Poignant Observation from a British Comedian

John Oliver was interviewed on WHYY's Fresh Air today, and it was quite a hilarious dialogue. One Extremely Disturbing part of the segment, was when Terry Gross asked John about his interviews at Palin rallies. This British comic, who had been working in the US on a temporary work visa until a few days ago when he finally got his green card after 3 years, said the following:

"Mr. OLIVER: The people's fear, again, is real. That's the thing. I guess the most extreme - I would actually go back to the Sarah Palin rally. We went to a Palin rally in Scranton and so there were people turning up there and their fear was real. But when you talk to someone and they look you in the eye and say he is a Muslim. And not only do they mean that but they mean that they believe that to be a problem. And they then go on to say this country is going to be overrun by terrorists. They're not joking, now. They mean that and their fear is real. They're not faking it, you know, they've - if you gave them a pulse rate you would see their pulse quickening as they said it. And that was the problem with that whole end to the McCain-Palin campaign was it's so cancerous. The hate - the poison opening out there, you know, the - even after the election, they're terrified, these people. They're terrified of this man. Now, there's no reason for them to be, but they don't feel that."

John Oliver is hilarious. We saw him in Scottsdale last year do stand up and it was genius. He's also a very keen observer. Not being an American, he's able to see the guano crazy among us Americans more clearly (I think) than polarized Americans can.