AP Analysis: McCain Running a Racist Campaign He Will Regret (Especially if He Wins)
The AP calls McCain/Palin out for running a racist campaign. The AP!
It raises an issue I have never considered. If McCain wins by race-baiting Obama, would it even be possible for him to govern? Think about it. Half the country will be enraged. African-Americans, in particular, will feel (rightly) that racism triumphed. And liberal Democrats control Congress.
In other words, in the worst financial crisis in our history, the American President would be a cipher, capable only of doing those things that he can do without Congress or public support (like fighting Iran or any other country that he doesn't like).
It would be as if Hoover was re-elected in 1932 except -- thanks to the race issue -- infinitely worse.
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I personally don't see how attacking his association with Ayers can be considered racist.
Alot of people are worried about some of the people that Obama has been associated with. Period. It has nothing to do with the color of Barry's skin
October 5, 2008 1:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree in that the article really does not make a case for racism. The writer must be probing some subterrean level of racism that is not obvious as what Palin said does not convey what the writer sought to create.
Then again, perhaps it was the writer of the AP article whose own racism was tapped by Palin's remarks that created this out of left field article being a racist attack?
This dog simply does not hunt in the context of the article.
October 5, 2008 1:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Get with the program. Any criticism of BHO is racist. Period.
October 6, 2008 10:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
No, of course, not. That's why they're darkening his skin tone in their ads. That's why they always contrast him with white faces (kids, in their repellent and demonstrably false "sex education" ad) in their unceasingly negative ads.
October 5, 2008 1:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, a lot of people are worried about some of the people McCain has been associating with too. Those pictures of McCain with Bush scare the living hell out of me. But it's not racist.
October 5, 2008 1:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
As election day nears and McCain keeps dropping in the polls I expect to see something similar to the Willie Horton ad. McCain and the people working for him are capable of it.
I can see it now, on Hardball;
Chris Matthews: So, is McCain going for the long ball with this Horton ad, Pat Buchanan?
Situation room:
Wolf Blitzer; So, is the McCain campaign playing the race card with this Willy Horton ad, Bill Bennett?
October 5, 2008 6:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
MiddleClassBill said;
Bill, I've heard this business about Obama's "association" with other people a number of times. Can you describe what is meant by Obama's "association" with the people mentioned?
I think the public should know if Obama robbed banks or ran a drug operation with these people mentioned, or, Heaven forbid, helped terrorists carry out their nefarious acts.
October 5, 2008 6:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
MiddleClassBill,
lets not forget that McCain was once "associated" with the North Vietnamese Communists.
October 5, 2008 6:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, let's talk about questionable associations:
October 6, 2008 1:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's inane, as is the AP article. How exactly is saying that Obama is pals with terrorists racist???
It seems that any criticism of Obama is being ascribed to racism, as opposed to his actual weaknesses and problems.
October 5, 2008 1:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, it does not seem that any criticism is being ascribed to racism. Rather, it seems that this criticism is being ascribed to racism and it is a far flung stretch of the imagination to make that leap.
There could be racism but the writer fails to make the case with his analysis and it is very difficult to do because Palin's words do not convey racism. Her words convey anti-Americanism independent of race.
In other words, she could make these same anti-Americanism statements about anyone and it has nothing to do with race.
October 5, 2008 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
It wouldn't surprise me if Biden or Keith Olbermann called me a racist because I don't want my taxes to be raised!!!
October 5, 2008 1:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now, Bill, I don't believe your attacks on McCain are racist. I don't want my health benefits taxed either.
October 5, 2008 1:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm glad to hear you're doing so well, making more than $250,000. per year.
October 5, 2008 3:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
MiddleClassBill said:
If McCain gets elected he may call you for the draft, you know, to invade Iran.
October 5, 2008 7:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
It wouldn't surprise me if Biden or Keith Olbermann called me a racist because I don't want my taxes to be raised!!!
Umm, they wouldn't call a racist over your concern about taxes. Your use of "Barry" might very well get many more than those two to call you, deservedly, a racist.
And, MiddleClassBill, unless you are single making more than $200,000 or married and making more than $250,000 per year, your concern over Obama's tax plan is unfounded.
When reading financial news, it is good to read papers in addition to Investors Business News Daily, as you invited viewers to read in this post, if you want people in the Cafe to take you seriously.
October 6, 2008 1:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
The AP article makes the better case.
Plain isn't saying 60's radical, she's saying Obama is palling with terrorists. Most people when they think of terrorists aren't thinking of old hippies, or McVeigh, they think of brown people, Muslims. I don't know if you've noticed, the Obama is a Muslim story still has legs...
