It’s hard to know who’s lost it more in this campaign – McCain or his supporters:
At a rally in Minnesota on Friday, a woman told McCain: “I don’t trust Obama. I have read about him and he’s an Arab.”
McCain shook his head and said, “No ma’am, no ma’am. He’s a decent family man…[a] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues. That’s what this campaign is all about.”
One man at the rally said he was “scared of an Obama presidency.” McCain later told the man he should not fear Obama.
“I want to be president of the United States, and I don’t want Obama to be,” he said. “But I have to tell you, I have to tell you, he is a decent person, and a person that you do not have to be scared as President of the United States.”
McCain’s response was met with boos from the crowd.
It’s at least good to see McCain responding the way he does. The award for nuttiest is still up for grabs. The winner? Rick Davis:
McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said that he didn’t know who those people were and if they were there as supporters or to disrupt the rallies.
Yes. These enraged people are just planted Obama supporters, there to disrupt things.
The McCain campaign is toast.
distributorcap
mccain is seeing the horses were let out of the barn – and now they cannot be brought back inside. what i saw (with his exchange with the woman who called obama an arab) was a defeated man – a man who knows it is over.
and how come the media is not all over davis – about the fannie mae/freddie connection – and the fact he still has a job. then again having davis on the mccain campaign is like the gift that keeps on giving – he said mccain isnt talking about the stock market since he doesnt want his campaign to become a cnbc show.
davis doesnt have to worry, the mccain campaign is already "laugh-in" – only NOT funny.
boonagain
This is a must-read.
Donna
Dry toast — jellyless even. I continue to wonder whether he’s intentionally trying to throw this election (realizing that cleaning up after his buddy W will be far too much work). His behavior, and that of his minders, has been so off the wall crazy — can he really be this dim and unstable?
aimai
As usual, on the left, some people were rendered uncomfortable by the videos circulating of McCain’s supporters at these rallies but the advice not to draw attention to these people and not to make them self concious was misplaced–just like the advice to ignore sarah palin and just let her implode on her own. Does anyone doubt that the flood of video images and reports of just how ugly McCain’s rallies had a very salutory effect on McCain’s former Republican centrist supporters–buckley, shaeffer, la hood and the down ticket republicans? As long as there were no pictures of nice, upper class, white lady nuts shrieking "terrorist" and "ay-rab" and "hu–sseeein!" on tv the top level republicans and centrists could pretend not to know–and Davis in that quote was clearly hoping no one had seen just how many of these people were there. But the numbers and the publicity are against them. If McCain’s rallies weren’t entirely composed of these nutcases and it were only a few members of disguised code pink I think we know from previous republican administrations that they’d all be in gitmo about now.
If McCain were to stand up and say that "if you are a racist, I don’t want your vote" his entire rally would get up and walk out the door.
aimai
Comrade Jake
Those people are now your base Rick. They’re your base.
boonagain
You have to ask,"Where can they go from here? What are the options?"
Dan
May I suggest?
Now that the Palin report is out, McCain really has only one last hope to go down with some shreds of honor in tact. He should drop Palin immediately. Leiberman can step in as running mate. The 2 old friends can try to rehabilitate each other’s image and legacy. They can speak about issues that really mean something to them (Israel; I can’t think of anything else, really). And they can go down together retaining some small bits of integrity with which they can retire and perhaps be perceived as statesmen in the not too distant future.
boonagain
Will the press get all tire-swingy and swoony for McCain again for those couple of weak gestures?
I think they are all waiting with bated breath for the ‘real’ McCain to re-appear.
SGEW
I keep telling y’all, it’s like we’re watching a post-modern Shakespeare production, or some sort of slow motion Sophocles morality play.
Hopefully we can avoid the usually violent endings that sort of theatre trends toward (knock on wood), but I’m still predicting that McCain’s eventual death will be so full of pathos it’ll make the Scottish play look like a Family Guy episode.
Also:
Gail Collins rocks my world.
TenguPhule
Ideally, going down in a hail of bullets from the FBI raiding them for being domestic terrorists.
Comrade Jake
From the Collins’ article, linked above:
No shit.
SGEW
@TenguPhule: You wanna make them martyrs? A misdirected sentiment, if you ask me.
Roza Hussein
There no turning back now McCain reap what you sow
Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon)
@distributorcap:
Yeah….. truth be told, it made me a bit sad. McCain is a tragic figure in the most classic sense of the word, done in by ambition and hubris.
boonagain
SInce there are so many Amish around here, my thoughts have drifted towards a general shunning of Miserable McCain when he returns to the Senate after his ass-kicking.
How does one go about organizing something like that,also?
As for Bible Spice, the punishment for her will be going back to the Klondike as a washed up has-been (never-was?) since she obviously is so hooked on the fascist adulation she’s received,also.
