Pretty Hate Machine

by Eric Martin

I'm trying not to veer too far in the direction of hyperbole, but at a certain point the hateful rhetoric being disseminated by the McCain camp (especially Sarah Palin, doggone it!) crosses a threshold and becomes incitement to violence; a poison recklessly injected into the bloodstream of our body politic by a cynical Republican ticket in search of the next short-term political fix.  Josh Marshall:

So we have McCain today getting his crowd riled up asking who Barack Obama is and then apparently giving a wink and a nod when one member of the crowd screams out "terrorist."

And later we have Sarah Palin with the same mob racket, getting members of the crowd to yell out "kill him", though it's not clear whether the call for murder was for Bill Ayers or Barack Obama. It didn't seem to matter.

These are dangerous and sick people, McCain and Palin. Whatever it takes. Stop at nothing.

The Washington Post:

McCain had said that racially explosive attacks related to Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, are off limits. But Palin told New York Times columnist Bill Kristol in an interview published Monday: "I don't know why that association isn't discussed more."

Worse, 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."

Will Bunch:

I received in an email the sleaziest political press release I've ever seen. It came from the Republican Party of Pennsylvania and it's headlined: "PAGOP: OBAMA - A TERRORIST'S BEST FRIEND."

At the very least, these most recent efforts to debase political discourse in America feed a pernicious partisanship.  Deliberately stoking a sense of bitter alienation from fellow Americans, trading in racial epithet and innuendo, openly challenging the patriotism of one's opponent: John McCain and Sarah Palin, the self-described mavericks "known" for reaching across party lines, are nurturing hateful impulses in a segment of the population that already harbors an outsize persecution complex.

These are chaotic forces to attempt to manipulate for short term political gain.  One way or another, this will not end well.  Country first?  Farthest thing from it. 

I don't say the following lightly: John McCain, you have no honor.

Comments

[russell]

you chose the word "liberal", of all things, speaks more about you than I think you'd like.

No, I toned it down from "self-professed communists"

You shouldn't have.

"Self-professed communist" is an accurate description of Ayers in his youth. "Liberal" is not.

Let's turn the tables. hilzoy mentioned G Gordon Liddy.

At various times, Liddy proposed firebombing the Brookings Institution, kidnapping anti-war protestors and taking them to Mexico, and assassinating journalist Jack Anderson.

He has called, publicly, for citizens to kill agents of the ATF, recommending gunshots to their heads rather than body shots, because they will be wearing bulletproof vests.

When he was a young man in Hoboken, he drew inspiration from listening to the speeches of Adolf Hitler.

Liddy has hosted McCain fundraisers, and made contributions to McCain's campaign well in excess of the $200 that Ayers gave to Obama. McCain has appeared on Liddy's radio show, and praised Liddy on that show.

What, bc, is your opinion of this?

Here is mine: I don't give a crap. Because Liddy is going to have exactly zero influence on McCain's policies or actions, should he become President.

There is no significant "Ayers connection". There just is nothing there.

Thanks -