"This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America," she said. "We see America as a force of good in this world. We see an America of exceptionalism."
Obama's different from you and I, not like one of us...
October 5, 2008 1:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
"We see America as a force of good in this world" Whoops, I smell a neocon.
October 5, 2008 2:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Palin doesn't have to answer for anything she says. She is in a bubble where she gets to spew whatever she wants and never be challenged. The MSM just rolls over and in the "interest of fairness," puts her crap out there as though it is valid.
Maybe we need to put a monkey out as as spokesperson who can never be challenged, who can talk about John McCain's fucked up life and his many affairs - some recent - , and Charles Keating, and his gambling, and his drug-addicted wife who is a felon (fraudulently forged prescriptions) and never even went to court over it, etc etc etc.
October 5, 2008 7:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ayres protested against the Vietnam War and segregation of blacks - in fact one of his first protests was demonstrating at a pizzeria for its refusing to seat blacks in the restaurant.
(Palin labelling Ayres, but not directly naming him, a terrorist is what people of her political persuasion labelled all people at the time who protested the war, or anyone critical of the government, period - think today's 'unpatriotic' label.)
Linking Obama to Ayres, an anti-segregationist, would suggest that Obama is also against segregation and (here's the leap) therefore Palin/McCain are pro-segregation and thus racists? Bit of a stretch that.
Frankly, Al Gore 'labelled' what politics has become quite well when he said, "What politics has become requires a level of triviality and artifice and nonsense that I find I have in short supply."
October 5, 2008 2:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ayres's other "protests" involved planting bombs at the Capitol and the Penatgon.
October 5, 2008 2:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nudnik said:
Nudnik, in that case I would't vote for him.
October 5, 2008 6:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ha!
October 5, 2008 7:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nudnik, in that case I would't vote for him.
Good one!
October 6, 2008 1:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
Laura Bush got drunk and killed a guy by running into him in her car. Should everyone who knows her get the shaft?
October 5, 2008 9:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
It strikes me that the people who see racism in all of these attacks and the people who deny any racism at all are both exaggerating. With Obama-Biden clearly the stronger ticket by all reasonable standards, McCain-Palin are about to mount a viscious attack that tries to make Obama look untrustworthy and like "the other." While they won't directly attack him on race (that's a losing strategy), they will try to subtly exploit race where they can get away with it. But they'll only do it very indirectly so they can't be accused convincingly of racism. Will this strategy of trying to scare people away from Obama (as the radical black terrorist Muslim) hurt them if they win? Who cares, actually . . . It's sort of a moot point, since unless they find some other way to counter Obama, they are going to lose.
October 5, 2008 2:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good comments. I'd agree that is more a subtlety they are trying to imply, but it is not overall a racist attack.
Just an idiotic one.
October 6, 2008 3:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
It matters because every time a political party or leader goes to the well of slanderous demonization it hurts the country. It screws peoples heads up and convinces good people to do horrible things.
The republican party is a shameless monster when they do this kind of stuff.
October 5, 2008 3:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ain't it funny that Obama can be bashed so much about Rev. Wright, but all we hear is crickets about Caribou Barbie being ministered by a Kenyan witch doctor?
October 5, 2008 3:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Word. In my book, "Rapture" Palin, who has obviously not thought about anything except Alaska and religion in her life, is a whole lot scarier than ANY well-educated person whose studies and life's work have been about issues that affect our country and its place in the world.
Also, there is nothing to show Obama listening to Wright's rants; we can see Sarah standing in front of the witch doctor. She looks like an old segment of Oral Roberts: HEAL this woman! YUCK!
October 5, 2008 3:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
CVille said:
Exactly, Palin is Alaskacentric, she's snow blind when she leaves the state.
As to her religiosity, I have a Wiccan Tree Witch in my Sycamore, I wonder if her 'friend' could get rid of her for me.
October 5, 2008 6:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gee, nothing except his own book, in which he repeats the 'White mans greed rules a world in need' rant, and his other book which used a Wright rant as it's title. No connection other than that.
October 5, 2008 8:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
When Obama is President, and you have good health insurance, and we are no longer in perpetual war, and the world is working towards a way to coexist without bullying one-another, you can revisit your thoughts about Wright and decide how important they were.
The fact that you consider the title "The Audacity Of Hope" a rant, tells us all everything we need to know about you.
October 5, 2008 8:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
In case you missed it last week, 'White Man's greed' just got a $700 Billion blank check, while the US continues to sink in world rankings on such trivialities as infant mortality.
So sorry that Rev. Wright upsets you with his prescience. Perhaps Sarah Palin's witchdoctor can cure that for you.