TenguPhule
It’s called Pest Control.
Better to flush them all out into the open at once and dispose of them in an efficient manner then let them shit in the works again.
I’d rather have them full of faith in their Second amendment firearms out where the Hellfire missiles and snipers can remove them then blending into the scenery again and doing all the damage they can simply because they’d prefer a dead country to Democratic one.
Dan
OH MY GOD!
That Gail Collins article is brilliant. Really brilliant. Loved it.
SGEW
Not to engage in hysterical hyperbole, but this sort of thing leads to . . . um . . . unfortunate consequences. As in, crimes against humanity sort of consequences.
"Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one."
– Friedrich Nietzsche
TenguPhule
I know.
But I can dream.
SGEW
Never give up your dreams, man!
Punchy
Just passed a fresh-looking Ron Paul sign in a near-by yard. Talk about low-information voters….
kommrade jakevich
Christ, and you can tell McPOW knows he’s addressing a bunch of people who have the mental sophistication of 10 year olds. It makes me think of a parent explaining why mommy and daddy sometimes fight.
Fuck him, I bet he’s just worried he’ll get hurt if the rabble starts a-riotin’.
Shorter Rick Davis: McPOW’s supporters don’t speak for McPOW’s supporters.
Also. Though.
Bobzim
Isn’t "He’s not an Arab – he’s a good family man" pretty racist in itself?
TenguPhule
Hey, that’s one less low information voter for McCain.
Every little bit helps.
TenguPhule
Considering what McCain’s idea of being a good family man is, it’s pretty insulting just by itself.
JGabriel
Donna:
Well, he finished fifth from the bottom in a class of 900 at the Naval Academy, and was tortured repeatedly as a POW over the course of 5.5 years.
His chosen running mate has an SAT score of about 840 which, barring dyslexia or some other test-taking disability, probably pegs her IQ somewhere in the 90 – 105 range.
So, yeah, they really could be that dim and unstable.
.
SGEW
Is that corroborated? I thought the image wasn’t real . . .
Or is it a kerning thing?
Strannix
Nice try, McCain. It’s hard to calm the sharks, when you’ve spent weeks chumming the waters.
Halteclere
@Punchy:
Someone just put up a well-painted plywood sign in my neighborhood in Dallas that says "Sarah" in big letters, then in small letters underneath mccain-palin 2008.
JGabriel
SGEW:
Looked real enough to me. Someone verified that the HS code was correct, which seems kind of detailed for a forgery.
Oh, well. You’re right, I should have modified that assertion with a qualifier like ‘apparently’ or ‘allegedly’. My bad.
.
Luddite
Donna said:
The answer is yes. In fact almost the entire Republican Party is that dim and unstable.
janice1227
what’s that I smell? the acrid scent of Republican doom…
JGabriel
Halteclere:
Drowning in the sea of love
Where everyone would love to drown
And now its gone…
— Sara, Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac
.
Dick Weathers
@JGabriel:
It’s as fake as Obama’s birth certificate. The give away is the "yes" response in the "english best language" box.
SGEW
Must read, re: McCain’s "No Ma’am . . . he’s a decent family man" line.
Juan Cole (no relation) calls McCain out.(click here to read)
John McCain is a racist son of a bitch. End of story.
jrg
The look on his face when he had to take the mic away from that old moron who thought that Obama was an Arab terrorist was priceless. You could tell he was thinking "Oh, Shit, I need to stop this woman before she finishes her sentence".
It’s amusing in all kinds of ways. First, this lady must not know that you have to be an American citizen to run for president. She must also not know that you have to be born in the U.S. She must also not have listened to Obama at all in the past two years. Talk about complete ignorance.
When McCain’s campaign manager cannot believe that the Republican "base" actually believes what he’s telling them, Irony is dead.
kommrade jakevich
Yep. I’ve been thinking about what U.S./Saudi relations will be like if those shitheads get in office. And how eager Iraq, Afghanistan & Pakistan will be to cooperate with the U.S. if McLame & Joan of Dork are running the show. Christ, Ahmadinejad wouldn’t shut up about it, evar.
JGabriel
Kommrade Jakevich:
About the Arab thing? Ahmadinejad is Iranian. They’re Indo-Europeans, not Arabs. So, for that matter, are the Afghanis and Pakistanis.
I’m sure Ahmadinejad would find plenty of other idiocies to exploit in a McCain/Palin administration. Just saying that wouldn’t be one of them.
.
gbear
Republican have become utterly toxic in MN:
CHICAGO — Falling behind in a sheaf of polls amid one of the nastiest campaigns in the country, Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) announced today that he will unilaterally disarm: He will pull his negative advertising and urge his supporters to do the same.
At a St. Paul press conference, the onetime Democrat-turned-Republican sounded as though he was channeling Sen. Barack Obama, who has taken a strong lead in Minnesota polls. Coleman said he would change his tactics and his tone, traveling the state "to connect with people and let them know there’s hope."
