It looks like I am not the only one noticing this attack mode mentality of Barack Obama supporters, which I liken to the Ron Paul supporters, which are almost like a distant memory at this point.
It starts with the article, from the LA Times, which I saw over at memeorandum, which says Barack Obama has a big problem with West Virginia voters, and then I click a couple of the blogs under the "discussion" category and lo and behold, I ran across this from MyDD, referencing the LA Times article, but with some harsh words at the beginning of the MyDD piece issued directly to Obama supporters.
I'd humbly suggest, to all the Obama supporters that join us here on this blog, that if you can't stand the heat of the West Virginia primary, you stay out of the kitchen. While I'm at it, I also suggest that you refrain from accusations against West Virginians as being racist, or you'll join the other 6 previous users here, whose offensive comments were deleted on Friday, and that were themselves banned from the site. This is a political junkie website, we thrive on primary and election coverage. When Obama blew out Clinton in Wyoming, it was blogged excessively here, both in the run-up and the day of the event coverage, and it'll be the same way with West Virginia. You don't like that? Fine, its a big wide blogosphere, go find a blog that has its head in the sand. Are the ground rules understood?
Although the writer makes it clear that Obama supporters had become offensive to the point where their comments have been deleted and users have been banned, they didn't provide any examples, so I will do so from my own comment section and I will use the most recent example which is from a post done this morning about Barack Obama saying that he had visited 57 states and has one to go, which excluded Hawaii and Alaska....which seems to imply Obama thinks there are 60 states in America.
Clearly a mistake, whether from exhaustion, weariness or simply stupidity, but instead of being capable of acknowledging that Obama made a mistake, one of his supporters leaves this as a comment:
I am tired of all the slander that comes from Hillary. She forgets that her husband singed the NAFTA agreement that sent our jobs out of the USA in the first place. Now she is going to get those jobs back,HA. And as for her gas tax ploy, until the government places a cap on the price fromt the oil companies, what is going to stop them from raising the price of gas to cover the money they would pay from excessive profits. Nowing how the oil companiws work, they would raise the price of gas to cover the loss and add another 10 to 20% as a way to show the American people who runs this country. Wake up Hillary, and see what is really going on.
bob |
Now, if you go read the actual post, it deals directly with Barack Obama misspeaking, nothing more, nothing less, and yet, as the old Paul supporters used to do, this "bob" couldn't even address the topic at all, couldn't admit his candidate made a mistake and could only manage to attack Hillary Clinton, which I might add, there are plenty of other threads about Hillary in which he could have made points about Hillary.
But I digress.
Of course I asked "bob" what his comment had to do with Barack obama saying he had visited 57 states, and received no answer, because no doubt, "bob" was doing searches to see who else is talking about Obama so he can go leave completely unrelated comments in those articles as well.
It was back in February when I posted about pundits calling Barack a "cult" personality, and it seems that those supporters, not all of them, but enough to make blog owners and media notice, are starting to act like they have lost their minds... back then even other previous Edwards supporters who are now Obama supporters were stating that they were getting "weirded out" by some of the more radical Obama supporters.
The moderate Obama supporters can and do discuss issues, so please do not assume anyone is painting them all with the same brush, but there are radicals out there and they seem drawn to Obama in a cult-like way that is appearing less and less healthy and more and more radical with each and every passing day.
Just as many of the more unbalanced Paul supporters harmed him in the election process, I have no doubt that those making themselves appear overly radical will harm Obama in the general election in November against John McCain.
To be taken with any seriousness, you have to be able to acknowledge your candidates mistakes and misstatements and even challenge your own candidate on issues you don't agree with.
To deny those mistakes, to try to distract from them by attempting to change the subject rather than facing them head on, is showing that you cannot deal with reality and you cannot show any objectivity in which others can take you seriously in what you say about your candidate.
It may not make much of a difference in the Democratic race for the nomination, but it most assuredly will make a very large difference in the general election process.
(Side note) The original LA Times article showing Obama has a problem is West Virginia offended Don Surber who, rightly so, thinks that instead of gracefully admitting they might just be defeated in West Virginia, they seem to feel the need to smear the state and their voters.
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