The Republican War Against Senator Obama

Michelle Obama once called it "the ultimate fear bomb."

I'm writing, of course, about the paranoid, psychopathic behavior we've witnessed over the last two weeks from the Republican Party and its presidential candidates. Be it the fire-eyed rants from the cowardly shrieking eel named Sarah Palin, or the ignorant and naïve witch-hunters in line at various McCain rallies, or the sanctioned Republican Party conspiracy to turn Senator Obama into an Islamic terrorist, we've only begun to scratch the surface of what the far-right is capable of -- in broad daylight no less.

Remember the breathless, tinfoil hat attacks against President Clinton and Senator Clinton during the 1990s? Fun times compared to what's surely on the way if Senator Obama wins this thing. I think we can agree that the last couple of weeks have made the far-right anti-Clinton attacks of the '90s seem quaint by comparison.

Here's this particular Republican fear bomb works. 1) The McCain campaign, the Republican Party and its supporters are systematically spreading the notion that Senator Obama is somehow a terrorist sympathizer -- and therefore a de facto terrorist. 2) America is presently engaged in a shooting war against terrorists. 3) Therefore, by extrapolation, they're allowing their more unhinged followers to imply that we're in a shooting war against Senator Obama.

And we're not just hearing this from the usual wackaloons and hoopleheads, either. This game is quite literally being played by both the legitimate Republican Party, along with the Republican nominees for president and vice president.

It began long ago, however, in that notorious "Who Is Barack Obama?" whisper e-mail and, as if on cue, the thoroughly debunked smears in the e-mail bled out to far-right talkers like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh. In June of 2007, for example, Coulter used an appearance on Hannity & Colmes to say, "I think anyone named B. Hussein Obama should avoid using "hijack" and "religion" in the same sentence." Funny! And she punctuated it with, "Get ready for President Hussein!" This from a woman who wished for the New York Times building to be bombed by terrorists.

Elsewhere, Rush Limbaugh's participation has involved everything from the possibly drug-induced yet deliberate "Osama-Obama" mispronunciation, to his present day and inexplicable "Arab-African" label for the senator's heritage. The truth is that Limbaugh is more "Arab-African" than Senator Obama.

Back in February, FOX News Channel posted a poll question wondering, "Who Is Usama Rooting For?" You can probably guess how FOX News viewers responded. It goes without saying that the point wasn't literally to determine Bin Laden's voting preference, but rather to nefariously link Senator Obama and Bin Laden.

Now, you might be thinking -- yeah, typical FOX News. Not so fast. Here's the very serious former CNN and current ABC News talking head Jeff Greenfield:

Greenfield compared the similarity of Obama's "business casual" clothing to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's "jacket-and-no-tie look." Greenfield concluded the segment by saying: "Now, it is one thing to have a last name that sounds like Osama and a middle name, Hussein, that is probably less than helpful. But an outfit that reminds people of a charter member of the axis of evil, why, this could leave his presidential hopes hanging by a thread."

Odd that we haven't heard from any of these wise men about all of the serial killers, maniacs and assassins who have been named "John," as in "John McCain." For the record, there's John Wilkes Booth, John Hinckley Jr., John Schrank (attempted to kill McCain's hero Teddy Roosevelt), John Wayne Gacy, Paul John Knowles, John Allen Muhammad (DC Sniper terrorist), John Edward Robinson (the Cyber Sex Killer), Gerard John Schaefer (killed 34 women and girls in Florida), John Gotti, John Dillinger and John George Haigh (the UK's 'Acid Bath Murderer').

There was time, you know, when the McCain campaign outright rejected this tactic, most notably when Senator McCain repudiated talk radio host Bill Cunningham's "Hussein" rant last February. But now, with his poll numbers collapsing, it's become a desperate and necessary part of the McCain's schizoid strategem. Now, months later, and just as TPM's Josh Marshall accurately predicted at the time, the McCain campaign is "relying on hundreds of Cunninghams -- large and small."