"At times like this, politics should not add to negativity — it should lift people up with hope and a confident vision for the future," Coleman said in prepared remarks. "And second, I decided that I was not all that interested in returning to Washington for six years based on the judgment of voters that I was not as bad as the other two guys."
****
Coleman told reporters that he would not be appearing at a planned rally with McCain this afternoon. Could it be McCain’s sliding polling numbers in Minnesota? His attacks on Obama? Coleman said he needs the time to work on suspending his own negative ads.
"Today," he said, "people need hope and a more positive campaign is a start."
The Franken campaign was unimpressed.
Grumpy Code Monkey
With three weeks to go?
Can he drop Palin at this point? Anyone here familiar with the Republican Party bylaws regarding that sort of thing? After all, she was nominated at the convention along with him. I’m sure there are provisions for dropping out due to health reasons, but because she’s on the wrong end of a scandal?
Besides, a not-insignificant number of ballots have already been generated for early and absentee voting; what kind of irregularities would result from counting ballots that don’t show the current ticket?
Michael Demmons
Perhaps I am giving him more credit than he is due, but I don’t think he meant that Arabs were not decent family people. I am the master of sticking my foot in my mouth, and you sometimes say things that can be taken way out of context. You think about them later and you wish you’d put it another way.
Anyway, that’s my opinion. I just think there’s a lot more to criticize McCain for without reading something into something he said that he probably didn’t mean.
Michael Demmons
Since I’ve never voted, is the VP’s name even on the ballot?
JGabriel
Michael Demmons:
I agree. The woman’s attack on Obama as an Arab left McCain in a rhetorical bind: he could (A) respond that Obama is a good citizen and not an Arab, as he did, or (B) he could argue that there’s nothing wrong with being Arabic, and that to imply such is racist.
It’s not that it’s impossible to do both, but it’s hard to do both gracefully at the same time, and McCain simply isn’t that good a speaker or that quick on his feet.
So I’m inclined to give him a pass on that one.
.
JGabriel
Michael Demmons:
Yes, but on the same line, not as a separate race to vote on.
.
SGEW
I am not as forgiving – John McCain has a long history of racism, and I cannot give him the benefit of the doubt on this one. Personally speaking, of course (and I have oft been accused of being a tad over-sensitive about identifying racism in older white men, for some reason or another).
Svensker
Rush (and other wingers) were pushing the story, for a while, that Obama was not African-American, he was actually Arab-American. Because — they said — that part of Africa that his father was from was actually Arab, rather than negro. Stupid and wrong, but a lot of the wingers believed it.
EarBucket
He could drop her, theoretically. You’re not actually voting for Obama or McCain, you’re voting for the slate of electors who will vote for them. So any electors won by McCain would simply be instructed to vote for the new running mate on the VP ballot.
In practical terms, he can’t do it. It would turn what’s already shaping up to be a humiliating defeat into a Mondale-esque rout. Most of the supporters he has left are the mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging, slope-browed types who love Palin and think Obama’s a terrorist. Dumping Palin would alienate and enrage the only base he has left.
Of course, this new tactic of playing nice and insisting Obama’s a good guy who’s not scary at all isn’t going to go over well with that crowd, either. Toothpaste, meet tube.
Charity
I mentioned this on my blog last night: when it was just some faceless voice shouting crap on the edge of the crowd, McC/P could say, "Oh, I never heard anyone say that."
But this was IN HIS FACE. ON CAMERA.
How dare he act surprised. He spent weeks whipping people up with this garbage, and he doesn’t get to act surprised now.
Svensker
Well, that was certainly screwed up code. Not my fault! I didn’t do it!
Rick Taylor
Uhhh, kind of minimal actually. I would have been astonished if this had kept going on and he hadn’t said anything. I mean come on! People at his rallies have been yelling out traitor and kill him for over a week. Republicans are coming out and denouncing this, only a few weeks before the election. Since when do prominent Republicans come out and start denouncing what’s happening at their candidates rallies a few weeks before an election. This about the most minimal belated response I could imagine.
Michael Demmons
I just have a hard time believing that someone who adopts a Bangladeshi child is a racist.
SGEW
BTW, judging by memeorandum, the right wing blogs today are pretty much only represented by NoQuarter, which has descended into petty vulgarity and links to Michelle Malkin, Krauthammer, and the New York Post.
I wonder what the folks over at NRO are going to write about this weekend . . . Rezko? Ayers? ACORN? Jesus Baby Shark?
SGEW
1) Re: adopted child. Wasn’t his choice; it was Cindy’s (without his knowledge). Also: just because he loves one brown person doesn’t make him not racist.
2) "I will always hate the gooks."
3) MLK votes.