October 5, 2008 10:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
theCleverBulldog,
I take it you buy and read Obama's books, am I right?
October 6, 2008 12:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
It would be nice if elections were one big intellectual discussion with true facts and good manners, but it almost never is. What gets said in primaries and general elections are soon forgotten after the dust settles because it was all about emotion and in this case desperation.
The dirty little secret is that on the whole those who vote Republican generally have a problem with diversity and so McCain/Palin are trying to tap into that tendency because they are desperate.
The Democrats need to relax and let this dirty stuff take care of itself. Mr. Obama is one smart candidate, he knows how to take care of this and win.
We had all better start worrying about our economy and the two wars that are draining literally our flesh and blood.
October 5, 2008 3:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
The question of what particular alleged race-baiting has or will take place from McCain or his top surrogates aside, surely the notion that he would regret any race-baiting that leads to his victory (at least at this point apparently against the odds) is naive. Of all the things Nixon or Reagan or Bush pere or (more complexly, W Bush in 2000) surely NEVER regretted was the race-baiting that they and/or surrogates (usually and) engaged in to secure the White House.
Hey -- winning isn't everything, it's the only thing, and race-baiting a grand old Repuglican tradition to boot. (As we saw in this election, it isn't entirely a GOP monopoly either, but they are "market dominant")
October 5, 2008 3:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
It would be as if Hoover was re-elected in 1932 . . . . M.J.Rosenberg
He was!
"[P]ractically the whole New Deal was extrapolated from programs that Hoover started." Rexford Tugwell, leftist member of FDR's Brain Trust.
October 5, 2008 3:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, let me say this: If the polls remain as they are, or go farther for Obama and he "loses" it won't matter what label is put on it. I don't think Americans will tolerate yet another stolen election.
Did anyone see the clip about the Army division that has been deployed to North America (I think North Carolina) for the first time in history? They are training in non-lethal crowd control, etc.
If the republicans who have the power to skew the results ala Diebold and voter suppression are smart, they will sacrifice John McCain, whom they have no respect for anyway, and the financial base of the party certainly doesn't want Sarah at the helm.
If there was ever a time to be President, this is the worst one history has forked up. If McCain would "win" the US would be so fucked that the repubs would never win anything again; Obama has such a daunting task even I don't know why he wants to win!
But if he loses, look out USA; labelling it "racism" is only a part of the story. High crimes against our very Constitution seems more like it!
October 5, 2008 4:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
If (when) Obama wins, will any one be able to criticise his policies without risk being labeled a "racist"?
Ask Bill Clinton how that works. Obama made a hugh mistake in upsetting the Clintons. They get mad, and even.
I am afraid Bill and Hillary worked too hard to now let Obama win. Wait until they pass on the dirt they have on Obama over to the RNC, in about three weeks.
October Surprise, Clinton style...
October 5, 2008 4:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
My boyfriend in college had a frat-mate named "Hugh Mistake."
October 5, 2008 5:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Vintage,
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
October 5, 2008 6:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Clinton-bashing is ridiculous.
October 5, 2008 5:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
You know, MJ, I read somewhere that the Bill Kristol Rangers have been indroctrinating Gov. Mooselina in Alaska for a year or so now. Let's say, for the sake of parable, the Obama team links up the Governor with David Horowitz.
"Pailin palling around with terrorists (CP, Black Panthers)."
How long would it take the McCain campaign to cry out "Anti semitic!"
I like your argument.
October 5, 2008 5:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
"I personally don't see how attacking his association with Ayers can be considered racist.
Alot of people are worried about some of the people that Obama has been associated with. Period. It has nothing to do with the color of Barry's skin"
Ayers, who turned himself in 28 years ago and was summarily released without being convicted of anything? The one who became a well-respected member of the University of Illinois faculty, who had worked on education with the mayor, years before Obama ever met him? McStain's cohorts are going to turn him into Obama Bin Laden with that?
And, dude, you're transparent.
It's the rightards who call Senator Obama "Barry."
October 5, 2008 5:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Right, it is the racists who call him "Barry."
October 5, 2008 5:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes Terry - the same Ayers who said on 9/11/01 that he regretted not having done more. I don't think someone who kills innocent people and bombs buildings gets forgiven just because 28 years have passed.
If Ayers had killed someone that you know, I bet you wouldn't forgive him, even to this day
October 5, 2008 5:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Spoken like someone who doesn't know a soul that has died or been maimed by Dubya. War? What war? It's not on teevee!
October 5, 2008 5:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, the Vietnamese forgave John McCain, didn't they?
