It appears John McCain does actually pay attention to the "liberal, elite media" that's been rebuking his ear-splitting silence while his fired-up supporters bellow epithets and falsehoods at and about Barack Obama.
Indeed, he just snatched the microphone out the hands of a woman who began her question with, "I'm scared of Barack Obama... he's an Arab terrorist..."
"No, no ma'am," he interrupted. "He's a decent family man with whom I happen to have some disagreements."
Let's hope Gov. Palin gets the "Respect in the Workplace" memo this time. Still, too little too late?
UPDATE: Here's a video montage of the encounters described above...
There is no doubt that there are feisty Obama supporters who have made and probably will continue to make offensive comments about Palin and McCain. Still, the responses of some of these Republicans to the question, "Is Obama a terrorist?" is actually quite saddening.
And where was McCain's leadership and respect for his opponent during this speech in New Mexico?
We even witnessed this type of acquiesence during the primaries when McCain was asked an unthinkable question about Sen. Clinton - and gave an even more unbelievable response (viewer discretion is advised)...
Did you catch that at the end there? "I respect Senator Clinton. I respect anyone who gets the nomination of the Democrat party." My jaw dropped when I saw this for the first time (and I don't like Clinton at all after the debacle that was the Democratic primary).
And then today one of the McCain camp co-chairs, Frank Keating (no relation...I think) made these comments on Dennis Miller's radio show (listen to the audio here):
Well, and that's what concerns me, Dennis, because when I was in the State Senate and statehouse of my state, if someone had voted against the entire state budget because it had too much money for corrections, all of us would have, you know, strained our necks to find out who is this because that would have been a very extreme position, basically saying to a law enforcement officer as I was or my son was a state trooper, "you know, you make an arrest, you risk your life, for nothing" because we're going to make sure that person doesn't go to prison even though the laws of the state require it. So, that puzzles me. Just he ought to admit, "you know, I've got to be honest with you. I was a guy of the street. I was way to the left. I used cocaine. I voted liberally, but I'm back at the center." I mean, I understand the big picture of America. But he hasn't done that...
I'm sorry... "I was a guy of the street"?!?!? What the hell is this guy implying?
Look, there are concerns that the newest line of attack that the McCain campaign is taking against Barack Obama is not only inappropriate and blind to the current economic crisis (the Dow closed under 9,000 points), but it may actually be very dangerous. There are some truly unstable people out there who feed off of this type of fiery, unsubstantiated rhetoric and who might not think twice about taking action against a "Muslim, terrorist sympathizer."
John McCain and his campaign have sunk to lows that no one would have expected of him, and I honestly don't think he believes much of what he's saying about Obama. I think he wants to win, and I think he's surrounded himself with people who want to win and are willing to do so at a high price. The extent to which they will go to win, however, is approaching a line that McCain should be very careful about crossing. He would do well to renounce and rebuke patently false assertions, calm his supporters down, and bring the focus back to the economy and the war and the other issues that most of America cares deeply about.
Full post and comments here...
This comment from Ben (a future guest contributor and Ron Paul supporter) is tremendous. Ben writes:
out of sheer curiosity, why is membership in the independence party or any group that thinks secession is a decent idea damning to her run at the white house. When I found out about their involvement in the party I actually liked the tandem more. I think it lends a shred of credence to her reformer/maverick claim (although I'm getting sick of hearing that without any specifics to back it up). If only she'd say, "I'm a reformer because at one time I thought our state should just leave the rest of you jerks to rot in the mainland" or something equally "folksy".
I'm a little behind on my political analyses because I promised Lydia I wouldn't post anything political for a while after she put up her post about her sisters' visit. Obviously the ban has been lifted and now I have some catching up to do. I won't be able to post all the things I wanted to concerning the Biden v. Palin debate (and I really had some zingers too) but I think anyone who saw it is quite aware of the fact that Biden won hands down. Yes, Palin exceeded expectations, but for her it was like the SATs: spell your name correctly and you get 200 points.
