All Villages


White Fear And The Politics Of Hate

While John McCain, undeterred by the failure of his negative campaign, reinvented himself yet again—accusing Barack Obama of being a 'socialist' —Colin Powell made, perhaps, the most eloquent and cogent case yet for Obama, bringing his stoic credibility to bear on the current political process. I can only hope and pray that we, a nation now admonished by Dad Powell, have outgrown this circus, which would make this election a referendum not only on our values but on our very maturity as a nation.

“All villages have values.”

“All towns have values, not just small towns have values.” Sunday, former U.S. Secretary of State General Colin Powell made, perhaps, the most eloquent and convincing case for why Senator Barack Obama should be the next president of the United States, bringing his stoic credibility—which had been exploited and tarnished by service to the Bush Administration—to bear on the current political process. Powell deftly cleaved through the political rhetoric of both campaigns, his quiet manner thundering through the noise and the hype, to give voice to my own deeply-held convictions in a way I’ve failed to. John McCain’s improvisational campaign—which included almost daily new approaches to resolving the economic crisis and his politically-motivated selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, a woman demonstrably out of her depth, as his running mate—has greatly diminished the senator as a responsible choice to lead a nation in crisis. As Powell points out, McCain’s cartoonish, sophomoric and relentlessly negative campaign, while having a kind of tabloid populism that makes for interesting television, does not serve America well in that it neither calms nor reassures a nation, but rather frightens and divides it. Troubled by the Republican party’s relentless pursuit of Obama’s spurious connection to 60’s radical Bill Ayers, which hardly seems germane to the crisis America now faces, as well as by the conservative groundswell insistence that Obama is a Muslim, Powell fairly shamed America by eloquently giving voice to our nation’s purported values. “They keep claiming he’s a Muslim,” Powell said. “Well, the correct answer is that he’s not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, ‘What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country?’ The answer is no. That’s not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year old Muslim American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion that he’s a Muslim and he might be associated with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing it in America.”

And, no, it’s not. In his rich, Dad Baritone, General Powell served notice that the party is over. That the foolishness of politics is an utter waste of time, energy and money, and that his own party has kept its presidential hopes alive only by pandering to the most extreme and divisive fringes of our society. By encouraging racism, by discriminating against Arabs, Arab Americans, and all those of the Muslim faith. By spreading fear and pandering to ignorance (this week’s tactic: brand Obama as a “socialist” as a long way around to calling Obama’s middle-class tax cuts “welfare,” a time-honored, front-loaded metaphor for race: the McCain campaign’s latest strategy is to scare America by suggesting Obama will take the money from the white people and redistribute it to the black people).

McCain’s flailing, desperate campaign—still, after months of failing to do Obama in, firmly entrenched in mud rucking—seems sadly indicative of McCain’s character. It displays a kind of gross selfishness and political myopia that, as Obama said in their last debate, says more about McCain than it does about Obama. That John McCain cannot, apparently, see how puzzlingly ad hoc his campaign is (I’m struggling not to use he word “erratic”) is a fair indicator of the kind of stubborn, improvisational, cranky president he’d be. In fact, the more flailing McCain does, the more credible and reasonable Barack Obama seems.

I seriously doubt McCain’s “He’s a Communist!” tack has legs, McCain now seeming the classic example of the boy crying wolf. He’s changed his line of attack so many times, accused Obama of so many things, criticized Obama for virtually everything, that now it’s all noise. McCain’s own party seems to be obviously going through the motions, including long-time allies now cautiously backing away as his campaign implodes. And he *still* won’t stop the specious, unfounded and ineffectual negative attacks.

Regardless of who wins, political scholars will undoubtedly invest years of analysis into the 2008 presidential campaign, most especially into the slow-motion train wreck that is the Straight Talk Express. Rick Davis, Senator McCain’s campaign manager who is usually seen scowling and/or sneering, has, hopefully, written his own political obituary with this, the sad finale of a political dinosaur: the right-wing smear campaign. I can only hope and pray that we, a nation now admonished by Dad Powell, have outgrown this circus, which would make this election a referendum not only on our values but on our very maturity as a nation.

