Riding The Tiger
I paid a visit to Eli's place yesterday, and he directed me to this Time Magazine article by Karen Tumulty. It seems Mr. Straight-Talk's comments to his backers that Sen. Obama was a decent man was merely an empty gesture. His campaign is going to continue with the slurs, distortions, and outright lies about the Democratic candidate.
If John McCain is as serious as he says about running a "respectful" campaign against an opponent he considers "a decent person," word hasn't yet trickled down to his newly opened storefront field office in Gainesville, Virginia. ...
The McCain campaign invited me to visit [state GOP Chairman Jeffrey M.] Frederick and the Gainesville operation on Saturday morning, to get a first-hand glimpse of its ground game in Prince William County, Virginia, a fast-growing area about 30 miles from Washington, D.C.
With so much at stake, and time running short, Frederick did not feel he had the luxury of subtlety. He climbed atop a folding chair to give 30 campaign volunteers who were about to go canvassing door to door their talking points — for instance, the connection between Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden: "Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon," he said. "That is scary." It is also not exactly true — though that distorted reference to Obama's controversial association with William Ayers, a former 60s radical, was enough to get the volunteers stoked. "And he won't salute the flag," one woman added, repeating another myth about Obama. She was quickly topped by a man who called out, "We don't even know where Senator Obama was really born." Actually, we do; it's Hawaii.
Eli is right, such rhetoric coming from the campaign staffers on the ground doesn't exactly provide Sen. McCain with the plausible deniability he so obviously was reaching for in the recent town hall meet-and-greet with his supporters.
What struck me as especially egregious, however, was the nature of the lies. Sen. Obama is not only the other ("That One"), he is a "scary" other. Lord knows, there is nothing scarier to a certain segment of Americans than a scary black man. But scary brown men are dangerous as well, and there is one brown man who is the scariest of them all: Osama bin Laden. The conflation of the two (via another scary black man, William Ayers) seems to be a natural for that segment of Americans the McCain campaign is so clearly reaching out to.
Will this kind of campaign work for Mr. Clean? Well, to some extent it will. Where it will have the biggest effect is in those areas where the race is close and getting the agitated "base" (the base base) worked up enough to come out to vote might be enough to tip the count to Sen. McCain's column.
Heckuva job, John.
If John McCain is as serious as he says about running a "respectful" campaign against an opponent he considers "a decent person," word hasn't yet trickled down to his newly opened storefront field office in Gainesville, Virginia. ...
The McCain campaign invited me to visit [state GOP Chairman Jeffrey M.] Frederick and the Gainesville operation on Saturday morning, to get a first-hand glimpse of its ground game in Prince William County, Virginia, a fast-growing area about 30 miles from Washington, D.C.
With so much at stake, and time running short, Frederick did not feel he had the luxury of subtlety. He climbed atop a folding chair to give 30 campaign volunteers who were about to go canvassing door to door their talking points — for instance, the connection between Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden: "Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon," he said. "That is scary." It is also not exactly true — though that distorted reference to Obama's controversial association with William Ayers, a former 60s radical, was enough to get the volunteers stoked. "And he won't salute the flag," one woman added, repeating another myth about Obama. She was quickly topped by a man who called out, "We don't even know where Senator Obama was really born." Actually, we do; it's Hawaii.
Eli is right, such rhetoric coming from the campaign staffers on the ground doesn't exactly provide Sen. McCain with the plausible deniability he so obviously was reaching for in the recent town hall meet-and-greet with his supporters.
What struck me as especially egregious, however, was the nature of the lies. Sen. Obama is not only the other ("That One"), he is a "scary" other. Lord knows, there is nothing scarier to a certain segment of Americans than a scary black man. But scary brown men are dangerous as well, and there is one brown man who is the scariest of them all: Osama bin Laden. The conflation of the two (via another scary black man, William Ayers) seems to be a natural for that segment of Americans the McCain campaign is so clearly reaching out to.
Will this kind of campaign work for Mr. Clean? Well, to some extent it will. Where it will have the biggest effect is in those areas where the race is close and getting the agitated "base" (the base base) worked up enough to come out to vote might be enough to tip the count to Sen. McCain's column.
Heckuva job, John.
Labels: Election 2008, Republican Lying
posted by Diane at 3:55 AM
3 Comments:
True enough, Ayer is white as milk.
I really don't understand the post. McCain is just the last of long (Republican) tradition of running on resentment, hate, xenophobia, militarism, etc. Do you expect them to run on: we will take your money and give it to the rich? Or, We go to wars without reason in which your first born will die a hero.
Or may be, John McCain will run on: I finished Annapolis last in class, my grandfather and father were admirals, but I am a fuck up that crashed several planes while in service and only the Vietnamese made me somebody.
One thing for sure:One of the worst Democratic failures of all times - being unable to unmask the Republican monster.
These folks aren't pro-McStain.
they're anti-Oblackman.
i think it really is that simple.
mcshame's just the cudgel to brandish. he's willing enough, so gets no pass, but he's the only flag they got...
i truly do anticipate riots if Obama wins. These folks lack subtlety. And own and use guns. and they aren't ready (will never BE ready) to have their president be a black person...
the typing testsx are geting more difficult and my keyboard stickier
If Ayers were black, he'd be dead or in prison for life.
There won't be riots when Obama wins. The hard right will just be depressed for a time and then they'll just back to watching all the anti-Obama stuff on Fox News Channel and forwarding the latest chain email.
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