Stop the Presses!! McCain Reveals a Little Humanity!

John McCain may have finally re-discovered a sliver of his humanity. It's too late, of course, and his candidacy was doomed anyway because of the depression of 2008 but for a brief moment the old bird looked like normal a human being.

He has looked off his rocker, to put it mildly. But twice yesterday, he looked (dare I say it?) moral.

When one of the yahoos at a campaign stop expressed the anger and ignorance that McCain and his campaign have provoked over the past week, saying he was "afraid" of an Obama presidency, McCain said that Obama, "is a decent person and a person you do not have to be scared (of) as President of the United States."

And then later, somebody's mean old gramma called Obama an "Arab." McCain stopped her short, "No, Ma'am. No, Ma'am," he said. "He's a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues."

Watch it below:

Just as important as his words was the look on McCain's face. Embarrassment, guilt, remorse, a sense of shame at what he has become? Certainly a tone of humility. His whole manner of speaking changed.

Of course, his campaign didn't stop running their racist TV spots. Anybody who denies that the McCain campaign's tactics aren't racist and playing to the latent racism inherent in the Republican party, is either kidding themselves or are simply Republicans.

As much as we've grown to hate everything the McCain campaign stands for, these two moments today make me wonder if McCain has re-discovered his soul.

Probably not, but it was fascinating, a rare glimpse of an attempt to salvage some part of him that he had sold to the devil.

I'm happy it's too late. The devil is getting his due and McCain will rightfully be reviled by history for embracing the radical right of his party. But for a couple of minutes I felt sorry for him and his brief moment of confession.

Listen to Tom and fellow Huffingtonposter Art Levine's talk show Thursdays live at 2:30 PT HERE. . All shows archived.

Comments

[GiggidyGeshmoygen]

it is total BS that McCain gets any moral "credit" for responding to the old bag that called Obama an "arab" --- he was shaking his head (with his trademark rictus grin) in total agreement with her "i don't trust him........." up until she got to the word "arab", at which point

HE HAD NO CHOICE ! ! !

he would have been (even more finely ground) political dogmeat if he had not corrected, on camera, the lie his party and his campaign have been spreading for nearly two years .............

[hydeseek]

This is the ounce of decency that first earned McCain the maverick moniker.

He's been listening to advisers, spin doctors, and trying to play this new style of obliteration politics wherein you not only point out the flaws of your opponent but paint them as worse than the devil himself.

We've seen glimpses of his decency, but that may be his undoing. Now the GOP faithful, the bloodthirsty ignorant barbarians are confused. " Mongo not kill sheriff???"

Perhaps this loss in the upcoming election will be a step on the road to decency for them, rather than an elephant graveyard.

[blood1]

If McCain taps down ALL comments and ads posted by ALL HIS GOP campaign surrogates, then I'll consider kudos...until then, he is just attempting to wash his hands and appear clean at the 3rd debate. If that does not occur, then it demonstrates his inability to lead a campaign...but I am supposed to believe that he can lead a country. Nope, just don't believe it....and I am not even from Missouri (show me!).

[tompoe]

McCain's moment of decency was nothing more than cautioning the audience to hold their tongues while he was in the room. Decency would require interrupting his crash and burn strategy. It's not happening. In fact, it is accelerating.

[Saidas]

McCain should receive props for doing the right thing and what he should have been doing all along? His campaign doesn't happen without him and he approves the whole nasty message. He's a tough 'ole bird and nobody is going to tell him what to do.

I'm affraid that the nastyness isn't going to end with his defeat. The "win at all costs" mindset will continue and the Reps will go after Obama from day one like they did with Bill Clinton. I do hope however, that they will stop being Republicans and start being Americans first and work at getting our country back together. I know...wishful thinking.

[klondiker]

Humanity, my a$$.

McCain made these comments because he was FORCED to make them. A lot of prominent people - including Republicans and Democrats - have come out and said that those hate-filled rallies are unacceptable and that McCain is really on dangerous ground there. I imagine he got more than a few phonecalls from people like John Kerry, etc, saying, "Hey, you need to tone it down."

Besides, the rallies were actually getting kind of scary. They were dangerously close to inciting riots, or worse, an attempt on Senator Obama. If anything like this had happened, McCain would get the blame for creating an environment in which this was made possible.

[JRsNana]

So, after weeks of the "You don't know the REAL Barack Obama" show starring that cuddlesome twosome John and Sarah, he finally mumbles something about "citizen" and "decent" and that's supposed to be the end of it??!! All those white people yelling "kill him" and "terrorist" and suddenly, all is supposed to be forgiven? The most telling thing was them BOOING him for having the audacity to suggest that his running mate was "decent". They have whipped these people into a total frenzy of hate which I find scary beyond belief (and must have the Secret Service absolutely panicked) and now he thinks two words of truth are going to stop it. I doubt it. This is the real meaning of the phrase "words have consequences." I hope they're ready to deal with that, but listening to Sarah Palin as I write this, I know that they aren't. She's doing the same old "who is Barack Obama?" routine (what - they haven't had time to write her latest a new hit piece?) This is only going to get worse. Thanks John McCain, for showing everyone exactly what the Republican party really stands for.