It's possible she didn't hear him. The voice in the crowd shouting, "Kill Him," at the mention of Senator Barack Obama's name. That, I am willing to accept. Addressing a huge crowd, it really is hard to hear, from the podium, what is going on out in the crowd. This was best evidenced by Alaska Governor Sarah Palin admonishing her own supporters, lecturing them like children about the courage and honor of our veterans, when, in actuality, they were not protestors but were her own supporters shouting, "Louder— we can't hear you!" Palin’s husband Todd tried to put an end to the awkward episode by approaching his wife on stage and telling her, “They just can’t hear you back there. That’s it.” Palin responded, “OK. I’m doing that,” and then continued with her stump speech. So, yes, it's tough to hear from the podium. I also accept the fact Palin is new to addressing crowds of this size and, even if she did hear the "Kill Him" shout, her instinct was to stay on message and not engage spoilers in the audience. Therefore, the best case scenario I can afford the governor is that she's inexperienced and made a bad call about this guy. But, once the news cameras picked up the remark, loudly and clearly, the Republican ticket had a problem on their hands. Governor Palin should have, thenceforth, been extra vigilant about extremist remarks, perhaps even beginning her stump speech with a repudiation of such remarks from previous rallies. But she didn't. She just went on lying, yes lying--and knowingly so--about Senator Barack Obama's record, stirring up anger, enjoying the boos (which Senator Obama discourages at his own rallies), and firing up the base to the point where McCain/Palin supporters openly, angrily sneer their disdain and hatred of Barack Obama to news cameras. when pressed for reasons, these extremist nuts fire off McCain/Palin talking points, most often heard: that Obama hangs around terrorists.

Terrorists. Plural. Something Dave Letterman nailed John McCain on in an eviscerating interview on his late night talk show. Giving McCain/Palin a pass on Bill Ayers, whom McCain refers to as "a washed-up old terrorist," Dave pressed for a second example of a terrorist Barack Obama might be "hanging out with." McCain sputtered and tried to make a joke out of it, but the point was clear: this is a foolish, ridiculous and exaggerated claim, one only ignorant people are buying into. Which makes the claim that much more dangerous because ignorance breeds contempt, hatred and ultimately violence. Now, substitute the word nigger for the word terrorist, a word, almost universally associated with Arabs (as demonstrated by an elderly woman, searching for a a word other than "nigger" to call Obama, who instead called him an "Arab"). This is not a stretch: the subtext of the Obama-pals-terrorist smear tactic is clear: Obama hangs out with Arabs-né-niggers. John McCain has made the world a much more dangerous place for Barack Obama, a black man running for president, for whom the world was already quite dangerous. McCain's despicable campaign tactics have inspired the most extreme factions of intolerance and hate in this country, painting a bull's-eye on Senator Obama and rallying the wing-nut brigade to target him.

Much of which was pointed out by Congressman John Lewis, a civil rights pioneer who warned last week the Republican presidential ticket is, “sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse... During another period, in the not too distant past, there was a governor of the state of Alabama named George Wallace who also became a presidential candidate.” McCain went on the offense, his campaign claiming umbrage and outrage at comments by Congressman Lewis, calling Lewis’ remarks “beyond the pale” and calling on Obama to repudiate them. On Monday McCain fumed to CNN that Lewis’ controversial remarks were “so disturbing” that they “stopped me in my tracks.” The Obama campaign said any comparisons to Wallace were out of line, but also said that “Lewis was right to condemn some of the hateful rhetoric that John McCain himself personally rebuked.” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

This is, of course, the tried and true political technique of making one's negatives a positive, turning the outrage many Americans (including increasing numbers of Republicans) feel about the divisive and racist tone of the McCain campaign into a positive, with McCain incredulously claiming to be an innocent victim of race politics. While it is possible the senator really does not understand how incendiary and dangerous his campaign tactics have become, that possibility actually worries me more: that someone so completely out of touch with reality could possibly win the Oval office. That his supporters could regularly threaten Senator Obama with violence and those threats go unchallenged by McCain or Governor Palin, but McCain and Palin are apalled, "stopped in their tracks," by anyone pointing out how patently racist and dangerous their scorched-earth hate rallies are. McCain's phony outrage seizes on the racist component of Congressman Lewis' George Wallace comparison while missing the actual point of those remarks: that the GOP ticket is capriciously fueling an atmosphere of intolerance, violence and hate that will last well beyond this election. I frankly doubt the senator is that obtuse: I'm sure he got the point of Lewis' remarks, but chose nonetheless to politicize them, making Lewis the bad guy as he goes on pandering to racists and wing-nuts.

