The hate that hate made

**jaypeesmith** · 10-13-2008, 04:46 PM

10-13-2008 03:00 PM

Over the last week, we have seen things turn for the worse in regards to how the Republican candidate’s campaign chose to go beyond negative and into the gutter in its portrayal of Barack Obama as a terrorist sympathizer.

I believe that John McCain himself even had to recognize how bad it got because he had a remprimand a couple of supporters at a rally.* One women called Obama an “Arab” (I would suspect that this is how some people identify terrorists these days) and another expressed how he is fearful of an Obama presidency because he “cohorts with domestic terrorists”.

Prior to this point, you had people in McCain rallies calling Obama a terrorist and shouting things such as “kill him” and “bomb Obama”.* So, this past Friday, perhaps McCain caught a real glimpse into where his campaign is headed.

Well, I say to Senator McCain, what did you think would happen?

You can’t rile up the mob and then act surprised that they grab pitchforks and torches.* Worse yet, you can’t act as if the statements made by you and members of your campaign don’t have real-world consequences.* You didn’t create the wingnuts but you sure fed them the red meat they needed for energy.

However, there is a sort of (feigned) cognitive dissonance here.* According to the McCain people, this is just a criticism of Obama’s judgement and policy.* However, what we are really seeing is the old GOP mainstay when they are losing on issues — play on fear and, if you can, stoke racial animosity.

So, how bad is it?* I’ll cite a couple of items from this weekend to illustrate it.* The McCain campaign, this past Saturday, was all over the new expressing (fake) outrage over the comments of Rep. John Lewis.* Lewis said the following about the tone of the campaign:

“During another period, in the not too distant past, there was a governor of the state of Alabama named George Wallace who also became a presidential candidate. George Wallace never threw a bomb. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights. Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama.”

Of course, McCain didn’t like the comparison and called on Obama to repudiate Lewis’ comments.* Lewis later clarified his remarks but, I don’t think he had to — he was right. First come the words of hate and, if amplified enough, the actions associated with those sentiments follow.

But, if McCain didn’t think that he was unleashing hate, how can he explain the article written by his now-former campaign advisor in Virginia.* My second item comes from a column appearing originally in a Virginia publication called The Voice. The McCain advisor in question, Buchanan County Republican Chair Bobby May, was let go after the L.A. Times uncovered his racist rant and posted a PDF of this screed on their web site.* In it, May stated that, if elected, Obama would do such things as “raise taxes to pay for free drugs for Obama’s inner-city political base”, let the 2nd Amendment only apply to “gang-bangers, illegal aliens and Islamo-Fascist terrorists” and send most U.S. tax money to Africa so “the Obama family there can skim off enough to allow them to free their goats and live the American dream”.

Like I said, McCain stokes the fire and wonder why it gets out of control.

Look, I know why he’s doing it — he’s losing.* Without some game-changing event, Obama is likely on his way to a victory.* So, his best chance is to try to drive up Obama’s negatives in hopes that the Republicans can get it close enough to steal the election. However, at least for now, the polling is show that Obama is still holding about a 10-point lead.* Independent voters don’t seem to care about what some guy Obama kind of knows did 40 years ago when they have very real economic concerns today.

So, to be honest, I don’t have a clue why McCain is pursuing this strategy.* I’m not the only one — even a lot of conservatives thinks this is the path to ruin for both the McCain campaign and McCain personally.* But, for McCain, this is his last chance at the White House so, I guess he is willing to even sell his soul for a chance at the Presidency.