Playing with Matches: John McCain's Game Plan

In a recent email a friend asked: "How concerned are you about the dirt being hurled [in the presidential campaign]? It's getting rough out there... politics as usual or something darker and more dangerous to the fabric of our country?"

The same day I read Dana Milbank's column in The Washington Post, in which he reported on a Sarah Palin swing through Florida. A couple of items in that column caught my attention. One was the observation that:

"Palin's routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy."

Later, Milbank recounted Palin's now standard riff on Barack Obama's alleged ties to 1960s radical William Ayers, to which the crowd reacted with the predictable boos. Much more disturbing was this anecdote: "'Kill him!' proposed one man in the audience." The reader is left to wonder whether the nutcase was threatening Ayers or Obama; regardless, Ms Palin, her political benefactor, and his operatives have led us into very dangerous territory.

America has a glorious -- but far from spotless -- history. Slavery, the Civil War, Jim Crow and later de facto segregation have left the worst scars, but there have been other ugly, damaging chapters, as well.

The "Know Nothing" movement of the mid-19th century, with its nativist, anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic sentiment was vicious and horribly divisive, as was the "Red Scare" of the 1920s. Individual demagogues have emerged periodically to inflame the sentiments of large numbers of Americans; they have included Father Charles Coughlin in the 1930s, Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s, and George Wallace in the 1960s. Low wattage pretenders, such as David Duke, pop up every once in a while, but they have largely been at the margins of the political process.

However, in John McCain and Sarah Palin, we are now confronted with a new and more troubling phenomenon: a major party presidential campaign which appears to be predicated on the belief that American voters will be motivated more by fear than by hope, that suspicion will trump information, that ignorance is more endearing than substance, and that bigotry will triumph over acceptance.

I tell myself -- and others -- that the negativity won't work -- not this time. I assure friends and associates that racism, while still present in the American psyche, is on the wane -- look, after all, at the many idols of pop culture, the respect afforded people like Colin Powell, Tiger Woods' transcendent popularity, an expanded black middle class, workplace and social integration, and the noticeable increase in blended families (including my own), as examples to support my contention.

But then I read about the slur directed at a black cameraman in a Florida campaign rally, and I become far less sure of my opinion. I watched Tuesday night's debate, and I winced as John McCain referred to his opponent as "that one", and I wondered if it was merely a discourteous goof, or something more sinister -- a signal, even.

I study poll results and observe focus groups which convince me that voters are sick of the negativity that characterizes most modern political campaigns, that they are disillusioned by the silly "tit for tat" that too often passes for political debate. I pay attention as the citizenry tells us that they have had it with the lack of civility in our public discourse. But then I watch in total discouragement as the candidate for vice president of one of the major parties links an opponent to "domestic terrorism." And I shudder at the memory of a poster that was displayed in Dallas, Texas in November, 1963, one that featured a photograph of JFK, and the message "Wanted for Treason".

I believe that we are, by an large, an educated people, but then I see "Jay Walking" on "The Tonight Show," read about how our students score on geography, history and civic exams, and encounter people who definitely should know better who think that Obama is a Muslim (if he were, so what?). I watch and listen with total incredulity as "serious" candidates for public office tell us that they don't believe in evolution. As a result, I begin to doubt our collective national IQ, and I wonder if we can ever adequately educate the masses.

So to my friend I say, with sadness to be sure, that what we are seeing is "politics as usual", but turned a couple of notches worse. But to myself I think, she may be right. There may, in fact, be something "darker and more dangerous" going on. I realize that I will be tormented by these doubts until the votes are tallied late on November 4th or early on the 5th, wondering, worrying, tugged in different directions by my hopes for the future versus my knowledge of the past.

Comments

[KerFuFFler]

Why did you remove all mention (from Oct 12 and 13) of that republican woman from Minnesota who sent out the 400 flyers of bogus, inflammatory info? I see the need to keep her name out of it, but not the rest of the story.

[KerFuFFler]

Why did you remove all mention (from Oct 12 and 13) of that woman from Minnesota who sent out the 400 flyers of bogus, inflammatory info? I see the need to keep her name out of it, but not the rest of the story.

