Today, Wednesday, October 8th, is the day. Today we will learn the true character of John McCain and Sarah Palin. For the past few days, they, and Gov. Palin in particular, have said unconscionable things about Barack Obama. They have purposely and strategically implied that he is 'other', willfully painting a false picture of their opponent as dangerous, reckless, dishonest, foreign, unpatriotic, un-American and worthy of disdain and dismissal.
Sarah Palin said Obama 'is not a man who sees America as you see it'. She said he is 'someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country'. John McCain, in last night's debate, disrespectfully called Obama 'that one', dehumanizing him. Any minority can recognize racial code when they hear it.
At Palin and McCain pre-debate rallies the crowds have reacted hatefully. At one of Palin's rallies, when she tried to connect Obama to Weather Underground founder Bill Ayers, a crowd member shouted 'Kill him'. At a McCain rally, when he asked who Obama really was, a man shouted 'terrorist'. At another Palin rally, the crowd was loudly berating the press corps and one man shouted at an African-American network sound man to 'sit down, boy'. Neither Republican candidate disavowed their supporters' bile.
Now, as both of them have been trounced in their respective debates and the polls are showing a widening lead by Obama, is a real test of their true selves. Will we see even darker sides of their ambitions?
If they knowingly utter one more single code word that would incite a disgusting mob reaction, they will show themselves to be fundamentally dishonorable.
In his blog, 'Has Sarah Palin Put a Target on Obama?', Thurston Clarke notes that 'the GOP's rhetoric is eerily reminiscent of the vile words that preceeded RFK's assassination'.
Speaking of verbal attacks against Robert Kennedy, he asks, "Were their attacks within the bounds of the rough and tumble of a
political campaign, or did they cross a line? Did they risk pushing
someone who was already mentally unbalanced over the edge, inciting an
assassination? After all, if you believed that Robert Kennedy was
“vicious and dangerous,” an American Judas, why not kill him before he
became president?".
Today is the day, Mr. McCain and Ms. Palin. You have both gone beyond the pale. Today, you need to abandon your campaign of fear and hate baiting. Look into your hearts. Do the right thing.
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