I suppose I've reached a time in my life when I can't close my eyes to certain realities. Death is one of them. And the two candidates for President face that specter from two very different sources; the first a malignant illness, the second a gunman's assassination.
There, I've said it. And it isn't easy to do so. I've read all kinds of blogs, magazine articles, and newspaper op-ed pieces that skirt the subject; feeling that it is unseemly, or worse, that it will bring on these very tragedies by naming them. In denying the realities, and in refusing to name them, we leave ourselves unprepared and unprotected against these events, hoping to nice talk ourselves out of any possible tragedy.
Let's start with death from natural causes such as melanoma. In my own limited experience with this disease, two of my closest friends, John, and more recently Bob, died of melanoma in their seventies after hard fought battles against that insidious cancer. There is no reason to believe that McCain will not fall victim to his melanoma within the first term of his Presidency leaving Sarah Palin as President. It can't be said often enough that voting for McCain is voting for a Palin Presidency. The mainstream press has been particularly remiss in not focusing upon McCain's health – sketchily examined in the short time allowed by McCain for the public scrutiny of his medical records. Worse yet, the Palin association with the Alaska separatist movement and its origins in neo-fascist, white separatist movements is a clear and future danger. If Ms Palin is aware of the background of these separatist associates she has supported, she is unfit for office, and if she is unaware of their associations with hate groups, she is hopelessly naïve, deliberately blind, and she is again unfit for the Presidency. Forget and forgive her fancy, expensive designer clothes by Valentino. The clothes are just a further sign of her duplicity as she tries to project that hockey mom image, the Wal-Mart, gun-totin' matron with the shapely legs. She is so far from the salt of the earth candidate she tries to project that it would laughable, if not so potentially tragic. This is a dangerous woman with dangerous beliefs, and her choice by McCain is a sign of McCain's unfitness for the Presidency, and his willingness to put country last in his pursuit of power. There is little doubt that she will be President should McCain defy the odds and the polls and win this race. Death happens.
The harder part for me to write is the possibility of an Obama assassination. I don't even want to think about that, let alone write that word. But think we must. The easy to understand code language of the Republican campaign, stating that Obama associates with terrorists, that he is not like "us"--whoever "us" may be--and that he is a secret Muslim and a danger to this country has placed a target on Obama's back, inciting a contemporary Oswald or John Wilkes Booth. One can only hope that the Secret Service and the FBI have their sights on the lunatic fringe who have been inspired and led on by the Republican rants, and that Obama and his family will be protected at all times. But there is no protection sufficient to keep a dedicated murderer from his mission to kill. We cannot afford to lose another Lincoln or another Kennedy. John McCain will have far more to answer for in history than a dumb campaign, and a dubious choice of running mate, should this tragedy occur. Death happens.
There, I've said it. And it isn't easy to do so. I've read all kinds of blogs, magazine articles, and newspaper op-ed pieces that skirt the subject; feeling that it is unseemly, or worse, that it will bring on these very tragedies by naming them. In denying the realities, and in refusing to name them, we leave ourselves unprepared and unprotected against these events, hoping to nice talk ourselves out of any possible tragedy.
Let's start with death from natural causes such as melanoma. In my own limited experience with this disease, two of my closest friends, John, and more recently Bob, died of melanoma in their seventies after hard fought battles against that insidious cancer. There is no reason to believe that McCain will not fall victim to his melanoma within the first term of his Presidency leaving Sarah Palin as President. It can't be said often enough that voting for McCain is voting for a Palin Presidency. The mainstream press has been particularly remiss in not focusing upon McCain's health – sketchily examined in the short time allowed by McCain for the public scrutiny of his medical records. Worse yet, the Palin association with the Alaska separatist movement and its origins in neo-fascist, white separatist movements is a clear and future danger. If Ms Palin is aware of the background of these separatist associates she has supported, she is unfit for office, and if she is unaware of their associations with hate groups, she is hopelessly naïve, deliberately blind, and she is again unfit for the Presidency. Forget and forgive her fancy, expensive designer clothes by Valentino. The clothes are just a further sign of her duplicity as she tries to project that hockey mom image, the Wal-Mart, gun-totin' matron with the shapely legs. She is so far from the salt of the earth candidate she tries to project that it would laughable, if not so potentially tragic. This is a dangerous woman with dangerous beliefs, and her choice by McCain is a sign of McCain's unfitness for the Presidency, and his willingness to put country last in his pursuit of power. There is little doubt that she will be President should McCain defy the odds and the polls and win this race. Death happens.
The harder part for me to write is the possibility of an Obama assassination. I don't even want to think about that, let alone write that word. But think we must. The easy to understand code language of the Republican campaign, stating that Obama associates with terrorists, that he is not like "us"--whoever "us" may be--and that he is a secret Muslim and a danger to this country has placed a target on Obama's back, inciting a contemporary Oswald or John Wilkes Booth. One can only hope that the Secret Service and the FBI have their sights on the lunatic fringe who have been inspired and led on by the Republican rants, and that Obama and his family will be protected at all times. But there is no protection sufficient to keep a dedicated murderer from his mission to kill. We cannot afford to lose another Lincoln or another Kennedy. John McCain will have far more to answer for in history than a dumb campaign, and a dubious choice of running mate, should this tragedy occur. Death happens.