That leads us to Sarah Palin, who is somehow regarded as fearless and "barracuda-ish" even though she's absolutely terrified to appear in a televised press conference. Quite a pit bull, no? Lobbing shots from a position of safety. Brave of her. Nevertheless, there she was on stage making sure to perfectly enunciate the words "palling around with... domestic! terrorists!" With this prepared remark, the Straight Talk Express officially jumped the median and landed squarely in the twisted, lunatic fringe world of Limbaugh, Coulter and Cunningham.

At no other time has this wicked transformation from maverick to maniac been more obvious than when Senator McCain himself literally quoted the title of the original Andy Martin whisper e-mail. McCain, speaking to his supporters last week, looked directly into the television cameras and spoke the words, "Who is Barack Obama?" Talk about a dog whistle for every paranoid hoople who received that whisper e-mail.

And today, on the heels of repeated outbursts of "kill him" and "off with his head" at various McCain campaign rallies, the Sacramento County Republican Party website was forced to remove a graphic that links Senator Obama to Osama Bin Laden and demands that the Illinois senator and Democratic nominee for president -- and not the al-Qaeda leader -- be waterboarded. Waterboarded! And Senator McCain has audacity to suggest that Congressman John Lewis's statement was the worst thing he's ever heard? Seriously?

Yet as if trapped on the surface of some kind of grotesque Mobius Loop of Crazy, Senator McCain has repeatedly promised that in tonight's final nationally televised presidential debate he intends to bring up William Ayers -- hence perpetuating this dark, insane plot to turn one of our generation's most inspiring and promising leaders into a terrorist -- and therefore someone we are at war with -- someone who our most vocal political leaders have pledged to kill or capture.

So where's the establishment press in all of this? Rather than joining together and outting this tactic for what it is -- the inadvertent fomenting of an assassination attempt -- they're preoccupied with the political theater of it all. Is this good for McCain? Is the tactic working? Will it swing the polls back in McCain's favor? Why should we be surprised, though? After all, early this year, TIME Magazine's very serious Mark Halperin posted a series of recommendations for the McCain campaign in preparation for the race against Senator Obama. Among them: "6. Allow some supporters to risk being accused of using the race card when criticizing Obama." Smart! But the most obnoxious item on the list was number 11:

Emphasize Barack Hussein Obama's unusual name and exotic background through a Manchurian Candidate prism.

And there you go. The past, sadly enough, appears to be prologue. Hang on tight.

BobCesca.com -- GO!

Pre-order my book One Nation Under Fear: Scaredy-cats And Fear-Mongers in the Home of Brave. With a foreword by Arianna Huffington.

 

 

 

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Comments

[Goodcarver]

05:49 PM on 10/21/2008

Remember, as they say in Chicago: Vote early and vote often. LOL

[Whinger]

05:06 PM on 10/19/2008

The Extreme Republican dirty war against Obama / Biden has shocked and appaled many true Republicans to the extent they feel the need to put the country first and vote Obams / Biden.
These true Republicans know they have a civil war on their own hands, for they must wrest control of their party from the destructive grip of GOP extremists who have all but ruined the county financially and left its reputation in tatters. They see the election of Obama / Biden as a means to repair the latter two points, but actually expelling the extemists, those who preach racial hatred and division shall take a long time, if ever. A third party has been put forward as a doomsday option if they fail in their task!

[bdaved]

03:56 PM on 10/18/2008

In the 1990's the Republans attacked the Clintons from a position of strength. There's a big difference between the Republan position after the 1994 elections and what it's going to be after the 2008 elections. I hope.

[luziannagirl]

11:55 AM on 10/18/2008

It's probably also no coincidence that some of the radio evangelists are spewing out their "Beware the Antichrist" sermons again.

One guess as to which emerging charismatic world leader their descriptions are designed to resemble...