The Grand Panjandrum
I can tell you that after being at the town clerks office here at my Undisclosed Location in New England that absentee ballots are flying out the door. (No early voting here, but absentee ballots are easily requested.)
Some of the places where I have seen Obama/Biden yard signs is almost shocking. I say almost because in the end people can only be beat down for so long before they will vote in their own self interest. Common sense seems to be carrying the day. But we will not have confirmation of my assertion until sometime late November 4th.
McCain’s walk back does seem half-hearted because the full length version of your video also has McCain criticizing Obama’s "relationship" with Ayers.
Shorter Johnny Drama: Obama is NOT a terrorist, he just hangs out with them.
My first impression was that he might actually be making a true walk back here. Now that I’ve seen the entire video of that town hall meeting I take back relief and replace it with what could be at best called skepticism.
As someone said yesterday if this was so important why weren’t they talking about this five months ago? It may been one of McCain’s now former Republican supporters.
McCain better hope Reincarnation doesn’t exist. If it does he’s coming back as a dung beetle.
El Cid
As much as I hate to admit it, I actually felt some sadness for the old woman who asked the "Arab" question: it seemed to me that she was genuinely frightened by these scare tactics.
You’ve got these McPalin / Ayers rallies scaring old folks that the country is about to be run by a radical Arab terrorist sympathizer.
Idiots or not, that’s just g** d*** shameful.
Sure, the more serious threat is stirring up an incipient popular violent fascist movement, sure to find new and more subversive forms if Obama is sworn in. A movement in which a truly revanchist Palin is likely to be a big part of, perhaps via the Talibangelical route.
But still — making these simpleton old people scared even more, with all that’s genuinely frightening in their country, even if they typically approach modernity as someone continually being frightened by their own shadow, is mean, callous, manipulative, and cruel.
b. hussein canuckistani (comrade)
Given that he appeared to be trying to do the decent thing, I’m also inclined to give him a pass on the racism angle as well.
Tymannosourus
As a Minnesotan I can just say that I am embarassed but not surprised.
Dan
OK, chuckleheads, let me explain it for you.
"Obama is not an Arab." That was directed to the woman and any other moron that wants to cling to that idea.
"He is a decent family man." This is a SEPARATE statement directed to EVERYONE in the hall.
You can take false umbrage that what he said was racist, but I thought only repubs ran the false umbrage con.
Michael Demmons
Ok, I just read this, and it is hilarious – from The Onion, of course.
Michael Demmons
@Dan: Thank you.
Ned R.
For deep denial funnies, John Hinderaker is your go-to guy on this. After posting a link on the Lakeville rally from a colleague that, oddly enough, makes no mention of what everyone else saw on TV, he then talks about the ‘different event’ that the Star-Tribune must have seen — quite — and then concludes:
Comrade VidaLoca
It seems to me that a person can try to do "the decent thing"*, love their wife’s adopted Bangladeshi child, and still be capable of saying things that imply a profoundly racist view of the world. One of McCain’s greatest failings (and in this he has much in common with the woman from whom he took the microphone) is that he’s never seen any need to get outside of the frame of reference in which "good family man" and "Arab" are logical contradictions.
*especially once the past two weeks’ attempts to do the indecent thing have yielded you diddly/squat, the wheels are coming off your campaign, your erstwhile allies are walking away from you, and you have exactly fuck-all to show for it…
brendancalling
McCain has seriously fucked himself.
For the past 2 weeks it’s been all Ayers all the time, and all about bringing the fight to Obama. Then he chickened out at the debate.
if he confronts Obama, the gloves are off for a lot of unpleasant topics for McCain, and the old man knows it.
But if mcCain doesn’t confront Obama, he looks like a coward.
When mcCain riles up the slackjaws, everyone (including prominent GOPers) tells him to stop riling the slackjaws. When he tries to calm the monster he’s created, he risks becoming the target for the monster’s rage himself.
and this guy fancies himself a leader??
Bey
He gets no credit from me. Zero. McCain was just fine as paint throwing chum to this crowd, until the backlash started.
No words of calm, no focusing on issues. Nothing but 100% negative campaigning for weeks.
But now things are different since they’re being called out for these disgusting and yes, Un-American tactics.
Everything about this man is despicable. There is no rock he won’t turn over, no depth to which he will not sink, no kitten he will not skull-fuck in order to get what he believes is his due.
He is a cynical piece of shit motherfucker and I wouldn’t vote for him if he were the last man on earth.
Marc
@Bobzim: Haha…I totally missed that. I was so offended by the crowd that what McCain said actually seemed reasonable until you pointed out it’s absurd offensiveness.
Russ
Obama is not an Arab, he’s a "decent" person.
Imagine our Arab allies and Arab Americans listening to this. Has a presidential candidate ever slammed a minority so?
passerby
I think both.
