' selection of the then-unknown State Senate candidate to chair a $150 million Annenberg education project that was a cover for radicalizing and politicizing primary school education.

I knew Bill Ayers, Mark Rudd, and other radical SDSers in Ann Arbor in the late sixties and Bill Ayers was a terrorist as a Weatherman and remains unrepentant to this day. To say he “pals around with terrorists” isn't much of a stretch, since Ayers has switched to subversion via Saul Alinsky—-read “Rules for Radicals” and get a clue.

I also met John Lewis at the '68 Chicago Convention when he was part of the Poor People's March. The guy is about three miles around the bend and no longer capable of lucid thought.

I personally believe that Obama used Ayers and ACORN more than vice-versa, so there's merit in not pushing any panic buttons if he is elected. I think he has done it under false pretenses in some respects and has been given a free ride by the media—just ask Hillary Clinton.

(1) Cool down the rhetoric: As T-Steel suggests, it would be excellent, regardless of who wins, that everyone notches down the rhetoric before and after. No anti-BlueState rage, as per the anti-Redstate rage of 2004…no cries of traitor, terrorist, war crimes trials etc. Obama's reference to impeachment a few months back…that regardless of it merits, it would perpetuate an endless cycle…suggests he knows well how this posionous rhetoric is fuelled in cycles. Perhaps this election, and a cooler head prevailing, may leech these poisons out.

(2) This election is transformative of African-American & identity politics: T-Steel's post emphasized something we have not talked much about here at TMV…the implications of an Obama victory for African-American politics. Certainly there has been long running tension between Obama and some of the old guard (e.g., Jesse Jackson). It is also interesting how many established figures supported HRC (e.g. Rangel). An Obama victory would effectively shatter any glass ceiling with a sound few could deny (though I would not be surprised if some tried).

Yes, I may be naive and optimistic in this. (And yes, I am conservative…but while my partner is American I was not raised in the US. Hence, I am not as appalled as some conservatives at Obama's politics…which are actually more conservative than that of conservatives in other parts of the world

And typically, this indignation is misplaced. The link you point to notes there was no direct comparison to Wallace – just to the atmosphere created when rhetoric feeds the underlying embers, and adds legitimacy to it.

Lewis' statement:
“George Wallace never threw a bomb,” Lewis noted. “He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights.”

I think his point is absolutely correct and relevant, if poorly timed. And I agree with JSpencer that it's best that the old guard let this remarkable man handle this stuff. He's got this thing.

Senator Obama is too much of a gentleman (and a savvy poltician) to come out swinging against the hate and prejudice. But, I can see why some just won't take it sitting down..for better or for worse.

well, he was one of the men mccain mentioned earlier this year that he'd ask for advice when president; if the two are close, maybe it startles and frightens him to see the man so. (it does me.) he got angry, and justifiably so.

yes, it's exaggeration comparing mccain to wallace, but there's been a lot of exaggeration going around lately now, hasn't there?