[SpoxLogic]

What was just as interesting was the woman's reaction when McCain started saying "No. No."
She was like incredulous. As if McCain ahd just debunked everything she had been hearing from the Limbaughs of the world.
It was a wonder that her head didn't start spinning from the conflicting info that had suddenly been introduced.

[wahooligan]

Gonna disagree with you there. She was more dumfounded. She wasn't being stubborn in her assertions of Obama, she more dumbfounded that McCain backhanded the assertion. She was more like, "No?"

But you can see that since McCain's been sending so many mixed messages, it's logical why this woman was surprised to hear McCain disagree with her--all she hears from Fox News and campaign ads is that Obama is a dangerous radical.

That being said, the woman will find another scurrilous reason to vote against Obama and cast her ballot for McCain. There's plenty of mud in the Rethuglican bucket to feast on.

[CabaretArtist]

It's too bad he picked Little Mama Moose instead of a dignified Rethug woman like Kaye Bailey Hutchinson, Olympia Snowe (sp?), etc. Women who've earned their stripes...not sent their husbands out to bully them for her. I was thankful to see the old Pop Pop ... not the angry Mr. Wilson. But, again, it's way too late and Little Mama Moose is dragging him into the Abyss.

[Miravanguild]

He should be ashamed... He looked like a little boy who just wet his pants as my father used to say.. But the horse has already left the barn, and what he and Palin have done, cannot be undone to quote Lady Macbeth.. They gave some an excuse other than race not to vote for Obama and they are going to cling to it..

[kapo]

I see it differently Tom. It is just a game. McCain started the attacks in anticipation of the Branchflower Troopergate report. He spends a week trashing Obama. Then the report comes out showing Palin isnt ethically suitable for the post of moose catcher in Wasilla and he will now call for the character attacks to stop. He is even nobly willing to be booed by his own supporters to stop these scurrilous attacks. Now do you understand why Republicans rule America.

[drsmc41]

He actually seemed to be a little emabarrased, guilty, and caught "off guard." That's the first time I have seen him a little "rattled." I am glad to see that he exhibited that humility.

[customgreen]

McCain has lost his last chance ditch effort to become president. By taking away the fear factor he has no avenues left to the White House. The fear factor would not have worked anyway, but it was something they thought they could use to gain traction. They will still pull out some dubios connections (ones that they paint as dubios or cause for concern) Obama and who knows. It is all to late, the only question now is how big the win for Obama will be.

[Decipherer]

It is shameful that Barack Obama is forced into the position of having to deny either being a Muslim or an Arab as if being either were a loathsome disease. This is the low state not only of the judgment of the American people but what the Bush administration has done to corrupt us to our core since September 11, 2001, and we brush it off like dandruff.

The honorable thing for John McCain to have done when confronted by those addle-brained supporters of his would be for him to say something to the effect that people of Middle Eastern descent ("Arabs") are as welcome here in the U.S. as any other group of immigrants seeking a better life and who want to contribute to making this country better as a result. Ditto for being Muslim -- this is a country that supposedly does not discriminate against anyone on the basis of race, religion, or creed, and that type of prejudice has no place in American life.

Sadly, however, McCain would never do something as noble and courageous as that.

[ThinkCreeps]

Remember that the environment here is so shameful that Obama can't properly reply either. When his campaign is challenged that he's a muslim, the reply is `he's a Christian', rather than the correct
`so?'

[BCubedReg]

I'm sorry, I'm not going to give McCain credit for being able to talk out of both sides of his mouth. While McCain talks on camera at a rally before his rabid fans that Obama is "decent" and not an "arab" he continues to incite this attitude through his ads, Sarah Palin and Fox nonsense.

Really, what could McCain have said at the rally since he was being filmed? Obama is an "arab", Obama is not a "decent" fellow and you should be "afraid", you should take up arms to protect yourself from Obama?

If McCain would have done that it would be the headline story.

I won't give McCain credit he does not deserve. The fear ads are still running in this state.

[ColoradoAngryRU]

If you notice the old lady who was afraid, very afraid, and telling him how afraid she was before she spit out he was an Arab, McPane was standing there shaking his head in the affirmative agreeing with her "fear". So this was just a case CYA. The same thing happened with the "soon to be father", stood there shaking his head agreeing with his fear, and then comes and says no need to fear. CYA in Spades! The cameras are rolling.