McCain-Palin Emission

I received an email from a friend on Friday titled "Watch McCain Lose The Presidency, Before Your Very Eyes." Found within was a link to the viral video of McCain turning the charming sneer onto a couple of members of his even more charming base.

This, combined with Frank Schaeffer's editorial on Friday and Rep. John Lewis' words on Saturday, gave me the impression that while Palin and Mrs. McCain would be free to continue their rabid act, McCain himself would attempt to put a lid on the thinly-disguised stoking of the hornet's nest.

Not so. In fact, after demanding that Obama repudiate Rep. Lewis' comment, he went on to suggest, during a CNN interview, that it was Lewis who transgressed common decency by comparing shouts of "terrorist" and "kill him" during modern day Republican rallies to George Wallace's fomenting of the atmosphere responsible for the Alabama church bombings during the early-60s.



Claiming his base is merely expressing its anger along with calling expressions of caution and disgust over the overtly-hateful rhetoric his campaign has been peddling "over the line" is the only option remaining that allows McCain to continue running and not lose dignity in the short run. What a maverick.

I'm not saying any criticism of Obama is racist (gods no, there are a couple things I bristle about) just as I'm not saying McCain himself is racist (though you couldn't tell from the company he's been catering to lately). I look at his reaction to the first "kill him" incident and see an honest WTF look come across his face. I was willing to say that the main problem was that his camp took too long to try to rectify the storm they were brewing. But now?

Now I read the Patrick Healy's piece in Sunday's NYT and wonder if suppressed racism, while a major ingredient in this election cycle so far, will become its October Surprise as well, simply because McCain decided it was a way to win.

Maybe I should go to Rednecks for Obama again.
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This piece from the New Yorker should be sent to any left-leaning undecided centrists. It greatly discusses Obama's platforms on a number of issues, while comparing them to what we know of McCain's proposals to same. Namely, not much.

Or have them compare some of the details behind Obama's latest economic proposal with the fact that McCain decided not to come out with one of his own.
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The same fellow who sent the email above and I were talking on Sunday, when he mused "do I start being able to hope? Are the signs pointing to an Obama victory?" I replied that I have been hopeful, but I simply cannot stop being vigilant.
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I leave you with the first chorus to Hank Williams Jr.'s latest country song "McCain-Palin Tradition". You could read further lyrics and hear the song at Salon.

John N Sarah tell ya
Just what they think
And they’re not gonna blink
They don't have terrorist friends
To whom their careers are linked
Yes John is his own man
And Sarah fixed Alaska’s broken condition
They’re gonna go just fine
We’re headed for better times
It’s a McCain–Palin tradition