(This call to action was originally posted on the Bilerico Project, America's best LGBT blog, by Phoenix-area blogger Scott Kaiser.)
Despite our many differences of opinion, I'm sure there is one thing that Sarah Palin and I could agree on: a domestic terrorist (i.e. one who encourages violence against the government or the citizens of the U.S.) should not be given a national audience on mainstream, public airwaves. That's why I'm requesting that you join me in contacting the Saturday Night Live studio and asking them not to have Sarah Palin on their show.
Sarah Palin a domestic terrorist? What???
Well, maybe Palin herself isn't one, but she does "pal around" with them. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of them.
You see, when Sarah Palin started suggesting that Barack Obama is a domestic terrorist because he served on two of the same nonprofits boards as Bill Ayers, a professor at the distinguished University of Illinois at Chicago and former 60's radical, the crowd began to shout things like "terrorist" and "kill him" in regards to Obama. Finding support among like-minded individuals and indifference from rally officials, the crowds grew ever bolder in showing their racist hatred of Obama.
Meanwhile Palin and her staff did nothing to discourage the crowd from such comments and chants. Instead, Palin gave one of her trademark folksy "Aww shucks... you guys!" expressions.
In recent days John McCain has tried to distance himself from the shouts of hate coming from the crowd, but only after he began to suffer a black eye in the press over it. When he called Obama a "decent person", his own supporters began to boo him. Did McCain really expect that he could put the lid back on the Pandora's box of bigotry and hatred?
Sarah Palin however continues unabated. In fact, it has been reported that McCain and Palin have even tussled over the issue. McCain, perhaps realizing defeat, wants to go out with what little honor he has left (which, in my opinion, is none). Palin on the other hand is drunk on the enthusiasm of her radical right supporters. The angry mob she whips up at her rallies seems to enforce in her the idea that she is somehow the savior of her party.
Now if you, I, or anyone else made a threat against a Presidential candidate, even in jest, the Secret Service would take it very seriously. It's kind of like how you can't joke about a bomb at the airport. In some situations and places, the joke is just not funny.
By applying Palin's flawless logic, because she associates with these people, even in a very indirect way, she must be a domestic terrorist herself. Therefore we must act according to the wisdom she has passed down to all of us and demand that 1) she explain her association to these people (even if she already has; apparently it has to be done over and over again), and 2) call or e-mail SNL in order to deny her a national audience where she can spread her terrorist ideas.
Recently rumors have surfaced that the McCain campaign has contacted Saturday Night Live about Palin being on the show. The goal is to show that Palin is a likable person who is in on the joke, doggone it, rather than being the joke. That's why I'm serious about contacting SNL and so are a lot of other people. A movement has been started to give Palin a taste of her own medicine. Simply call or e-mail the following and say something like:
"Because Sarah Palin has refused to disassociate herself from or discourage her supporters who have been shouting threats like 'kill him' in regards to Barack Obama at her rallies, I am respectfully asking that you refuse to have her on Saturday Night Live."
E-mail SNL's producer Lorne Michaels at lorne@lornemichaels.com or call NBC at phone number (212) 664-4444.
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