[billw8017]

12:34 PM on 10/17/2008

I have never known the Republican Party to be temperate. In 1952, they spoke of the five Democratic administrations just past as "twenty years of treason," and Eisenhower's first head of the Justice Department said he would be going through the files from Yalta and Potsdam to identify the high level traitors. Eisenhower, himself, so resented attacks on General George Marshall, Truman's Secretary of State and a mentor to Eisenhower, that during the election campaign he refused to share a stage with two Indiana Congressmen.

And, this would be one point: You don't have to be crazy to be a Republican, but the party is sort of flaming out ever since the New Deal days. Whether you think of Nixon, Reagan, Bush or Gingrich, every win for the Republicans has been a loss for the country.

[mitch4822]

12:30 PM on 10/17/2008

McCain and Palin appeal to the baseless of their party. Just looking at them and the crowds they incite, and what the crowds say, show the whole world that America is a country of illiterates...
who pretend we have to race problems!!!! Really!
IHere is Sarah palin deliberately smearing and lying avout Sen. Obama', calling him a terriorist...
and her supporters call out, Kill him, bomb him, off with his head...and they can't see that this is wrong???
Then comes Sen. MCain in the last debate, defending these people at his rallies.
God help America.!
The Republicans don't have to pretend any more: the race baiting and hatred have finally come out... Grandpa McCain and Sarah McBarbou brought it to the surface in such sinister ways.
No wonder very little minority joins their party.
I see the Repub Party as a trecherous cell, and the ones who continues to perpetuate race problems in America. America will never ever get rid of race hatred because the Republican Party and others like them continue to perpetuate white superiority.
The disease of prejudice still holds them captive. That is why they want to destroy a good man who has the right to also run for president jsut as they have.
I will never ever vote again for any Republican for office - whether my state and district representatives, much less, for president.
Shame on the Repub Party for distributing lying pamplhets to smear a good American.

[MagisterLudi]

11:04 AM on 10/17/2008

Remember the breathless, tinfoil hat attacks against President Clinton and Senator Clinton during the 1990s?
I also remember the the breathless, tinfoil hat attacks against Senator Clinton in 2008 by people other than Republicans ( hint).

[mitch4822]

12:03 PM on 10/17/2008

Hey, Bob: I am thankful for this article. However, it makes me sick to my stomach that the Republicans have so much race hatred in them. No wonder very little minority joins their party.
They are vicious and ruthless; they don't care about the people, they only care about entrenched power to keep the rest of America down and destroy our economy!
The Obama people have a lot of hard work ahead of them.
Eve now, the Repub hatemongers are distributing a 4-page pamphlet in S. Carolina and Nevada with vivid pictures of Sen. Obam and Bills Ayres, that "Obama is a friend of a domestic terriorist who bombed the Pentagon...etc."
What is scary stuff, indeed. The lengths these Republicans will go to destroy a good man who is
exercising his constitutional right to run for office as they too, have a right to run for office.
Do we hear good Republicans damning these cruel and hateful acts by their Republicans? No - not to my knowledge.
I will never vote for a Republican President, senator, congressman, ever again!!!!

[gigs]

11:07 PM on 10/16/2008

thank you for writing this - i have been feeling more and more helpless everyday as i watched and heard this republican conspiracy unfold - i cannot for the life of me understand the silence of the news shows in the face of this constant and spurisous onslaught against sen. obama.

[prettycreatures]

10:45 PM on 10/16/2008

and why is more not being made of the fact that during the debate last night McCain completely condoned everything that has happened at his rallies? He repeatedly criticized Obama for not repudiating Lewis' remarks when what Lewis said was true and was relatively tame compared with the remarks that have been made at McCain's rallies. what I heard in the debate was McCain equating ads attacking his health care plan as being just as hurtful and negative as the personal and character based attacks he, his running mate, his campaign and his supporters have made against Obama. Then he went on to support and condone everyone that has been to his rallies and / or has taken part in these ugly, hateful acts. shameful. McCain should have been repudiating Sarah Palin's remarks and those of his supporters, but instead he was asking for sympathy from the ones he has wronged. Yes, we're very sorry you're such a pathetic, narcissistic, desparate old man.

