Newsweek is out with a lot of revelations of what went on behind the campaigns. Some are surprising, while others are confirming–as in the case of the responsibility that McCain and Palin have in their use of rhetoric.
Newsweek reports:
The Obama campaign was provided with reports from the Secret Service showing a sharp and disturbing increase in threats to Obama in September and early October, at the same time that many crowds at Palin rallies became more frenzied. Michelle Obama was shaken by the vituperative crowds and the hot rhetoric from the GOP candidates. “Why would they try to make people hate us?” Michelle asked a top campaign aide.
As far as Palin’s talk of Ayers:
Palin launched her attack on Obama’s association with William Ayers, the former Weather Underground bomber, before the campaign had finalized a plan to raise the issue. McCain’s advisers were working on a strategy that they hoped to unveil the following week, but McCain had not signed off on it, and top adviser Mark Salter was resisting.
As I said before when McCain and Palin began doing stump speeches with hate-filled rhetoric, they are responsible for what they chose to incite. In my opinion, they did not do enough to stop an unintended consequences while on the campaign trail, and when presented with the increased level of hate-filled talk and calls for violence on Obama surrounding their rallies, they did not stop using their rhetoric or work to stop their out of control supporters.
McCain’s concession speech was a start, but both McCain and Palin owe the Obamas an apology for encouraging this “frenzied” rage that endangered the lives of Barack Obama and his family.
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