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.
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:
Of course, underlying all of this is the issue of race. The McCain campaign doesn't even need to play the "race card" because it is embedded in the "American" consciousness. They just need to hint and it comes to the surface. This is obvious in crowd comments using racial epithets and saying that terrorism is "in his blood line."
A lot of people see a media that is just about 100% behind Obama. This is fair? They do not investigate him. They let the stupidity that comes out of campaign slide. They do not question his policies. They publish negative article after negative article about McCain and Palin. Someone writes a negative story about Obama and the person is attacked like he called someone's mother a bad name. Someone here even went after the CBS reporter who said Obama's plane stunk. It is so unbalanced it is laughable. People are frustrated by this because there is absolutely nothing they can do. The media is untouchable. They want this to go to Obama and it will.
A lot of people see a congress, controlled by Democrats, that is totally unresponsive to polls showing a huge percentage of people against any bailout. They voted for it and passed it. The congress has a 10% approval rating and they don't GaS about public opinion. That frustrates a lot of people.
They see McCain constantly degraded by Obama and his people like Lewis and no one seems upset by it but them. Obama is running a nasty campaign full of lies. His biggest lie about his so-called tax cuts has never been vetted by anyone, even McCain. It is a total sham. Read this and see if it is anything other than an attempt to buy votes while lying at the same time. This is frustrating to a lot of people.
The people see McCain running a worst campaign that Al Gore and John Kerry combined. He should have gone after the total lack of experience on Obama's part, Obama's long list of shady connections in Chicago, his ultra-left wing voting record, his arrogance and elitism, and his out and out lies from day 1. Negative campaigning? No, the truth. McCain is trying so hard not to be accused of racisim, which he is daily, that he does nothing. this is frustrating. Any other candidate would be up 15 points against Obama.
People see that we are going to get someone who is totally not qualified to be president, commander in chief, and leader of the free world and are frustrated. They see a smile and nice words and an empty suit. This is frustrating.
Hatred? Go over to the Daily Kos and see what real hatred is all about. Those people are professional haters. They probably even hate your grandmother.
Remember when Bush was elected twice and how frustrated you were when it happened. Angry? A lot of Democrats are still angry about it and yet they are concerned about how angry Republicans are now. The shoe is going to be on the other foot. Obama will win and it is the Republican's turn to be angry. I blame Huckabee and you can thank him. I know a lot of Republicans who will not vote for McCain for any reason. They won't vote for Obama either.
by
Mad Jayhawk (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 399 comments)
on Monday, October 13, 2008 at 10:04:57 PM
I see McCain as an extremely dangerous man with an inherent, fundamental propensity to use military action as a first resort - likely making Bush appear mild in retrospect.
Some say McCain is Bush-lite, serving Bush's 3rd term if elected. I personally see McCain as Bush magnified - belligerence and arrogance at the forefront of foreign policy.
His disposition is such that the Oval Office is a birth right to him. And his flip-flops are nearly countless, profound in nature and revealing of his basic character.
And on a relevant note, McCain's age and health realities must be factored in the equation - and the thought of Sara Palin as the United States president absolutely makes me break out in hives.
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