[freedomthrutruth]

01:17 PM on 10/19/2008

McCain's condoning the statements of his supporters during the debate is purely a political move to strengthen his support among racists and hate-mongers. He would be stupid to publicly repudiate them on national television even though such statements suggest the existence of vast psychosis or severe mental illness among the millions that constitute his base.

[alexiscarr]

10:15 PM on 10/16/2008

The repubs don't confuse voter registration fraud with election fraud, they just throw the bone to the right while they steal elections to the left. It's nothing but a smoke screen. Along those lines, how is it that people don't know the repubs are the party of the South - the old dominion? These guys took over the republican party when the dems embraced equal rights and ever since have been pulling the wool over everybody's eyes. To be sure, the republican party hate the little guy - they control the money, war machine and voting mechanism of this country - does this sound like the old South lost the war? I don't think so.

[marilyn1227]

09:19 AM on 10/17/2008

We need to do away with Electoral College and let the people's vote count. I hate the idea that I am deemed incapable of casting my vote! That way of electing a president and VP might have been needed when people were not informed, but now we have TV, radio, internet, newspapers, magazines, etc. I pray that Obama wins by a landslide so there will be no question as to his right to the presidency. The Republicans are dredging up old feelings in some white people that if you are black, you are not to be trusted; that you are not patriotic, that you are a terrorist, etc. What a sick bunch of characters! Enough! We have had enough of this kind of rhetoric! It is extremely un-christian to act in this manner!

[freedomthrutruth]

01:42 PM on 10/19/2008

I like what Obama and his people have decided to do about this. Obama's chief legal strategist in a letter to the Justice Department is requesting the appointment of a Special Prosecutor to investigate those who are calling the kettle black and who are pretending that the democrats are engaged in massive voter fraud. How can these criminal Republicans accuse the democrats of voter fraud when little or no evidence exists to substantiate their claims? How is it possible that they are allowed to manipulate law enforcement to investigate mostly bogus claims? We see here an unholy alliance between the Republican party and law enforcement, particularly Republican prosecutors who do the bidding of the Republican party despite the virtual absence of concrete, irrefutable evidence. It appears that members of the Republican party are now engaged in malicious investigation efforts that likely won't bear much fruit. Of course, as you mention, these tactics divert attention from subtle Republican maneuvers to commit vote fraud themselves. Republican operatives stole both the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, and they will doubtlessly use similar methods to steal the upcoming
election.

[oceanbreeze]

10:01 PM on 10/16/2008

Folks, we must all try hard to give this administration a parting gift.

Write your congressional representative and ask them to resurrect D. Kucinich's articles of impeachment after the elections (and to add the vp as well). It will not make any tangible difference in what we get from now until Jan 20, but, for the sake of correctly annotating the historic record, I think we owe it to future generations to do this. Please seriously consider this.

I know history is the last thing on people's minds these days, but think about it -- the least we can do is tell future generations that we were eventually able to put these people a fitting treatment for all they perpetrated upon the entire world.

[bowserbois]

12:28 AM on 10/18/2008

I think bushie would pardon himself and everyone else before he left if he knew he was getting impeached. Is it possible to do it after jan 20th?

[AnalyzeIT]

08:39 PM on 10/16/2008

In her acceptance speech, Palin claimed that Pegler had praised Truman when he said “We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty and sincerity and dignity.” Rich notes that “There were several creepy subtexts at work here.”

he first was [Palin's] choice of Truman. Most 20th-century vice presidents and presidents in both parties hailed from small towns, but she just happened to alight on a Democrat who ascended to the presidency when an ailing president died in office.

But this is really the important thing:

Surely Palin knows no more about Pegler than she does about the Bush doctrine. But the people around her do, and they will be shaping a Palin presidency.

That they would inject not just Pegler’s words but spirit into their candidate’s speech shows where they’re coming from.

Rick Davis, the McCain campaign manager, said that the Palin-sparked convention created “a whole new Republican Party,” but what it actually did was exhume an old one from its crypt.

