NYT Editorial: McCain-Palin Have Sunk Into "Race-Baiting And Xenophobia"

The New York Times harshly criticized the McCain-Palin campaign in an editorial Wednesday:

It is a sorry fact of American political life that campaigns get ugly, often in their final weeks. But Senator John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin have been running one of the most appalling campaigns we can remember.

They have gone far beyond the usual fare of quotes taken out of context and distortions of an opponent's record -- into the dark territory of race-baiting and xenophobia. Senator Barack Obama has taken some cheap shots at Mr. McCain, but there is no comparison.

...

[Palin's] demagoguery has elicited some frightening, intolerable responses. A recent Washington Post report said at a rally in Florida this week a man yelled "kill him!" as Ms. Palin delivered that line and others shouted epithets at an African-American member of a TV crew.

Mr. McCain's aides haven't even tried to hide their cynical tactics, saying they were "going negative" in hopes of shifting attention away from the financial crisis -- and by implication Mr. McCain's stumbling response.

We certainly expected better from Mr. McCain, who once showed withering contempt for win-at-any-cost politics. He was driven out of the 2000 Republican primaries by this sort of smear, orchestrated by some of the same people who are now running his campaign.

Of McCain's relatively civil debate performance, the paper said:

Ninety minutes of forced cordiality did not erase the dismal ugliness of his campaign in recent weeks, nor did it leave us with much hope that he would not just return to the same dismal ugliness on Wednesday.

Read the whole thing.

Comments

[lstl4]

The fact of the matter is that Palin lied about her involvement in troopergate. All the while she is on the stump discrediting Obama's trustworthiness, she abused her power as Governor of Alaska. This is a matter of trust also. Obama has never been convicted of anything, but now she has. Do we really want A Vice President who may abuse her power again? I find it ironic that if a normal everday citizen did what she did in their job, they would be fired.

[csimmons2k8]

I know (and I'm EXTREMELY proud of him for it) that Obama is staying above the McCain / Palin fray, but I'm sure that the majority of Americans would just LOVE to see Obama debate Palin on national TV, and give her a serious verbal b*tch slapping.

Or better yet, Michelle Obama vs. Sara Palin! She would make Katie Couric look like Lindsay Lohan!

Talk about Celebrity Death Match... ;-)

[joeyfoto]

The NY Times editorial ends: "But surely, Mr. McCain and his team can come up with a better answer to that problem than inciting more division, anger and hatred."

NO, they can't. If they had anything to say they would be saying it. Sadly, their candidate, John McCain, fails --- even at this late hour --- to comprehend the seriousness of the global economic crisis that his polices made possible. The old warrior looks shot-down, beat up and dragged-out. It's been a long hard campaign and he needs a nap... but the polls say he can't take a nap. All we can expect from John McCain is deeper sighs, taller tales and a shorter fuse. The moose-shoo­ting-bimbo­, may improve turnout in the bigot-belt enough to keep a lunatic fringe in congress, but that won't help John. Even Osama couldn't save him now and --- look at him --- John McCain has been shot done before, he knows it.

The sad fact is, Senator McCain got tired of being beaten by the pond-scum of Republican politics, so --- out of a desperate desire to win the presidency --- he hired them. The problem is, all McCain had to sell was his integrity and they gave that away. This is going to be a very long 24 days for John McCain.

[pjburns11]

Remember, John McCain may have no idea what is going on at these rallies. Senility and all.

http://thetruthburns.wordpress.com/2008/09/26/mccains-maverick-left-eye-a-history-of-presidential-infirmity/

[aege8th]

Remember, people, this is how the 3rd Reich started....a charismatic leader appealing to the basest qualities of the most ignorant people -- the uneducated, the xenophobic, those who feel that because of their "pure" heritage, they are somehow entitled to be in charge of the country ( not those "Others!") Same tactics, same type of people This "cheer leader" for the ignorant underbelly of society preaches that it's not only OK, but it's their patriotic duty to take their country back from those Others. (an especially easy message to push when economic times are hard.) Once in power (God forbid!), you put the biggest, meanest bullies into uniform and charge them with policing society, removing people with whom you do not agree (Sarah's known M.O.) This is how it starts...and with people saying, "It can't happen here." It most certainly can, if we do not stop them. There needs to be a hew and cry from EVERYONE -- insist the media report on this and that law enforcement and the justice department investigate these incitements to violence.

[probama2008]

This is so scary, but true. So many people are apathetic, or just blindly believe whatever is fed to them by the right wing, especially the religious right, who are especially dangerous because they make people feel a deep sense of guilt. -If you don't vote like they want you to, you can't possibly be a good christian, and if you're not a good christian, you're not a good citizen, and in jeopardy of going to hell. That's their message, and it's so scary and contributes to the ignorance that McCain/Palin are counting on to win.

[jennafire]

I am so disapointed with John McCain. Call me crazy, but I thought maybe this would be the year that we had a conversation about where we are as a country, and where we're going. I was never going to vote for the guy, but I did have some respect for him. He's not the man I thought he was. Either he believes the crap his campaign is spewing, or he's let himself be bullied by Rove & Co. Either way, he's gone from someone I could live with being President if I had to to someone who would make me want to move if he were elected. It's time for this country to prove that we have risen above the hate and ignorance that his campaign is espousing. I hope for all of us that we can do it.