October 5, 2008 8:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
By the way, you cannot anme one person that William Ayers killed. Why? Because he didn't kill anyone. That is more than you can say for Goerge Bush or his wife.
October 5, 2008 9:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
The way racism is at work in the campaign is noted by the following
1) Palin speaks in a pattern not common in those in public life. It is an Alaskan-accented word salad that could be called Eurobonics. GW Bush also had poor verbal skills but became President. Obama would have been rejected for an equivalent speech pattern
2)Palin gave the welcoming speech to a convention of The Alaskan Independence Party. AIP supprts secession of Alaska from the US. Palin's husband was an AIP member until 2005. We have not seen the endless stories about Palin's ties to AIP that we saw with Obama and Rev Wright.
3) Palin has an unwed pregnant teenage daughter> The Obamas would have been pilloried by the press if they were in similar circumstances.
The bar has been set so low for Palin that it is ridiculous. She benefits from a press that grades her on a curve.
October 5, 2008 5:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, here's how Sarah's Ayers remarks played to my 87 year old mother in Des Moines: "She really is a nasty little thing".
October 5, 2008 6:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sarah Ayers -- Freudian slip!! Woo hooo!
October 5, 2008 9:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think there's a typo in your post. I've corrected it:
Although I'm sure Kucinich will be leading the way with an army of 1.4 representatives and a couple aides behind him. God love him, the poor bastard.
October 5, 2008 6:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
The McCain Campaign is desperate since there is little time and the straight-talk-express is not working anymore. Obama doesn't have a long history in politics like McCain so they won't find much garbage. While a long history gives McCain name recognition he also carries years of political baggage that can be used against him. Couple McCain's part in the Keating Five along with his current campaign organization full of lobbyists and the press should have plenty of stories for the next four weeks, if they want to pursue them.
If elected, Obama will not become the first black president but the first bi-racial president. There are many bi-racial children, adults and families in the US, it's nothing new or scary.
October 5, 2008 7:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
As the esteemed C. A. Rotwang informed us, in his post:
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/04/sarah_is_hot_you_betcha/
McCain is content to forgive David Ifshin, former president of the National Student Association of the same era as Ayers. Ifshin traveled to North Vietnam with Jane Fonda. But since Ifshin is a strong Zionist he gets a pass from McCain.
Bring 'em on. We'll ask why John McCain is hiding his medical/psychological records. We'll ask why Cindy is hiding her tax records. We'll ask why we should trust someone who betrayed his country in the deepest way, confessing to lies in order to please his captors.
October 5, 2008 8:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
David Ifshin died a few years ago. Mccain spoke at his funeral.
October 5, 2008 8:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
The frantic attempt to slur Senator Obama is exactly what one expected from secessionist Sarah Palin, the ” real” Sarah Palin, as she and her running mate Republican John McCain blindly wind down their dysfunctional campaign to nowhere. No response other than “consider the source” is necessary.
October 5, 2008 10:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
For MJ and other such fanatics, his subtext is that anyone who opposes Obama for ANY reason is really, deepdown, a racist.
October 6, 2008 12:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
YBD, just pretend Obama was Jewish. Ya see, racism is anti-semitism but directed at black people (and others). So, you know how bent out of shape you get when anyone criticizes Joe Lieberman and alludes to his being a Jew, well, racism is kind of similar.
But who cares what you think. You are a foreigner. You can't vote here. And your only interest in this country is as an arsenal for your country. So butt out.
October 6, 2008 8:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
MJ, you butt into Israel's affairs all the time. You don't live there and you can't vote there. You keep moaning that Israel's actions reflect badly on you as a Jew in the US and makes you a target for the wrath of fellow "progressives" who might accidently identify you with Israel, being a Jew. You write in the Jerusalem Post and misrepresent yourself as a "concerned Zionist". You wouldn't dare write there what you write here, gems such as "Russian Jews in Israel should go back where they came from". You are the classic racist, classifying all people of a group as having certain negative characteristics. You do all the things you accuse your opponents of doing.
Incidentally, I was born in Los Angeles and I have every right to comment here. There is no rule against "furriners" posting here, is there?
October 6, 2008 10:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
I do not tell Israelis who to vote for and pretend I'm one of them.
October 6, 2008 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sarah Palin's new hit song:
My friend the Witch Doctor
he told me what to say
My friend the Witch Doctor
he told me what to do
I know that you'll be mine
when I say this to you,
ew EEE, ew ah ah, ding dang,
walla walla bing bang,
ew EEE, ew ah ah, ding dang
walla walla bang bang.
October 6, 2008 10:59 AM | Reply | Permalink