I said the same thing a little while ago about the Palin effigy hanging incident.

So naturally, I feel obliged to post the same thing about this sad incident.

As was noted in the discussion on my last post, I don't deny for one second the obvious difference of historical implications raised when the effigy is a black man rather than a white woman. However, as I also noted the larger point about what should be out of bounds and beyond the realm of acceptable political discourse remains.

For those who disagreed with me, do you feel different about an Obama effigy being hung in a noose?

Truly depressing stuff on Frontline tonight.

Can't say enough about the truly heroic job our troops are doing in the 'forgotten' war. To me the saddest part is that this is really just heating up. We're gonna face the music there real soon and the options are bad, worse, godawful, horrific, and downright unspeakable. I don't even want to think about the whole 'destablizing Pakistan' permutations!!!

My (Our) only hope is that a new Obama administration takes a comprehensive and sensible review of our entire middle and near east strategy and global force structure. Hopefully they'll be capable of making some difficult decisions that might be able to pull a rabbit out of the hat and salvage some semblance of a decent resolution.

I'm not holding my breath though...

I know why Drudge has this image of an effigy of Palin hanging in a noose plastered all over his webpage. It's a very transparent attempt to suggest a double standard at work in the MSM since this hasn't garnered the attention a comparable image of a certain someone on the Democratic ticket would have. I know that. But you know what? He's right.

I think Palin has shown herself to woefully inadequate for the office she is seeking. Her policy positions are so pitiful and poorly explained that one doesn't know whether to laugh or cry when listening to her attempts to explain them. Considering Senator McCain's health history and age, her qualifications are a serious concern. However, this type of distasteful stuff has no place in our national political discourse. None. I don't find the humor or 'it's Halloween season!' arguments compelling. It's an explicit and public demonstration of the potential murder of one of the candidates for Vice Presidency. Our country has a history of political violence. As such, such public demonstrations should be denounced by all as way out of bounds. Just as there are limits on free speech such as the proverbial screaming 'fire' in a crowded theater, public demonstrations depicting violence against our political leaders should fall into the same category.

I know that there will be many on the left who don't agree with me on this but I'd put this question to them (although I know this is the reason Drudge is trying to make this an issue, it doesn't mean he isn't right on this one): would you feel the same if it was Senator Obama?

As a further example, I felt the same way when some of the more extreme anti-war folks were doing violent acts to effigies of Bush and Cheney.

I think one of the biggest lessons of this political campaign has been the necessity to elevate our level of political discourse in this country. I think placing such things outside the bounds of acceptable discourse would be a proper step in that direction.

I'm sure there are many who will strongly disagree with me and I would welcome your comments since I think it's an important topic to discuss. Considering the history of actual violence against political figures in our country I think it very reasonable to set firm boundaries on the depiction of fictional violence against them and the concept of double standards simply shouldn't play any role in that determination at all.