"The heels are on, the gloves are off!" Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said to rousing cheers in her patented annoying eighth-grade science teacher whine, as though she's fed up with Barack Obama, as though Obama has somehow provoked or wronged her. To the contrary: the Obama campaign—including Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton—has all but ignored Governor Palin, having said very little about the Governor and having produced no ads attacking her. So, what's she mad about? The gloves are off? What does that mean? What does anything this woman says actually mean? How does turning the presidential campaign even nastier than they've already run it help anyone? In what way, specifically, is Governor Palin's completely phony "outrage" toward Senator Obama productive during this time of crisis? Going even more negative, when people are frightened, when the entire global economic system is in upheaval, seems incredibly selfish and puzzlingly wrongheaded on McCain's part. Normally, I'd point out how such obscene attacks are well beneath the dignity of someone claiming to be a follower of Christ, let alone seeking the second highest office in the land, but Palin has demonstrated, time and again, to be an empty suit, a punchline, a national joke. Someone so completely out of her depth that she's caused millions—with an "M"—of voters to question John McCain's judgment in selecting her. She is now knowingly and capriciously lying, sowing discord and prostituting herself in an effort to get elected, perhaps banking on McCain's precipitous health to land her in the Oval Office.

Governor Palin despicably introduced racism into their campaign by accusing Senator Barack Obama of "palling around with terrorists" Saturday. This is an accusation which will only be taken seriously by complete idiots, racists and, likely, the Christian right. Palin told a group of donors at a private airport, "Our opponent ... is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country." Palin was referring to Bill Ayers, one of the founders of the group the Weather Underground. Its members took credit for bombings, including nonfatal explosions at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol, during the Vietnam War era four decades ago. Obama, who was a child when the group was active, served on a charity board with Ayers several years ago and has denounced his radical views and activities. (AP) Senator Obama does not "pal around" with Ayers and Ayers has no connection to Obama's campaign--and Palin knows this. Which makes her a liar, and a capricious, deliberate one. Palin also said, in obvious racist code, "This is not a man who sees America as you see America and as I see America." Douglass K. Daniel of the Associated Press wrote, "Palin's words avoid repulsing voters with overt racism. But is there another subtext for creating the false image of a black presidential nominee 'palling around' with terrorists while assuring a predominantly white audience that he doesn't see their America? ...Whether intended or not by the McCain campaign, portraying Obama as 'not like us' is another potential appeal to racism."

Palin's ridiculous accusations would seem to be the product of a liar's naked ambition. I condemn her choices, here, and I absolutely condemn the Christian right for supporting this nonsense, these terrible, racist scare tactics intended to divide and polarize the nation at a time when we desperately need to pull together. These people have no solutions. Have no plan. Have no apparent campaign strategy other than to destroy the other guy, improvising as they go. These are the politics of destruction by an aging cancer survivor, a $100 million man with more money and more houses and cars than he knows what to do with—and it's still not enough for him. He wants to be president because he wants to be president—knowing his health will likely not sustain him through even his first term. The entire pursuit is wholly selfish, as is Palin's perversion of her alleged Christian faith in a cynical grab at power. These are shameful, terrible people. We crucify Christ afresh when we support them, when we fail to speak out against the lies, against the divisive tactics, just because these people claim to be Christian and pro-life. Beloved: it's not enough to claim to be Christian: there needs to be evidence in our lives, in our choices. Paul said the works of the flesh are obvious. The evidence before us, in the Republican tactics, is a perverse and blasphemous exploitation of things we hold sacred. There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers. [Proverbs 6:16-19]. If you're calling yourself a Christian, you should condemn this foolishness. "Well, she's pro-life," I hear my conservative brother say. Maybe she is, but here she is demonstrating she is anti-God. She is a liar who is knowingly lying and deliberately out to destroy someone. And when you support her, you become just as big a hypocrite as she obviously is.

