Here are just a few short notes on Palin's comments in Greensboro. First, the quote:

"We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation."

A) Greensboro is not a small town. Currently, around 250,000 people live within the city limits and the greater triad area is home to over 1.5 million Americans. That is more than twice the size of Alaska.

B) Of course Greensboro is real America and Pro-America. It has beautiful a minor league baseball stadium that overlooks the modest downtown skyscrapers. It has rich areas and ghettos. It has at least 6 colleges, universities, and community colleges. It has research centers, financial hubs, and textile mills. It has Black People, White People, Latinos, smart people, dumb people, conservative people, and very very liberal people. It kicked off the sit-in movement when courageous college students staged one in the downtown Woolsworth.

C) Most Greensboro residents would shudder at the insinuation that they are "real" Americans while other areas are not. But thats not the point.

D) The point is, to me, that the most offensive implication, as a Greensboro native, is that Greensboro is somehow transitively "your America." Greensboro is not your America, Governor. It is educated, it is racially diverse, it is religiously diverse. It went Kerry by a significant margin in 2004 and Obama is going to kick your f#@king ass in it 2008.

UPDATE:  A friend from back home is telling me that the comments were actually made in Elon, which is actually a small town outside of Greensboro.  However, I am seeing from Nate Silver and a few other sources that it did indeed take place in Greensboro.  Either way, Greensboro is going to run the score up against McCain/Palin and will help turn North Carolina Blue.

UPDATE #2:  Since I see my blog has been posted to the TPMuckraker and I have ran across it several times on google while trying to fact check this article, I feel it is important to get the facts straight.  It seems every national media outlet and prominent blog that really doesn't distinguish between Elon and Greensboro has this event occurring in Greensboro.  However, The Greensboro News & Record does say the event occurred in Elon.  Final conclusion: this event occurred in Elon.  Just goes to show you can never trust the national media! :)

Some Republicans stand up to bigotry.

Yglesias posted about this today and I just want to add emphasis.  This is proof that there is still something left of the Republican Party that promotes religious freedom and diversity. It has been unfortunate that the McCain campaign has been tarred with the intolerant behavior of what appears to be a minority of their supporters (a substantial minority but minority nonetheless). Nevertheless, the criticism that McCain and Palin have done little to combat this reckless and dangerous fearmongering at their rallies is apt.  The one instance either of them correcting a supporter (the senile woman that called Obama an Arab) was such an inflammatory case that had McCain not corrected her his campaign would surely be over.  If only McCain showed the character of these particular supporters.

On to a more nonpartisan tone, the last 7 years of tacit acceptance of outright bigotry toward Muslims and the Islamic faith is finally showing signs abating. Though you have seen it amongst the minority supporters of John McCain and Hillary Clinton, I HOPE that we will look back on the ugliness of this campaign as the vile death throes of a bigotry on its way out.