The animal spirits, aroused again

I'd have a lot more respect for my conservative compadres in SC blogdom if they were calling out their leaders for countenancing the sort of inflammatory stuff happening at their rallies. I'm old enough to remember stuff like this from another time:

The line between a political smear that is merely unpleasant and one that is dangerously inflammatory is a matter of judgment, difficult to calibrate, and different depending on the candidate. Justice Potter Stewart’s famous statement is probably the best standard for rendering a judgment. I would argue that Governor Palin crossed the line when she accused Obama of being “not someone who sees America as you and I do—as the greatest force for good in the world…[but] someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country.” This is an incendiary charge to make seven years after real terrorists killed thousands of Americans, one that risks encouraging extremists to consider Obama fair game—and his assassination as a victory in the war on terror. Even Senator McCain seems to recognize that Palin has crossed a dangerous line. On Monday he asked an audience at a rally in Albuquerque, “Who is the real Barack Obama?” The first and loudest response came from a man who bellowed, “Terrorist!” On hearing this, McCain appeared to grimace.

Thurston Clarke, "Has Sarah Palin Put A Target On Obama?", The Daily Beast, October 7.

SLOG wonders, too:

“Treason!”

posted by Eli Sanders on October 7 at 12:50 PM

Another anti-Obama outburst picked up by television microphones, this one from a Palin rally today:

Does the McCain-Palin campaign really want to find out exactly where political-base-rallying ends and demagoguing a mob begins? Or, worse, exactly where demagoguing a mob ends and inciting violence begins?