All of which, of course, beggars the question, at what point was the McCain campaign anything but divisive, racist and negative? For about five minutes at the start of the presidential race, McCain’s ads were hopeful and encouraging, talking about his vision for America. Six minutes into the campaign, McCain hired Karl Rove protégés to assault Barack Obama’s character and distort his record with misleading and untruthful claims, the strategy being to knock Obama off-message as the Obama campaign scrambled to respond to every petty accusation the McCain camp made. Needless to say, this is not, by any stretch, Christian behavior, which puts the lie to the McCain campaign’s core claims of integrality and both Senator McCain and Governor Sarah “Winky” Palin’s assertion that they have bee born again. As a follower of Christ, I could never authorize such a divisive, scorched earth plan which, if successful, will bloody the hands of the next U.S. president while further dividing the nation this man has pledged to unite. These are the tactics of George W. Bush: claim to be a follower of Christ, a “uniter,” while setting neighbor against neighbor through hateful tactics. McCain, the straight-talk hope for white conservative Christians, has announced his intention to destroy another human being through lies and innuendo. And the Christian right marches in lock step behind him in the "name of Jesus." Honestly, if this guy invested even half as much energy in coming up with solutions to America's many challenges as he does in coming up with ways to attack his opponent, he'd have half a shot at earning my vote. As a Christian, as someone who graduated seventh grade, I could never vote for these people. Ever. Certainly, as followers of Christ, we need to put our ethics where our mouth is. Which may not necessarily translate into a vote for Obama, but it ought to be a vote for Jesus, in Whose name these two shameful liars come.

RightUpFront.Org
Listen my fellow believers, I will not pretend to "hear voices of the divine", and I will not claim to have visions of our lord that would somehow indicate his political affiliation. However, because everytime Hill-dog or Barack give speeches little horns pop out of their heads, and tails sprout from the liberal behinds it is obvious who the heavenly father supports.

John McCain is angelic in every sense of the word. While many claim his old age places him too close to the grave to be President, I counter by saying his old age puts him "closer to god", in fact about as close as you can get. Isn't that what this nation needs? A candidate with Jesus as his right-hand man?

A vote for John is a vote for Jesus.


1 comments:
You will, of course, burn in hell, for suggesting that Christ would have ever supported the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Sunscreen ain't going to help you, pal.


It seems to me that, rather than take the gloves off against Obama, what would really benefit McCain is if he took the gloves off against Bush. But he really can’t do that because he’s spent the last eight years voting with the president in order to stay politically alive. But a straight-talkin’ McCain, hammering away at George Bush, would gain a lot more tactician than this phony outrage against a guy whose done this nation absolutely no harm. McCain supporters “frightened” of an Obama presidency simply do not understand basic, grade-school social studies. While I believe a Sarah Palin presidency would be a grave insult to the very office, I remain confident in the American system of checks and balances to power. Even a President Palin couldn’t completely run the ship aground without help from Congress.

It is worth noting that, for me, this entire noisy campaign really boils down to a single issue: the specter of a President Palin. The probability (moreso than possibility) of Governor Palin assuming the office of president is, for me, the single issue of this campaign. Senator Obama, perhaps loathe to alienate women voters, won’t state the obvious. But this woman is wholly unprepared to assume the office of PTA chairperson, let alone the highest elected office in the land. This would seem obvious to me, the top issue. Not the war. Not the economy. The sheer selfishness of a 72-year old four-time cancer survivor placing someone second rate a heartbeat away from the presidency. That’s it. There are no other issues: I could never support that ticket. Had McCain gone with his gut and chosen Lieberman, he’d likely have lost the wing-nut crowd, but I believe he’d be way out in front. Lieberman is liked very much on both sides of the aisle (though his anti-Obama rhetoric is costing him a great deal). Even Mitt Romney, who has a kind of Richard Nixon thing going on with his eyes, would have given the McCain campaign credibility. Instead, McCain went for sensationalism—and got the burst of energy he needed. But it is a selfish, political decision. And, once the balloons and confetti have been swept up, this aging man—who, if you look closely, tends to clench one hand with the other a lot, to perhaps mask hand tremors, and whose official photos are all shot from one side of his face—will have positioned a woman who doesn’t apparently read a newspaper to assume the presidency.

There is no other issue. That’s it. All the rest of the hollering is just noise. No mature, thinking American citizen should be even considering allowing Sarah Palin into that position. And, yet, Palin’s rallies overflow with screaming, adoring fans. Which presents an even scarier problem: the willingness of conservatives to be lied to and taken advantage of. If Obama was smearing McCain (well, okay, I mean on the level McCain is playing at), if Obama was stirring up hate and even violence toward McCain and using hateful, deceptive and divisive tactics—I could never support the guy. Black? So what. Democrat? Who cares. If the situation was reversed, I’d be just as vocal about Obama’s sleazy tactics as I am about McCain’s. My ire is not politically or racially motivated. I’m angry because McCain and Palin are weasels. And their campaign is a hateful, divisive one. And both these people claim to be “born again,” whatever that apparently means to lying weasels, blaspheming the Gospel of Jesus Christ as they exploit it for political gain.