Those "supporters" do not live as engaged participants. They surrendered their personal power to the collective and they respond to life as a herd.
McCain, etal, would-be shepherds, manipulate these "supporters" to achieve their goals.
Watch McCain’s expression as he listens to their questions. He can barely contain his contempt for these…uh…sheeple.
I think lots of people are waking up and are not falling for the manipulations of the old divide and conquer politicos.
This will be my first time voting in TN. Here in Hamilton County (and I assume statewide) there are paper ballots where you fill in one circle to vote for P/VP (yes the VP’s names appear) or you can Write-in Pres and VP but each on a separate line, not as a ticket.
Tithonia
I’ve heard that C. McCain adopted the baby without telling him. Can a married person really adopt a child without a spouse’s consent? Anybody know?
kommrade jakevich
Thanks (seriously). But I’m going to guess that Presidents Karzai or Zadari on hearing that McPOW is supported by people who froth at the mouth at the mention of "Arabs," aren’t going to think "Oh well, they’re not talking about me."
Please, this is the same asshole who chortled indulgently when someone said of Hillary: "How do we beat the bitch?" That was many months and many smears ago. Now, after all of the things he’s done and said, people still give this fossilized piece of shit the benefit of the doubt. He’d skull fuck his dear old mother to get what he wants and the most maddening thing about it is if he did skull fuck his dear old mother someone would stand up and say "Well gosh, I once accidentally skull fucked my mother, let’s focus on something else."
Brachiator
@distributorcap:
Because the press is largely stupid and shallow.
This has been another edition of SATSQ.
Even if this were true, it would only make Palin average, not dim. And her certified average-ness only makes her more beloved by her core supporters.
I don’t think that this woman cares about Obama’s citizenship. She appeared to be expressing the sentiment that since all Arabs are potential or actual enemies of the United States, none of them could be trusted to be elected president. Of course, she is also unclear on the difference between Muslims and Arabs, and probably doesn’t realize that Arabs can be Christians as well, if she is from the noxious school that only white Christians can be president.
She has also obviously bought into the crap that people don’t really know who Obama is, which is typical of those who depend upon Fox News, Limbaugh and Hannity for their news.
If he did this, McCain’s support among evangelicals and those who have bought into Palin’s hockey mom populism would evaporate faster than you could say "My friends." His judgement in selecting Palin in the first place would immediately be called into question. Then again, the GOP could try to play it off as another bold, mavericky move.
By the way, watching McCain try to dial back the hate and hysteria with the woman who tried to brand Obama as an Arab was a sad reminder of the sense of honor that McCain had abandoned in his last gasp effort to win the presidency.
The Bag of Health and Politics
I helped run a town hall in this election. It was for former South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges (D) in the primary. You know what we did? We asked people their questions as we were waiting for the Governor. We looked to see if there were any embarrassing questions, and if there were, we would’ve told the Governor not to call on that person. There weren’t.
That the McCain campaign can’t properly screen questions raises serious concerns to me. It’s basic political work. And, if it’s done improperly when a sitting President is taking questions, it can cause an international incident.
Dennis - SGMM
Aren’t the Arabs the ones with all the oil and most of the money? Don’t the supply lines for nearly three hundred thousand Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan run through Arab countries? Isn’t conducting diplomacy with Arabs (And Persians, and Afghanis and Pakistanis) key to stability in a very volatile region?
jrg
Totally. It’s not like McCain and Palin are making a big deal out of Obama’s middle name at every campaign stop. That would be racism and fear-mongering.
I’d like to add that the federal marriage amendment has nothing to do with bashing gays, it’s about protecting straight marriages.
Charity
@El Cid: My cousin — a Ph.D, and a university professor — and his wife — a district attorney in PA — are "terrified" about an Obama presidency.
You would have thought an education would have given them some critical thinking skills. You would be wrong.
jcricket
@Ned R.: That was awesome Ned. Thanks. The "blog of the year" that posted "must be strange to be GW, misunderstood" is so ahead of its time.
I’m sure when history is written about these last 8 years we will all agree that we merely misunderstood how complete deregulation, lack of oversight, cronyism, corruption, torture and bogus wars were American patriotism at its best, and it was only the liberal media bias that prevented Americans from seeing it :-)
BTW – I can’t claim credit for this, but I read another comment on Marc Ambinder’s blog that McCain is the "true" Manchurian candidate. To save America, he’s running the bat-shit-crazy campaign, tanking Republicans across the nation along with himself. Nice idea, if tongue in cheek :-)
BTW – First person to suggest there are really equally hateful, violent and, most importantly, powerful people on the left gets a punch in the face, and then an assignment to read Dave Neiwert’s archives before saying it again.
Xenos
@Charity:
Can these people articulate what it is that they are fearful of?
