There's a lot of racist xenophobic crap out there. But not only has McCain not peddled any of it, he's condemned it.
Back in February, McCain apologized for some questionable comments made by a local radio host. In April, he condemned the North Carolina Republican Party's ad featuring images of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
With one possible exception, I've never seen McCain or those under his control playing the race card or making fun of Obama's name -- or even mentioning Obama's full name, for that matter!
More...(The one exception was in March when McCain suspended a low-level campaign staffer for sending out to a small group of friends a link to a video that attempts to tie Obama not only to Wright but to the black power movement, rappers Public Enemy and Malcolm X.)
While I have no doubt there will be a bunch more racist, xenophobic, and other ignorant drek coming our way courtesy of the Internet and perhaps the occasional cable news network, it's important to determine where it's coming from. Is it from a specific campaign or party? A third-party group? A third-party group with direct ties to establishment figures? This all matters.
I've seen racism in campaigns before -- I've seen it against Obama in this campaign (more from Democrats than Republicans, at this point, I might add) and I've seen it against McCain in South Carolina in 2000, when his adopted Bangladeshi daughter Bridget was alleged, by the charming friends and allies of then-Gov. George W. Bush, to have been a McCain love-child with an African-American woman.
What I have not seen is it come from McCain or his campaign in such a way to merit the language Obama used today. Pretty inflammatory.
Remember we used to say Bush and Cheney would have to eat a live baby, or Wilfrid Brimley, in the oval office before the Press would admit that they were evil? Well, apparently the new standard for McCain's campaign is "if McCain doesn't dress up in blackface and a dress and scream lawdy lawdy lawdy I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin no country!" he's not running a racist campaign. All those "and I approved these messages" don't count. And neither do the messages. Because its not images and innuendo that matter its whether John McCain or his staff say something in front of Jake Tapper.
Despite the testimony of his own lying eyes during the 2000 campaign when there was apparently enough free floating racism in a campaign run by Karl Rove for the dreaded racism bomb to be used against the Honorable John McCain himself Jake sees no evidence that there is any of this "drek" in another campaign run by Karl Rove in 2008 because its all on the internet and therefore not really "real" or something.
As a Hobby I keep an eye on Mallard Fillmore and I can tell you he's been running a long campaign to innoculate the Republicans against charges of racism but noting carefully that black people and democrats always charge racism for every little thing, and that he has tied this directly to Obama by presenting as fact an imaginary *Obama* campaign that rests solely on accusing the Republicans of "making fun of the black guy with the funny name." I knew then that there would be some press guy stupid enough to fall for the "high bar equivalency test" [also known as the "but saddam was worse!"] line that goes "McCain's no racist because he didn't actually say "Obama, what a fucking traitorous funny muslim name" So Congratulations Jake Tapper, dupe of the fucking year.
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