NEWT GINGRICH - Caught on tape.

Palin not ready, (prepared) for Katie Couric interview – but preferred by Newt over Obama to be President.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luwqRA0GWGc

The agenda is to get Palin in the white house.

OBAMA-BIDEN

[sharonrj50]

10:03 AM on 10/17/2008

EVEYONE KEEPS TALKING ABOUT PALIN AND HER QUALIFICATIONS.

LET ME ASK YOU ONE QUESTION AND I CONTINUE TO GET THE SAME ANSWER.

WHAT ARE OBAMA'S QUALIFICATIONS?

WHAT IS ONE ACCOMPLISHMENT THAT THIS MAN HAS EVER DONE.?

I BELIEVE IF YOU LOOK AT GOV. PALIN'S QUALIFICATION
AND OBAMA'S QUALIFICATIONS WELL YOU DECIDE

AND IF YOU CANNOT NAME ONE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF OBAMA THEN WHY ARE YOU VOTING FOR THIS MAN.

WHAT ABOUT HIS HISTORY DO YOU KNOW WHAT HE DID IN CHICAGO, WHAT IS HIS STAND ON TAXES, ABORTION, FOREIGN POLICY ETC.

DOES NO ONE HAVE A CONCERN THAT OBAMA IF ELECTED THEN YOU HAVE NANCY PELOSI, HARRY REID THAT WILL BE CALLING THE SHOTS

DOES ANYONE CARE THAT IT WAS CHAIRMAN CHRISTOPHER DODD, CHAIRMAN BARNEY FRANK, OBAMA, NANCY PELOSI, HARRY REID THAT WAS THE CAUSE OF THIS FINANCIAL CRISIS AND THEIR TAKING MONEY FROM FANNIE AND FREDDIE AND FRANK'S HAVING AN AFFRAID WITH ONE OF FANNIE'S MANGEMENT BUT I GUESS THAT IS OK. THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY TOOK MONEY TURNED A BLIND EYE AND THE WORST FINANCIAL CRISIS SINCE THE 70'S I HAVE HEARD PEOPLE TALK ABOUT THE CRASH BUT CHECK OUT DURING JIMMY CARTER'S ADM.
SO I AM AMAZED THAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE WILLING TO TAKE SOMEONE AT THEIR WORD AND NOT CHECK IT OUT AND FIND THE TRUTH. NOT THE NEWS MEDIA BUT YOURSELF GO TO THE RECORD OF OBAMA GO TO NEWS HIS FORMER DISTRICT TAXES WILL BE RAISED THEY WILL NOT DRILL

[blah7]

11:43 AM on 10/17/2008

Hey Sharon,
Do you know that Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, was a lobbyist for? None other than Fannie Mae, and was actually on record, writing "[Fannie and Freddie] are subject to an innovative and stringent risk-based capital stress test," Davis wrote. "The toughest in the financial services industry."
Another adviser, Charlie Black, was a lobbyist for Freddie Mac.
Maybe YOU should take a look at the record. Everyones hands are dirty on this...
Call a spade a spade...

[mitch4822]

12:06 PM on 10/17/2008

Check his website on his policies and you wil l see what he has done. You sound like a hateful Republican, you nitwit.
Your Hatemongers can't stand to see a minority excel. Shut up.

[gevan]

07:56 PM on 10/16/2008

Pretty sure I've seen Greenfield on the TV with the jacket and no tie look. What could THAT mean?

[urthsong]

07:55 PM on 10/16/2008

It is critical that everyone vote. Go to the polls completely prepared to document who you are and where you live. Millions of votes, mostly for Obama/Biden and progressives running for Congress will be lost by fraud, hacking and simply throwing away the votes. There must be a huge vote spread to make up for the losses.

[wrabbitt]

07:51 PM on 10/16/2008

It is a very good thing that in 1776 that the then fledgling government called the United States, didn't have the sometimes moronic ,off center press to deal with. Give me liberty or give me CNN!