I know some very bright, well educated people who are barking mad when it comes to politics. It is some sort of personality type, the same as you get with people who are just authoritarians (of leftist or rightist flavour) regardless of education, culture, or whatever.
I would consider David Horowitz the taxonomic example – whether leftist or rightist, he is Manichean, and is convinced that the other side is evil and dishonest, as verified in his mind by all manner of circular argument and logic so faulty that is seems to indicate brain damage.
These people seem to have an evolutionary purpose – they can be easily programmed to run out into a fight to protect the larger community they identify with. God save us when they take over the community, though.
magisterludi
It’s the Sarah Palin party now. She’s the one the base prays for, not Mac.
McCain is irrelevant to them.
jcricket
The liberal academic indoctrination they’re supposed to go through must have failed. Time to try it again :-)
On that topic, someone said recently, are more professors liberal because liberals are attracted to that kind of job? Or does being a professor make you more liberal?
I think it’s a little of both – Conservatives disdain academia, so almost no one who is conservative would go into academia for fear of being made fun of (so to speak). And the act of studying reality, unless you are a dumbass, proves that current "progressive" ideas are mostly right on.
(Btw – I’m using progressive/liberal, just like conservative, as used in practice. Which means not the caricature from the Republicans)
Xenos
@jcricket:
I would say such people can be on the left, although here and now they are not in any significant quantity. The right has so aggressively cornered the marked on hateful, violent and power-adoring language and culture that two generations of assholes have found their home there.
jcricket
I dunno. What happened to Savage, Dennis Miller, Zucker – all former lefties (or moderates) who went crazy when they thought terr’ists were a gonna kill them.
You know, it’s funny. I lost friends in the WTC (at Cantor Fitzgerald). One of my relatives was a senior manager in operations for the WTC (worked for the Port Authority). He was in the building that day. He escaped with his life only because (this is not hyperbole) he happened to have a breakfast meeting at the base of the building that day. Otherwise he would have been well above where the planes hit. He lost tons of friends and co-workers, and still has something resembling PTSD.
Yet there’s not a chance in the world he’d vote Republican (he was a "Reagan Democrat" and went back and forth in party loyalty).
If someone who has actually been through a terrorist attack at Ground Zero doesn’t wet the bed and start voting big-daddy-Republican, then it just means those that do are pathetic.
jrg
Actually, there is a strong correlation between knowing your ass from a hole in the ground, and disliking the Republican party. From a recent David Brooks column:
I work in tech, and this reflects what I see. There are some Republican edge cases wandering around the tech world, but they are uncommon.
jcricket
@Xenos: That being my point (and a good summary of the arguments Dave espouses).
At one point, 40 years ago, there was a small cadre of leftist radicals who might have actually been dangerous. Since then, domestic terrorism, on a coordinated scale, has been the province of the right.
And, as this election proves, they actively cultivate these people – remember the stories about Clinton murdering people? The people who sheltered Eric Rudolph? The animus about Waco? Ever listen to Coulter? Limbaugh? Liddy? Savage?
Nothing on the left compares. The farthest left "nut jobs" I know peddle conspiracy theories and talk about moving off the grid to a commune – not violently murdering all of Fox News, or Bush.
McCain’s whole "shtick" where he admonishes the crowd is actually a classic example of stoking the fires, pretending to put them out, so the press will play along and not notice who makes up a large part of the Republican base.
Dennis - SGMM
Guess who refused to appear at the McCain rally mentioned in Michael’s post? Senator Norm Coleman.
SamFromUtah
@jrg: There are some Republican edge cases wandering around the tech world, but they are uncommon.
You must be talking about a different tech world than the one I’ve worked in (I’ve done several different kinds of programming, from video games to credit card handling). Maybe it’s regional, but my experience of non-academic techies is 70% Republican, 29% Libertarian.
Brachiator
@Xenos:
Some people need fear to be their constant companion. It gives their life meaning.
jcricket
I used to work in tech and the "Republicans" were mostly libertarians (or quasi-libertarians). Although I did find out, via Facebook "status messages" that one former colleague is a rabid Republican ("bye by O-biden", "I blame Al Gore for the stock market", etc.). Amazing how anyone’s job that depends on logic can think that way, but whatevs.
I work in law now (although IANAL), and it’s easily more than 5-1 if you adjust for age. Amongst those under 40 it’s probably 10-1 – because Republicans display disdain for the legal profession, judges, rule of law, etc. Lawyers are a pretty serious and proud bunch, and will mostly vote their conscience over raw economic interests.
My law firm, btw, has done amazing yeoman work defending many people against the Bush administration’s rights-stripping tactics. On a pro bono basis. They do this because the rule of law matters, and it should trump short-term political concerns or worries.
jcricket
BTW – about 1/2 of the remaining Hillary hold-outs are now behind Obama. His support amongst self-described/registered Democrats is now like 90%, while McCain’s is something like 5-10% lower amongst self-described Republicans.
