ST. CLAIRSVILLE, Ohio (CNN) - At a campaign rally designed to reflect the pastoral beauty of the heartland in autumn - with a stage set up in a red barn overlooking a sweeping field and piles of pumpkins - Sarah Palin warned the audience about the threat of terrorism, and explained that the Republican ticket should be elected because “we know who the bad guys are.”
“Help me, Ohio, to help put John McCain in the White House,” she said. “He understands. He understands you. We understand how important it is that this team be elected. For one thing, we know who the bad guys are, OK?”
That statement elicited scattered shouts of “Obama!” throughout the crowd.
“We know that in the war, it’s terrorists, terrorists who hate America and her allies and would seek to destroy us, and the bad guys are those who would support and sympathize with the terrorists,” she said. “They do not like America because of what we stand for. Liberty. Freedom. Equal rights. Those who sympathize and support those terrorists who would seek to destroy all that it is that we value, those are the bad guys, OK?”
Was Palin suggesting that Barack Obama and Joe Biden don’t understand the terrorist threat? Who exactly were the “bad guys” Palin was referring to? A spokesperson for the campaign would only say that the governor was describing “nations that sympathize with terrorists, period.”
The vice presidential nominee pressed on and pointed the finger at more bad guys - the “greedy and corrupt and arrogant” mavens of Wall Street and Washington who, she said, have pushed the nation’s economy to the brink.
“We know who the good guys are, and it is you, and we will fight for you, and we will put government on your side,” she promised. “We will end the arrogant and the selfish practices of Washington and of Wall Street because your United States government is to be of the people, by the people, for the people.”
In her remarks, Palin also appeared to acknowledge the snow-balling narrative that Republican rallies have grown increasingly hostile and angry in the waning weeks of the campaign, echoing weekend remarks by McCain himself.
“All across America, I know that there’s a lot of anger right now,” she said. “There’s anger about the insider dealing of lobbyists and anger at the greed of Wall Street, and anger about the arrogance of the Washington elite. And with serious reforms to change Washington, John McCain is going to turn your anger into action.”
From CNN Politics
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Sarah Palin is so divisive and beyond negative that you wonder if
she is not trying to destroy America. If McCain wins, I think he better
get a food taster in the White House. She knows how to brainwash and incite the Joe six packs, the ignorant.
Poor McCain, he is so out of it.
WoW! She is really someyhing... No the gOp is somthing else... Gosh darnit if they eva, eva-eva, get elected, America is doomed!
And WE ALL know that PALIN/McCain ARE the bad guys.
Both Palin and McCain have violated ethics regulations and laws in the past.
First it was McCain durning the "Keating 5" Savings and Loan crisis, an event similar to what we are facing now with our fincanial insituitons.
Next Governor Palin in her abuse of power in Alaska, using her position and personal vendettas to affect her policy decisions.
This is a first for a ticket running for the executive branch. Layer these ethical shortcomings with the amount of lobbiests serving on McCain's staff and just what kind of change to McCain and Palin promise. More of the same seemed like a slogan, but now these two seem to prove this is more than a catch phrase.
The GOP: now with more hate mongering and fear.
Careful Sarah! you are sowing the seed of hatred. To suggest that a US presidential Nominee is 'the bad guy' is utterly pedestrian, disrespectful and beyond politics. Mc Cain you should censure your running mate if you are true to your words. If this goes on, America, we will soon see Hate Violence in the near future ! No political party has the right to insite Hate Violence. The republican party should correct itself and its leadership!
Sarah Palin is a threat to the national security of our country. The fact that McCain chose her is a direct affront to his judgment on national security.
Being a POW is evidence of judgment gone wrong allowing him to be
captured. If he is thinking of "country first", Palin is not qualified.
Governor PALIN,
I do not need your lecture on Good and Bad Guys..Your speeches definitely seed hatred in America.
What world does this person live in??? Who is she talking about??
If she means Obama/Biden she had better say so, because I kind of thought she was talking about herself and McCain.
This person should not have any position in government, she is vile!!!!!!
Hate Monger? You betcha!
Wow, is there anything this woman will not allude to? She is vile and despicable and I would like her to go back to Alaska so I never have to hear from her again.
It is absolutely unbelievable to think that McCain's campaign has been playing the ignorant role on how their latest tactics have incited racial remarks and heightened unfounded fears of the ignorant. These latest statements from Palin are 100% proof! I am sorry but McCain and Palin does not have the room to say that they don't know how much their rhetoric is pushing some over the proverbial bridge. How in the world could anyone vote for these crooked 'I'll do anything to win the election' people! There are ways to raise LEGITIMATE questions and this isn't it.
The more I hear about this woman the more I dislike her. She is an extremist, a divider, and just plain bad. I used to like McCain until he picked her. I don't like her, what she stands for, and I don't want her any where near the presidency. Please help keep her away from the White House!
She just can't help herself, can she? As far as the anger about inside dealings with lobbyists she might want to talk with her running mate. He KNOWS ALL ABOUT LOBBYISTS.
The difference between an Obama/Biden rally and McCain/Palin are clear:
McCain/Palin rallies are filled with anger and intolerance
Obama/Biden rallies are filled with hope.
I CHOSE HOPE
is she saying bad guy are terrorist?
some one needs to speak to this lady and put her where she should be (jail)
Did failed to inform the crowd that the McBush and McSame are the ones for this war! I think that they are the terrorists, for falsely sending our troops into a war to be killed.
Should we call for McCain to renounce his VP?
There is nothing worth commenting on...
Obama/Biden
Gv. Palin is inspiring. I went to her rally today and I have decided to vote for the McCain/Palin ticket.
Can't someone in the McCain camp shut this woman up? It has become abundantly clear why they did not allow her to be interviewed alone at first. That was wise decision. Oh, and Obama is not the bad guy. The bad guys are the ones who have messed up the American economy to the point of near collapse. Can we say "Republican Party"? And don't get me started on the lobbyist situation. A meeting of lobbyist is simply a McCain staff meeting. Sarah, please do us all a favor and fall silent.
This is a recurring theme for her – the simplistic idea that the world is made of good guys and bad guys and history is driven by the struggle between the two. She might as well say, "Okay, the terrorists are like Voldemort, or Sauron, Okay?, and we are like Harry Potter and Frodo Baggins all in one. Come on, how can you not vote for Frodo? Barack Obama isn't Frodo, you know?"
Hopefully Palin learns a little about the real world before she runs again for the GOP in future elections – a world driven not by good versus evil, but by competing self interest over limited resources, where each country's leadership is responsible for representing their peoples as best as they can. This will lead to conflicts of interest, with foes and friends, and the most desperate of nations resorting to the most extreme of tactics.
No one who understands Iran or Syria actually thinks they act as they do because they are evil. The idea is simplistic to the point of irritating for anyone with a college education. For it to come from a VP candidate is maddening.
The bad and wrong guys are McCain and Palin. And the idiots of America that support them. It's a shame how dumb and narrow-minded Republicans are.
McCain has lost control of his campaign.
WoW after all the hoopla about these rallies. You would think they would know better!
There goes McCain's gain in Ohio thanks to this hate monger.
A Black Republican who may register as a Democrat because of Palin.
This woman never ceases to amaze me. If Americans actually put this radical person in the White House, God Help America. She is NOT for Liberty, Freedom or Equal Rights.
I cannot believe McCain, a person who I used to respect, is allowing this in his campaign. And the buck stops with him.