The Daily Show: Rallies of Fear
By Nicole Belle Wednesday Oct 29, 2008 11:30amThe Daily Show's John Oliver went to a Barack Obama and a Sarah Palin rally and found that Americans are more unified than we're led to believe: We're all scared sh%#less.
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you can't compare the anger of both sides. Watch the clips
Obama supporters feel McCain would be a bad president or Obama would be a better president.
McCain supporters feel Obama would destroy America.
Come on.
I agree, It seems like a desperate attempt at fairness. I think Stewart is just having a difficult time because he doesn't want to appear totally biased, even though its mostly a left-leaning show.
In this election its hard to give an equal dose of mockery when you've got a campaign as ridiculous as McCains, and then when he threw Palin in for good measure, there was far too much material to give it a miss. Biden has his mock-worthy moments, but compared to Palin, they're nothing.
I agree. The difference is, Obama supporters vote for him because he will make a great president, not out of fear of McCain. McCain supporters vote for McCain out of fear of Obama, not because McCain will make a great president.
Very nicely stated!
I don't mind saying my vote is against McCain far more than its for Obama and I fear what his presidency would mean to the country and the world but nonetheless its a rational fear and is kept in perspective. Its based on my disagreement with his policies and ideology. Not the color of his skin or because I think he hates America.
Ok, that's fine, I'm not claiming that my statement is true of everyone, only the 'typical' supporter. Obama's rallies are rallies of substance and hope. McCain's are rallies of fear and hatred. That shows the differences in the collective mentalities of the supporters.
Though its only based on clips my impression is that the Obama rallies are mostly punctuated by cheering, the McCain rallies are mostly punctuated with boos.
To really get the full flavor of the McCain campaign, listen to a Palin speech from beginning to end (if you can). A Palin speech has 3 components: fear-mongering, lies about Obama, and empty promises. It's quite chilling, and the crowd eats it up.
As for the first lady Oliver interviewed, it would seem we already have terrorists in our country.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/natio...
That comedy central portal is such a pain in the arse. It won't play at work, and it won't play at home.
The McCain/Palin crowds are hateful, angry, paranoid, AND EXTREMELY IGNORANT.
What is it with women who support McCain. The lady at that rally that time who thought Obama was an Arab and the lady who had just gotten off the motorcycle in this clip look like they are wearing the same wig or else they have never owned a comb or brush.
The McCain people are fearful out of ignorance and bad information. The Obama people are fearful based on experience.
Why do people who are anti-arab drive the most fuel wasteful vehicles?
There is a point being made here that i have to agree with. We have indeed been manipulated into fearing each other as Americans and the more power another American has the more we fear him. The leisure class sits back and laughs at our fear because as long as we have it they have us.
we are being manipulated into fearing that?
i fear that because those people are insane...no one is manipulating me
when after 2 years of campaigning people still think that obama is a muslim and wasnt born in america...i fear that, because there is too large a percentage of ignorant living on our shores
We appear the same way to them.
Yes we're insane too but we're crazy about peace and inclusion and dialogue. They're insane about killing arabs, black people and liberals.
I agree a lot of manipulation is going on and I agree with you who the beneficiaries are, but it doesn't change the fact of the two sides, the one that believes in diplomacy does have a lot to fear from those who believe in killing people who disagree with them.
I mean there is huge difference between one side thinking McCain would be a terrible president and the other side that thinks an Obama presidency would destroy America.
we have just endured 8 years of a fascist regime, so the fears of the dems are reasonable
the unrealistic fears of the wingnuts are not
obama would turn the country over to terrorists?
america will end as we know it?
and will they please stop with abortion? 8 years of a bush presidency and roe still stands
why dont they understand that the repugs play them like a bad violin
it is time to remove all the social conservatives from power...they are all truly retarded
Obama has shown no outward desire to overturn the newly acquired powers of the President. As far as America ending as we know it; i dearly hope so, but we shall see.
signing statements?
your fear is that he is a corporatist hack
well, i would rather have a liberal corporatist hack in office than a very confused and old wingnut corporatist hack
Actually that is my point. Fear is what i am attempting to avoid. Realistically the policies this country has been following for decades have changed a bit but the victims remain the same. We need to get Obama into office so we can maybe start moving in the right direction but it is barely a start. We need to hold his feet to the fire and push harder toward economic and social justice.
We are so far away from there right now it isn't funny.
Being afraid of McCain or Palin or the propagandists that surround them is not a solution, but having been at C&L for a few years i am possitive we are afraid of these people and the stupid things they do.
All i am saying is we need to stop being afraid. It isn't helping.