So the attacks are "working" if by "working" you mean making it more likely Obama will win :-)
Soma
McCain:
Making George W. Bush looks good since 2007!
harlana pepper
boonagain: I saw Anne Kornblut say this morning that this little ‘don’t be scared of Obama’ moment from McCain is a glimpse of the ‘old McCain.’ I call bullshit on that. It’s McCain’s campaign reacting to the bad press, that is all. How do we know? Just look at how excrutiatingly painful it was for McCain to utter those words. Completely unconvincing. The audience was not buying it, didn’t want to, and won’t, which makes McCain peeps secretly happy, of course. And who knows if the ‘Ay-rab fearing’ folks that got up to speak, prompting this response from McCain, weren’t campaign plants.
AkaDad
I don’t believe we should discriminate against foot-tapping Republicans.
NonyNony
@The Bag of Health and Politics:
I wouldn’t assume that she wasn’t screened. I think she was intentionally picked to let McCain put something out there showing "reasonable Republicans" that he really isn’t encouraging these folks.
He was ready with that answer – even as she was having a hard time getting the question out. I have a hard time believing his campaign didn’t set that up for him.
Mike G
Maybe it’s regional, but my experience of non-academic techies is 70% Republican, 29% Libertarian.
I work IT in an academic institution.
In my office it’s about 80% Dem/progressive, 10% Libertarian and 10% Repig.
ThymeZone
McCain has now accomplished something that an opponent or media couldn’t do: He’s made himself invisible.
Nobody is listening to him any more.
They’re tuning him out the way they’ve tuned out George Bush.
Let him do whatever he wants, at this point, it really doesn’t matter. He has driven away all the voters he needed to attract. All he has left is his 41% of people who think the earth is 6000 years old, Democrats created the mortgage crisis, and Obama is a Muslim. Let him have them.
Comrade Kolkhoznik Jon H
A Paul Reubens-style crash would be fun.
Ned R.
@jcricket: I work in law now (although IANAL)
The very childish and immature part of me read that wrong.
Ned R.
@Comrade Kolkhoznik Jon H: A Paul Reubens-style crash would be fun.
Thank you, no. A vision of John McCain getting his own rocks off in a porn theater is not savory. (A vision of Sarah Palin doing the same causes the world to die.)
Tymannosourus
What was that noise?
Ohh, I’ve just never heard a death rattle before.
The Golux
Soma:
Also:
McCain: Making Rudy Giuliani look like a brilliant campaigner since 2008!
Common Sense
@SamFromUtah:
A 70% Republican majority differs from the general population of Utah how exactly?
Xenos
@ThymeZone:
You still think he is going to get less that 35% ? That would require a lot of republicans to stay home. Morale would have to drop faster than the Dow.
ThymeZone
Eye candy.
Behold, the Palin-Ayers Effect.
It’s a beautiful thing.
ThymeZone
Here’s what I think, Xenos:
1. This site still eats most of my posts, browser doesnt’ matter, word press errors still happen, and once I post and the error message is my reward, my post is gone unless I saved it somewhere and try again. The site looks better but it really doesnt’ work that much better than it used to.
2. Okay, got that off my chest. Meanwhile, I have explained my bet with DougJ a number of times. No, what you said is not what I think. What I think is what I have said, which is basically this:
a) McCain and Obama will split around 94-95% of the total popular vote. Obama will win by at least 6 and as many as 10-11 percentage points. That likely gives McCain somewhere around 41% of the total, plus or minus about 2. I think Johnny has a good chance to beat Goldwater’s sorry total.
b) The bet with DougJ was a best case scenario deal, and an experiment to see where he would bite. He bit at 35%. I don’t expect to win, really, but if I were him, I would keep the money handy, I don’t think it’s that big a stretch of the imagination to get there.
c) An electoral landslide is quite possible, if not likely.
d) DougJ doesn’t talk about the bet any more. He’s worried. He can’t afford to turn the page on $100.
D-Chance.
geez-o-freaking-flip with the editing process!
scarshapedstar
Deep Thought:
John McCain getting to the White House is about as likely as Sonny Corleone getting through the toll booth.
ThymeZone
To say nothing of Casey Kasem.
Whether McCain is, himself, a racist, no way to know at this juncture, but he certainly has given his campaign over to people who have no compunctions about using dog whistle racism to get votes. That is clear, and that is why if you look at Real Clear Politics or Yahoo Election Dashboard today you will see Virginia dumping McCain like yesterday’s bad lunch burrito.
McCain has thrown away his brand and his message, he is now basically just a guy waving his arms and saying Aw Hell, Vote For Me, Dammit!
Those voters who are moved by such an appeal are already signed up. The rest of the voters are shaking their heads and walking away.
ThymeZone
Not for nothing, but have you noticed how many blogs and political websites just don’t work worth a damn these days?