The other big news from recent weeks is the $700 billion bailout (sorry, emergency rescue plan) that finally passed the House. I think the drama that unfolded with McCain and the final plan is simply fascinating and I'm surprised that it's not getting more circulation as one of the more ridiculous political spectacles in recent history. The man literally drips with delusions of grandeur. Let's see if I can lay out the basic idea:
Step 1: Call the economy "fundamentally sound" while the rest of the country frets over the possibility (or perceived reality) of a recession. Step 2: Clarify that by "economy" you meant American workers and by "sound", you meant "the best workers in the world". Essentially the only word you used and meant was "fundamentally"... Step 3: Proclaim that America is an economic crisis (caused by your opponent) and suspend your campaign so you can fly back to Washington to coordinate the solutionwhile vowing not to return until a plan is passed (Presidential debates be damned). Step 4: Don't fly back to Washington. Instead, head on over to CBS to do an interview with Katie Couric (oh, and piss off David Letterman - he probably won't make too big of a deal of it). Also, don't actually stop your campaign from campaigning, just pull the ads and no one will be the wiser. Step 5: In the absence of a passed bailout package, fly back to Washington for the Presidential debate proclaiming the crucial role you played in getting both parties to work in a bipartisan manner. Step 6: Watch the plan crash and burn in a terrifying ball of hellfire.
As I said, the rescue bailout package finally passed through Congress and was signed into law by Dubya. Good news right? Apparently not for McCain. Here's the skinny.
John McCain is the champion of earmark reform, and rightfully so. He has admittedly done a lot to draw attention to and oppose the pork-barrel spending that too often gets slipped into important legislation. And he was no less committed to protecting the bailout package from the same wasteful, unnecessary spending...
And here are just a few of the earmarks that slipped past the watchful of Sen. McCain:
Sec.317: Seven-year cost recovery period for motorsports racing track facility
Sec.308: Increase in limit on cover over of rum excise tax to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
Sec.503: Exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children (my personal favorite)
In total, there were an additional $150 billion worth of earmarks added to the $700 billion bailout plan. Hmm... It would appear the good senator from Arizona has gotten himself in a bit of a bind. When asked about what would appear to be a pretty severe discrepancy...
In case you didn't catch it, this was McCain's recommendation for the fate of bills laden with pork:
SCARBOROUGH: Why did these items have to be in this critical bill?
MCCAIN: Well that’s just the way the system is working in Washington and the reason why it’s got to be fixed, and it’s got to be changed. And no matter what the stakes are, you’ve got to stop this by starting to veto bills that come across the president’s desk. … It’s insanity and it’s obscenity, because it’s a waste of taxpayers’ dollars and it goes on, and until we stop it, until we get frankly a president who will say, I’m gonna veto these bills, I’m gonna make the people famous that put them on there, uh, famous.
I think the old saying goes, "People who live in glass houses should not throw stones."
The McCain campaign has made the peculiar decision to avoid dealing with the pressing issue of our slowing economy and its causes and effects both at home and abroad; instead, they'd like to make undecided voters afraid of Barack Obama. Ooooooh. Their present angle in this effort is to send good ol' Sarah Palin out on the stump with a speech chock full of hum-dingers aimed at tying Obama to William Ayers, the former domestic terrorist.
I think most reasonably unbiased news organizations have spent time investigating the link between Obama and Ayers and it's become pretty apparent that there is no evidence to support Palin's claims of the two of them "palling around" or even being close at all. Furthermore, Obama has gone out of his way time and time again waaaay back during the primaries (when all of this was actually relevant to the national discussion) to strongly denounce Ayers actions. Now, I do think it is completely reasonable to ask Obama and his campaign surrogates whether it waswise to continue serving on a charitable board with Ayers, knowing his past, as Mark Halperin did of one of Obama's senior advisors. But to belabor the point, as the McCain camp is doing, instead of dealing with the most important issue for the vast majority of voters is excessive and hopefully fruitless.
But here's what's really annoying. Some of the folks the McCain camp has sent out on the warpath to call Obama's judgment (and at times his patriotism) into question don't make a lick of sense. Number 2 on the list is former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose own track record of picking upstanding public servants of integrity was called into question in a pretty high profile way: (as Robert Gibbs pointed out on Fox the other day).
And of course, sitting at the top of the list is my favorite person in the race: Sarah Palin. "What?!" you exclaim, "What in the world could Sarah Palin be hiding/downplaying that could possibly be more damning than the tenuous-at-best relationship between Obama and Ayers???"
It's one thing to sit on a board with someone and it's a very different thing to be married to someone, supported by their cohorts, and delighted with their anti-US party. And I quote:
I am delighted to welcome you to the 2008 Alaskan Independence Party Convention... We have a great promise to be a self-sufficient state... Keep up the good work and God bless you. [emphasis added]
So if it's a bad idea to throw stones, how much worse is it to hurl flaming boulders of ire and hypocrisy?
UPDATE: Less damning but just as indicative of the senselessness of this whole political approach is this article on McCain's link to a certain guy we've heard a lot about lately...
Full post and comments here...
Always at the End
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