Palin = Nixon? The Parallels are Eerie
Yep. What worries me is that Palin becomes the darling of the extreme religious right and actually gets nominated in 2012. Palin is dangerous because of her ignorance of world and domestic affairs, her knee-jerk reactions to important questions and issues, and her hard-line status on abortion, guns, and underneath it all, hatred of gays and blacks. Worse, she adores the spotlight and got the taste of national politics in her mouth, so she won't go away. Of course I don't think America would crumble under her leadership, as she implies America will disappear under Obama's leadership. But imagine the semi-literate, semi-articulate Palin as leader of the free world; she would make us all wistful for the Bush 2 Years. When she speaks, even after vigorous prep, she sounds as foolish and ill-informed as the women Oliver interviewed on The Daily Show. Good job, 'Pubs. Just pick any woman out of a Wal-Mart and assume she'll be as formidable as Hillary Clinton--or as qualified--just because she wears a skirt.
Change means doing something different. If you say you are going to make some changes and you continue to do what you've been doing, that isn't change.
I would imagine most of those McCain supporters are in favor of change, just not new way of doing things. They are either afraid of Obama or afraid of change.
You nailed it.
I don't feel fear when I think of McCain winning, I feel dread. Dread of things getting even worse then they are now...if that's possible.
I don't know if things could get any worse, but if McCain was prez they couldn't get any better.
"That's just a selection of words you made up."
Whooboy. Holy snot, I love me some John Oliver.
Do any of these people interviewed, on either side, ever watch television? Do they know what the Daily Show is? Are they as clueless about the brand of humour as Bush when Stephen Colbert did his 'toast'?
I think that might scare the s%*t out of me more than the abysmal and quite unlaughable ignorance and bigotry of those poor souls convinced Obama will be wearing a turban and hosting Islamic terrorists if he wins: that people can be so oblivious they aren't even aware when they're having the piss taken.
God help us all.
Its seem to me that the fear from the Obama side is fear that we will get more of the same or worse than the last 8 years,while the fear on the other side is the fear of everything else, owl-kater,black people,paying your share of taxes, dope smoking,non-working "hippies" running the country. Note one very big difference between the two groups and the comments they made, which group gets their news from the MSN and which goes to at least some out of box sources? These older people should fucking know better- willfully ignorant-AKA-dumb-ass hicks, thank the great and powerfull magical being in the sky that these people were not your parents.-CEO,citizens,eyes,open
"Other than the fact he's not a muslim, why do you think he's a muslim?" uhm..........
So where have we gone wrong? Is it our education system? Is it the moronic TV programming? Is it the media in general? Is it religion? What is it? We had better figure it out.
That book is damn near prophetic. Keep the masses ignorant by giving them shit tv, make books seem like toxic waste, discourage intellectual curiosity and bombard them with ads for shit they don't want or need, so long as they keep consuming.
Its just how people are. Tv, media, religion, they don't create our problems, they merely take advantage of our problems.
Jake Bryd at a KKK Witch-hunt Palin rally in Beaver, Penn.:
Palin loves Beaver
A crogmagnon hick that believes Obama is a muslin terrist is no different than the wingnut , starwars fanboy on TownHall who thinks Obama's birth certificate is forged. Same paste from the same Elmer's jar.
"... why do you think he's a muslim?"
It's that middle name of "Hussein". It drives them abso-friggen-lutely crazy.
Of course, I doubt that anyone running for President who happened to have a middle name of "Adolph" would get too far, either.
McCain Miami Rally, Getting Ugly Down Here
is middle class Americans continuing to vote Republican and expecting a different result.
which has pretty good regression based analysis of polling numbers and currently figures Senator McCain has less than a 4% chance of being the next President, also has an article on witnessing threats of violence made against Senator Obama supporters outside a GOP rally.
That is what it should have said.
These repiglicans are ignorant cowards by choice!
I saw this report on the Daily Show, and I was speechless afterwards. And sick to my stomach.
I know that the segment was edited for greater effect, but still...the fear described by the Obama supporters had a basis in logic and reality. The fear described by the McCain supporters was simply hysterical and illogical. The woman who most especially left me feeling sad and woozy is the one who said that once Obama gets into office, "he's going to put on a turban, and we're all going to get shot."
Thanks so much to George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Karl Rove...this is what 8 long years of neo-conservatism has wrought. A very large group of easily scared, irrational, and hateful people. And John McCain and Sarah Palin have simply fanned the flames and are making it oh so much worse. They should be ashamed of themselves...if they were capable of feeling shame.
... education in America is lacking BIG TIME???
It is pretty scary to watch how "stupid ass" much of America is.
Makes me depressed...talk about "dumbing down"...
:(
This makes me sad and speechless. I think that the Obama supporters do seem more rational. Why do the McCainnies still think that Obama is a Moslem? Our cumulative IQ in the US must be about 75. Is it failing schools or lack of brains? Or maybe it's just the fact that if you keep hearing the Rushes of the world lie so many tiems you begin to believe the lies. Propanga from El Rushbo and his Radio Pravda! Rush is straight out of Animal Farm. He is one of the ugly piggies!
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