I attribute it to traffic, but Christ on an oyster cracker, waiting for all these broken and slow-ass sites to load or hoping they will work when they do is nerve-wracking.
Does anyone do good software or build good systems any more? Ha ha, it’s a rhetorical question.
Now, I’ll save this post in Notepad in anticipation of this site eating it when I try to post it. My chances are about 30-70 against success.
Error 403
We’re sorry, but we could not fulfill your request for /?p=12178#comment-1063400 on this server.
You do not have permission to access this server.
Your technical support key is: 4469-81dc-dfd9-b1ad
You can use this key to fix this problem yourself.
If you are unable to fix the problem yourself, please contact jgriffincole at gmail.com and be sure to provide the technical support key shown above.
I get this message on EVERY SINGLE POST ATTEMPT today.
Tony J
Well it’s obvious, isn’t it? You give G Gordon Liddy a call, he gets a bunch of guys together who know about this stuff, and then they go snatch Bill Ayers in an unmarked van, use his credit card to buy a gun, drive him to the next McPalin Lynch-Mob Rally, smuggle him in with a bag over his head, wait for Sarah Palin to get the crowd really rilled up so the applause levels are at maximum, then put a couple of shots through her, stuff the gun into Ayers’ hand, pull off the bag, and shout "Oh My God! It’s Bill Ayers! And he’s got a gun!!"
By the time the FBI have finished scraping what’s left of Ayers off the tarmac, the MSM will be 24/7 "Popular Vice-Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin assassinated at election rally – The shooter, believed to be notorious left-wing terrorist linked to the Obama Campaign, was killed at the scene by unarmed but patriotic civillians – Senator John McCain condemns the atrocity and calls on Senator Barack Hussain Obama to hand over those responsible" And all the problems will be yesterday’s news.
And having just watched that video of McCain and Confused Old Racist Lady for the umpteenth time, at no point does McCain say "Obama is not an Arab". He nods and agrees through her saying that she’s read things that make her believe she can’t trust Obama, and it’s only after she tries to ‘explain’ her fear by saying "He’s not, he’s not…………….. He’s an… um…he’s an Arab. He is not…" that he then shakes his head and reaches for the microphone. She says "He’s not?" He keeps on shaking his head, takes back the microphone and explains that, no, he’s not an Arab, he’s just (jumping back to the scripted talking-point he’s been using) a decent family-man and citizen who McCain just happens to have honest disagreements with.
So, pretty clearly, there’s no face-saving separation between what McCain says to the crazy lady and what he directs to the rest of the crazies in the hall. It’s all of a piece. Obama is untrustworthy, and that’s because he’s not ‘something’, but he’s not an Arab, no, he’s a decent family-man, and a citizen.
You don’t have to be a "chucklehead" or someone eager to take "false umbage" to see a bit of casual post-9/11 all-American racism implicit in that statement. You just have to hear it, and ask how it would have been recieved if you replaced "Arab" with "Jew" or "Negro". The answer comes with a SATSQ tag.
And for the record, that crazy old bint was obviously looking for a way to say that she couldn’t trust Obama because of his colour, hence the speed with which McCain took back the microphone. That clip is one N-Bomb away from making all of the 24 Hour News shows, and McCain knew it.
SamFromUtah
@Common Sense: A 70% Republican majority differs from the general population of Utah how exactly?
Somewhat lower, I think. :)
That’s why I said it might be regional.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
What we have here is a failure to communicate!
The Conservative Deflator
McCain’s response to the hideous, mentally retarded battleaxe who called Obama "an Arab" is also very revealing – he said, "No, Ma’am he is a decent family man". The implication being that Arab men are not decent and don’t love and respect their families. My experience suggests most Arab men love and respect their families more than wealthy, white self-absorbed egotists like Grandpa McCain.
David Moisan
Also see today’s Boston Globe.
Reading this, I thought of Kosh from Babylon 5: "Once the avalanche has started, it is too late for the pebbles to vote."
Gregg
Sign this petition if you think McCain should stop talking about Obama and William Ayers…and start talking about the economy instead:
http://www.McCainPetition.com
Gregg
El Kabong
I wouldn’t assume that she wasn’t screened. I think she was intentionally picked to let McCain put something out there showing "reasonable Republicans" that he really isn’t encouraging these folks.
If that was planned, then whoever does the planning could have done so much better at the response part of the plan: "My friends, there are many reasons to not elect Barack Obama, but calling him an Arab is not true and is not one of them. Let’s talk about some that are. He…" yada, yada, yada.
McCain could have skipped the family-man compliment, satisfied (some) critics that he hasn’t addressed his supporters’ racism, AND gotten in a few extra jabs.
Instead, it seemed like a rare moment of thoughtfulness. I almost felt sorry for him.
Almost.