John McCain’s Lame Attempt to Defuse the Crazies

He’s a Muslim terrorist, and we can’t trust him. That’s what the McCain campaign has been trying to tell the American electorate over the past couple of weeks about Barack Obama. I came out early in my indignation of such disgusting tactics, and stand by my question as to McCain’s motivations. It hasn’t been hard to see the connections between terrorism and a Muslim sounding name that the McCain campaign is trying to paint, and now it isn’t hard to see why John McCain made a lame attempt to seem like a halfway decent man. Unfortunately, it’s a ploy.

McCain never denounced the tactic that has been used by himself and the right wing radio hate mongers. He can’t do that. All McCain did was to appear as though he was defusing it. If he had actually meant it, he would have attacked those that are attempting to stoke the fears and anger of the less informed, yet he stood pat in his 10 second ‘he’s an honorable man’ routine. Ten seconds cannot undo the generations of fear ingrained into the minds of the racists, it can’t defuse the bomb planted in the minds of those now convinced that Senator Obama is a Muslim terrorist, ten seconds can’t undo what the McCain campaign has dedicated hours upon hours, and days upon days creating—perverse, irrational hatred.

The mob’s chants and screams do not lie, they are the creation and the intended creation of the campaign’s war of hate. When the Governor Sarah ‘Abuse of Power’ Palin gets up on stage after being introduced by speakers that for consecutive days called Senator Barack Obama ‘Barack Hussein Obama’, and not only let that pass without comment, but forcefully attempted to connect that man now freshly minted in the eyes and minds of the mob as someone who is foreign with the concept of terrorism.

John McCain has even taken it a step further, attempting to tie Michelle Obama in with the concept of terrorism. That’s not only disgusting, but so over the line of decency that I am at a loss to think of any part of John McCain that may be redeemable. You attack not only a good decent man with slanderous and ludicrous lies, but also have the audacity to call his wife one of the most vile things that anyone can be called in post 9/11 America. We know you, John McCain, you don’t shy away from verbally assaulting woman, and in some cases, pushing them against the wall in a senate hallway, as you did to a woman seeking answers for her MIA soldier son.

That woman you assaulted in the Senate hallway had done nothing but tried to get answers to heal her pain, but instead you made the pain worse. With Michelle Obama, you are not only calling her soul into question, but you are making her a target for vigilantes and those with less facilities for reason than a normal citizen. You are having two little girl’s mother targeted, and also their father. Two little girls, innocent and wondrously enjoying life in the company of two great parents, who happen to be great Americans. You are doing this, John McCain. By not calling out those that are doing so more vocally, those that are supposed to be under your direct influence, you are implicitly, and with your accusations against them in ads directly paid for and approved by yourself, explicitly responsible for this situation of hatred and potential violence.

Representative John Lewis, a great civil rights leader and true patriot, a man that you, Senator McCain, said you would seek the counsel of, has today given you counsel. He has called for you to stop your desperate bid at a hateful end of the presidential race. He has given you wise counsel in telling you that

“As one who was a victim of violence and hate during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, I am deeply disturbed by the negative tone of the McCain-Palin campaign.  What I am seeing reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history.  Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse.”

In your most recent book, John McCain, you tell the story of John Lewis, and what an inspiration he is to you. Well, it’s time that you let him inspire you again, Senator. He has called you out for the disgusting, hateful rhetoric that you’ve employed, and you must either comply with his advice, or face the truth of your dishonor not only at the polls, but also in the annals of American history.

Representative Lewis goes on to tell you, and us:

“As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all.  They are playing a very dangerous game that disregards the value of the political process and cheapens our entire democracy.”

Heed this great man’s words, and honor the grace and strength that Representative Lewis has shown in his life by abiding by this. You have no time left to win, John McCain, but you may have just enough time left in the spotlight to right the wrongs that you have committed.