Fivethirtyeight.com: Things get ugly at McCain rally in Florida

[BurtWorm]

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/10/mccain-miami-rally-getting-ugly-down.html



...we're breaking in from Miami, where John McCain just concluded his "Joe the Plumber" rally at Everglades Lumber.

After the rally, we witnessed a near-street riot involving the exiting McCain crowd and two Cuban-American Obama supporters. Tony Garcia, 63, and Raul Sorando, 31, were suddenly surrounded by an angry mob. There is a moment in a crowd when something goes from mere yelling to a feeling of danger, and that's what we witnessed. As photographers and police raced to the scene, the crowd elevated from stable to fast-moving scrum, and the two men were surrounded on all sides as we raced to the circle.

The event maybe lasted a minute, two at the most, before police competently managed to hustle the two away from the scene and out of the danger zone. Only FiveThirtyEight tracked the two men down for comment, a quarter mile down the street.

"People were screaming 'Terrorist!' 'Communist!' 'Socialist!'" Sorando said when we caught up with him. "I had a guy tell me he was gonna kill me."

Asked what had precipitated the event, "We were just chanting 'Obama!' and holding our signs. That was it. And the crowd suddenly got crazy."

...

[dccrossman]

1. Scary stuff

:kick:

So, does your candidate for President inspire hate?


Idiots.

[R. P. McMurphy]

2. things are really getting tense n/t

[xchrom]

3. recommend

[kwolf68]

4. On the one hand

These righties are scarry people, but I'd just as soon stay away and let them do their rallies. I dont want Mccain asswhipes at Obama rallies. The people that go to these rallies just want a confrontation it seems. This is the one area I say just leave them alone.

I'm sure I'll get trashed to hell and back, but that's just the way I feel.

[tblue]

5. No trash from me. You'd have to expect some kinda attack if you take your Obama signs to a McKKKlan

rally. I would never do that because 'vee have vays' to defeat them that don't involve putting ourselves in harms way.

[liberal1973]

6. The republicans hate America

It's that simple. The extremist of this un-American party hate America and this just proves it more.

[Danger Mouse]

7. To be fair, going to a McKKKlan rally with Obama signs is like

walking down Crack Alley covered in dollar bills.

[KsStorm]

9. WOW

The hatred seems to be getting worse & worse. WHy don't McCain & Palin see or CARE what they have created in this country???

[Danger Mouse]

10. Because they think it could help them win, and either they completely lack a conscience...

or they are doing their best to ignore it.

[Laelth]

15. The hatred is all they have left.

Welcome to DU!

The United States is a LIBERAL Country.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Bubbha Jo]

8. Good grief. But I wouldn't go to a McCain rally to protest right now.

Spend the time canvassing or phone banking instead. Let them implode on themselves.........

[Median Democrat]

11. During The Civl Rights Movement, Martin Luther King, Jr. Should Not Have Marched?

The right wing only knows violence. You should, of course, vote. However, when we are afraid to exercise out right of free speech due the threat of violence, then the American dream has already perished.

[Bubbha Jo]

13. Being right and doing right don't always coincide.

A political rally attendance now and a walk with MLK Jr. aren't even close to comparison either.

When you go to their rallies, you go to their level of negativity. One can exercise freedom of speech or one can actually use it by making calls instead.

[otohara]

14. Antagonizing The Low Info Voter

I'm with you - leave them alone.
I don't know how we are supposed to come together after witnessing this sickening behavior. Same goes for the person who has a hanging Sarah Palin and McCain on fire at his home.

[loudsue]

12. There are rumors in a lot of redneck circles about violence

when Obama wins. I live in the deep south, and there is still a lot of hate, especially in the rural areas.

:cry:

I can't wait until this generation is long gone. There are too many hard feelings left over from integration in the south, and the way it was handled by a BUNCH OF WHITE DECISION MAKERS. The whites from that period blame it on the black people, but the black people were just wanting the white people to enforce the new law of the land. The black people weren't the ones deciding how integration would be handled. They were not yet in positions of political power in almost every area.

The older (boomer) white people have passed their hateful attitude on to their kids, in some families. But in other families, the kids didn't listen. The boomer generation that grew up going to segregated schools (in their late 40's, 50's and early 60's now) in the south will die off, eventually, and hopefully a new world will emerge where that old racist crap is behind us.

[VoodooGuru]

16. I hope people are paying attention to this.

This is the *BEST* reason for a person to vote Obama. Look at those rallies, look at who's going and what they're doing. I can't see how anyone decent would want to be associated with that.