October 13, 2008 at 10:12:30

Fires are Harder To Put Out Than They Are To Start

SAVE AS FAVORITE

VIEW FAVORITES

By Rowan Wolf (about the author) Page 1 of 2 page(s)

opednews.com Permalink

For OpEdNews: Rowan Wolf - Writer

Fires are harder to put out than they are to start. The constant meme out of the McCain campaign has been that Obama is a Muslim, hates the United States, is a person to be afraid of, and now that he is a terrorist. It has put John McCain in the unenviable political position of having to defend the character of the man he is running against. However, that is unlikely to do anything to put out the fire that has been started.

McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate was a naked play to garner the support of the so-called Republican base - narrow fundamentalist Christians. Let me be clear that NOT all Fundamentalist Christians (and not even the majority of them) are "radical" (meaning wanting to take over the government of the United States and reshape the country into a religious fiefdom). However, that is the base that McCain went after. It is the "base" that George Bush supposedly captured.

Starting with the meme that Obama was a Muslim schooled in madrassas, the seed was planted that he was a "born and trained" terrorist. Even the long term relationship with Reverend Wright was not portrayed as proof of his Christianity, but was "proof" of his hatred of the United States. (Regardless that it should make no difference even if Obama was Muslim.) Repeatedly, McCain and - as a drum beat - Palin, have told the groups they are speaking to that they are "scared" of Obama. More recently, it has been the constant meme that Obama consorts with "terrorists" - namely Bill Ayres who was a leader of the Weatherman Underground 40 years ago.

As the carefully crafted memes aimed at inspiring fear of Obama in relationship to race, terrorism, and anti-Americanism, have been accelerated, the crowds at McCain-Palin political rallies have seemed more of a mob than a political rally. The more vehement the rhetoric, the more attractive McCain and Palin have become to the racist "right." It was predictable. It was intentional. It has not stopped.

Here are a few videos of what has been happening.

Here is a CNN report on Palin accusing Obama of "palling around with terrorists."

Here is the DemocracyNow report about crowd response to Palin pushing the Obama-terrorism "connection."

Here is video from a McCain rally where the carefully instilled memes are repeated back from the crowd - clearly a political "success" for the McCain campaign.

Which has brought McCain to the point of defending Obama's character.

While I respect that McCain is publicly stepping back from the hateful rhetoric, at the same time, the memes are being reinforced with McCain approved ads such as this one:

1 | 2

www/uncommonthought.com/mtblog/

Rowan Wolf is an activist and sociologist living in Oregon. She is the founder and principle author of Uncommon Thought Journal, and a Senior Editor for more...)

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.