It annoys me that white folk tend to assume I’m in the tank for Obama because of some shared ancestry. I’m sure a great many blacks are, in fact, Obama supporters for no other reason. I mean, *I* can’t discuss Obama’s health care plan intelligently, and most black folk I know couldn’t tell you even a single policy issue the man holds. But I was a huge John McCain fan back in 2000. I mean it, I was thinking of volunteering for the guy. While I am indeed immeasurably pleased by the historic nature of Obama’s success, my vote was hardly automatic. And it wasn’t even so much that Obama earned my vote as it was that McCain lost it. That his nasty, divisive campaign just turned me off. His selection of “Winky” Palin and her subsequent hateful, empty-headed libel against Senator Obama were just nails in the coffin. I question McCain’s judgment. He seems off his game, indecisive, snippy. He has no message other than Don’t Vote For The Black Kid. That’s it. It’s his only message: make us afraid of the black guy. His entire campaign seems largely improvisational and he has so many Republicans lying for him, supporting Winky, that he’s doing inestimable damage not only to his own brand name but to these Republicans’ credibility as well. These people know Palin is an onion. They do. Yet they go out there like soldiers, lying and in obvious agony about having to do so.

It really frightens me that, were the situation reversed, were this Obama changing his message every day, acting erratically, “suspending his campaign,” selecting Winky, running hate-filled borderline Nazi TV commercials—I could never support him. Ever. The fact these Republicans, and, let’s just say it, these *white folk,* are turning a blind eye and deaf ear to behavior they clearly know is questionable really frightens me. I mean, come on, my only alternative is to call these people stupid. They’re not stupid. These are nice people who get cats out of trees and donate to charity and keep their lawns trimmed and conduct themselves by practice better than mostly Church Folk do by [claiming Christ]. But these folks are swallowing this nonsense and even defending it. Largely out of fear of The Unknown. That senior citizen, a woman in red who called Obama an “Arab” at a McCain rally—she reminds me of the people on this block. Half of them seem to hate me because I’ve repeatedly asked my next door neighbor to control his dog’s barking. So he goes whining to them, and they gossip about it. They never ask me. They never listen to what I have to say. They never give me any benefit of the doubt, and they are quick to always, I mean every single solitary time, think the absolute worst of me. They talk to the guy with the dog, take his word for it, like he’s an expert on me. He knows *nothing* abut me other than that I would like some peace and quiet in my own home. But these people take his word for Gospel, he’s the Priest expert. And, without ever hearing my side of things, they decide I’m the enemy. I’m evil. I’m strange. I’m an Arab.

This is precisely the kind of fear—and that’s what it is, fear—that congeals into hate and, ultimately, violence. Some people at the McCain rally snickered when she said, “Arab.” But I nearly wept. Because this dear woman was simply giving voice to the fears of *millions,* which shows how deeply entrenched racism really is. And while Senator McCain deserves kudos for defending his rival, it is worth noting what he didn’t defend were Arabs. There are millions of Arab Americans in this country who were libeled and discriminated against. While McCain was defending Obama, he should have defended Arabs, or at the very least, Arab Americans. It’s worth noting Barack Obama missed that call, too.

While I tend to believe Democrats would more likely challenge Obama on divisive tactics and choices, the Republicans seem content to drink the Kool-Aid, parrot the talking points and defend this nonsense, knowing it is, in fact, nonsense, even as I am convinced these same people, in the quiet of their rooms, worry if Gramps isn’t losing it.

I’m starting to think these people are indeed gullible and, yes, stupid. I mean, they elected George Bush twice, which I find completely unfathomable. I’m really struggling to understand this mindset where people see and hear despicable things, see and hear Winky The Twinkie repeatedly make a fool of herself, see all of McCain’s campaign photos are shot from the same side of his face (to take emphasis off the scar on the other side), see and hear people screaming “Bomb Obama” and “Kill him” at rallies—unchallenged by the GOP nominees. They see and hear all of this, and yet shutter their conscience to what is obviously a campaign of hate. They dismiss what is right before them and embrace this nonsense, making excuses for obviously despicable behavior. And many if not most of these people call themselves Christians, say their prayers at night.

I really struggle with this: I can’t fathom good people of good conscience not making a stand against hate. That these people want to win so bad, they’re willing to sell their soul to do it.

Christopher J. Priest
19 October 2008
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