[ObjectiveRealist]

I understand your concerns, but the decay in the quality of the McCain campaign is simply the result of Obama's enormous intellectual superiority, and McCain's poor temperament. What I mean is that Obama has better ideas -- across the board. The chasm is more apparent in finance, which even McCain admits he doesn't understand, Obama is also smarter about dealing with Iran -- rationally. It's not that the United States is so divided, it's just that the GOP chose badly and sent a horribly unqualified candidate against an amazingly qualified one. If the GOP had the collective intelligence to select Ron Paul as their candidate, we would all have the benefit right now of the most incisive observations about the United States economy, on a daily basis. But their focus groups and polling and lobbyists told them Ron Paul does not appeal to "the center." They completely overlooked the fact that he appeals to the intellect, and that all of us have one even though some don't exercise it as often as we should.

[Chillinout]

McCain, Palin and all of their surrogates refuse to take responsibility for getting the crowd riled up. Instead they blame Obama.

Don't they get that no one in their right mind believes that dribble coming out of the McCain camp.

[Pacojam]

I believe most americans ARE evolving into more tolerant and thoughtful people (no thanks to the Limbaughs and Hannitys of the world). Yet, of course there will always remain a percentage of people who are intolerant and fearful of others.

The country is moving in the right direction.

[Annieke]

Even from afar, as in The Hague, the Netherlands, I share your fear and your worries.

Let's hope that the melting pot that is the United States will be just like that again after November 4, and that all kinds of groups from all kinds of backgrounds merge again into one truly United States of America once the hate, the bigotry and the fear-sowing Republicans are overwhelmingly been voted out of office.

It is time for the people in the US and all over the world to look at the problems we are facing in light of the global economic crisis and challenge them together instead of smearing someone for past acquaintances and vague relations.

I hope the majority of the people in the US will share your views and Obama's vision of the future.

Good luck!

[ReneeZ]

Here's another reaction from The Hague, Holland. :) Thanks for your excellent post, Mr. Francis.

As far as racial prejudices are concerned, I definitely believe that America has changed a lot in a positive sense, and I'm quite confident Barack Obama will be elected. Of course there are still intolerant elements in society. And these people are as scary as they are scared themselves. Hate mongers live by absolute truths and will not accept that society is a dynamic phenomenon subject to change all the time. Based on irrational feelings they think their values are threatened. And, in the case of the Rep campaign, somewhat smarter people manipulate them to their advantage, profit from their susceptibility to fear everything that they don't know or understand, everything that's different from what they are used to...

As frightening, sinister and objectionable their hateful, racist and intolerant reactions during the GOP rallies may be, we shouldn't forget that those are expressed by a small minority of the American people. Those Wallace and Goldwater days won't return, I'm pretty sure of that.

[FaceYourFears]

Les, excellent piece...

[BeltwayBette]

How can you tell when Palin and McCain are lieing? Their mouths are moving.

Country first? Which country? Alaska?

WHO IS THE REAL SEN. JOHN MCCAIN?

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain

WHO IS THE REAL ALASKA GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN?

www.mudflats.wordpress.com

[apoyo]

This isn't "politics as usual." We shouldn't kid ourselves. This, unfortunately, is sinister. How can you be so ambitious as to want to win at all costs, even to ripping apart the fabric of the country.

[Searchlight1968]

The question here is...
Why are we allowing these kind of actions stand?
Why aren’t Americans standing up against these Witch Hunt tactics of McCain and Palin?
It is only the very "fringe" level of our society that could be brought to believe Palin and McCain’s accusations,- and unfortunately, that very same element would be the ones to try and carry out something as crazy as what has been yelled out at the McCain rallies.
( Kill-Him).
Remember my friends, these are the actions of a sitting United States Senator…
This has all been, - as the ad’s state - “approved by John McCain”…

[DebbieinPhx]

Agreed. And what we're seeing is only the tip of the iceberg as far as their insidious efforts to start a race war in hopes of gaining the White House. HuffPo ran it yesterday, but evidently the woman from the McCain rally who though Obama was a Muslim had read her "facts from a McCain/Palin mailer. It evidently lays out the case for every hatemonger, fearful, race baiting epithet they've been saying on stage and THEN some. I emailed every major MSM and asked them when they were going to start DOING their freaking JOBS. Here's an excerpt from that letter:

According to Gayle Quinnell of Shakopee, MN, the Minnesota branches of McCain’s campaign have been mailing HUNDREDS of fear mongering, racist hate mail through out the state for weeks. In her own words, she volunteers in Burnsville, MN’s McCain campaign HQ and she has personally mailed out over 400 of these letters herself, to people whose names she gleaned from the phone book. She said the letters explained that Barack Obama was a Muslim and had ties with terrorists and that after learning this she felt compelled to work hard to “warn others” of the danger Barack Obama posed to the country.

