And the crowd goes wild with boos

[JayFarrar]

This might be be a D_B and if so, for that I apologize.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/06/16/an_obama_crowd_in_detroit_come.html

DETROIT -- Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm received a deafening chorus of boos Monday night at her mention of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the candidate Granholm once backed for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The jeering from thousands of Obama supporters at Joe Louis Arena came after Granholm acknowledged her support of Clinton, and they seemed to take her aback. "Come on now," the governor pleaded before finally continuing, "I'm proud to say I'm standing with her and all of you" in supporting Obama.
A few moments later the same fired-up crowd booed former vice president Al Gore when he urged Democrats to be respectful of the likely Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain. "In that case I'm glad I brought it up," Gore dryly responded.
Only Gore's reminder to the crowd that Obama had urged civility during the election seemed to calm the passions, prompting a round of applause.
When Obama took the stage, he reprimanded the audience for booing Granholm over Clinton, then went on an extended detour to praise his former rival.
"I want everybody here to be absolutely clear," Obama said. "Senator Clinton is one of the finest public servants we have in American life today. ...She is worthy of our respect. She is worthy of our honor. She is going to be at the forefront of bringing about change."
He dismissed the speculation that Clinton backers would not support him, that his supporters would not welcome Clinton's, and said: "Let me tell you something. We're all Democrats."

Well at least Obama was classy, the same can't be said of the most fervent.
Of course that was also true, for the most part, during the primary campaign as well, not that it matters.
You'd almost guess from the reaction that Obama hadn't won.

 

[Smash Williams]

To be fair, it was the reaction from the fervent supports on both sides on the Democratic primary. Clinton supporters were just as dismissive of Obama as Obama supporters are/were of Clinton.

This is the consequence of the politics-as-sports mentality this country has embraced in the past two election cycles (with roots further back than that). Opposing politicians are viewed as rivals with no redeeming value rather than people who can contribute different, but valid, points of view.

It leads to people "picking sides" and embracing candidates with the emotion of sports rather than the logic that should be associated with picking political candidates. Then when a candidate loses, supporters of that candidate have a much more difficult transition, and the supporters of the winning candidate have a hard time welcoming them into the fold. When the Giants beat the Cowboys in the playoffs, we didn't expect Cowboys fans to root for the Giants or for Giants fans to embrace Cowboys fans. But we expect that in politics while encouraging the sports-fan mentality.

 

[GB-Hack]

I thought this was going to be about Gary Bettman at the NHL draft last night.

 

[mustangj17]

Kwame Kilpatrick was also booed of the stage while introducing the Red Wings during the Stanley Cup Parade. After two minutes of boos, he walked offstage.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

I thought this would originate from a PGA Tour site serenading Boo Weekley.