First, Sociopaths Kill Animals, Then...

Unfortunately, it's bear season in that part of the country and someone decided to shoot one to make a political statement. It's a pity nobody is arming the bears to make it a fair fight.

It's a pity nobody is arming the bears to make it a fair fight.

Bears. With lasers. Mounted on their fricken' heads!
Another great invention, along with cheap consumer jetpacks and warp drive, technology has failed to deliver.

Purely anecdotal: Last week, I was sitting in a bar, enjoying a purely nonpartisan cocktail or three, when this redneck cracker volunteered the following: "I'm a Democrat, and I've always voted Democrat, but I'm afraid that if Obama gets elected, and he gets assassinated, there's going to be a Race War."

I thought about the best response under the circumstances, as this I bar I frequent, and I would like to be welcome back to it in the future. "Excuse me," I said, "But I'm starting to get angry, and I think I will walk outside and get some fresh air."

Atrios has said it often, but the next 4 - 8 years are going to be interesting.

I had two completely unrelated reactions to this, in the following order:

1. There's a BEAR SEASON?!! Since when do we have enough bears for a season of killing them? (Sorry, I clearly don't live in the south. Or the north. Or anywhere there are enough bears to even consider a surplus as a possibility.)

2. Oh. Shit. It was a black bear with Obama banners. Never mind, initial outrage over animal cruelty and rights now completely overshadowed by despair at the totally effing bigoted stupidity of humanity. Also a product of not living in the south, it turns out, as established by my bf who hails from Georgia.

Sigh. What a shame these assholes don't recognize a good Irish boy when when they see one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EADUQWKoVek

HP,
I think there is a valid worry that there will be rioting if Obama is assassinated. However, I agree that doesn't make it a "race war". I think there will people of all races pissed off. I do think that people are remembering the Rodney King riots when they say stuff like that. Note that he was talking about what would happen in case of an assassination, not in case of election.

HP,

I'm not worried about Obama being assassinated (I mean that he's very well protected). I'm worried about Obama supporters being targeted by domestic terrorism.

I am very worried about Obama being assassinated. The Secret Service couldn't protect Reagan, and it took a gay ex-marine to protect Ford or he'd have been a goner. And there's some hardware out there that even the Secret Service couldn't do much about.

Obama is a very, very brave man, in every respect of the word.

Here's a question for you: how many assassination attempts have been made on GWB that have not been released to/by the media?

FWIW George, the Californian pants-wetting over 0.50 cal rifles is simply weak. It's a standard elephant gun, no more, no less. If you want to fear a man-portable firearm, look at the Steyr AMR or IWS 2000 Or an RPG. Or any number of other weapons and explosives wafting around the globe, just waiting to fall into the hands of a toothless racist nutjob.

I don't mean to make light of this; I worry for Obama's safety given the Republican culture of hatred that's reaching a fever pitch as McCain's campaign starts breathing dirt. It's not the weapons, it's the violent fringe and their means, motivation, and opportunity that poses the challenge. The latter two are the best to control; criminals always find their means. They're criminals after all...

I agree that Obama supporters ought to be worried. It's not really about race or even gun control issues. Palin has been linked to paramilitary church groups who would be happy to murder for jeezus.

Maybe the thought of a country wide Rodney King style backlash might be enough of a deterrent.

thanks