[kjstjohn]

I woke up this morning to an interesting opinion piece in the local (Atlanta) paper about the risk that Governor Palin is posing to Senator Obama's life. This is a newspaper that normally bends over backwards not to offend its conservative readers so the printing of this article tells you something.

http://www.ajc.com/print/content/printedition/2008/10/09/schultzed.html


Until the election, sign me k"hussein"stjohn

[brandon102]

In light of all of this, I can't understand people who run around saying "America is the greatest country on earth."

I used to think so, and maybe we once were, but look at our landscape. We invade countries not at war with us and depose their leaders at will. NO U.S. citizen is safe from being arrested & held indefinitely without being charged or seeing a lawyer. Our elected officials (and unelected officials) simply ignore subpoenas. ALL of our e-mail & Internet transactions flow through the White House at this point. We have destroyed our economy and are indifferent to the 45 million people with no health insurance. Our government lets the horrors of New Orleans continue as if they had no part creating them or helping this unique city once again thrive. We have nearly destroyed our own military through the terrible judgment of Bush & Cheney, but we elected them. Many citizens have lost their life's savings and their homes, for what those are now worth. We are incredibly zenophobic; I wonder when we'll start building the wall against Canada, as if they'd want to come here. The religious loonies tell us people had dinosaurs as pets 8,000 years ago, can "pray up" a hurricaine when convenient and want to remove all options from a women concerning reproduction, even the pill. And we use racial epithets and smears that could easily turn into violence or worse to elect our president.

Where is the greatness?

[kjstjohn]

Vote for the black man, save the world.

k"hussein"stjohn

[jeffmojo]

What a great day for America! Chris Dodd and Barney Frank got us into this financial disaster and Obama is going to take office just as the Depression hits. The neo-libs will be blamed for generations to come for the darkest days of the 21st century. I love this country! What a great time to be alive!

[exflatlander]

How is your GOP Kool-aid thie morning? Fact: Fannie Mae dates back to 1938 and was a government­-sponsored organization until 1970 when Freddie was created. John McCain voted to deregulate the banking industry in 1998. The bad loans occurred from roughly 2003-2007. Now, hmmmm. Let's see, Which party was in control of both the White House and Congress at that time?? Hmmm. Which candidate stated as late as the convention in August that he was for deregulation? Hmmm. Which party is now blaming home-owners for Wall St's problems?

Oh, for all of you out there that get the "Three Men Who Brought Down Wall Street" email message, Snopes calls it false in its claim that these guys are Obama "top economic advisors." The closest to the truth is that one of them worked on a committee for a couple weeks vetting vice president candidates until his Fannie problems came to light. I'm finding that so far ALL negative internet stuff about Obama has been proven false by Snopes and Fact-check. But Jeff Mojo likes to believe lies.

[ILibertine]

Better to ask where is it greater? There has never been a perfect political/­economic/s­ocial system so far as I know, and every exercise of human nature involves contradictions and imperfections. The greatness, I would suggest, is in the original precepts for this country and in the execution thereof, however imperfect. It is sobering that so many constitutional rights have been endangered by a negligent congress and apathetic electorate, you're right. The greatness, I suggest, is in the flexibility within the system to come back and try to get it better, at least for awhile. The greatness is in the ofttimes difficult in effect to perceive fact that you can vote. The greatness wanes when people convince themselves the system is rigged or that their voice does not matter and tune out - for this is when opportunism sees its golden opportunities.

[Ivygreen]

While we argue over lies and race baiting, here's what is going on behind the curtain.
Back on task folks, check your voter registration and help others do so as well. You may have been removed, especially if you live in a battleground state.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/us/politics/09voting.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

[exflatlander]

No link to any particular party, but mostly battleground states. The rest just happen to be red states. Wanna guess what color the million of disenfranchised voteres in Georgia are? Some "mistakes."

[Bobrobert]

McCain lost his base - the news media???

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:-)

Thanks... that is so sweet.

[EmotionDetector]

I wonder how long it will take for this to cause a noticable dive in the polls for McNotThatOne.

[RatgurlSD]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jltqTRmiVjg&feature=related

A lovely rendition of "Hey Sarah Palin"

[suhud]

Very good and very important NYT editorial. I live in Germany, where this election is very closely watched, and where Obama continues to maintain an 85% nationwide popularity. People here are appalled--and quite disturbed--by this dangerous shift in McCain-Palin tactics. Without exception, everywhere I go, people wish Obama & Biden well, but fear for their safety. In light of world leadership, that says it all.

[RBJR]

LIKE MADONNA WHO HAS LEARNED IT DOES NOT TAKE TALENT TO BE A SUCESS...
JUST CONTROVERSY.

[seanseamour]

We have to take into account that the "race factor" in these elections is estimated by Stanford to cost Obama 6 points -- let us not give way to a false sense of security regarding the outcome -- 6 points is a broader margin that any winning president has had in recent history !!!!!