Racism and the campaign

I, a long time ago, lost any respect I may have had for John McCain. I may not have agreed with much of his politics, but he at least gave the appearance of being a decent human being. Like when he called Falwell and his ilk agents of intolerance.

The day I lost all my respect for him was when he went to New Orleans, after he sought and received the support of Pastor John Haggy, a despicable turd of a human being who believes New Orleans deserved Katrina because they were going to have an extra sexy gay parade. In interviews before his trip he said he was still happy to have this man’s support.

I didn’t think my opinion of McCain could go much lower. Oh, but it has. McCain’s campaign this week is the most deplorable, disgusting, and reprehensible racist effort to save a campaign that should have had very little chance to begin with.

So, since the MSM doesn’t want to utter the words. The McCain campaign is purposefully engaging Racist tactics to win an election that they can no longer win. They are not ignorant of what they are doing. McCain and Palin can hear people shouting out "terrorist" and "kill him" at their rallies. They are creating an environment where people’s racism and hatred of "the other" is acceptable. And then they like to pretend that nothing’s happening.

And what can Sen. Obama do? He knows that when he brings up race, it looks like he’s playing the race card, or that how right-wing media will spin it. (Complete tangent, if you didn’t hear Obama’s speech on race back in the first part of the year, Watch it. http://www.youtube.com/wat ch?v=pWe7wTVbLUU) . Yesterday, he gave a statement.

"It’s easy to rile up a crowd," Obama said. "Nothing’s easier than riling up a crowd by stoking anger and division. But that’s not what we need right now in the United States."

Wow, what a small remark to a situation that deserves much harsher language. So what does the McCain campaign put out? These two statements.

From Nicolle Wallace. "Barack Obama’s assault on our supporters is insulting and unsurprising. These are the same people obama called ‘bitter’ and attacked for ‘clinging to guns’ and faith. He fails to understand that people are angry at corrupt practices in Washington and Wall Street and he fails to understand that America’s working families are not ‘clinging’ to anything other than the sincere hope that Washington will be reformed from top to bottom."

And from Brian Rogers. “Barack Obama’s attacks on Americans who support John McCain reveal far more about him than they do about John McCain. It is clear that Barack Obama just doesn’t understand regular people and the issues they care about. He dismisses hardworking middle class Americans as clinging to guns and religion, while at the same time attacking average Americans at McCain rallies who are angry at Washington, Wall Street and the status quo."

Megan at Jezebel decodes their statements perfectly. "[The African-American] Barack Obama’s assault on our [beloved white] supporters is insulting and unsurprising. These are the same people Obama called ‘bitter’ and attacked for ‘clinging to guns’ and faith," because it’s always a good idea to remind angry, violent, racist mobs about their firearms. Spokesman Brian Rogers said, "Barack Obama’s attacks on [white, racist] Americans who support John McCain reveal far more about him than they do about John McCain. It is clear that Barack Obama just doesn’t understand regular [white] people and the [white] issues they care about [because he’s a black man. Black!]."

So much for putting country first.

This week, we’ve seen the darker side of the American psyche. We should no longer allow ourselves to be deluded that racism doesn’t really matter anymore. It is alive and well. And not to get all preachy (sorry), but the next time you hear someone blame the economic fail on those filthy n*****s getting mortgages they didn’t deserve, say something. When someone you know and loves says something racist, or homophobic, or sexist, or anti-Semitic, tell them that while you still care for them, you don’t approve of what they’re saying. When you see Sean Hannity allow a douche like Andy Martin actually have a voice in this discussion, write to Fox News. With our own inaction we condone these sentiments.

None of us are perfect, and we can all do better.