Hate mongers

The mainstream media and lefty blogs have focused during the current news cycle about those angry, dare we say "hateful," Republicans at John McCain's last two rallies in Waukesha, Wisconsin and Lakeville, Minnesota.

Polinaut's Tom Scheck titled his blog post on the Lakeville rally, "Out for blood..." At least he exercised some typographic restraint: it could have been OUT FOR BLOOD!!

The crowd at John McCain's townhall meeting in Lakeville was, shall we say, a bit partisan. Some called for McCain to fight Obama at next Wednesday's rally. Another woman said she didn't trust him because he was an Arab. Another said they didn't know if they could live in a country that had Barack Obama as its president.

Helpfully, Sheck also posted the full audio of the town hall, from McCain's entrance to his closing remarks. The audio reveals that the crowd at the suburban Lakeville South High School sounded more like Minnesota Nice than "out for blood." Unreported was the crowd's applause when McCain corrected the ignorant characterization of Obama as an "Arab."

Yet Sheck was mild compared to Bob von Sternberg in the financially troubled Star Tribune. In Sternberg's version of the story, "In Lakeville, McCain tamps down hostility," McCain was "Struggling to contain an emotional fire his own campaign kindled."

Shocking reports of "hate" and "anger" (or even partisanship) were curiously missing from media coverage of anarchist "demonstrations of free speech," in which real damage was done to property and persons peaceably assembled for the Republican National Convention. Pheisty and Michelle Malkin have documented other recent examples of liberal hate speech (viewer discretion advised).

The McCain rally reports hype a few exceptional comments but fail to further understanding about how Midwestern grassroots activists feel about issues like socialism, the economy, and the right to life. Intentionally or not, they serve Obama's campaign by stereotyping conservatives and attempting to demoralize the Republican base. Don't fall for it.

Some of the passion shown at the rallies is directed at the McCain campaign as the game clock winds down with our team down by a field goal. We have the better ideas and the better candidate, so let's score a touchdown and win this game, Senator.