McCain to Obama: Get off my lawn, terrorist

Posted by Jill in US Election 2008.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. McCain and Palin see their numbers continuing to slip in the polls, and they know they have to do something. As the economy tanks, voters are throwing their support behind the candidate the feel actually understands just how fucked we are and is going to do something to fix it. Well if talking about the issues isn’t working, what else is there to do? You can’t “suspend” your campaign again, since no one gave a damn the first time around. The popularity of your running mate has declined so much that the “hockey mom” is booed at a hockey game in one of the crucial swing states. With everything working against you, you need to make a move to get back on top, and what better way to do so than call your opponent a terrorist and incite racial fear of “that one”.

I would think that John McCain would be more cautious about race-baiting, since he was a victim of it himself during the 2000 primaries in South Carolina. When Bush was losing ground to McCain, Karl Rove came to the rescue with a vicious smear campaign alledging McCain had an illegitimate black child - who was actually his adopted daughter from Bangladesh. The trick worked, and Bush was well on his way to stealing a national election. 

Now to be fair, McCain isn’t actually doing much of the dirty work - he’s outsourced that to Palin and the crowds at his rallies. It started with the phony William Ayers connection, which has repeatedly been reported as inaccurate by independent fact checkers. Palin has started using the line “pal around with terrorists” to describe Obama, like he plays racquetball with bin Laden. She even said at a rally that Obama “launched his political career in the living room of a domestic terrorist”. It’s one thing to distort your opponent’s voting record for political gain, but it’s quite another to come up with outrageous lies about a terrorist connection, and then feed those lines to a bloodthirsty crowd.

The McCain-Palin campaign rallies have become outlets for their supporters to unleash their racism without repercussions. When Obama’s name is mentioned, the crowd responds with “terrorist”, “treason”, and in one instance, “off with his head” and “kill him.” Did Palin stop her speech to condemn the assassination of a presidential candidate? Of course not. She has her supporters foaming at the mouth; quelling their rage would lose the support they are gaining in the Angry White Man demographic.

I do have to give credit to McCain, however, for telling a supporter who claimed Obama was an Arab that “he’s a decent family man … that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues.” Unfortunately, that’s all the campaign has done to maintain any decency. They’re letting their supporters do what they know they can’t - play the race card. Why else would they tolerate a rally speaker using Obama’s middle name or bringing waving around Curious George  stuffed toy with an Obama sticker stuck to it? 

Now I know that someone is going to whine that I shouldn’t hold McCain and Palin responsible for what their supporters say and do. Yes I fucking can. When their supporters are spouting this bullshit right after a rally, you know where they learned it. McCain and Palin may be rallying the Angry White Men (and Women), but they’re still losing support - the average American voter right now cares more about not losing his house or his job or his kid in Iraq than some dude Obama barely knew years ago. The hate attacks are turning off the voters they need, the independent swing voters. 

With the election only three weeks away, I’m almost afraid of what they’ll try next. McCain and Palin have shown that they’re more concerned with trashing Obama than maintaining a civil discourse and sticking with the issues that matter. Will they tone it down, or will they go even farther? If you get a phone call next week about Obama’s black baby, you’ll have your answer.

US Election 2008 |