Here's a link to every MSM email:
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=111

[JJaycee]

I totally agree. Where are the Secret Service agents? Why aren't they at least removing those who threaten Senator Obama? Bigger, still, is why don't McCain or Palin have the GUTS to tell these "people" that violence isn't the answer and that threats like these won't be tolerated?

"Country First" my butt. McCain would rather lose the country than lose the election.

McCain, in his book, Faith of our Fathers, says, "I never knew I loved America until I almost lost her."

Why isn't this getting bad press? Isn't this UNPATRIOTIC?????

[SeenItBefore]

We were out of the country when GWB took the election in 2004.

Sitting over dinner we looked at our guests and had to admit to the people at our table that it would be apparent to the world that 2000 was no accident. The American voters had an opportunity to correct their mistake and chose to reinforce it.

We offered to pay for dinner as retribution, as we felt we were part, ipso facto, of the destruction of a world order. We were to discover no one hated Americans, they hated our government. And we continued our journey back to our homeland, hoping and voting for better... Lateeda, Lateeda, Lateeda!

[doctordoubt]

We, too, were out of thecountry at that time, and at dinner with friends, who by the way, speak very little English, and were asked how we could permit a second term for the admistration that allowed nine one one to happen. not surprisingly, we were at a loss for words. We returned the day before the election, voted, and realized we should have stayed where we were. What a terrible end to a great vacation.

[cylindar]

What you are saying has already been apparent for the last eight years. The public voted for Bush twice. If you could not see the writing on the wall then you would have to been nearly blind. The next step is the Palin thing with its beefed up rhetoric that is inteneded to inflame. We also saw it in the over zealous Gingrich and other right wing and very questionable types. There is something terribly wrong with Palin. Her appeal to the beer drinkers of america is especially frightening. If that is her constituency she should go to work for a brewery.

[Persimmon2]

(Previous comment not finished before it disappeared) Ayres was on the board of the Annanbergs, the very core of the Republican Party. Is McCain also rejecting the Annanberg vote for him because of their connections with Ayres?
McCain's real character also seems to show thru in the debates. At the previous debate he was asked by the moderator to talk to each other. Obama would turn to McCain but McCain would not look at Obama nor would he talk to Obama when he was speaking even though Obama was looking at him. He is a disgrace to my Americanism. At this last debate he referred to Obama as "that one". How could anyone in their right mind vote for one soooooooooo discriminating in 2008 for the most important job our country has to offer?

[LiarLiarIraqsOnFire]

Republican Party Cookbook - Middle-Eastern Mud

combine 1 over-cooked 'Southern Strategy'

with 1 heapin' helpin' of Post-9/11 McCarthyism

add the blood of patriots and innocents

toss in chunks of red meat

leaven with a global financial crisis

stir with a wooden cross

bring to a slow-rolling boil

wrap yourself in the flag and fling the mixture at the ravenous masses

Bon Apetit America.

[egal]

Well, we need to utterly delegitimize lying in politics, for starters, at least lies so obvious, flagrantly known to be lies, and dangerous as those in which Palin an McCain engage.

We need to arrest those who engage in criminal activities--those at the top should be held to STRICTER standards, not given breaks for destroying thousands of lives but stripped of their authority, their jobs, their pay, their assets, and everything else that coddles them but should not be left to a federal offender.

We need to improve our education system while at the same time demolishing the lies that cosset so many extremist and supremacist beliefs especially in certain rural areas.

I think Obama will be fine because most of us are decent and rational.

But at this point, yes, the public has a lower IQ than you could possibly imagine. Those of us old enough to vote are already ruined, either capable of rational thought and changing our minds given evidence of the necessity, or we're closed-monded, insular, fearful, hateful, and too stupid to believe the truth because we prefer our self-aggrandizing, dark fantasy lives.

The cowards who act the way McCain-Palin crowds are acting represent everything America should--must--not be, and we had better make sure our country takes proper care of its next generations if they're going to have minds cultivated to accept facts and others' opinions and a reality that disproves their beliefs.

[darker]

Republican frat-brat propaganda producers supplied McCain and Palin with divisive and repulsive
lies and fraudulent accusations. NO MORE FRAT BRATS ANY MORE who damaged America.

No more years for incompetent, corrupt Republicans. WE CAN'T AFFORD THEM.
They're too expensive, cannot govern, and they are corrupt.

VOTE OBAMA-BIDEN 2008