The Gloves -- And Veil -- Are Off
With just two weeks remaining and far enough behind, the McCain campaign has gone beyond negative. They are pulling no punches. The tactics are ruthless -- anything for victory. Country be damned. The smear campaign is worse than I have ever seen it in politics.
And yet I am not suprised.
All this has done is exposed what the Republican elite is at its core, and has them repeating some of the darkest moments of American history. Here is what I mean:
McCarthyism: the Communist Scare of the 1950s is a dark moment in an otherwise bright time in American history. While Americans at home were enjoying peace and the birth of the suburbs and the nuclear family, Sen. Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon and others created a paranoia across the nation about communism. Innocent people's lives were destroyed in a false crusade against a phantom enemy.
We've witnessed history repeating itself time and again by John McCain, Sarah Palin and others, questioning Barack Obama's link to terrorism through Prof. Ayers of Chicago. If that wasn't 50s enough for you, the Republicans have even taken the old charge off the shelves to throw at Obama. McCain, Tom Ridge and, especially, Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota have called Obama's tactics "socialist". Bachmann went so far as to, on MSNBC, suggest that liberals in the Senate and Congress were socialist, anti-American and should be investigated.
McCain, by the way, has supported the charge of socialism and has gone so far as to say Obama's tax policy is a socialist tenet.
Bush Tactics: Looking back at the last eight years, we can see a familiar tactic. Every time the opposition made attempts to thwart or question Bush's policies, the opposition was bullied into submission. It happened to the Democrats on the Patriot Act and the invasion of Iraq. It happened to the United Nations. It happened to John Kerry.
McCain does the same thing. He demands that Obama explain himself regarding Ayers. His cronies want answers on Rev. Wright. He demands repudiation of comments by John Lewis. Yet he does not demand the same thing for his own campaign. Saying that Obama is a good man does not repudiate yelling "kill him!" It doesn't stop charges of terrorism and socialism. These bullying tactics are nothing short of disgusting.
And John McCain's hands are filthy with it.
White Supremacy: We knew all along race was going to be an issue here. Make no mistake, it is. Where you stand on the issue of race in America will certainly be a factor in how you vote. For most of us, however, it isn't the only factor. Most of us, at least I hope, can also see the economy, two wars and the future of American culture in this election.
Not Colin Powell, at least according to George Will and Pat Buchanan. Colin Powell, according to them, lied to the American people about the issues and has endorsed Obama simply because he is black. And if that wasn't enough, we were treated once again to the perils of handing a junkie a mike when Rush Limbaugh spewed exactly that Colin Powell's decision was solely based on race.
Implying a black man cannot vote anything based on race is, in fact racist. If it is true, every white person who casts a vote for John McCain on November 4th is a white supremacist. It's the same exact logic.
It is not true, however.
What is true is this: racist spewings from Republican mouthpieces such as Will, Buchanan and Limbaugh harken back to the single worst stain on this nation of ours. We as a nation have battled this issue from day one. It hasn't yet gone away. The Republicans, and not Colin Powell, are making sure of that.
John McCain's silence on it concerns me. He should know better.
The gloves have definitely come off in the McCain campaign. I fear something else has come off as well. Hearing the words of hate being spewed out in the waning days of this election, I fear we may be seeing the real Republican Party.
Having policy disagreements is one thing. Those debates are what make us as a nation stronger. This is something entirely different.
And yet I am not suprised.
All this has done is exposed what the Republican elite is at its core, and has them repeating some of the darkest moments of American history. Here is what I mean:
McCarthyism: the Communist Scare of the 1950s is a dark moment in an otherwise bright time in American history. While Americans at home were enjoying peace and the birth of the suburbs and the nuclear family, Sen. Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon and others created a paranoia across the nation about communism. Innocent people's lives were destroyed in a false crusade against a phantom enemy.
We've witnessed history repeating itself time and again by John McCain, Sarah Palin and others, questioning Barack Obama's link to terrorism through Prof. Ayers of Chicago. If that wasn't 50s enough for you, the Republicans have even taken the old charge off the shelves to throw at Obama. McCain, Tom Ridge and, especially, Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota have called Obama's tactics "socialist". Bachmann went so far as to, on MSNBC, suggest that liberals in the Senate and Congress were socialist, anti-American and should be investigated.
McCain, by the way, has supported the charge of socialism and has gone so far as to say Obama's tax policy is a socialist tenet.
Bush Tactics: Looking back at the last eight years, we can see a familiar tactic. Every time the opposition made attempts to thwart or question Bush's policies, the opposition was bullied into submission. It happened to the Democrats on the Patriot Act and the invasion of Iraq. It happened to the United Nations. It happened to John Kerry.
McCain does the same thing. He demands that Obama explain himself regarding Ayers. His cronies want answers on Rev. Wright. He demands repudiation of comments by John Lewis. Yet he does not demand the same thing for his own campaign. Saying that Obama is a good man does not repudiate yelling "kill him!" It doesn't stop charges of terrorism and socialism. These bullying tactics are nothing short of disgusting.
And John McCain's hands are filthy with it.
White Supremacy: We knew all along race was going to be an issue here. Make no mistake, it is. Where you stand on the issue of race in America will certainly be a factor in how you vote. For most of us, however, it isn't the only factor. Most of us, at least I hope, can also see the economy, two wars and the future of American culture in this election.
Not Colin Powell, at least according to George Will and Pat Buchanan. Colin Powell, according to them, lied to the American people about the issues and has endorsed Obama simply because he is black. And if that wasn't enough, we were treated once again to the perils of handing a junkie a mike when Rush Limbaugh spewed exactly that Colin Powell's decision was solely based on race.
Implying a black man cannot vote anything based on race is, in fact racist. If it is true, every white person who casts a vote for John McCain on November 4th is a white supremacist. It's the same exact logic.
It is not true, however.
What is true is this: racist spewings from Republican mouthpieces such as Will, Buchanan and Limbaugh harken back to the single worst stain on this nation of ours. We as a nation have battled this issue from day one. It hasn't yet gone away. The Republicans, and not Colin Powell, are making sure of that.
John McCain's silence on it concerns me. He should know better.
The gloves have definitely come off in the McCain campaign. I fear something else has come off as well. Hearing the words of hate being spewed out in the waning days of this election, I fear we may be seeing the real Republican Party.
Having policy disagreements is one thing. Those debates are what make us as a nation stronger. This is something entirely different.
posted by E-Luv at 7:54 AM
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